Donkey Konga

In the past, video games requiring any kind of physical exertion have either tanked or sold remarkably well. Just look at Alpine Racer and Top Skater. Both games siphoned mounds of quarters from the pockets of hapless gamers. But for some of the best examples, take a look at Japan. Its arcades brim with all manners of manual oddities.

Just look at Taiko no Tatsujin (Taiko Drum Master,) where players bang away at large drums to popular tunes. Better still, look at Inu no Osanpo (Walk the Dog,) a dog walking "simulator" combining a treadmill and fake puppy. Where does this place Donkey Konga? Well, this rhythmic collaboration from Nintendo and Namco fits in the slot currently occupied solely by Konami's Dance Dance Revolution series. Both titles look as though they barely escaped the clutches of a Japanese arcade.

No one could have predicted the success of the DDR series in the US. And while Donkey Konga may not achieve the same level of success, either critically or commercially, one thing's for sure: Konga delivers the goods. It may be simple. It may be short. But what it lacks in "extras" and depth it makes up in pure fun.

For the uninitiated (or just plain curious), Konga bases its gameplay on rhythm. The game package comes packed with a controller resembling a miniature set of bongo drums. Essentially, players need to match the beats displayed on-screen for each of the game's 30+ musical numbers. Konga represents each on-screen "beat" as either a red half-circle, correlating with the right bongo or yellow half-circle, which correlates with the left bongo.

A pink full-circle requires you to beat both drums simultaneously. A colored bar (pink, red or yellow) calls for rapid tapping of the appropriate bongo. The last control option, represented by a light-blue explosion symbol, means a player will need to clap. The controller features a small sensor on the top, capable of picking up sharp sounds. Of course, snapping, coughing or tapping the sides of the controller register as "clapping." And that's it regarding control. Depending on what time you strike the controller, you earn one of four possible scores: Bad, Great, Miss or Ok. The interface records each "hit" on the top of the screen.

A collection of such beats make up any given song, with a number of selections achieving more than 200 beats. While that may sound pretty arbitrary, it makes the game wildly difficult during later levels, where gamers need to memorize notes to clear given stages. Absolute madness. But we'll save all that brain-heavy stuff for a little later in the review.

The Facts

• Play along with your favorite tunes using the all-new DK Bongo controller.
• Over 30 songs, ranging from classic Nintendo tunes to popculture hits.
• Simple controls incorporate drumming and clapping.
• Connect up to four DK Bongos for multiplayer jam sessions.
• Clear stages to purchase several mini-games and song arrangements.
• Memorize notes and play the game in special "jam" sessions for advanced players.
• 1 Bongo Controller included in game package.

We'll stick with the simple stuff for now. Konga splits into six basic game modes, the most basic of which is "Street Performance," where gamers simply pick a song and drum away to earn gold coins. This mode breaks into two different sub-categories: one letting you choose difficulty by selecting Monkey, Chimp or Gorilla, with Monkey being the easiest and Gorilla being the hardest. The other mode contains Monkey Jam, Chimp Jam and Gorilla Jam. These "Jam" modes feature the same songs as in the regular modes, only in Jam you don't see any beats.