I'm no music game aficionado - and I have not weaned myself on DDR - but I can tell you this is a Nintendo product that, while exhibiting the polish and lustre characteristic of their games, is sorely lacking in extended play value. I suppose that replay value has never been the selling point in the formulation of novelty peripherals, back to the days of the Power Glove and Power Pad; but Donkey Konga's deficiencies were not irremediable, and the minute you start taking this game seriously enough to delve into its intricacies and unlock all its goodies, you'll find it a fool's errand.

The biggest problem I have lies with the implementation of the controller. Looking at the Kongas, it seems that there are two buttons per drum head: one near the bottom rim, and one in the center, which would allow for a reasonable approximation of hand drum playing. If these extra two buttons *do* exist on the face of the controller, they are not used. I could not think of a better way to fashion an 'expert' mode than the addition of two buttons into the mix, allowing for some really diverse rhythms and gameplay. Nintendo's ludicrous expert mode demands that you memorize each song in the normal mode; they give you the rhythm without indications of a left, right, center hit, or clap. Regardless of your age, this is a waste of time. Perhaps this provides the illusion of musical 'performances', but they did not do their best here.

It being Nintendo, there should be little doubt that ultimately, this game is designed for kids. At best, their games are truly for 'kids of all ages'; unfortunately, Konga does not offer enough incentive for better/older players to want to unlock its assortment of incentives. The games forces you to spend many of the coins you earn to unlock the 'expert' modes of the 31 songs, which is acceptable. But there are a few problems: one, there is no coin collection in co-op mode (Challenge), which seems counterintuitive; two, the mini-games, which are coin incentives, are terribly disappointing (the psuedo-DK Jr. vine climbing game offers a slight diversion, while the Whack-a-Mole clone has never been fun); three, when you get good enough to start posting high scores on your songs, they omit names from the high score lists, opting for dates. Little inexplicable oversights like these attenuate the thin gameplay further.

The song selection is sufficient, but not at all inspired. You're given alterna-rock standards like The Mighty Mighty Bosstone's 'The Impression That I Get,' Blink 182's 'All the Small Things,' and Devo's 'Whip It'; a few saccharine, glossy remakes of old pop hits; a few classics in the vein of 'Dancin' in the Street' and 'Oye Como Va'; and the occasional oddball (Willie Nelson's 'On the Road Again,' which really works). Truly, some of Nintendo's original music is the most fun: 'Para Los Rumberos,' a latin-inflected original, and the takes on the Zelda and Mario themes are terrific to play. Kids will love the Pokemon and Kirby themes; 'Campfire Medley,' 'Diddie's Ditties,' (both medleys of "timeless" children's songs) and 'Bingo,' however, are outright embarrassing. They're not any more appealing to 5 year-olds than 25 year-olds. Nintendo's rap send-off is an ersatz 'old school' number about 'D-K: Don-key Kong,' done with discomfiting Run DMC panache, while the inclusion of Crystal Method's 'Busy Child' confirms that the song committee is officially living in 1998.

Lastly, could a 'freestyle' mode have been that difficult to program? The orchestral four-player mode is a good time, but a mode that allowed for creativity and some ingenious mode of on-the-fly scoring, given the game's simplicity, does not seem like a stretch. The programmers obviously had an easy time with this one, and the lack of riveting or even attractive options will wear out your initial enthusiasm for banging away on the plastic drums.

Most gamers realize that an average Nintendo product is still going to be streamlined fun. This is an entertaining game to have around at parties or get-togethers, but for the price of two controllers and the game, I expected more (and a more challenging experience). If you have any sense of rhythm, you will fly through DK's challenges. In my limited experience, the venerated 'Samba de Amigo' for Dreamcast has set a standard for peripheral-driven music games that has not been met since.
I'm no music game aficionado - and I have not weaned myself on DDR - but I can tell you this is a Nintendo product that, while exhibiting the polish and lustre characteristic of their games, is sorely lacking in extended play value. I suppose that replay value has never been the selling point in the formulation of novelty peripherals, back to the days of the Power Glove and Power Pad; but Donkey Konga's deficiencies were not irremediable, and the minute you start taking this game seriously enough to delve into its intricacies and unlock all its goodies, you'll find it a fool's errand. The biggest problem I have lies with the implementation of the controller. Looking at the Kongas, it seems that there are two buttons per drum head: one near the bottom rim, and one in the center, which would allow for a reasonable approximation of hand drum playing. If these extra two buttons *do* exist on the face of the controller, they are not used. I could not think of a better way to fashion an 'expert' mode than the addition of two buttons into the mix, allowing for some really diverse rhythms and gameplay. Nintendo's ludicrous expert mode demands that you memorize each song in the normal mode; they give you the rhythm without indications of a left, right, center hit, or clap. Regardless of your age, this is a waste of time. Perhaps this provides the illusion of musical 'performances', but they did not do their best here. It being Nintendo, there should be little doubt that ultimately, this game is designed for kids. At best, their games are truly for 'kids of all ages'; unfortunately, Konga does not offer enough incentive for better/older players to want to unlock its assortment of incentives. The games forces you to spend many of the coins you earn to unlock the 'expert' modes of the 31 songs, which is acceptable. But there are a few problems: one, there is no coin collection in co-op mode (Challenge), which seems counterintuitive; two, the mini-games, which are coin incentives, are terribly disappointing (the psuedo-DK Jr. vine climbing game offers a slight diversion, while the Whack-a-Mole clone has never been fun); three, when you get good enough to start posting high scores on your songs, they omit names from the high score lists, opting for dates. Little inexplicable oversights like these attenuate the thin gameplay further. The song selection is sufficient, but not at all inspired. You're given alterna-rock standards like The Mighty Mighty Bosstone's 'The Impression That I Get,' Blink 182's 'All the Small Things,' and Devo's 'Whip It'; a few saccharine, glossy remakes of old pop hits; a few classics in the vein of 'Dancin' in the Street' and 'Oye Como Va'; and the occasional oddball (Willie Nelson's 'On the Road Again,' which really works). Truly, some of Nintendo's original music is the most fun: 'Para Los Rumberos,' a latin-inflected original, and the takes on the Zelda and Mario themes are terrific to play. Kids will love the Pokemon and Kirby themes; 'Campfire Medley,' 'Diddie's Ditties,' (both medleys of "timeless" children's songs) and 'Bingo,' however, are outright embarrassing. They're not any more appealing to 5 year-olds than 25 year-olds. Nintendo's rap send-off is an ersatz 'old school' number about 'D-K: Don-key Kong,' done with discomfiting Run DMC panache, while the inclusion of Crystal Method's 'Busy Child' confirms that the song committee is officially living in 1998. Lastly, could a 'freestyle' mode have been that difficult to program? The orchestral four-player mode is a good time, but a mode that allowed for creativity and some ingenious mode of on-the-fly scoring, given the game's simplicity, does not seem like a stretch. The programmers obviously had an easy time with this one, and the lack of riveting or even attractive options will wear out your initial enthusiasm for banging away on the plastic drums. Most gamers realize that an average Nintendo product is still going to be streamlined fun. This is an entertaining game to have around at parties or get-togethers, but for the price of two controllers and the game, I expected more (and a more challenging experience). If you have any sense of rhythm, you will fly through DK's challenges. In my limited experience, the venerated 'Samba de Amigo' for Dreamcast has set a standard for peripheral-driven music games that has not been met since.