Hey gamer people! Did you know that today, on March 14th, but 13 years ago (2005), Donkey Kong Jungle Beat was released in North America?
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat is a Gamecube game featuring famous Nintendo’s ape Donkey Kong. It was directed by Yoshiaki Koizumi and produced by Takao Shimizu.
It seemed to be the same platform game where you collect bananas and fight bosses, but that wasn’t the case. Personally, I had a blast playing it because of the innovative gameplay, the main reason for success of this game. I believe Nintendo was trying to reinvent themselves, looking for a way to involve more the player with the game, and created the “DK Bongos” to play this Donkey Kong title.
“DK Bongos” consists on a pair of bongo drums you will be using to control Donkey Kong through the game. If you hit left drum, the ape will move to the left; if you hit right drum, DK moves to the right; when you hit both drums at the same time, DK jumps and when you clap DK claps too. It sounds easy and it is, but the main point is, it is something new.
If you aren’t up to new things, you can use normal gamecube controller, but in that case, this game would be the average platform game. I would recommend you to give it a try, besides, DK bongos are as accurate as a game controller, something that is impressive.
And now that I reflect more on this game, I think that creation of “DK Bongos” were the early steps of Nintendo experimenting with ways to connect and involve the player more with the game that led to the Wii console, released a year and a few months later (November 2006).
Despite being a short game (You can finish it within 4 or 5 hours) the game was well received, people generally described it fun and unique. What about you?