Donkey Konga
Nintendo
Nintendo Game Cube
The Verdict: Nintendo’s new game controllers and Donkey Kong game prove to be addictive, amusing and all together fun.
3 1/2 stars out of 4 stars
Led by the monstrously popular “Dance Dance Revolution,” interactive music games have become a staple of gaming culture.
So its somewhat surprising that GameCube, a platform distinguished by its excellent party games-“Zelda: Four Swords,” “Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles,” “Mario Kart: Double Dash,” the “Mario Party” series and “Super Smash Brothers Melee”-does not have a DDR game. Nor has it had a good interactive music game-until now.
“Donkey Konga” brings interactive music gaming to the GameCube and brings it with style, substance and … bongos. Gamers become “players” in the musical sense, reading a kind of sheet music off the screen and thumping the game’s specialty controller, the “Donkey Kong Bongos.”
“Donkey Konga” is far from the first Nintendo game offering a unique controller-from R.O.B. the robot through the Power Glove to the Super Scope Six, nearly every generation of Nintendo console has come with specialty controllers. However, none have been quite like the “Donkey Konga” bongos. The bongos have five possible inputs: tapping the left drum, tapping the right drum, tapping both drums, clapping and a start button. The clap is picked up by a microphone within the drums. The input passes through to the GameCube, which produces a sound determined by the gamer’s input and the “instrument” he or she has selected in-game.
While “DDR” and its progeny, including the sing-a-long “Karaoke Revolution,” have long established their place in arcades, bringing life back into a sagging industry, they have also been infiltrating the console market. Home editions of “DDR” (and “Karaoke Revolution”) exist for a variety of systems including Playstation and PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast and even GameBoy Color. Especially when played with a “DDR” pad, a dance mat that acts as a controller, the console “DDR” games are a good way to have fun with friends. Some fans go so far as to organize “DDR” parties.
“Donkey Konga”‘s single player mode is fun and moderately addictive, especially at first. Songs include The Mighty Mighty Bosstone’s “Impression That I Get,” Blink 182’s “All of the Small Things,” mixes of the Mario and Zelda themes, the Kingsmen’s “Louie, Louie” and many others. Four kinds of notes slide across the screen from left to right. Players thump or clap when a note passes through a black outlined circle on the left side of the screen. Tap the right drum for a red circle, the left drum for a yellow circle, both drums for a purple circle and clap for a blue spark. Drum rolls are denoted by stretched notes. The notes correspond to some sort of beat that fits within one of the game’s 33 songs. Each song has three different difficulty levels, ranging from the almost mindlessly easy “Monkey” to “Gorilla” -a level so difficult that only my roommate is anywhere near mastering it.
The game ranks each attempted note as “Great,” “OK,” “Bad” and “Miss” depending on how closely the player hits the note. Great and OK notes are successful taps and increase the player’s completion bar-located in the upper right corner of the screen. Bad notes are unsuccessful taps and Misses are exactly that. Both count against the completion bar. To successfully complete a song, the completion bar must have reach a certain point by the end of that song. Also, successfully completing the song adds to the player’s coins, which are used to unlock new features such as songs, mini-games and new instruments-including the standard bongos, old school NES and Zelda sound effects and effects like “Barnyard Animals” and “Classical Orchestra.”
The game’s basic multiplayer differs from single player in two main ways. Instead of just one, up to four play different play different parts of the song and the bongos suddenly seem laced with cocaine. Adding other players makes an already enjoyable, addictive game so much fun that you will play all night and the next night, too. “Donkey Konga” is undoubtedably a party game. Mixing it with a group of college students results in almost as much music, laughing and dancing as tequila shots. If you have work to do, do not pick up the bongos.
The game also includes a two player battle mode, a slight twist on standard multiplayer where opponents use pow blocks and “Super Mario World” style slot machines to outscore their opponents, and a collection of minigames which can be opened up by spending coins. Don’t waste your coins on the minigames, though. If you need a break from banging the bongos, you’re better off putting in “Smash Brothers Melee” and schooling your friends with “Zelda”-she’s like a ninja.
“Donkey Konga” has broad appeal as few other games do. Easy to learn but hard to master, hard core gamers, casual gamers and videogame hating significant others all become addicted. Nor does it require a musical background. The few play testers who don’t play a musical instrument do just as well as those who do.
The game’s graphics do their job, but fail to exploit the graphics ability of the ‘Cube. They would fit right in with “Donkey Kong Country” for the SNES. Of course, this is a music game, so the lack of eye candy is only a small loss.
Otherwise, the game’s only shortcoming is the limited number of songs. Thirty three is adequate, but more songs would definitely be appreciated. I suspect that Nintendo will start releasing expansion pack style sequels that expand the song selection.
Don’t be fooled by “Donkey Konga”‘s simple appearance-its single player is fun and addictive and its multiplayer deserves its own holiday. Beware, though, uncontrollable laughter and inappropriate bongo beating may result.