Collection essentials #546: Donkey Kong Jungle Beat with DK Bongos (GC)

British developer Rare had catapulted Nintendo’s Donkey Kong into being an iconic franchise star in the mid-’90s with the release of Donkey Kong Country. And for nearly a decade, Rare was the one generally in charge of making Donkey Kong games, fittingly. However, in 2002, early in the new console generation, Rare was bought out by competitor Microsoft to develop games for their new Xbox. And so, Donkey Kong’s future was in doubt. For a couple years there were no major Donkey Kong titles on the GameCube. 

At the end of 2003, a Donkey Kong rhythm game spinoff called “Donkey Konga” was made with a completely original “DK Bongos” controller, from the same people who made the popular Taiko Drum Master series, featuring similar gameplay. There are several releases of Donkey Konga, officially three games in total but seven in a sense since each release in one of the three major regions has a different song list. I do own some Donkey Konga games, but they aren’t making my list because I haven’t played them a whole lot and I’m not particularly attached to any one of them.

Nintendo decided the DK Bongos controller ought to be used for more than just rhythm games, and so they set out to make an actual platformer with very unique controls. Thus, we got Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, at the end of 2004 in Japan and early the next year in other regions. For better or worse, Jungle Beat does not at all try to be another Donkey Kong Country. Nearly everything about Donkey Kong Country is absent here, aside from it being technically the same genre with the same main character and in a similar setting. Personally, I think Jungle Beat was better off being its own thing.

Jungle Beat is a 2D platformer (with 3D graphics) that involves traversing levels and defeating bosses, progressing through a series of levels until the end of the game. However, this is clearly a “score attack” type of game, designed in a way that you shouldn’t just try to get to the end of the level by any means possible, but rather to accumulate the highest possible score. The main way you gain points is by grabbing bananas, which not only are scattered throughout the levels but also can be found by attacking enemies or in hidden spots. D.K. can clap or pound the ground to easily grab nearby bananas. On top of that, Donkey Kong can earn a lot of bonus points by collecting a lot of bananas in a row before the next time he touches the ground. The levels are designed to make large combos possible, and there are all kinds of ways D.K. can remain in the air, by bouncing off enemies, by jumping off walls, and stuff like that. The game is pretty short, but it’s meant to be replayed in pursuit of high scores to give it more longevity.

Controlling D.K. with the bongos involves tapping on left or right drums to move in that direction, tapping them both to jump (and then ground pound when in mid-air), and clapping to make D.K. clap, as the controller has a sensor to detect the player’s claps. Obviously, it’s going to feel a little weird the first time you play it since it’s so unorthodox. But since this is a game that is designed to be played many times in order to be mastered, that’s totally fine. Players can technically play with a standard GameCube controller, but why would you??

Jungle Beat didn’t sell especially well. I think part of this has to do with the failure of the GameCube as a platform, as by the time the game came out the console was waning from its peak popularity which already wasn’t even that high to begin with. The weird controller probably made some people hesitant to get into it, and I don’t think “score attack” types of games have typically been huge sellers in the West anyway. The game did see a rerelease on Nintendo’s next platform, though, with a variety of changes due to the bongos no longer being used.

I think Jungle Beat is a pretty cool and unique game, and on top of that, it made my list for a couple of nostalgic reasons. For one thing, the copy shown in the photo is one that I won for free from my late friend Brian Castleberry in a giveaway on his YouTube channel. The other reason is because of a particular memory involving my young cousin Chris. By the time he was old enough to go to school, he started coming down the street to my family’s place for a couple hours before one of his parents got home from work. The first time he hung out in my game room, this was the game he played. I’m not sure how I picked it out, but it was probably on my mind since I had just acquired it not long before. But the bongo controls intrigued him and probably seemed a little less intimidating than a controller full of buttons. For quite a while after that, he (and eventually his younger brother Nick) regularly played games in my game room during these times.

To no surprise, the DK Bongos have not seen any support or rerelease to modern platforms. So to truly experience this game as originally intended, you’ll need a system that can play GameCube games and accessories. But perhaps surprisingly, this game and the controller are quite reasonably priced on the secondhand market in modern times, so I’d say it’s probably worth the plunge if you’re curious to try it out. If you ask me, as a neat and unique game helped out by some nostalgic memories, it deserves its place as one of my collection essentials.