As with any Donkey Kong game, part of the fun is collecting different items so you can unlock extras or complete tasks that let you try out secret levels. Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D is no different. In addition to just playing through the game from start to finish, there are many exiting things you can unlock.
Time Attack
After you complete a level, you have the option of playing it again in Time Attack mode. The level is exactly the same—there are no changes. All of the items are still there, and you can still use Diddy Kong when you get the DK Barrel. However, your progress through the level is timed. Right at the level’s beginning, the timer starts.
Rush through the level as quickly as possible. Don’t stop and look for items and don’t worry about bonus areas. The only thing that matters is the time. Your current time is listed in the screen’s bottom-left corner. Above it is the par time. There are three levels of par. The fastest par is gold, followed by silver, and then bronze. At the start, the gold par time is listed above your time. Once your time exceeds the gold par time, the silver par time is listed. The finish line for Time Attack mode is the Slot-Machine Barrel. Get to it as quickly as you can.
You’ll need to use every single trick in the book to move through these levels fast enough to score a gold medal. Roll-jumps are a must, as is extreme jumping precision. Sometimes, you might see what appears to be an obvious point to make a jump, but it would actually be faster to just roll through the area with Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong combined.
After you complete the level, the end screen will show your time and list the three par times. If you came in under a par time, you will receive a medal for that level of par. These medals are then listed in the Time Attack circle on the overview map when you select the levels in which you completed the Time Attack mode.
Temple Levels
When you are playing through the normal levels of the worlds, excluding the boss levels, you can collect the KONG letters. Though they are not always easy to get, you should get them. Once you collect all four letters in every level within a world, you unlock the temple level for that world.
Temple levels are located in temples found in each land. Unlocking them creates a path to the temple so you can access the level. Temple levels are extremely challenging. In many of them, platforms fall away or lava comes up at you; this doesn’t give you much time to think. In addition, there are no checkpoints in temple levels. If you die, you have to start back at the beginning.
While there are no KONG letters in temple levels, each contains five Puzzle Pieces. Collect all of the Puzzle Pieces within a temple level and you can unlock some extras.
The Golden Temple
After you have defeated Tiki Tong in the boss battle at the Volcano, you unlock a new world with nine levels—the Cloud.
When you enter this level, just walk across the grass and head up the temple’s stairs to enter. In order to access the temple itself, you must have completed all eight of the temple levels in the previous worlds. You can then be transported to a dreamlike world.
Expect the hardest challenges the game has to offer. The first eight levels of this world are themed to match one of the eight worlds, right down to the actual appearance of the level as well as the nature of the terrain and enemies you’ll face.
Mirror Mode
After you have completed the Golden Temple level, you can go back and play all of the levels in the game again—in Mirror Mode. Everything in the level is a mirror image of the original level.
Instead of advancing to the right, you now head to the left to complete the level. There are KONG letters and Puzzle Pieces in the mirror level. Puzzle Pieces found during regular gameplay are already counted as collected in the mirrored level. However, if you succeed in collecting all of the KONG letters in a level while playing Mirror Mode, the icon on the world map indicating KONG collection will change blue in color.
As if playing through the level in Mirror Mode was not difficult enough, you have one less heart to your health total. On New mode, this means you can only take two hits. On Original Mode, you can only take a single hit, for a decidedly old-school feeling of crushing disappointment when you fall just a few screens away from the goal. Worse still, you are on your own without Diddy Kong, and he can never be located in any mirror level. You can’t even take any items from your inventory with you on either mode! However, once you complete a level in Mirror Mode, you get a mirror icon on the overview map for that level; this indicates that you’ve completed the Mirror Mode for that level. You also can reserve bragging rights over those who can’t accomplish this.
Extras Galleries
As you collect Puzzle Pieces and beat boss creatures in each of the worlds, you unlock extras that can be viewed in the Extras gallery. There are three types of extras: images, music, and dioramas.
The images contain design art of characters and settings.
There is a diorama for each world that you can unlock. You can rotate and view these 3-D models that represent the enemies and environments of the eight worlds.