YMMV / Donkey Kong Jungle Beat

• Anti-Climax Boss: The stage Grim Volcano features a (get this) ballet-dancing panda bear that's set up as some kind of big deal, since you're not on a boss stage and he gets his own introductory cutscene. His moves are unpredictable and almost erratic, and it may take you a while to figure out how to defend yourself from him, but once you manage to break his defenses, one or two good punches is all it takes for Donkey Kong to pound him into mush. The bear comes back in a later stage, Asteroid Belt, complete with the same introduction, but just as easy as before.
• Awesome Music: The entire soundtrack is quite the ear candy to listen to. Though some tracks stand out in particular:
  • Sky Garden. An incredibly upbeat and energetic track that feels like you're soaring through the clouds.
  • Cactus Mine. Yes, Mariachi Music... in a Donkey Kong game... and it actually sounds very catchy.
  • Spirit Tree, a great combo between mystical, grand, and energetic.
  • The music for the Durian Kingdom levels, Battle For Storm Hill and Aerie Fortress, were such epic sounding tracks that the former got featured in Super Smash Bros., and the latter has fans clamoring for it to appear in Smash Bros. as well.
  • Pretty much all of the boss themes are all awesome tracks to listen to, especially the Kong bosses.
• Catharsis Factor: You know what really relieves stress after a long day at work? Punching ninja monkeys in the face!
• Dancing Bear: Though the game is by no means bad, the whole "controlled entirely via bongos", for better and for worse, is the reason people check it out.
• Designated Hero: There are two versions of the game's plot. One is the one described on the main page, the other has DK basically trying to prove he's the biggest badass out there.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: The Kong Kings, thanks to their cool and unique designs and fighting styles, which definitely make them stand out from the far more generic Hogs, Rocs, and Tusks.
• Fan Nickname: "KISS Kongs" for the boss Kongs, after their character designs.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Most of the game consists of Donkey Kong fighting other apes and monkeys. Then came Ba-Boom the Boisterous.
  • The Pokémon Rillaboom seems to take inspiration from this game in particular, since it's a gorilla-like creature that uses taiko drums to attack. It wouldn't be out-of-place as a Jungle Beat boss either.
• Polished Port: The New Play Control! in general is considered superior thanks to improved graphics and the level design being polished. Even the motion controls have earned their fans, if only because they aren't as strenuous on your hands as the bongos were.
• Moment of Awesome: Any and all of the "Kong" boss fights.
• That One Boss: Torch Tusk is unanimously considered to be the game's most complicated boss, mostly due to unfortunate platform placement that makes dodging his napalm-like fire and laser attacks more difficult than it should be.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • This game received a lot of hate for essentially not being Donkey Kong Country. It's had its defenders since day one though. Fans also were not keen towards the removal of the characters introduced in DKC in favor of entirely new characters.
  • The New Play Control!-version's motion controls. Whilst many do like them and think they work better than the bongos, just as many players wished the game could just be controlled with a regular controller.
• Vindicated by History: While it was originally derided for being too different from Country, nowadays it's more likely to be remembered fondly as one of of Nintendo's most creative and unique platformers. It doesn't hurt its legacy that it ended up being the testbed for a lot of ideas that would be perfected in Super Mario Galaxy (the two games have a lot of staff in common).

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