GENRE
	Platformer
	DEVELOPER
	Paon
	PUBLISHER
	Nintendo
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1-4
	CONNECTIVITY
	No
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Donkey Kong isn't just King of Swing--he's also King of Bizarre Control Schemes, as lately Nintendo has been putting the big ape in several games that defy traditional interface. In addition to the Donkey Konga series and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Mario's original nemesis gets ready to take on new challenges in DK: King of Swing, a GBA platformer that likewise sets itself apart by its controls.

On its surface, King of Swing appears to be a standard member of the Donkey Kong Country family. After all, the same characters, tunes, and badguys are present. What sets the game apart from the mold is its unusual swinging mechanic, upon which DK moves through the game's environments. But is this sole difference enough to base a game around?

visuals

With DK: King of Swing, developer Paon decided to use a broad-stroked 2D art style, rather than the pre-rendered graphics of Donkey Kong's other GBA games. However, the layout of many stages, including the world map, are very much inspired by those games. Seeing characters like Funky Kong and Dixie Kong designed out of sprites instead of 3D models is a little unusual, but the style still fits fairly well with the overall theme of the game.

Enemies are drawn similarly, but most tend to have only a few frames of animation, perhaps because the majority of them are either flying or climbing on pegs. Level-end villains have more visual punch to them, but despite their size are still graced with a slight amount of motions.

In contrast, more attention is given the heroes and other playable characters. When DK flips around on a peg, his ever-present tie obeys the constant gravity, and the rest of the ape's body follows in a similar respect. Since Donkey Kong is almost continuously in motion, this really isn't important, but a poorly-animated DK would have made for a far less fluid experience.

audio

Surprisingly, there aren't any sound effects when DK latches onto a peg and swings. Possibly this is with good reason, as it might have gotten boring to continually hear a sound effect over and over. Otherwise, the sound effects are basically appropriate.

Most of the music tracks are directly ripped from Donkey Kong Country, re-arranged slightly for the new title. There are a few new songs, noticeably in the Jungle Jam section of the game, and these are peppy, bright tunes that help set the boisterious mood of the competition.

gameplay

As the title suggests, DK: King of Swing is all about swinging. Paon developed the game to extensively use the L and R triggers as the primary control method. The L button causes DK to grab with his left hand, and the R button causes him to grab things with his right hand.

Sounds easy, but the real challenge is in mastering the incidental reponses that happen because of these actions. For instance, if DK holds onto a peg with one hand, he will circle around it clockwise or counter-clockwise, depending on the hand. If he holds on with both hands, he'll charge up for a forwards attack. Alternating the L and R buttons quickly will make Donkey Kong bound quickly up a peg board, while alternating them at a more relaxed pace will result in a measured, slower ascent. The L and R buttons are also used for walking when on the ground, but that really wasn't that important in the game and only barely worth mentioning.

In addition, there are a few other context-sensitive items to grab ahold of, such as switches that must be pulled numerous times like a tire jack, valves that move DK depending on which way he is rotating, and stones that can be picked up and thrown with a free hand. While these show inventiveness on part of the game's designers, it can become something of a chore to rotate over and over again in order to throw a rock at just the right angle.

It would be remiss not to mention that some of the game's inspiration comes from the NES game Clu-Clu Land, which was given a nod by the developers including Bubbles, the star of said game and Nintendo's first heroine (take that, Samus!)as an unlockable character in multiplayer mode. Obviously, King of Swing takes the same mechanic of rotating on posts and runs with it in a different direction, but the initial idea was the same.

The Adventure mode consists of picking a stage from the map screen, much as in previous Donkey Kong platformers. King K. Rool has stolen all of the medals that DK was going to award at his Jungle Jam competition and running away to his fortress. NOT SMART. Donkey Kong immedately takes off after the fiend. Each stage holds one of the lost medals and a Crystal Coconut for DK to collect. Finding neither of these is necessary to complete the game as the levels merely need to be completed to move on, but finding all the items will result in content being unlocked, including a second quest starring Diddy Kong.

Also available is the Jungle Jam competition, most of which are locked until DK finds some medals in the Adventure mode. After all, what use is having a competition is there are no medals to win? This competition is available in single and multiplayer modes, and the four initial characters--Donkey Kong, Diddy, Dixie, and Funky--will be augmented by a few more later on. These games revolve around skills learned in Adventure mode, including climbing, jumping, and attacking.

multiplayer

DK: King of Swing allows for up to four players on one Game Pak with the GBA Link Cable. Competitors can go head-to-head in the Jungle Jam, although records will not be saved as they are in the single-player competitions.

overall

Nintendo is making a concerted effort to release games that are simpler to play, and it's clear that King of Swing's control scheme is a result of this. However, the game's mechanics are quite a bit deeper and more complex than the simple control scheme suggests. The result of this is that a lot of novice players will be turned off by the game before getting too far into it.

Also, the swinging itself might be too shallow of a method around which to construct an entire game, even on the GBA. It can be fun in short bursts, but tends to lose its luster over extended play sessions. It can be a fun addition to a portable library, especially for players who are tired of ordinary platformers, but DK: King of Swing falls a little short of spectacular.

6.2/10