Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber

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Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber
DK-Jungle-Climber-Logo.jpg
Studio Paon
Publisher Nintendo
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 JapanJapanAugust 9, 2007 September 10, 2007 October 12, 2007
North AmericaNorth America
EuropeEurope
platform Nintendo DS
genre Action
Game mode Single player , multiplayer
Age rating
USK released from 0
PEGI recommended from 3 years

Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber (partly also DK: Jungle Climber , Japanese ド ン キ ー コ ン グ ジ ャ ン グ ル ク ラ イ マ , transferred to the Hepburn system Donkī Kongu Janguru Kuraimā , freely translated into German as jungle climber ) is a 2D platform game for the Nintendo DS .

Game mechanics

The Nintendo DS that Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber originally appeared on.

The game is divided into the game modes adventure and mini-games .

adventure

The actual game story can be played in the adventure mode: Cranky Kong and Donkey Kong discover a supposed giant banana on a mountain top that they intend to eat. When they arrive on the mountain, however, it turns out that the sighted object is not an edible banana, but Xenanab , an alien life form in the form of a banana. Since the Kongs initially think this is an enemy, they destroy his spaceship. Later it turns out, however, that Xenanab is acting purely with friendly intentions and that so-called crystal bananas were stolen from him by King K. Rool and his subordinates, whose power K. Rool would like to abuse for his purposes. Since the Kongs are responsible for the damage to Xenanab's ship, without which Xenanab cannot get the crystal bananas back, they offer to help him get the bananas back.

The game is divided into five main worlds (Sun Island - Treasure Island - Ghost Island - Fire Frost Island - Column Island), each of which consists of several levels. In these, Donkey Kong is moved both from left to right and from bottom to top. Central to the movement through the levels are brackets - called handles - on and from which Donkey Kong can hold on and push off again. This is achieved by pressing the L and R buttons on the NDS: the L button controls the left hand, the R button the right. If you press both at the same time, Donkey Kong, standing on the ground, performs a jump, if he hangs on a post, he then pauses. If you only hold on with one hand, Donkey Kong swings clockwise or counterclockwise in the respective direction . Donkey Kong can also carry out an attack attack by pressing the A button, with which he can jump higher and defeat opponents.

In each of the levels, in addition to bananas, jewels and KONG tablets, you can collect an oil barrel, a so-called DK coin and five banana coins:

The bananas - which are available individually, in small bushes (corresponds to five individual bananas) and in large bushes (corresponds to ten individual bananas) - you get an extra life as soon as the counter reaches the value 100. For collecting 100 jewels you get a so-called crystal star, of which a maximum of three can be worn at the same time. If you activate such a star by pressing the star symbol, Donkey Kong can float invulnerably through the level for a period of eight seconds. Jewels are either hidden in secret rooms or are dropped by enemies as soon as one is defeated. They are available in three variants: small in green color (corresponds to the value one), medium in blue color (corresponds to the value five) and large in red color (corresponds to the value ten). Four of the so-called KONG boards can be found in each level (KONG). An extra life is credited if you collect all four tablets.

The oil barrels - the number of which varies in the game worlds - are required by Funky Kong to refuel his keg in the respective game world: If you press the X button on the overview map, you get to Funky's flights, from where you - as long as you have collected the required oil barrels per game world - you can fly to the "small" island corresponding to the game world. There is an additional level where all the usual items can be collected, with the exception of the oil barrels.

The DK coins unlock an internal game cheat for a total of five coins each .

