Donkey Konga
Template:Infobox Donkey Konga is a Donkey Kong franchise game for the Nintendo GameCube. It was developed by Namco and published by Nintendo, and is the first installment of the Donkey Konga series. Donkey Konga is the first game to specifically utilize the DK Bongos. It eventually spawned two sequels: Donkey Konga 2 and Donkey Konga 3: Tabehōdai! Haru Mogitate 50 Kyoku, with the latter only having a release in Japan.
Story
Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are strolling across a beach and suddenly find a mysterious pair of barrels. DK attempts to open it but is stopped by Diddy, who believes it is a trap from King K. Rool.
Following Diddy's advice, the duo take the barrels to Cranky Kong. Cranky chuckles and explains that they are bongos. DK decides to call them the "DK Bongos", and he plays on them. Diddy comments that DK is bad at the bongos, and he tries the bongos. DK, in turn, laughs and claims that Diddy plays the bongos poorly. He claps, which cause the bongos to glow. Cranky explains that the instrument glows and makes noises from detecting clapping.
In response, Donkey Kong and Diddy perform and clap with the bongos more. After they make a lot of loud noise, DK becomes discouraged and admits that him and Diddy are not good at playing the bongos. Cranky explains that nobody starts out as a professional and that their performance gradually improves from practicing. DK initially mentions his dislike of practicing but suddenly has the idea to become good at the bongos and become famous, which Cranky believes to be a possibility. DK and Diddy daydream and focus on becoming rich and owning lots of bananas. Cranky sighs and reminds them again to practice, which the two head out to do.
Gameplay
The main gameplay is largely identical to the Taiko no Tatsujin games, which were also designed by the same developers. The player has the option to utilize the DK Bongos or a standard GameCube controller. During gameplay, the player controls Donkey Kong, whose goal is to hit scrolling notes, known as beats. They must hit it with accurate timing when it moves under a cursor on the far left. There are four types of beats (red, light blue, yellow, and purple), and are each associated with a different button. A word appears on screen for every passing note, and the displayed word is based on the accuracy of the player hitting the beat. A combo is displayed if the player hits two or more consecutive beats, but it vanishes if the player misses a beat.
Modes
All four gameplay modes (except Challenge) have three levels of difficulty modes, from lowest to highest: Monkey, Chimp, and Gorilla. The second player plays as Diddy Kong in multiplayer modes. Every song has a varying number of beats, which is indicated from the number of barrels next to their titles on the selection menu.
Mode | Description | Players |
---|---|---|
Street Performance |
Based on the concept of street performance, Donkey Kong can perform songs and earn Coins, which he can use to purchase unlockables at DK Town. During gameplay, Donkey Kong earns two coins for every beat that he hits with perfect timing, or one coin for regularly-timed beats. A coin counter appears next to Ellie at the bottom-left with a self-explanatory purpose of keeping count of the number of collected coins.
Additionally, a bar appears at the top-right corner that tracks how many notes the player hit. A "CLEAR" label appears in the center, and it divides the bar into two color-coded segments, red and yellow, which respectively represent poor and good performance. The bar gradually fills up for every note hit by the player, but it contrarily decreases for every missed note. The results are calculated after the song ends; Donkey Kong wins if the bar fills past the Clear label and keeps the Coins that he obtained on the way. If Donkey Kong loses at a challenge, he does not keep the coins. |
1 player |
Challenge |
A mode where the player performs an endless number of songs to see how many they can clear. The song number is displayed on a counter in front of two Steel Kegs | 1-2 players |
Battle |
A multiplayer-only mode where Donkey Kong and Diddy compete in a performance for the highest score. | 2 players |
Jam Session |
In this mode, DK and Diddy can practice their performance on songs. A displayed scoreboard counts by accuracy (Great, OK, and Bad) along with the number of missed beats. | 1-4 players |
Ape Arcade | Here, DK and Diddy can play three unlockable mini-games, 100M Vine Climb, Banana Juggle, and Bash K.Rool. The latter two mini-games also have a competitive 2-player competitive mode. | 1-2 players |
DK Town | Unlike the previous modes, DK Town takes place on the main menu. The player has the ability to purchase unlockables, such as Jam songs, mini-games, and sound sets, view song high scores in the Hall of Records, or change in-game settings from the Electric Hut, which is the Options menu. | 1 player |
DK Town unlockables
This section is under construction. Therefore, please excuse its informal appearance while it is being worked on. We hope to have it completed as soon as possible.
DK Town unlockables | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Monkey Shines | ||||
Item | Cost | In-game description | ||
100M Vine Climb |
4,800 coins | Single player: "Climb vines and collect fruit to set records!" Multiplayer (Vs.): "Climb vines and collect fruit to be the king of the Jungle! | ||
Banana Juggle |
5,800 coins | Single player: "Juggle bananas and set records!" Multiplayer (Vs.): "Compete at juggling! Only one ape can win!" | ||
Bash K.Rool |
5,800 coins | "Slam King K.Rool back into the ground. Go for high scores!" |
Tracks
Donkey Konga features around thirty songs, most of which differ between regional release. Every region has songs that originate from other Nintendo titles along with traditional music, including kids' medleys, pop and classical. Almost every traditional song was made into a shortened cover for the North American release.
