DK: Jungle Climber

DK: Jungle Climber, known as Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber in Japan and Europe, is a platformer of the Donkey Kong series, released for the Nintendo DS in 2007. It is the sequel to the Game Boy Advance title, DK: King of Swing, and was developed by Paon and published by Nintendo. It was later re-released for the Wii U's Virtual Console in 2015.

Plot
The Kong Family are on a vacation at Sun Sun Island. While they are there, Diddy notices a giant banana on a mountain. Cranky requests Donkey Kong to acquire it, and Diddy joins him.

On top of the mountain, King K. Rool and the Kremlings are stealing a Crystal Banana from an "alien". They plan to conquer the universe with it. A Banana Spaceship appears, and DK and Diddy battle it.

After the Kongs destroy the spaceship, a banana alien named Xananab exits from it. He apologizes for attacking the Kongs, whom he mistook for Kremlings. Xananab explains how K. Rool stole the Crystal Banana, and the Kongs go on a journey to retrieve it.

Controls
DK Jungle Climber uses basically the same controls as its predecessor; the player using to swing left and  to swing right. Pressing both and  causes Donkey Kong to jump, and pressing  does a charge jump. Also, pressing allows the player to talk to NPCs. More than one Kong will be playable at once in a style similar to the Donkey Kong Country/Land series, with one Kong following the other. However, the player can split the Kongs up to solve certain puzzles.

Characters
Several familiar characters appear in DK: Jungle Climber. Donkey Kong and Diddy are the only playable characters in Story Mode, while Dixie and Funky are playable in Wireless Multiplayer, just like in DK: King of Swing.

Playable

 * Donkey Kong
 * Diddy Kong
 * Dixie Kong - hosts the Extra Stages
 * Funky Kong - allows the Kongs to use his Biplane Barrel to access new levels in return for a specified number of Oil Barrels

Non-playable

 * Candy Kong - hosts the Challenge Mode
 * Cranky Kong - provides tutorials and hints to DK and Diddy
 * King K. Rool - the main antagonist
 * Wrinkly Kong - she makes a cameo in the intro
 * Xananab - a banana alien whose Crystal Banana was stolen by K. Rool

Enemies

 * Click-Clack
 * Flip-Flap
 * Flitter
 * Klobber
 * Kritter
 * Lockjaw
 * Mini-Necky
 * Neek
 * Puftup
 * Shuri
 * Zinger

Items
DK: Jungle Climber has a variety of items. Some are from the first three Donkey Kong Country titles, while others are entirely new items.


 * Bananas - Donkey Kong receives an Extra life for every 100 Bananas that he collects.
 * Banana Bunches - these represent five Bananas, or ten for Double Banana Bunches.
 * Banana Coins - these can be spent on extra levels.
 * Crystal Stars - the successor to the Going Bananas move from King of Swing; these items grant temporary invincibility.
 * DK Coins - these unlock cheats throughout the game.
 * Gems - collectible items that form into a Crystal Star if 100 are collected.
 * K-O-N-G Letters - like its previous appearances, collecting all four letters grants an extra life.

Tools

 * Hammer - these break wooden boxes and stone blocks.
 * Torch - this item melts ice.
 * Wings - these allow the Kongs to temporarily fly in a level.

Barrels

 * Barrel Cannon - these barrels fire the Kongs in a direction specified with a dotted line.
 * Bonus Barrel - contains a mini-game
 * Booster Barrel - steerable barrels that fire upwards
 * DK Barrel - contains either DK or Diddy if they are missing
 * Oil Barrel - fuel for the Biplane Barrel
 * Spinner Barrel - similar to Barrel Cannons

Minigames
Several minigames appear in this game. There are several single-player, all of which must be unlocked, as well as multi-player games. The single-player games consist of a log jumping game, a banana eating game, a barrel destroying game, and many more. The multi-player games include a barrel racing game and a "race to complete the level first" game.

Bonus Barrels will also send the player to a minigame named Banana Bonanza, which consists of a banana-catching game, in which Donkey Kong is given a random-sized barrel and must catch as many bananas as the player can.

List of minigames

 * Banana Bonanza
 * Banana Grab
 * Booster Battle
 * Orange Picker
 * Rolling Panic
 * Speed Climb
 * Throw 'n' Crush

Worlds

 * Sun Sun Island
 * Cranky's Teachin's
 * Sun Sun Beach
 * Jungle Beach
 * Cool Cool Cave
 * Cliffy Peak
 * Little Sun Sun Island
 * Lost Island
 * Tropical Treetops
 * Glass Labyrinth
 * Road to Ruins
 * Forest Ruins
 * Toybox 1
 * Little Lost Island
 * Ghost Island
 * Spooky Woods
 * Veggie Patch
 * Boogity Bog
 * Toybox 2
 * Panic Factory
 * Little Ghost Island
 * Chill 'n' Char Island
 * Falling Falls
 * Snowful Slope
 * Glass Labyrinth 2
 * Fiery Volcano
 * Kremling Dock
 * Little Chill 'n' Char Island
 * High-High Island
 * Space A Go-Go
 * King Kruiser IV
 * Little High-High Island
 * Wormhole
 * Glass Labyrinth 3
 * Toybox 3
 * Planet Plantaen

Reception
The game received positive reviews and was considered an improvement over DK: King of Swing. The game was also praised for its fun, practical controls and its vibrant visuals.

Pre-release and unused content
In several screenshots, there are some early levels such as a foggy area that was possibly the original Panic Factory. Another screenshot shows an underwater level in the sea with a Lockjaw. There were originally swing-like objects that were in the game. Also, some objects and backgrounds had different palettes. Lastly, the working title for this game was DK: King of Swing DS.

References to other games

 * Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: A cover of "Funky the Main Monkey" can be heard.

Trivia

 * This is most of the Kongs' and Kremlings' only appearance in a DS game.