Donkey Konga is a quirky and surprisingly fun rhythm game that trades traditional buttons for a set of bongo controllers. You'll drum, clap, and smash your way through a diverse tracklist ranging from pop hits to classical remixes. While its single-player appeal is limited, Donkey Konga shines as a chaotic and hilarious party game, especially with multiple players each equipped with their own bongos. Its unique premise and infectious energy makes it an unforgettable GameCube gem, even if it might not be your everyday go-to game.

One of my biggest second-hand gaming deals came from a garage sale. A lady was selling some games from her son who was in university at the time and got some really bad grades, apparently. This resulted in me getting The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker, this game, and two sets of Bongo controllers for $5. Not $5 each, $5 total.

I grew up with this game and enjoyed it very much, the bongo controllers are very fun to play with and this was always a great multiplayer game. However, when I brought it to my college dorm years later and played it more, I realized how many of the songs were simply nursery rhymes, or had really simple charts. I do like this game and the concept but, I think the sequels might have a better selection of tracks and would be more worth playing. That said, the Pokémon theme and Rock Lobster were always fun to play.

This is an early impressions review of a game I plan to come back to way down the line, but I tried a European copy of the game and a Japanese copy just because I got some actual DK Bongos in the mail as a gift.

It's Donkey Kong-themed Taiko, with an occasional "clap" input instead of just left, right, and both. Maybe placebo effect, but I felt as though my clap inputs were not accurate/not read well in the Japanese version, and were being read better on the European one. Considering the one song I played on the European version was way harder than any of the several tracks I tried from the Japanese version, and had several clap inputs inbetween actual notes, I'm thankful it reads my inputs better.

Regardless of how well the game detects the clapping, I feel like it's really flimsy whether or not it hears your clap at all, and another button would've been better. For most of the Japanese version tracks, you can get away with slapping the microphone between the two bongos as if it were a button and it's reliable.

Every region comes with its own track list. For Japan, they have some nice pop songs in there (as a KH fan, I love Hikaru Utada, so I was pleasantly surprised to see Colors on the track list), some anime openings like Kirby and Detective Conan, and they have the ED to Abaranger. The funniest this version gets is having Mambo No. 5 in it.

This is what the European version has, and I think I like this better just for the pure absurdity:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCJDXPv8oGk

Oh, also the European version has a 50 Hz and 60 Hz option on boot-up for people who don't play the game with PAL TVs, which was appreciated.

As a hardcore rhythm game enthusiast I can safely say that Donkey Konga is probably the worst rhythm game I have ever played in my life. Despite being based on Taiko No Tatsujin it has none of that games production value.

Notes scoll past the hitbox even when you hit them, full combos aren't acknowledged by the game seemingly at all (you just get a gold DK icon if the bar is full at the end, silver if not), the music consists mostly of low quality covers of songs for Grandad and any hit sound that isn't default bongos is like having nails shoved in your ears

I thought for the longest time that Museca was the worst rhythm game ever made but I had no idea Donkey Konga was this miserable