Donkey Kong is also supported by Diddy Kong in some levels in which DK kegs are distributed . If you open such a DK keg, Diddy Kong appears and climbs onto Donkey Kong's back; if you already have it with you, you get ten rubies in the form of a red ruby. Diddy Kong cannot be actively controlled, rather his ability initially consists of jumping high up during a double attack and thereby eliminating distant opponents. He can also reach high levels, where he can then move parallel to Donkey Kong and collect hidden objects. In addition, there are always objects in the levels that can only be used with the help of Diddy Kong: Diddy Kong can swing the hammer in a circle through its tail and thus eliminate opponents, open blocked levels and remove otherwise indestructible objects. The springs consist of a large and a small spring that Diddy Kong holds in his right and left hand respectively and which can be controlled independently of each other. With these, the player can float through the level and head for otherwise unreachable levels. With the blowtorch , Diddy Kong can use a jet of fire to melt blocks of ice and snow that are indestructible and eliminate opponents. All of these abilities can only be used for a certain period of time and can be improved using the in-game cheats. Ultimately, Diddy Kong can hold a map in levels that are opaque due to fog, on which the platforms are indicated by shadows.

In some levels there are also bonus barrels. Outwardly, these are similar to those from Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! However, the task in Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber is to catch bananas falling from above with a barrel, the size of the barrel being determined at random at the beginning of the bonus barrel. The caught bananas are credited and give an extra life if there are 100.

Mini-games

Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber has six mini-games that are presented in a separate Candy Kong section . The individual mini-games are each divided into four barrels, which are unlocked in ascending order: Barrel 1 can be played from the start, has only a low level of difficulty and the fewest points need to be scored. If you manage this, barrel 2 is unlocked, in which the degree of difficulty is increased and in which the required points increase. After successfully completing this barrel, barrel 3 can be selected , which has the highest degree of difficulty and which requires the highest number of points for a victory. Ultimately, after a win, a barrel can be played in all three barrels , in which the respective mini-game runs until the player makes a mistake; a high score is then saved. In each of the barrels a rank is displayed after the end, which evaluates the performance. This ranges from "D" (weakest rank) to "AAA" (best rank).

The respective mini-game types are gradually released depending on the progress in the adventure. As a first mini-game, Rollpanik can be played, in which obstacles have to be jumped over, which gives you a certain point value. The second mini-game is banana catching , in which bananas falling from above must be caught, which correspond to a certain point value depending on their size and color. This is followed by the climbing competition , in which a given course must be completed first. In the fourth mini-game, Shatter , barrels have to be hit with stones and destroyed. The fifth mini-game unlocks orange picking, in which the player has to collect as many oranges as possible from a playing field. Ultimately, the push barrel race is available; there a race has to be won in a push barrel, a barrel equipped with a rocket drive.

Cheat mode

Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber has a cheat mode officially integrated into the game by Paon . These cheats are not available from the start, but are activated each time five DK coins have been found in adventure mode. The cheats are not automatically activated, but can be activated or deactivated as often as you like in the "Extras" menu in cheat mode.

The following cheats are available:

  • 5 DK coins: "DK number" - Increases the number of initial lives after a game over from 5 to 20.
  • 10 DK coins: "Hammer Power Up" - Improves the impact of the hammer.
  • 15 DK coins: "Wing Power-Up" - Improves the properties of the wings.
  • 20 DK coins: "Blowtorch Power-Up" - Improves the burning activity of the blowtorch.
  • 25 DK coins: "Crystal stars" - Increases the maximum number of crystal stars from 3 to 6.
  • Addition: "Developer scores" - If you achieve the rank "AAA" in a barrel in the mini-games, the scores of the developers are displayed there.

background

Takashi Tezuka (left), Shigeru Miyamoto (center) and Kōji Kondō (right), who were involved in the development of Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber.

Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber appeared as the successor to the Game Boy Advance game Donkey Kong: King of Swing from 2005. The game concept was essentially adopted, albeit expanded.

The game was developed by Paon , a Japanese manufacturer of video games. The development studio was also responsible for the predecessor Donkey Kong: King of Swing and the Donkey Kong offshoot Donkey Kong Jet Race . Atsushi Kaneko and Masataka Sato were appointed directors of game development , while the later Nintendo President Satoru Iwata acted as executive producers and Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka as supervisors .

Nintendo composer Koji Kondo was the sound supervisor . The music has largely been newly composed, and partly based the songs on that of David Wise , Robin Beanland and Eveline Fischer -composed soundtrack of Donkey Kong Country DK Jamz and the soundtrack of Donkey Kong Country 2 .

