Donkey Konga 2: Hit Song Parade! is a quirky rhythm game that turns bongos into your controller. It offers a mix of J-Pop, anime themes, and classic Nintendo tunes to drum alongside. While its tracklist might feel niche for some, the core gameplay is undeniably fun and surprisingly challenging. Donkey Konga 2 adds mini-games and more difficulty levels for those seeking mastery. However, if you aren't a fan of the song selection or repetitive rhythm game mechanics, this sequel might not hold your attention for long.

Once again, it's donkey konga, and once again, the setlist is entirely different depending on which region you play.

Like the first game, this games JPN setlist is very taiko-adjacent, though it's even more prevalent here. I guess it's comparable to the jump between taiko PS2 3 and taiko PS2 4. Things are properly sorted by genre, and there's all the taiko tropes. J-pop, anime, games, classical, misc, the works. The setlist does include odoru ponpokorin in it so it gets bonus points, and the beatmaps are rather balanced and manageable. It's a comfortable experience through and through, but you will still need to grind a crapton of coins if you want to unlock the hard difficulties for every song. This version also for some reason has the blind performance mode from the first game back in here as the full tamashii gauge bonus rather than the randomized ura-esque charts that you get for doing that in the other versions which is weird. I genuinely don't know who plays so much donkey konga that they memorize the beatmaps, but I salute any that have.