Donkey Kong Barrel Blast

Template:Redirectshere Template:Infobox Donkey Kong Barrel Blast (known as Donkey Kong Jet Race in Europe and Australia) is the third game released in the Donkey Kong racing series, after Diddy Kong Racing and its DS remake. It was released for the Wii in mid-late 2007 in Japan and North America and early 2008 in Europe and Australia. Instead of cars, hovercrafts or planes, players utilize rocket-powered bongos. It's the first game in the Donkey Kong Racing series to not be developed by Rare Ltd., as it was developed by Paon, who previously developed DK: King of Swing and later it's sequel DK: Jungle Climber. The game was originally planned for the Nintendo GameCube for use with the DK Bongo Controller. The game incorporates Miis as indicators for records in Time Trials mode.

Gameplay

Donkey Kong racing on Mt Dynamite.

The gameplay is similar to its predecessors, with some changes. Players pick a character with varying stats, strengths and weaknesses and race around an obstacle filled course in an attempt to finish in first place out of eight racers. During a race, players are able to pick up items from Item Balloons and can use them to mess up their rivals progress. Unlike Diddy Kong Racing and its remake, players do not get a specific item if they drive through a specific Item Balloon and items cannot be upgraded by racing through balloons of the same color. Instead, the item system is similar to that of the Mario Kart series prior to that series eighth installment. More powerful items are awarded the further behind a racer is. Players in first place are likely to get either Banana Bunches or Backward Barrels, while those near last place may get a Crystal Coconut, Mega TNT Barrel or Quawks. Players receive a certain amount of points depending on which position they finished a race in. The player with the most amount of points at the end is the winner.

Donkey Kong riding on Enguarde on Salty Sea.

Donkey Kong riding in a Minecart on Scorching Canyon.

Bananas are once again found on the racetracks but they serve a different purpose compared to Diddy Kong Racing. In this game, they are used to fill up a gauge that contains Wild Moves which give players a small speed boost when used that can be extended by repeatedly crashing into barrels, certain enemies like Zingers or other players, making them lose ten bananas. Players are also able to attack obstacles and other players, which will also make them lose ten bananas. The vehicles present in Diddy Kong Racing and its remake are now absent and rocket-powered bongos take their place. The bongos share most of their characteristics with the plane, but they remain in the air at all times and as such are unaffected by the terrain. Players are also able to jump over obstacles with them but they cannot drift. A new addition to this game is the ability to ride a Toboggan, a Minecart as well as Animal Buddies. The former two pits the player in a small bonus game were they can obtain more bananas and use the bonus area as a shortcut, while the latter allows a player to break through obstacles. Several types of barrels are also present, each with a varying purpose. Normal barrels are weak obstacles that are essential to Wild Move combos, Iron Barrels will significantly slow down a player who bumps into them while Barrel Cannons can be used as shortcuts. Three difficulty levels not only control how difficult CPU players will be during a race, but how fast a player will move once they reach their top speed, with Rookie being the slowest, Pro being medium and Expert being the fastest.

Point spreads works identically to Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Kart DS. If two or more human players are playing, only four racers will be present, but the point spread remains the same.

Point Spread Comparisons
1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
10	8	6	4	3	2	1	0

Controls

Navigating menus

Action	Buttons used
Select	/
Confirm
Cancel
Home

Racing

Action	Buttons used
Accelerate	Shake the and
Rocket Start	Shake the and simultaneously as soon as the word "Start" appear on-screen during the countdown
Steer	Shake the to go right and the to go left
Jump	Raise the and simultaneously
Attack	Press
Use item	Press /
Charge a Wild Move	Tilt the in any direction. The charge can be canceled by jumping
Use a Wild Move	Release the
Pause / Resume
Home

Jungle Grand Prix

The cup selection screen.

The main mode in the game. It works just like the Mario Kart series, but some cups have fewer tracks to race on depending on their difficulty level. Also, like Mario Kart Arcade GP, more than one track will take place in a certain area. Three are from the DK Jungle course, three are from the Seaside course, three are from the Mt. Dynamite course, two are from the Desert course, two are from the Snowy Mountain course and two are from the Sky Temple course. Only one racetrack is in a course of its own, which is in outer space. Difficulty selection ranges from Rookie (Beginner in Europe and Australia), to Pro, to Expert, the latter two which must be unlocked before the player can use them. To unlock Pro Difficulty, the player needs to win the Sapphire Cup on Rookie difficulty. To unlock Expert difficulty, the player needs to win the Platinum Cup on Pro difficulty.

