A Retro Gamer’s 12 Days Of Christmas: The Twelfth Day, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me, twelve drummers drumming

If you haven’t guessed by now, I am a big music and video game geek. Yes, I still own every original console I had as a kid and yes, I was a band nerd. Self shame will not allow me to admit what I played in the band but let's just say it was as close as you could possibly get to a real saxophone but it was not a saxophone. Life is full of surrogates and substitutes when you grow up on the poorer side of suburbia.

I admire drummers. They get more respect than bass players. Unless of course, you are a bass player in a funk band, in which case, you harness the power of The One and are the soul power of the band. Drummers not only keep time and rhythm but they also control the energy of the room. Just as the Kodo Beast in Warcraft III is used to increase the vigor and damage of nearby friendly units, drums can be used to revitalize a stagnating franchise. Let’s hit it and quit it with Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.

The game offers a unique variation on the immensely successful SNES game, Donkey Kong Country. Instead of controlling the great ape with a standard controller, the game employs the use of bongo drums and handclaps to help you plow through the game’s many levels. The game is colorful and loud, just as a good Gamecube game should be.

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