All-you-can-eat 50 freshly picked songs this spring!
- JP release: 17th March 2005
- EU release: N/A
- NA release: N/A
- Developer: Namco
- Publisher: Nintendo
- NGC Magazine Score: 80%
- Mods Used: None
While Europe and North America only got two Donkey Konga games, Japan got three. This third one focuses more on multiplayer and community, with the introduction of “synchronised notes”, which award the group bonus points as long as they all bash or clap at the exact same time. You all get to work together to get more rewards, which is done via a tree minigame.
Playing music will let a banana tree grow, and once there are enough bananas on the tree, you can watch a little comic strip then play a minigame to harvest them for rewards. This is in place of the usual little collection of minigames, so you can’t just pick a game and play against each other.
This has a similar selection of songs as the previous Japanese Donkey Konga games, with lots of J-Pop and anime themes, with some nursery rhymes and classical music (this time a lot more funky). There’s a selection of gaming music – including the funky Mona Pizza from WarioWare, a Star Fox theme and the Smash Bros. Melee opening and even a track from Namco’s Katamari Damacy – a shame they never released the game itself on GameCube.
There’s also a separate mode featuring music from Famicom Games, there’s a bunch to unlock from various Nintendo and Namco franchises – Super Mario Bros, Balloon Fight, Mappy, Pac-Man, Zelda, Kirby, Dig Dug and so on. This mode is pretty brutal in its difficulty, so unlocking them all is a massive challenge.
There’s also a free jam mode, which is very underwhelming. You just bash the photo and various pictures of Kongs and other Donkey Kong assets will pop up on screen, no building your own session or anything like that. Just a little something to play with.
Fun
Each person gets a different part of the rhythm to play, and as long as nobody is so bad as to bongo completely out of sync with the others (which maybe rules out grans and toddlers, actually) it sounds almost like a proper percussion band playing in your living room. Playing obscure J-pop anime theme tunes.
Martin Kitts, NGC Magazine #107
Remake or remaster?
A new Donkey Konga with Nintendo/classical tunes would be good.
Official Ways to get the game
There’s no official way to buy Donkey Konga 3.
Europe
Japan
North America
GameCube Games by Date
2002: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2003: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2004: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2005: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2006: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