Topaz Cup

• 

  DK Jungle
  (DK Jungle course)

• 

  Salty Sea
  (Seaside course)

• 

  Mt. Dynamite
  (Mt. Dynamite course)

Sapphire Cup

• 

  Scorching Canyon
  (Desert course)

• 

  DK Jungle Falls
  (DK Jungle course)

• 

  Shimmering Sea
  (Seaside course)

• 

  Mammoth Glacier
  (Snowy Mountain course)

Diamond Cup

• 

  Open Ocean
  (Seaside course)

• 

  Mt. Dynamite Remix
  (Mt. Dynamite course)

• 

  Parched Palace
  (Desert course)

• 

  Cranky's Temple
  (Sky Temple course)

Platinum Cup

• 

  Dynamite Run
  (Mt. Dynamite course)

• 

  DK Jungle Sunset
  (DK Jungle course)

• 

  Alpine Peak
  (Snowy Mountain course)

• 

  Temple Heights
  (Sky Temple course)

• 

  Cosmic Highway

Selection Cup

The player selects two to five of any of the race courses, but one race course cannot be selected twice. This trophy will not be displayed on the selection screen no matter how many times it is beaten.

Random Cup

The computer randomly picks out five tracks for the player to race on. Like the Selection Cup, the trophy will not be displayed on the selection screen.

The color of the cup will not alter the color of the trophy, but rather the design and size. Like the Mario Kart series, there will be an item displayed on top of the trophy, such as a Banana Fairy on top of the Diamond Cup.

Cup unlocking criteria

Cup	Criteria
Sapphire Cup	Win the Topaz Cup on Rookie difficulty.
Diamond Cup	Win the Sapphire Cup on Rookie difficulty.
Platinum Cup	Win the Diamond Cup on Rookie or Pro difficulty.
Selection Cup	Win the Diamond Cup on Rookie or Pro difficulty.
Random Cup	Win the Selection Cup (any combination can be used).

Other Modes

The selection menu.

• Single Race: Players can choose one racetrack to play on.
• Time Trial: Like the Mario Kart series, Diddy Kong Racing, and its remake, players can choose to race on a single track for the best time, and save ghost data.
• Free Run: Players can choose a course and run it without other competitors, a time limit and a lap limit.
• Cranky's Flight School: The informative part of the game where Cranky gives eight lessons on how to play the game, from accelerating, to using items and Wild Moves.
• Candy's Challenges: In this mode, Candy Kong gives out four sets of eight challenges (a similarity to other games like Mario Kart DS, Mario Strikers Charged, and Super Smash Bros. Melee.) These challenges range from collecting a certain amount of bananas, to winning a race without getting hurt, to completing a race against the clock. Completing all of the challenges will unlock Ultra Barrel DK.
• Records: This is where players can look at records and status in the courses.
• Options: This is where players can turn the items in the game on or off in Single Race and Jungle Grand Prix, change the button settings, the dominant hand to play on (left or right), and check the controls.

Playable Characters

The character select screen.

Including Ultra Barrel DK as a separate character, there are a total of 17 playable characters in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast (consisting of 9 Kong characters (when Ultra Barrel DK is included as a separate character from Donkey Kong) and 8 Kremling characters). Kip, Kass, Kalypso and Kludge make their first appearance in this game. Unlockable characters will appear during a race, but Wrinkly Kong, Cranky Kong and King K. Rool need to be unlocked before they can appear as CPU opponents. Ultra Barrel DK never appears as a CPU opponent even after being unlocked, as he can only be used by human players. It is also not possible for one player to use Ultra Barrel DK while another player uses Donkey Kong or vice versa, due to them sharing the same character slot. If a character hasn't been unlocked yet, a black silhouette of Donkey Kong will take its place with the exception of Ultra Barrel DK. Once he is unlocked, the player will see a small speech bubble when hovering over DK's character slot that explains the buttons that needs to be pressed in order to select him. In order to select Ultra Barrel DK on the character select screen, the player needs to highlight Donkey Kong, hold and press .

