Apparently Mario and Luigi took the money they made from clearing out the mutants from the pipes (being plumbers and all)
and got a Steve Austin bionic makeover. It always messes with me when I play one of the later games, then play DK and 'what? Mario died after a 1/2inch fall? Oh yeah..'
In my opine, DK3 is the 'what the #$* were they thinking?' game. Disinfect Kong's nether regions as a game?
Poor old Rodney the bug killer didn't quite do as good as Mario as a franchise..
That said, I have a DK3 bezel I'd be glad to trade for a DK jr. one.