Donkey Kong Land III/Game Mechanics
From SDA Knowledge Base
The following is background information that might be useful for anyone intending on doing their own routing for this game.
Contents
Horizontal Speeds
As Kongs
Running (hold B and left/right): 35 In air, not holding B: 35 In air, holding B: 40 Rolling: 35 Rolling after defeating one enemy: 45 Rolling after defeating two enemies: 55 Rolling after defeating three enemies: 65 While holding a horizontal rope: 30 After bouncing on an enemy: 30 Gliding (as Dixie): 35
General rule: Jump everywhere you can (and ideally small jumps, because after a certain amount of time in the air you'll drop from 40 back to 35). If there's an enemy(ies) you can roll through, do that instead. Don't use ropes if you can help it: use Dixie to glide over them instead.
As Kongs, in water
Swimming, not holding B: 15 Swimming, holding B: 20 Swimming upwards (with either A or up+A), holding B: 26
General rule: Keep to the ceiling and keep swimming up against it to maximise frames with 26 speed.
As Enguarde
Swimming, holding B: 30 Swimming, holding B and attacking: 35
General rule: Attack everywhere (unless you're moving purely vertically). The only time you should not be attacking is if you need to delay an attack to avoid getting hit.
As Squawks
Flying, not holding B: Flying, holding B: Flying upwards (with A or up+A), holding B:
General rule: Just hold B everywhere, only releasing briefly to fire a shot, after which hold it again.
As Squitter
Running, not holding B: 30 Running, holding B: 30
General rule: Squitter doesn't gain any speed from holding B, so only use B to attack. The speeds are given just to show that you shouldn't use Squitter unless you have to (and you do in two stages in 103%).
As Ellie
Running, not holding B: Running, holding B:
General rule: Ellie does gain speed holding B, which is really unfortunate. Thankfully, you only need to use her in one stage in the Lost World. Also, if you get hit, release B until you get away from the enemy that hit you. If you try and jump away while holding B Ellie will just try to attack instead.