wow...When Rare was relevant!  Man, I love this game to death.  I always remember the Christmas morning when I got this, stayed up waaay too late playing, really love it.  But this game seems to get a lot of flack from the youtube "gaming community."  I see a lot of people calling it "childish" or weak compared to the first two.  A big problem according to people are the main characters, Kiddy & Dixie.  They say "oh kiddy's too slow and looks too childish."  First off, Kiddy controls EXACTLY to DK in the first DKC.  He's a heavy weight, moves a bit slower...but he can take out the larger enemies with a lot less effort.  And Dixie was in DKC2, we all seemed to love her there...  And as far as the "childish" aspect goes, the whole DKC series was always very youngin' friendly.  This isn't "Yoshi's Story" (N64) by ANY means!!  This game has a lot of challenge and only improves upon 1&2.  The controls and gameplay are basically the same, only with added mechanics.  My only complaint is the music on occasion isn't quite as memorable....but that's just my opinion.  it still has GREAT GREAT original tunes.  Otherwise, DKC3 holds the high standard.  Anyone who played 1&2, PLEASE!  If you haven't, play DKC3!!  And good luck completing this 100%.  A very challenging feat.