Donkey Kong Jungle Beat

bounces off of without touching the ground. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat is a 2.5D platform game. Like previous Donkey Kong games, the player controls the gorilla Donkey Kong through a series of side-scrolling levels. It features a simple plot: Donkey Kong sets out on a journey to defeat a series of evil kings attempting to conquer the jungle. While it is compatible with a traditional GameCube controller, Jungle Beat is designed for use with the DK Bongos, a controller that resembles a pair of bongo drums and was previously used for the Donkey Konga (2003) music game. Hitting the individual drums causes Donkey Kong to move; the player hits both drums to jump and claps in front of the DK Bongos' built-in microphone to send a shockwave. The player uses these controls to perform backflips, slap the terrain, swing on vines, and jump between walls. As the player starts the game, they select a kingdom to explore; there are 16 kingdoms in total, which become available as the campaign progresses. Each kingdom features three levels: two main platforming stages and one boss fight. Unlike traditional platformers, Jungle Beat contains score-attack elements: the goal is not simply to get to the end of the level, but to get as many points, or "beats", as possible, reminiscent of Yoshi’s Story. Beats are obtained by grabbing bananas, which are scattered throughout levels or can be summoned by defeating enemies and interacting with objects. The player performs combos in midair by grabbing bananas; a counter initiates and rises with each banana acquired before landing. Beats also serve as Donkey Kong's health, as the player loses beats if they are damaged by enemies or hazards. If the beat count reaches zero, the player receives a game over and must restart the kingdom from the beginning. Similar to Donkey Kong Country (1994), certain levels feature rideable animals, each providing a unique attribute: squirrels allow Donkey Kong to glide slowly through the air; wildebeests charge right continuously and plow through objects that provide bananas; orcas carry Donkey Kong through water; and birds allow Donkey Kong to fly. Between most levels, there is a short minigame where the player must tap the bongos as fast as they can to earn extra bananas. The final level of each kingdom contains a boss fight against a large enemy. The game features four types of bosses, each of which must be defeated in a different manner: gorillas must be taken on in a Punch-Out!!-style arena; tanks resembling elephants must be defeated by throwing back bombs that they fire; warthogs must be defeated by throwing coconuts at them; and birds must be defeated by destroying the giant egg they are carrying. At the end of each kingdom, the total sum of beats (after deducting any damage taken during the boss fight) is tallied. The player earns a crest for completing a kingdom, with additional crests earned by obtaining more beats. Crests are required to play new kingdoms, and clearing all the kingdoms in a section unlocks the next set of kingdoms. Players can revisit earlier kingdoms to earn more beats and crests. ==Development==

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat was the debut project of Nintendo EAD Tokyo, a game development division of Japanese video game company Nintendo that was formed in 2003 with a 65-person team. Nintendo started planning to develop a new Donkey Kong game internally when the series' developer Rare was acquired by Microsoft in September 2002, and development began for the GameCube shortly after EAD Tokyo was established in July 2003. Division heads Yoshiaki Koizumi and Takao Shimizu—who had previously led development on Nintendo's Super Mario Sunshine (2002)—respectively served as director and producer. while Sunshine programmer Koichi Hayashida was the assistant director and contributed to some level design. Jungle Beat was the first major Donkey Kong game since Rare's Donkey Kong 64 (1999), The Jungle Beat concept originated at Nintendo EAD's primary office in Kyoto, shortly before staff moved to Tokyo to form the new division, when Donkey Kong creator Shigeru Miyamoto suggested that Koizumi and Shimizu develop a new Donkey Kong game. Koizumi and Shimizu were presented the DK Bongos during a meeting regarding Donkey Konga, and Koizumi conceived the central idea for Jungle Beat upon seeing players' reactions to using them. Koizumi explained to EAD Tokyo that he wanted to prioritize what players would experience over how functional the game would be. He said that Jungle Beat "show[s] how we take experiences with our own families at home, or in places other than work, and bring those experiences back to our work". Koizumi, who had handled character controls and virtual camera systems on previous projects, had been "hearing from many people" that controlling characters in modern games was becoming challenging and harbored a desire to create a game with a simple control scheme that did not rely on a traditional gamepad. The automatic camera also allowed Koizumi to avoid camera problems he found in previous 3D games that he had worked on. EAD Tokyo prioritized simplicity; The developers reflected the simplicity through the story, which only features Donkey Kong trying to be "the best"; they sought to narrate through the gameplay instead. Mahito Yokota composed the soundtrack, his first project as a composer after joining Nintendo in 2003. Like he did on The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2002), sound programmer Masafumi Kawamura attempted to synchronize the music with the gameplay, like when Donkey Kong jumps. Although the game is 2D, Shimizu noted development was still difficult due to technical restraints. EAD Tokyo aimed to release Jungle Beat during Japan's 2004–2005 winter season, which presented a considerable challenge. but was scrapped in the final product. ==Release==