Kongs

Character	Name	Attributes	Unlock method	Rival	Stats
	Donkey Kong	The most balanced Kong.	Available by default.	Kritter	Boost	3/5
					Speed	3/5
					Agility	3/5
	Diddy Kong	Sacrifices speed for greater agility.	Available by default.	Kip	Boost	3/5
					Speed	2/5
					Agility	4/5
	Dixie Kong	Minimal speed, but high agility and maxed out boost.	Available by default.	Kass	Boost	5/5
					Speed	1/5
					Agility	4/5
	Lanky Kong	High speed, but low boost and minimal agility.	Win the Topaz Cup with a Kong.	Klump	Boost	2/5
					Speed	4.5/5
					Agility	1/5
	Tiny Kong	Maxed out boost and high speed, but low agility.	Win the Sapphire Cup with a Kong.	Kalypso	Boost	5/5
					Speed	4/5
					Agility	2/5
	Funky Kong	Maxed out speed, but poor agility and boost.	Win the Diamond Cup with a Kong.	Kludge	Boost	1/5
					Speed	5/5
					Agility	1/5
	Wrinkly Kong	Medium boost and speed with maxed out agility.	Win Candy's Challenge 26: Let Wrinkly Kong win!.	Kopter	Boost	3/5
					Speed	3/5
					Agility	5/5
	Cranky Kong	High boost, speed and agility.	Win Candy's Challenge 24: Challenge Cranky!.	King K.Rool	Boost	4/5
					Speed	4/5
					Agility	4/5
	Ultra Barrel DK	All stats are maxed out.	Complete all 32 Candy's Challenges.	None	Boost	5/5
					Speed	5/5
					Agility	5/5

Kremlings

Character	Name	Attributes	Unlock method	Rival	Stats
	Kritter	Shares the same stats as Donkey Kong.	Available by default.	Donkey Kong	Boost	3/5
					Speed	3/5
					Agility	3/5
	Kip	Shares the same stats as Diddy Kong.	Available by default.	Diddy Kong	Boost	3/5
					Speed	2/5
					Agility	4/5
	Kass	Shares the same stats as Dixie Kong.	Available by default.	Dixie Kong	Boost	5/5
					Speed	1/5
					Agility	4/5
	Klump	Shares the same stats as Lanky Kong.	Win Candy's Challenge 16: Beat Klump!.	Lanky Kong	Boost	2/5
					Speed	4.5/5
					Agility	1/5
	Kalypso	Shares the same stats as Tiny Kong.	Win the Sapphire Cup with a Kremling.	Tiny Kong	Boost	5/5
					Speed	4/5
					Agility	2/5
	Kludge	Shares the same stats as Funky Kong.	Win the Diamond Cup with a Kremling.	Funky Kong	Boost	1/5
					Speed	5/5
					Agility	1/5
	Kopter	Shares the same stats as Wrinkly Kong.	Win the Topaz Cup with a Kremling.	Wrinkly Kong	Boost	3/5
					Speed	3/5
					Agility	5/5
	King K. Rool	Shares the same stats as Cranky Kong.	Win Candy's Challenge 31: Showdown vs. King K. Rool.	Cranky Kong	Boost	4/5
					Speed	4/5
					Agility	4/5

Helpers

Image	Name	Description
	Rambi the Rhino	Rambi will bash everything in his path, and players will collect bananas for it. Rambi can be found on the rocky road before the lavafall on Dynamite Run.
File:Enguarde DKBB.png	Enguarde the Swordfish	Like Rambi, Enguarde plows through all sorts of obstacles, and the player collects bananas from them. Enguarde can be found in the underwater portions of Salty Sea and Open Ocean.

In order to hitch a ride on either of them, the player must run into the box on the track with their picture. The box will either stay still or move back and forth in a line for players to catch.

Enemies

These characters act as obstacles and will try to attack racers. Racers will slow down when struck by their attack or by colliding with them directly. A defeated enemy will reward a racer with ten bananas.

Enemies
Enemy	Location	Description
Flipflap	Mt. Dynamite, Scorching Canyon, Mt. Dynamite Remix, Dynamite Run	A bat that flies around in a set pattern. One hit will take it out.
Zinger	DK Jungle, Scorching Canyon, DK Jungle Falls, Cranky's Temple, DK Jungle Sunset	A bee that flies around in a set pattern. Unlike other Donkey Kong games, one hit will defeat them.
Necky	Mt. Dynamite, Cranky's Temple, Temple Heights	A vulture that flies around high in the sky, and will ram into a racer it sees. One hit will defeat it, and they can unintentionally help a racer with Wild Move combos.
Chomps	Salty Sea, Shimmering Sea, Open Ocean	A big shark that is only encountered underwater. They look intimidating, but one hit will defeat it.
Hurley	Salty Sea, Shimmering Sea, Mammoth Glacier, Open Ocean, Alpine Peak	A weird-looking monkey that likes to throw bananas and barrels at the racers. They cannot be defeated, and other Hurleys can also be seen spectating the race.
Lockjaw	DK Jungle Falls, DK Jungle Sunset	A piranha that is only encountered near waterfalls. Regular ones appear in DK Jungle Falls, while electrified variants appear in DK Jungle Sunset. They can both be defeated in one hit, but electrified ones will also slow down racers significantly unless they attacked it while invincible.
Giant Centipede	Scorching Canyon, Parched Palace	A pink centipede that crawls near the finish line after being summoned by touching a specific !-panel. It can't be defeated, only avoided. It will also try to eat the Golden Banana that spawns along with it.
Big Frog	DK Jungle Falls, Mt. Dynamite Remix, Dynamite Run, DK Jungle Sunset	A frog usually found in groups. The green ones in the DK Jungle courses attacks by breathing green bubbles, while red ones found in the Mt Dynamite courses breathe fire. Neither can be defeated.
Cyber Kong	Cosmic Highway	A robotic DK look-alike that shoots lasers. One hit will defeat it. There is also a giant version of this that shoots multiple lasers and homing missiles, and cannot be defeated.

