This is how all the various sources of DK3 difficulty settings compare to the original manual. The manual itself does not list any factory defaults or recommended settings. In my opinion, discussion regarding DK3 difficulty should use the terminology set out in the original manual. So, the Trifecta settings listed below use that terminology. If there is any confusion, people can come back to this post for reference.
DK3 Arcade Manual | | | DIP SW1 G/H (7/8) | | | MAME (0.221 and earlier) | | | MAME (0.222 and later) | | | Original TG Arcade | | | Original TG MAME | | | RU Score Mode [MAME 0.135] |
Easy (1) | | | OFF-OFF | | | Easy | | | 1 | | | | | | | | | Easy |
(2) | | | ON-OFF | | | Medium | | | 2 | | | | | | Medium | | |
(3) | | | OFF-ON | | | Hard | | | 3 | | | Medium [3] | | | | | | |
Hard (4) | | | ON-ON | | | Hardest | | | 4 | | | | | | | | |
The current requirements for the Trifecta badge are:
1. 1,000,000 on Donkey Kong [3 lives, extra life at 7000]
2. 1,000,000 on Donkey Kong Junior [3 lives, extra life at 10000]
3. 1,000,000 on Donkey Kong 3 [3 lives, extra life at 30000, additional extras every 30000, difficulty 3]
May 2024 UpdateIn the years after this post, there have been a couple changes that should be pointed out:
1) Starting with MAME 0.222, the difficulty settings are now labeled as numbers, in line with the arcade manual.
2) TG instituted the ability for users to create their own tracks, meaning all difficulties/variations of DK3 can now be tracked with user-created rulesets. The settings in the above chart are how the original TG tracks for DK3 were labeled.
I have updated the formatting and content of the original chart to account for these updates and I've also included the actual dipswitch settings for arcade.
