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Donkey Konga - Nintendo's Drumming Oddity Analyzed
Thanks to Game Informer for its hands-on look at Nintendo's GameCube rhythm game Donkey Konga, the newly Japanese-released title "that has you pounding on a drum controller to match up with beats on-screen." As well as conga-ing in time to the beat of songs which include "a few classic Nintendo tunes including the Mario Theme, DK Rap from Donkey Kong 64, as well as other western songs like the original Mambo No. 5, and La Bamba", the player has other actions to do: "A special star-like icon indicates that you need to clap your hands together (the conga controller features a nifty sound detection device.)" Lik Sang has a few more pictures, including what's inside the drum controller, and Game Informer conclude by praising the quirky title and musing: "While Nintendo hasn't officially announced it for the US, we've heard rumors that it may appear stateside in the second quarter of 2004."
They have video of it here, and they have an index of their stories about it here (The index also links to screenshots)
...here are the lyrics to the DK Rap.
Goo goo g'joob.
" Am I the only person that thinks "music" and "dancing" games are just not entertaining? "
Probably not.
"On top of that, you don't make any real music or do any real dancing."
Unfortunately, that's the result of making the games much harder. I used to play Beat Mania when it first appeared in the arcades in Japan. The difficulty level was really low, which meant that you could hit notes during the intervals between notes without a score penalty. Most of my gaming ended out being "make a new interesting song by adding lots of embellishments to the core song". Damn fun, and I noticed each person embellished differently so each player made slightly different music. With the newer Bemani's, though, they gave a score penalty to any note struck besides the ones on screen, meaning each player played the exact same song.
There are music games that are entertaining, and that allow for personal expression as opposed to pure Simon Says, but they are getting fewer and farther between.
I am usually a big fan of these kinds of games. I picked up the Taiko no Tatsujin controller set alongside my PS2. I own both versions of Samba de Amigo as well as two pairs of the official maracas controllers. Whenever I'm near a game center, I usually stop in to play through a few songs on Guitar Freaks. And so on.
I had the chance to play Donkey Konga in the store the other day (Nintendo seems to be doing a huge push for this game in Japan--most stores had several pallets of the controllers). I was really not that impressed. I can't really explain why, but it just wasn't as fun as most of those other music games I enjoy. I'm sure the clapping feature would be intersting with two people (the commercials make sure to point out this use), but it wasn't as much fun slapping my hands against the tiny congo controller as it is drumming away on the taiko or shaking the maracas.
Of course, the Gamecube does have a lack of these kinds of games, so maybe it will be a big success for Nintendo. Don't think I'll be buying it though.