Bananas

The key to winning is collecting bananas to fill the gauge. It takes 50 to fill it and obtain a Wild Move.

Image	Name	Description
	Banana	Worth one banana.
	Banana Bunch	Worth five bananas.
	Golden Banana	Worth 50 bananas. They are not hard to get, just hard to notice.

Items

File:DKBBItemBalloons.png

The item balloons.

Items are obtained by getting "?" balloons on the racetracks. Each type of racer, Kong or Kremling, has their team's color, with the Kong balloons being red and the Kremling balloons being blue. When the racer grabs their team's color of balloon, the effect of what's inside may last longer than if the other team had gotten it. Some Item Ballons will change color after being picked up.

Red Balloon Items

Image	Name	Description
	Prop Monkey	A toy version of Hurley. It flies to the opponent in front of the user and tosses out some of their bananas. If used by a Kong, the effect will last longer.
	Squawks	The green parrot from the Donkey Kong series. He flies to the opponent in front of the user and hovers around them, preventing them from doing Wild Moves. If the player tries to perform a Wild Move, Squawks will attack. This causes the player to lose ten bananas. If used by a Kong, the effect will last longer.
	Quawks	The purple parrot from the Donkey Kong series, now with a name. He'll fly all the way to the player in first place and attack them (however, this can be avoided by jumping before he attacks). If used by a Kong, the player that got hit will also lose all of their bananas.
	Banana Fairy	A glowing banana fairy. When used, it pulls in bananas from around the user that they might not have been able to reach from where they are on the track. If used by a Kong, the effect will last longer. It cannot pull in Golden Bananas.
	Blazing Banana	A banana on fire. When used, the player will put some of the flaming fruit on the track for opponents to run into. This will cause the opponents to lose ten bananas. If used by a Kong, they will leave more of them behind.
	Tasty Melon	It makes players invincible for a while. If used by a Kong, the effect lasts a little longer. Unlike the Crystal Coconut, touching players while invincible won't hurt them.
	Crystal Coconut	The best Kong power-up, using it makes players invincible and have unlimited Wild Moves.

Blue Balloon Items

Image	Name	Description
	Mini-Necky	A miniature version of Necky. It will fly to the opponent behind the user and rams them, making them lose ten bananas. If used by a Kremling, the victim will also lose one Wild Move.
	Whirlwind	A small twister. It takes away bananas from all the racers and gives them to the user. If used by a Kremling, more bananas will be taken.
	Backward Barrel	A barrel that is thrown backwards by the user. It then turns into three barrels for more chances of hitting someone from behind. If used by a Kremling, they will turn into TNT barrels. Neither barrel can be destroyed by attacking it or running into it while using a Wild Move. Both barrels will also make a player lose ten bananas.
	Mini-Zinger	A swarm of small Zingers that, when used, stays on a part of the track. Players that run into the swarm will be attacked, with their speed slowed down. The victim must accelerate to get rid of them. If used by a Kremling, the effect will last longer.
	Pineapple Launcher	A wooden bazooka that shoots homing pineapples. It was originally Chunky Kong's weapon in Donkey Kong 64. Players who use it will shoot a pineapple at the opponent in front of them (but they can dodge it by jumping before it hits them). If used by a Kremling, two pineapples will be shot instead of one. A player that gets hit by one will lose ten bananas.
	Wild Elixer	A strange drink that gives the user an extra Wild Move. If used by a Kremling, it will give two extra Wild Moves.
	Mega TNT Barrel	The best Kremling weapon, using it will drop TNT Barrels on all opponents, making them lose all Wild Moves, get their controls reversed, and not be able to use their items.

Both

Image	Name	Description
	Banana Bunch	A big bunch of bananas that, when used, gives the player 30 bananas.

Barrels

Donkey Kong Barrel Blast features a variety of Barrels.

