Games for Lunch: New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat

In a nutshell: A game designed for a bongo controller minus the bongo controller = just a game.
7/6/2009 1:43 PM | 1 Comments | Page 2 of 3

0:18 Level 2 ends with 209 more bananas in my collection, thanks to some nice midair combos if I do say so myself, and I do.

0:19 The boss battle against the dreadlocked "Dread Kong" plays out like a super-simplified version of Punch Out!! -- tap Z to dodge, then beat on the controllers to attack. He doesn't touch me once. My 533 total bananas gets me two of three silver crests. Ho hum.

0:23 Orange Kingdom time. I start out riding a bull across a frozen tundra. OBVIOUSLY! Jumping for bananas, getting some large-ish combos, clapping to collect stuff, clapping to destroy snow boulders in front of me, etc. The level ends with a big ski-jump-type thing, requiring some controller shaking to keep me hovering longer. My arms are already getting a little tired, but that's only because I'm a weakling.

0:25 Oh HO! The air-grab move IS in this version, too ... I just have to tap A instead of shaking the Remote. Who knew?

0:26 Wow ... I got a 5x combo going for a while there, taking it into a banana-filled floating section. On landing, I earn 163 extra bananas for my midair prowess. Yowza!

0:28 530 bananas in the second Orange Kingdom level. Y'know, I'd really love to see a tool-assisted-speedrun perfect play of this game. I think it'd be entertaining.

0:30 A big, colorful hawk with a huge black egg in its talons is the second boss. I jump and swing to grab the egg with both hands, then swing the controller to head-butt it repeatedly as I slide down. Love it! I get hit frequently by the hawk's glowing feather projectiles as I go in for the attack. By the time I've saved the Orange Kingdom I've lost 600 bananas to his (her?) assault. The 345 bananas I'm left with are still enough for one crest, at least.

0:34 I do an almost continuous combo through the entirety of the Watermelon Kingdom's first stage, marred only by an accidental landing in the middle. Without that, my 505 bananas would easily be above 800. This is the kind of game you need to play a few times to perfect.

0:39 Level 2 introduces those annoying sparks from Donkey Kong Jr. (you know the ones) that seem quite indestructible. Also, I keep mixing up which actions are performed by shaking and which are done with the A button. Sometimes when I hit the A button I accidentally shake the controller, too. Touchy!

0:42 I'm getting a little tired of the constant controller-shaking, I have to admit. I think I liked the bongos better... at least then there was something tactile to hit instead of just vibrating my wrists.

0:44 The final battle with Rogue Hog is pretty easy ... I just knock the electrified coconuts up and forward with a couple of shakes, then do MORE controller shaking and he's down quickly. Yawn.

0:47 I get greedy trying to grab some banana bunches near a few sparks, earning me my first death. Luckily I've already collected like a BAZILLION 1-ups, so it's no biggie.

0:51 It takes a real manly game to be secure enough in its masculinity to include collectible paths of sparkly posies.