On August 6, 2015, Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber was re-released as a virtual console game in the Wii U eShop . The game can be purchased there for a fee of € 9.99 and can be controlled with the Wii U GamePad .

Ratings

Rating mirror
Website Rating
GameRankings 76.75 / 100
Metacritic 77/100
GameSpot 7.5 / 10
IGN Entertainment 8.0 / 10
GameFAQs 3.75 / 5
NintendoLife 8/10
HookedGames 8/10
Poket Gamer 3/5
Eurogamer 7/10
NintendoWorldReport 8/10
GamesRadar + 4/5
VideoGamer 9/10

The ratings of Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber are all in the upper range. The game's music and the ability to control it were particularly praised. As a point of criticism, the level of difficulty, which increases sharply towards the end of the game, was mentioned in particular.

The game's graphics have received various reviews from critics. On the one hand, this was rated very positively ("fabulous" - "fabulous"), in other reviews it was again the most important negative point ("terrifying lifeless and colorless"):

"Overall, Jungle Climber is definitely one of the most unique Nintendo DS games available. Though it doesn't use the touchscreen at all, the game still feels a lot like a Nintendo DS game. The graphics are fabulous, the music is decent, and even the controls are good. Our only major complaint with Jungle Climber is that the game starts off a little too easy and then it gets really difficult. Other then that, Jungle Climber is a decent addition to anyone's Nintendo DS collection. "

- NintendoLife

“Now you might be wondering what the regression mentioned in the introduction is. Quite simply: the graphics! While the predecessor still relies on simple but charming pixel graphics, Nintendo relies on the rendering style of the Donkey Kong Country series - which looks terrifyingly lifeless and poor in color! Interestingly, the monkeys are shown in close-up (e.g. in the tutorial) as real-time calculated polygon clusters - it may be asked why one chose the less animated anthropoids for the actual game "

- 4players

annotation

  1. ↑ In the official German game instructions for Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber said figure is called Xananab - as in the original version of the game .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Official game manual from Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber, page 5
  2. ↑ Official game manual from Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber, page 12
  3. ↑ Official game manual from Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber, page 15
  4. ↑ Official game manual from Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber, page 14
  5. ↑ a b Official game manual from Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber, page 22
  6. ↑ Official game manual from Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber, page 23
  7. ↑ Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber . Nintendo . Retrieved July 7, 2019.
  8. ↑ DK: Jungle Climber for DS - GameRankings ( English ) GameRankings . Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  9. ↑ DK: Jungle Climber for DS Reviews - Metacritic ( English ) Metacritic . Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  10. ↑ Ryan Davis : DK Jungle Climber Review ( English ) GameSpot . September 12, 2007. Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  11. ↑ DK Jungle Climber Review ( English ) IGN . Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  12. ↑ DK: Jungle Climber for DS - GameFAQs ( English ) GameFAQs . Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  13. ↑ a b c d Stuart Reddick : DK: Jungle Climber Review (DS) ( English ) NintendoLife. May 30, 2009. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  14. ^ Professor Layton : DK: Jungle Climber DS review - "Spin, swing and fling yourself" ( English ) HookedGames. September 15, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  15. ↑ Tracy Erickson : Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber ( English ) Poket Gamer. September 18, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  16. ↑ Fabian Walden : Donkey Kong Jungle Climber • Page 2, Climb'n'Run . Eurogamer . December 18, 2008. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  17. ↑ Aaron Kaluszka : DK Jungle Climber ( English ) NintendoWorldReport. September 10, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  18. ↑ Marc_Green : DK Jungle Climber review ( English ) GamesRadar +. September 12, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  19. ↑ Roy Kimber : DK Jungle Climber review ( English ) VideoGamer. November 19, 2007. Accessed March 27, 2020.
  20. ^ A b Paul Kautz : Test: Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber . 4players . October 18, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2019.

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