Image	Name	Description
	Launcher Barrel	A type of Barrel Cannon. Racers that run into this will gets sucked in and shot out at high speed. This is commonly found in all racetracks.
	Spinning Launcher Barrel	A Launcher Barrel that spins around when a racer is in it, then shoots them out at some angle, usually pointing to the next Spinning Launcher Barrel, if there is one.
	Barrel	The most common obstacle of them all. Players can avoid them or jump over them if they wanted. They are easily broken when attacked by a racer (which they will earn five bananas for each crushed), or ran into (which they will earn nothing but a brief drop in speed). Destroyed barrels will regenerate after a while. They are essential for Wild Move combos. Some are also spawned by touching a !-panel.
	Iron Barrel	The second-most common obstacle in the game. Players that run into one will lose speed so they must accelerate quickly to recover. They can only be destroyed if the player is invincible, or is using an Animal Friend. Destroyed Iron Barrels will regenerate after a while. They will give five bananas if destroyed while invincible.
	TNT Barrel	The least-common barrel on racetracks, but the most dangerous. Players that run into one will get blown up, as well as anything close to it. They can only be destroyed safely if the player is invincible and will give five bananas when that happens. Destroyed TNT Barrels will regenerate after a while.
	Barrel Cannon	Like the giant Barrel Cannons from Mario Superstar Baseball, these barrels shoot out smaller, cream-colored barrels that spin around and disappear when they reach the other side of the track. The small barrels can be destroyed like normal barrels and will also give five bananas when doing so. These types of barrels are found in the DK Jungle course and the Sky Temple course.
	Style Barrel	A special red Launcher Barrel. Players that are shot out from one of these start a small game, where they must point the Wii remote a certain direction to have their racer perform stylish moves. The first three correct moves will earn them ten bananas, but getting all four commands right will earn them an additional fifty for a grand total of 80 bananas! This type of barrel is rarely seen, and is found on few tracks.

Gallery

• 

  The game's logo

• 

  The title screen

• DKBBScene.png

  Scene art

• 

  Donkey Kong, Diddy, Dixie, Lanky, Tiny, Funky, a Kritter, Kip, Kass, a Kopter, Kalypso, and Kludge on a size comparison chart.

Pre-release and unused content

Main article: List of Donkey Kong Barrel Blast pre-release and unused content

Staff

Main article: List of Donkey Kong Barrel Blast staff

References to other games

• Donkey Kong: The theme of Cranky's Flight School and parts of Cosmic Highway is a remix of this game's opening.
• Donkey Kong Country: Several enemies from this game return. The theme that plays in Cranky's Flight School is a remix of the music that plays in Cranky's Cabin.
• Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: Lockjaw returns as an enemy.
• Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble: Quawks returns and is named for the first time. Kopter also returns.
• Donkey Kong 64: Lanky Kong and Tiny Kong return. Chunky Kong's Pineapple Launcher, Banana Fairies, Golden Bananas and Crystal Coconuts return as items.
• Diddy Kong Racing DS: Tiny appears in her older teenage redesign which originated from this game.

References in later games

• Mario Kart Wii: Some of Donkey Kong's and Funky Kong's voice clips from Donkey Kong Barrel Blast are reused for this game.
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl: Artwork of Kalypso and a Banana Bunch appear as stickers. Kip, Kass, Kalypso and Kludge also appear as trophies. Additionally, the trophies of Funky Kong, Candy Kong, Lanky Kong, Tiny Kong, Cranky Kong and Kritter mention this game. The theme that plays on the DK Jungle course is available as a music track on Rumble Falls.
• Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: Kritter's trophy description in the North American version mentions his appearance as a playable character in this game.

Reception

Donkey Kong Barrel Blast met with mostly negative reviews for its slow racing, imprecise controls, a lack of online mode, and that the Bongo Controllers were left out of the game even though GameCube controllers are completely compatible with the Wii.

Trivia

• Unlike Diddy Kong Racing, its remake and the Mario Kart series, the music that plays on a race course will not go into a higher tempo once a player reaches the final lap.
• Donkey Kong Barrel Blast has gone through many working titles, such as "DK Bongo Blast" (when it was going to be a GameCube title), "Donkey Jet", and "Donkey Kong Jet".
• While King K. Rool rides in a single barrel, he uses the same bongo controls as the other characters.
• In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the trophy descriptions for the newcomer Kremlings were adjusted in the PAL version so that they describe the characters in general, instead of describing their stats for this game.
• In the official artwork, Dixie Kong is the only character who raises their left hand instead of their right hand.
• This is the first Donkey Kong Racing game that contains the name of Donkey Kong in the title.
  • It is also the first to have Donkey Kong himself as a playable character.

External Links

• Official Japanese Website