Donkey Konga Review

I first got my hands on the game yesterday in the early afternoon. I played it extensively for the rest of the day and night both single player and with friends. Before getting the actual game, I played the demo at my local Gamestop every free chance I got. I knew it was going to be an addicting game even before I played it. The moment I saw and laid my hands on the bongos, I fell in love (just don’t tell my girlfriend that). My friends and I have been preparing for the release of Donkey Konga for some time now. We even have a 5 + person party planned for sometime this week, most likely Friday. I already have an extra set of bongos, ready to be used. I am all set if someone decides or forgets to pick up their copy before the end of the week.

Donkey Konga has a total of 33 songs including, “All the Small Things,” “Whip It,” “We Will Rock You,” and “What I like About You.” Since it’s a Nintendo game, Namco threw a few Nintendo themes into the mix. Only 6 made it into the game (Pokemon Theme, Kirby Right Back at Ya, DK Rap, The Legend of Zelda Theme, Mario Bros. Theme, and Donkey Konga Theme). Half of the songs should have been Nintendo themes. I would have liked to see the Pikmin Theme, Kirby’s Dreamland, or even the StarFox Theme.

• 5 different game modes
• 3 difficulty settings
• 1-4 player support
• Bongo support

Now those that whined and complained about buying an extra set of bongos for friends, have no fear. The game supports using the GameCube controller, in place of the bongos. I still don’t see the point of using the regular controller as it only takes away from the experience. Why bother playing a music game revolving around bongos and just not use the bongos.

Controls for GC Controller:

• Yellow: Control Stick
• Red: A, B, X, Y, or C-Stick
• Pink: Yellow + Red
• Blue: L, R, or Z Blue: Clap

Controls for Bongos:

• Yellow: Left Bongo
• Red: Right Bongo
• Pink: Both Bongos
• Blue: Clap

As you know one doesn’t need to clap, but simply tap the side of the bongo, yell, whistle, or snap a finger. In the options, it lets you determine how loud the “clap” has to be, to be picked up by the microphone. As I said, playing with the GC controller doesn’t give the full effect as with the bongo. Go out and pickup an extra set for a friend or make him/her pay for it.

Beats fly across the screen as you try to hit the correct bongo when the beat appears over the circle on the left side of the screen. Sound simple enough? As the beats are played, it grades on how accurate they are. The grades are great, if it’s dead-on, Ok if it just makes it, bad if it just misses, and miss, if you hit the wrong bongo or if nothing is hit at all. Combos are earned for getting consecutive greats and Oks. Miss or get a bad, and say good-bye to that 135 point combo.

The monkey difficulty is extremely easy, if one played the game before or has half a brain. Songs on this difficulty pose no real challenge, and have the fewest number of beats. Next, is Chimp and this is where the game starts to pick up. On this difficulty one will start to panic if even one beat is missed. Miss a beat and everything comes crumbling down. After some practice, you’ll begin to master Chimp, and that’s when it is time to move on to Gorilla. If you panicked through Chimp get ready for a real challenge. One mistake and you’ll be in the corner of the room rolled up in a ball sucking your thumb. Be prepared to get whipped by a good majority of the songs on your first few runs through them. Start adding 2-4 players into the mix and the entertainment will last for hours. I recommend playing with 2-4 players as single player gets stale after a while once you unlock everything and master the songs. Donkey Konga contains 3 mini-games to play. It’s a nice break from the main game, and will keep you entertained. The hardest mode is the Jam mode in which the beats that need to be played isn’t shown. It is designed to see what you remember and is hard as all hell.

The graphics are no doubtable the weakest part of the game. It’s a music game, so why would one expect mind-blowing visuals? The characters on the side of the screen appear to be a low-polygon model with nothing special about them. Backgrounds themselves are noticeable blurry and low-res. These things are noticed before the songs starts, but once it does start, the focus is on the music and the notes. There are a few nice touches however. When you complete a drum roll, flowers, balloons etc. fly across the screen.

The songs themselves are very well done. None of the songs sound compressed at all. All the songs are clean and crisp. None of the songs are done by the original artists, but it doesn’t degrade any of the songs. They sound just as good as the original ones. Other than the music, the bongos have their own specific sound. These sounds can be changed with different sound sets that can be unlocked with a certain number of coins that is earned. The one I like the most is the “Whip It” set. Use that while playing the “Whip It” song and you’ll be laughing through the entire song. The bongos sound like a whip and for the clap, it’s a guy yelling.

Donkey Konga is a great game to pick up. It may get old once you know each song by heart, but once you start adding 2 or more people to the mix it becomes fresh and new. Every time you play with a friend the experience changes. Over 10 sets of sounds for the bongos to unlock, all of the gorilla songs, plus the mini-games all need to be unlocked. Getting enough coins to unlock them all will keep you coming back to the single player mode.