Donkey Konga (USA)

DK and Diddy are out to see who’s the funkier monkey in this musical adventure!

NA release: 27th September 2004
EU release: N/A
JP release: N/A
Developer: Namco
Publisher: Nintendo
NGC Magazine Score: 88%
Mods Used: None

A Donkey Konga with songs I actually know. The North American release focused much more on popular songs, and features pretty decent covers of the original songs, good enough that you won’t be put off while paying attention to which bongo you need to hit.

I’m not sure if Nintendo managed to figure out a way to make the bongos more precise or if I’m simply much better at the game because I’m more familiar with the signs, but I found it much easier to keep a combo going. On the easier difficulties, at least.

We Will Rock You is probably a great example as to how brutal the game can get. On the higher difficulties it lulls you into a false sense of security for the first verse by following the BOOM BOOM CLAP, BOOM BOOM CLAP before having you follow the rhythm of the vocals for the second half.

There’s a few songs with a bunch of nursery rhymes, which would be good to introduce the game to friends. There’s a really nice mix of songs, and they feel like longer versions than the Japanese game, which is very welcome. The full two verse Pokémon theme song is a highlight.

There’s also a bunch of Minigames such as Whack-a-Mole (with K Rool), a Juggling minigame and one where you have to climb vines. Although in the last one involves alternating drums to climb up and bashing both at the same time to slide down, and it can confuse them both. They’re not really all that

With music I know, I enjoyed Donkey Konga even more, it’s a really fun rhythm game and I could actually perform well at times.

Great

The real joy of Donkey Konga is when you’ve got a gang of people gathered around the telly. In multiplayer mode the songs are arranged so each person gets a different part to play. You’ll do a drum roll, the next person claps, somebody else fills in an eight-note sequence, and pretty soon you and your family or friends are sounding like a tight percussion group.
Martin Kitts, NGC Magazine #99

Remake or remaster?

A collection or combined game would be great.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to get Donkey Konga.