Ever since we could all remember, arcades have flourished with rhythmic titles such as Japanese-inspired Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Freaks, and Samba De Amigo. The expanding interest of these games by arcade-goers is fascinating, each toppled with tokens by the minute. Do gamers really find games requiring physical exertion that interesting? Do some games require more skill than others, or is it just mere practice and experience? No matter the answer to these questions, it can be proven that the musical game-genre has built up a following, all hardcore in their respective abilities. Just take a long look at Japan; arcades filled to the brim with weird, manually-driven controls. These types of gamers practice daily to become the best, and with the intense level of competition these days of the gaming genre, it’s to no surprise.

Enter Donkey Konga. Our favorite, loud vine-grappler always seemed it was a bongo masher. From its fighting moves in Super Smash Bros. and tendencies in Donkey Kong 64, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Donkey Kong throwing bongos at Mario in the original arcade title instead of barrels. This rhythmic collaboration by Nintendo and Namco is certainly an interesting one, especially with a rather barren amount of American rhythmic games – not counting the massively successful DDR.

Although it’s a tad too early to forecast its success, Donkey Konga is a breathtaking game – a fresh enough distraction towards playing a larger, more complex offering.

Features

• Play with up to four-players along favorite pop-culture hits with the all-new DK Bongo controller.
  
  
• Simple controls of the DK Bongo incorporate drumming and clapping.
  
• Over 30 different songs, all included with musical accompaniment and chorus.
  
  
• Exclusive game-modes including Street Performance, Challenge, Battle, Jam Session, Ape Arcade, and DK Town.
  
  
• Numerous types of in-game Bongos, allowing for different drumming sound-effects.
  
  
• Bongo-controlled DK mini-games.
  
  
• Clear stages to purchase more mini-games, bongos, and song arrangements.
  
  
• Jam Session mode for advanced players.
  
  
• 1 Bongo controller included in game package.
  
  
• Game is able to be played with the standard GameCube controller.
  
  
• Multi-language support

Konga Training
For the unaware, Donkey Konga’s entire game centers its gameplay on musical rhythm and beats. The retail package includes the game itself and a DK bongo, necessary for playing the game to its full potential, but you can still use the standard GameCube controller although awkward. The miniature set of bongo drums are used to match beats for the game’s 30+ musical numbers. There are four different variations of in-game “beats.” The first is a yellow half-circle, which correlates to the left bongo drum. The red half-circle corresponds to the right bongo drum. When the pink “beat” lines itself up to the in-game beat meter used to accurately pat your drums, both bongo drums must be pressed simultaneously. A fully colored bar of the corresponding colors requires, like DDR, the player to rapidly pat that corresponding bongo location. The last control option, seen as a light-blue “explosion/spur” symbol corresponds to the game’s most innovative control, a simple clap. The bongo controller features a small, but very sensitive sound sensor on the top, capable of picking up extremely sharp sounds such as a clap. Ironically, you can even cough, sneeze, or tap your bongo to initiate the “clap”. Either way, each song is varied enough to combine the different colored beats together, implementing rather innovative timings of the “clap” beat.


Single-Player Challenge Mode
Depending on when you strike the controller, you can earn one of the four possible scores: Great, OK, Bad, and Miss. Of course, the in-game interface records each score category during and after the jam session. Soon enough, you’ll find that these records matter quite a bit, when challenging the more difficult songs in the game.

Single Player And Song Selections
Konga sports six different game modes, including “Street Performance,” a single-player mode where gamers simply pick out a song from the selected playlist, then drum away to earn gold coins. Like most games in the musical genre, Konga includes three prodigiously different difficulty settings: Monkey, Chimp, or Gorilla. As the names might suggest, Monkey is the easiest and Gorilla is the hardest setting. The goal during these “stages” is to earn enough points – indicated in a gradually moving meter atop the beats – to complete the stage. Missing beats altogether will cause this meter to drop down and lessen your chances of successfully completing the level.


Song Selection Screen
The other single-player mode within Street Performance include Monkey Jam, Chimp Jam, and Gorilla Jam – only this time, you don’t see any beats at all. This setting is recommended for those fully accustomed to the game already. The only way to complete the Jam difficulties is to master each song in regular mode and memorize all of the notes. Obviously, the addition of the mode by Namco is a test of patience to most.

Although we all know the abilities of those hardcore musical-gamers out there, the Jam mode is very frustrating for most of the casual gaming public. It’s not that all of these songs are difficult to begin with, but rather the fact that a select few of them are difficult – on the Gorilla difficulty setting… extremely difficult. Still, the mode provides enough satisfaction for those patient enough to test its limits.