Stage 3-A: Rickety Rafters — Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze eGuide

Stage Basics

To reach the end of this stage, you must manipulate the platforms scattered throughout the map. Many of the mechanisms are triggered by your weight. Whenever you cling to a vine or stand on a pressure plate, it causes at least one nearby platform to move. The map also contains several circular targets. When you spot one of these objects, hit it with a dazed enemy or a water fruit to produce a similar effect. Most platforms return to their starting positions soon after the corresponding switch is triggered, so plan your route accordingly.

When you reach the platform at point 1, stand on the loose panel and perform a Ground Pound to drop into a bonus room.

Once you enter the bonus room, you have 30 seconds to collect all of the available bananas. Each platform in this room slides in and out of the wall at regular intervals. Time each jump so that you leave a platform as it vanishes and land on a nearby platform as it appears. If you collect all of the bananas within the time limit, a Puzzle Piece appears near the center of the area.

The first KONG Letter is floating at point 2. As you ride the platform into this area, look for the Swooper Dooper flying back and forth above the ground. As the enemy approaches, bop it and bounce up through the K.

Cling to the vine at point 3 to retract some of the nearby spikes, then look for the Barrel Cannon poking out from behind the leaves along the bottom of the screen. Jump down into the Barrel Cannon to collect a hidden Puzzle Piece as you launch yourself back up to the main path.

The second KONG Letter hovers at point 4. Before you hop down to the water fruits, bop the nearby Hootz and bounce through the O.

Smash the crate at point 5 to reveal a pile of water fruits, then toss them at the enemies to the right. When the area is clear, throw a water fruit at the nearby target to reveal a vine. Cling to the vine, then collect the bananas that appear. If you grab all of the bananas before they vanish, you’ll be rewarded with a nice assortment of useful objects.

Cling to the grassy surface at point 6, then climb up to the area above you.

Leap over to the nearby vine and drop a small enclosure into the area, then hop into the enclosure to reveal a hidden Puzzle Piece.

After you hop into the Barrel Cannon at point 7, look for the KONG Letter floating to the right. Watch the nearby Swooper Dooper fly back and forth beneath the trail of bananas until you get a sense of its timing. Launch yourself out of the Barrel Cannon and through the bananas, then bop the Swooper Dooper and bounce up to the N.

The leaves at point 8 hide a small vine. After you launch yourself from the nearby Barrel Cannon, grab onto the vine to reveal the Puzzle Piece beneath you.

The last KONG Letter hovers at point 9. As you ride into the area, drop from the platform to avoid the Blue Hootzes blocking your path, then dash to the right and use the vine to meet the platform at the end of its track. Hop over and grab the G before the platform moves out of position.

Before you exit the stage, roll through the brown grass near the Slot Machine Barrel to reveal a Puzzle Piece.