For their third Donkey Kong outing, designer Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo went in a totally different direction, removing Mario from the equation entirely (he was off chasing pests with Luigi in New York, apparently) and replacing him with Stanley, a gardener trying to protect his precious plants from an onslaught of bugs. The gameplay took another left turn as well, combining platform elements like the previous games with shooter action vaguely reminiscent of a slow-motion Galaga or Centipede. Pushing Donkey Kong far enough toward the top of the screen causes him to drop a super spray canister that makes Stanley's bug sprayer far more powerful, making it easy to complete the level and helping make Donkey Kong 3 one of the more accessible games of the series.

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