Donkey Kong Land III/103%

Current Fastest Time

Timing Note

RTA timing begins from file select, and ends when collecting the bonus coin after K. Rool Duel. SDA timing would begin slightly later, with the endpoint being identical. The in-game timer is only accurate to the minute, and is therefore not used.

Preliminary Notes

This page is written out as a series of notes to complement someone as they run the game. In other words, it's meant to be glanced at in the short breaks between stages to jog your memory. Each stage has a quick indication of where the two bonus barrels and DK coin are, as well as anything else that might be useful to refer to immediately.
If a stage has a direction, eg. (L) next to its name, then that part of the stage starts by moving left. Otherwise it starts by moving right.
If a bullet point within a stage has a direction next to it: if it is before the note, then the bonus stage starts in that direction. If it is after the note, then the direction is for when you return to the stage.
Some bonus stages have instructions in brackets, namely those with barrels and the maze-type stages in the tree levels.

World 1: Cape Codswallop

1-1 Red Wharf

Bonus 1: backwards from down arrow in water
Bonus 2: above rope after drop on right side

(Barrels: U, UR)

DK: jump in cannon barrel just after 2

1-2 Seabed Shanty

Warp: long ascent, then top left corner(UL)
DK: up after W
1(D): after Enguarde barrel, down, then left through no entry sign
2: down and left after hidden barrel cannons

1-3 Ford Knocks

1: top path at start
2: drop down gap with balloon
DK: at end of stage

1-4 Total Rekoil

1: jump left immediately at the start
DK: left at fork, not up
W: turn around after DK, when route goes back down the stairs, jump instead
2: go right after W, at top of elevator(L)

1-5 Koco Channel

DK: off first bug and right
1: glide left from cannon platform (after halfway)
2: after no entry sign, drop into water and left

1-6 Liftshaft Lottery

1(L): go right after second elevator, underneath the bee
DK: after left arrow on elevator, secret third one going up
2: after porcupines, elevator up instead of down

Boss: Barbos Bastion

A good way to time the attacks here is to watch the Lurchin flash. After seven flashes you should attack, and that should time it just after it opens up.

World 2: Primate Plains

2-1 Coral Quarrel

1: down at fork with two tubes next to each other
DK: left at halfway barrel
2: down at fork after DK barrel, as Enguarde

2-2 Minky Mischief

1: down after no entry sign
2: up large tree shaft with right arrow

(Maze - jump over second rope, hold left at third)

DK: hidden cannon just before end, on left side

2-3 Jetty Jitters

DK: barrel in front, enemy behind at start
1: in gap below single rope
2: glide from high rope to upper platform, cannon on right

(Switch to Kiddy after bees in bonus)

2-4 Black Ice Blitz

1: drop into gap after G
2+DK: jump over goal post

2-5 Riverbank Riot (L)

DK: barrel behind at start
1: left in water after big double drop
2: down first gap after steel barrel

2-6 Miller Instinct

1: right at DK enemy, over cannon
DK: barrel one level above
2(L): up through shaft, right at end

(Barrels: UR, R, U, U)

Boss: Bleak Magic

World 3: Blackforest Plateau

3-1 Rocketeer Rally (L)

3-2 Vertigo Verge

3-3 Polar Pitfalls

In the snow levels, wait a bit longer before pressing B at the start of the stage. Otherwise, your start will be quite slow.

3-4 Surface Tension

3-5 Tundra Blunda

3-6 Redwood Rampage

Boss: Arich Attack

If you're not Kiddy already, switch to Kiddy at the start of the fight.
You can do the damage boost on any hit and it will save an equal amount of time. The video above demonstrates it on the third hit, and you should aim to get hit by the last shot as it comes into a vertical line with the rightmost of Arich's legs. Then hold A as the character switch occurs, and Arich should drop instantly into his diving attack.

World 4: Great Ape Lakes

4-1 Jungle Jeopardy

4-2 Footloose Falls

Switch to Kiddy at the start of this stage. Jump over the Ellie barrel, you don't need her, but you do (almost always) have to take one hit for the trouble. And Dixie is better for the rest of the stage.

4-3 Deep Reef Grief

4-4 Karbine Kaos

4-5 Simian Shimmy (L)

4-6 Rockface Chase

Boss: Krazy Kaos

Switch to Kiddy at the start of this stage. The fastest hit to skip is the second. After the first hit, Kaos will sweep across the bottom three times: just before Kaos gets all the way to the right on the third sweep, do a full jump and land on Kaos, then hold A as the character switch occurs and you should jump up to Kaos in its starting position and get another hit.

World 5: Tin Can Valley

5-1 Tropical Tightropes

5-2 Clifftop Critters (L)

5-3 Rickety Rapids (L)

The second T barrel after halfway carries you across to a rocket barrel to a higher part of the stage. It looks like you should be able to glide across to it, as with one earlier in the stage, but do not try it: if you do, the rocket barrel won't actually be there.

5-4 Bazuka Bombard

5-5 Ugly Ducting

5-6 Stalagmite Frights

Boss: K. Rool Duel

The K. Rool fight goes like so:

Round 1: 1 high laser from each side, run barrel to the right
Round 2: 3 lasers each side, from high to low, only need to jump over the low one, throw barrel to the right
Round 3: 3 low lasers from the right side only, throw barrel to the right
Round 4: High, low, low, high from each side, jump and throw barrel to the left

The barrel always appears in the same spot, near the right hand side.