(pictured) in Japan in December 2004 and in the West in early 2005. Nintendo announced Donkey Kong Jungle Beat in May 2004 Nintendo's showing was considered "[b]old, energetic, full of attitude and unexpected surprises", and IGN described Jungle Beat as "[t]he sleeper hit of the show" and wrote that attendees did not want to stop playing its presented demo. It was also showcased at Nintendo World, which took place in five locations across Japan in November. It was released as both a standalone game and a bundle with the DK Bongos. The European version was released on the same day as the Game Boy Advance Donkey Kong game DK: King of Swing. Jungle Beat was released when Donkey Kong had mostly been relegated to spin-offs and supporting roles in other Nintendo franchises, following Microsoft's acquisition of Rare. Jungle Beat did not perform well commercially. MTV opined that Jungle Beat "required a Mario-size leap of faith. It's one thing to ask people to control a tennis game with a controller shaped like a remote control, but to run away from a giant lizard and beat up an evil ape using bongos? It's a hard sell and wasn't a very successful one". The rerelease, New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, was released in Japan on December 11, 2008, as the line's first release. This was followed by a North American release on May 4, 2009, and a European one on June 5. It was also released as a downloadable game on the Wii U's eShop on November 3, 2016. It also replaces the banana-based health meter with a more traditional life system, adds a boss rush mode, and supports widescreen television displays. ==Reception==

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat received "generally favorable" reviews across both its releases. Non video-game publications also praised the GameCube version. The New York Times gave it a favorable review and called it "wildly entertaining". The Sydney Morning Herald gave it four stars out of five, praising the graphics, environments and gameplay, but complained of the game's short length. ==Legacy==

EAD Tokyo went on to develop Super Mario Galaxy (2007) for the Wii, which was acclaimed as one of the greatest video games of all time and became one of the bestselling Wii games. Galaxy refined concepts that EAD Tokyo introduced in Jungle Beat; Koizumi reflected that Jungle Beat provided him with the experience to create engaging gameplay with a simple control scheme in Galaxy. In fact, GamesRadar said that Jungle Beat became more compelling when viewed as a Galaxy prototype, with shared sound effects and a "gleeful turnover of ideas [that] reeks of Galaxy scattershot fun-bursts". Destructoid said the connections between Jungle Beat and Galaxy were obvious when considering Jungle Beat "level of imagination and surrealism... [which] wasn't present in the [Donkey Kong Country] games", while Kotaku noted further parallels between level tropes in Jungle Beat and Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010). After Jungle Beat, the DK Bongos only saw use in two Donkey Konga sequels. Support for Odama (2006) was dropped prior to release, while a planned DK Bongos-controlled racing game, DK Bongo Blast, was released on the Wii as Donkey Kong Barrel Blast in 2007 without support, and between 2005 and 2006, Capcom developed two medal games that were released in Japan as "semi-sequels" to Jungle Beat, respectively named Jungle Fever, and Banana Kingdom. Retrospectively, journalists have cited Jungle Beat as one of the best Donkey Kong games. Jeremy Parish, writing for Polygon, considered it the franchise's best game behind Donkey Kong (1994) for the Game Boy, summarizing it as "a one-of-a-kind thing that really shouldn't work but absolutely does". while Donkey Kong's Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018)—in which he rapidly punches adversaries—is a tribute to Jungle Beat. ==Notes==