Japan
- Advance Adventure (Pokémon Advance Generation opening theme #1)
- Ai no Uta (Pikmin commercial theme song)
- Ashita ga Aru sa
- Ashita he no Tobira (Ainori opening theme)
- Clarinet no Kowashichatta
- Colors - Utada Hikaru
- Desire - Jounetsu - Akina Nakamori
- Donkey Konga (theme song)
- Fly High - Ayumi Hamasaki
- The Galaxy Express 999 (Ginga Tetsudou 999 theme song)
- Hamutarou tottoko Uta (Tottoko Hamutarou opening theme)
- Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G Minor - Johannes Brahms
- Hyokkori Youtan Shima (theme song for the TV show of the same name)
- Kaze no La La La (Detective Conan opening theme)
- Kirby! (Kirby: Right Back at Ya! opening theme #2)
- Koi no Dance Site - Morning Musume
- La Bamba
- Legend of Stafy
- Love Somebody (Odoru Daisōsasen ending theme)
- Mambo No. 5
- Mas Que Nada
- Mata Aeru Hi Made (Doraemon (1979) ending theme #8)
- MiniMoni Janken Pyon! - Minimoni
- Momoiro Kataomoi - Aya Matsuura
- Monkey Rap (Donkey Kong 64 theme song)
- Mori no Kumasan
- Okina Furui Tokei
- Oklahoma Mixer
- Shake - SMAP
- Super Mario Theme (Super Mario Bros. theme song)
- Turkish March - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- We are the One - Bokura wa hitotsu (Bakuryū Sentai Abaranger ending theme) - Akira Kushida
North America
- All The Small Things - blink-182
- Bingo
- Busy Child - The Crystal Method
- Campfire Medley
- Dancing in the Street - Martha and the Vandellas
- Diddy's Ditties (an instrumental cover of Happy Birthday)
- DK Rap
- Donkey Konga Theme
- Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G Minor - Johannes Brahms
- The Impression That I Get - The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones
- I Think I Love You - Kaci
- Kirby: Right Back at Ya!
- The Legend of Zelda Theme
- Like Wow - Leslie Carter
- The Loco-Motion - Kylie Minogue
- Louie Louie - The Kingsmen
- Super Mario Theme
- On the Road Again - Willie Nelson
- Oye Como Va - Santana
- Para Los Rumberos - Tito Puente
- Pokémon Theme
- Right Here, Right Now - Jesus Jones
- Rock Lobster - The B-52's
- Rock This Town - The Stray Cats
- Shining Star - Earth, Wind And Fire
- Sing, Sing, Sing (With A Swing) - Benny Goodman
- Stupid Cupid - Patsy Cline
- Turkish March
- We Will Rock You - Queen
- What I Like About You - The Romantics
- Whip It - Devo
- Wild Thing - The Troggs
- You Can't Hurry Love - The Supremes
Europe
- 99 Red Balloons - Nena
- All The Small Things - blink-182
- Alright - Supergrass
- Back for Good - Take That
- Busy Child - The Crystal Method
- Canned Heat - Jamiroquai
- Cosmic Girl - Jamiroquai
- Dancing in the Street - Martha and the Vandellas
- DK Rap
- Donkey Konga Theme
- Donkey Kong Country Theme
- Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
- Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G Minor - Johannes Brahms
- The Impression That I Get - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
- I Want You Back - Jackson 5
- Lady Marmalade - Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa and P!nk
- The Legend of Zelda Theme
- The Loco-Motion - Kylie Minogue
- Louie Louie - The Kingsmen
- Mario Bros. Theme
- Oye Como Va - Santana
- Para Los Rumberos - Tito Puente
- Turkish March
- Rainbow Cruise
- Richard III - Supergrass
- September - Earth, Wind & Fire
- Sing, Sing, Sing (With A Swing) - Benny Goodman
- Super Smash Bros. Melee Opening
- Tubthumping - Chumbawamba
- Wild Thing - The Troggs
- You Can't Hurry Love - The Supremes
Regional differences
Aside from a different set of songs, Donkey Konga's North American logo is different from the European and Japanese logo. This change is reflected both in-game and on each region's box cover. The Japanese logo has a subtitle, which western versions do not have.
Every title screen depicts a scene of the beach, but the North American one displays a different scene from the European and Japanese versions. The latter two depict a straight view of the beach, which is partially obscured by the game's logo. The North American title screen shows Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong partying at the shore, complete with a pair of bongos and a boombox in the scene.
The logo on the GameCube menu banner is also different between regions.
The Japanese version has a start-up warning advising players to be aware of vibrations, the sound and how much time they play. This warning was removed in the North American and European releases, which do not have any start-up warning. A health and safety warning was later incorporated into every regional release of Donkey Konga 2.
Staff
- Main article: List of Donkey Konga staff
Gallery
- For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Donkey Konga.
- Logo DKonga.png
Logo
Media
It has been suggested that audio and/or video file(s) related to this section be uploaded. Please upload all related music, sound effects, voice clips, or any videos for this section. See the help page for information on how to get started. |
References to other games
- Donkey Kong - When choosing whether to display the screen in 50Hz or 60Hz, Mario (as he appears in Donkey Kong) acts as a cursor and Donkey Kong stands to the left (also as he appears in Donkey Kong).
- Donkey Kong 64 - Donkey Kong, during the "K. Rool Bash" mini-game, can be heard saying "Hey!", "Cool!", and "Yeah!" throughout. Also, the Melee version of the DK Rap appears in the game.
- Super Smash Bros. Melee - The tracks "Rainbow Cruise," "Super Smash Bros. Melee Opening," and "DK Rap" are taken from this game.
- Super Mario Bros. - The track "Mario Bros. Theme" is a remix of a track from this game.
- Donkey Kong Country - The track "Donkey Kong Country Theme" is a remix of a track from this game.
- The Legend of Zelda series - The Legend of Zelda Theme is featured on the North American, European and Australian versions of the game.
- Kirby: Right Back at Ya! - The Japanese and North American releases both include the anime's theme song.
- Pokémon (anime) - The North American release includes the anime's theme song.
Names in other languages
Language | Name | Meaning |
---|---|---|
Japanese | ドンキーコンガ Donkī Konga |
Donkey Konga |