Donkey Kong Jungle Beat Hands-On

Alongside Nintendo's new rhythm game, Donkey Konga, is a new Donkey Kong platformer called Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. The game sets itself apart from the pack almost immediately by making use of the drum controller designed for use with Donkey Konga.

So how do you use a set of drums to control a monkey? No, that isn't the setup for some sort of lewd joke. It's an honest question. The answer? Surprisingly easily, actually. Slapping the right drum makes Donkey Kong run to the right, the left drum makes him run to the left, hitting both makes the simian jump, and clapping makes Donkey Kong clap, which emits a large shock wave that is his main means of interaction with the environment. As a result, clapping will shake bananas from a tree, it'll make fairies bond together to form platforms, it'll make Kong grab onto a nearby bird to catch a lift, and so on.

At the end of the demo on display here at E3 2004, you come into contact with another monkey who wants to throw down. This boils over into a brawl almost immediately, and the way you control these sequences has a sort of "Punch-Out!! Lite" feel to it. Clapping here makes Donkey Kong sway back to dodge incoming punches. Just like in Punch-Out!!, dodging punches leaves your opponent open for a counterattack, and hitting each of the drums throws a punch. You can get punches to roll out insanely fast once you get moving, and the results are pretty crazy.

Sounds pretty crazy, right? Well, the crazy part is how well all of this actually works. Slapping the drums faster makes Donkey Kong move more quickly. Above all, the demo here at E3 shows off a lot of cool, different things to do. If the game can stay innovative and fun from beginning to end, Jungle Beat should be worth your attention when it ships next year.