Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
Developer	Nintendo EAD
Publisher	Nintendo
System	Nintendo Gamecube, Wii, Wii U
Release Date	Gamecube JP December 16, 2004 EU February 4, 2005 US March 14, 2005 Wii JP December 11, 2008 US May 4, 2009 EU June 2009 Wii U US November 3, 2016 PAL December 1, 2016 JP June 21, 2017
Gallery	GH Gallery
Rating	ESRB: E

Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat is an action game for the Nintendo Gamecube. It was the first Donkey Kong adventure to be made since the release of Donkey Kong 64 and the departure of Rareware. This game takes the series in a different direction, omitting many of the familiar characters, enemies and other gameplay elements from the Donkey Kong Country series in favor of a new adventure starring just Donkey Kong himself.

Story

The game is intentionally left without a concrete storyline. What can be gleaned from the game suggests that Donkey Kong, on the behalf of the little white monkeys seen frequently in the game, is liberating several different kingdoms from evil Kongs and other monsters.

Gameplay

Unique to this game is the fact the game is controlled by the bongos, a peripheral for the Gamecube that was previously used only for the Donkey Konga series. Although a controversial 'gimmick' to the game, it provides a unique way to play using the palms of one's hands rather than one's fingers. The result is a much more agile Donkey Kong as he swings from vines, performs wall jumps, and racks up huge combos to earn big bananas.

The game pits DK against a variety of bosses. There are only five basic boss types which are repeated in different, more difficult forms. What makes the bosses stand out are the four Kong bosses in each different 'world'. With the exception of Manky Kong, there has never been evil Kongs in the series. Unlike the other boss battles, the Kong battles are brutal slugfests where Donkey Kong and his opponent trade punches until one of the two goes down.

Legacy

Sequels

Although no sequels have been released to this particular game for Nintendo systems, two Japanese-only arcade games were released that feature characters from Jungle Beat. These games, Donkey Kong: Jungle Fever and Donkey Kong: Banana Kingdom were both developed by Capcom.

The next Donkey Kong adventure to be released would be DK: King of Swing for the Nintendo DS, which brings back some of the Donkey Kong Country characters and features a different gameplay style.

Ports and Remakes

• It was remade for the Nintendo Wii as the first of the "Play on the Wii" remake series in 2008. Like all games in this series, the only changes are in the controls which are altered to use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controller. This version was later released for download through the Wii U's eShop in 2016.