DK: King of Swing

DK: King of Swing is a puzzle game starring Donkey Kong for the Game Boy Advance. Its gameplay is similar to the NES game Clu Clu Land, but has been re-formatted in certain aspects to provide more of an adventure game feel. In this game, Donkey Kong, and Diddy Kong must quest across five worlds to win back the Jungle Jam medals that King K. Rool has stolen and scattered across the levels. The game is the first Donkey Kong game developed by Paon for Nintendo, the sequel, made by the same company, is DK Jungle Climber.

Story
The game takes place during the Jungle Jam Tournament, where a huge festival held on Donkey Kong Island occurs. During the tournament, medals are handed out as prizes to participants in contents like breaking barrels and jumping pegs, the winner being crowned the hero of the jungle. King K. Rool, however, attempts the traditional raining on the Kong's parade and steals all the medals before the tournament commences, proclaiming himself the jungle hero. Naturally Donkey Kong pursues the Kremling leader to get the medals back and restore peace to Donkey Kong Island.

Game modes

 * Adventure: The main mode of the game.
 * Single Jungle Jam Tournament: There are a total of twelve events that can be played in this mode. The player can choose between Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong or Funky Kong, and the CPU uses the others. The first accessible events are: Climbing Race 1, Climbing Race 2, Obstable Race 1 and Attack Battle 1.
 * Multiplayer Jungle Jam Tournament: The same as above, but in multiplayer with four players using the GBA Link cable.
 * Extras: It features Cranky's Lectures (the tutorial from the beginning of the game), a Time Attack Mode, and Diddy Mode, which allows you to play as Diddy Kong in the place of Donkey Kong during the Adventure mode.

Gameplay
As mentioned earlier, the gameplay is very similar to the NES game Clu Clu land, as in the main gameplay being swinging across boards of pegs. However, in this game, this game, the player must climb, swing, and even shoot its way to reach the top, while collecting all of the medals. The player cannot face the boss without beating each level, once all levels have been completed, the player may face the boss at the designated boss stage; after the boss is beaten, the player may continue to the next world.

If the player chooses to collect each Crystal Coconut, hidden items concealed inside crates, boxes, nooks and crannies, or even inside enemies, Wrinkly Kong is unlocked as a player in the single player Jungle Jam Tournament. There are 20 Crystal Coconuts in all.

Controls
The controls are made to be simple: "L" swings Donkey Kong left, "R" swings Donkey Kong right. If the "L" button is held down, DK will swing on a fixed spot from left to right, and vice versa for the "R" button. If the button is lightly tapped, Donkey will go flying of in whatever direction he is pointing. To get a better aim, DK must swing about until he is facing the right way.

When on the ground, DK can walk about quite quickly using the "L" and "R" buttons; when they are tapped simultaneously he will lift off from the ground in a flying leap.

DK can also Attack by holding down both the "L" and "R" buttons at once. DK will clutch the pegs, and slowly start to glow red. Once he is totally glowing, the buttons should be released and DK will go flying off into an aerial attack.

Finally, DK can either Charge using the "B" Button (uses ten bananas; restores one health unit) or Go Bananas using the "A" Button (uses twenty bananas; makes DK invincible and able to leap great heights).

Playable Characters

 * Donkey Kong
 * Diddy Kong
 * Dixie Kong
 * Funky Kong
 * Kremling (A Kritter)
 * Wrinkly Kong
 * King K. Rool
 * Bubbles

Worlds

 * Jungle World
 * Banana Bungalow
 * Tropical Treetops
 * Contraption Cave
 * Puzzling Pyramid
 * Congazuma's Castle
 * Wild West World
 * Necky's Canyon
 * Cactus Woods
 * Treacherous Twister
 * Madcap Mine
 * Fire Necky's Nest
 * Aqua World
 * Risky Reef
 * Lockjaw Falls
 * Kremling Kamp
 * Ship of Souls
 * Davy Bones' Locker
 * Ice World
 * Cold Cold Forest
 * Raging Ravine
 * Underwater Ruins
 * Ice Castle
 * Sassy Squatch's Lair
 * K. Kruizer III
 * Booster Barrel Skyway
 * K. Kruizer III Artillery
 * K. Kruizer III Hull
 * K. Kruizer III Engine
 * King K. Rool

Bosses

 * Congazuma
 * Fire Necky
 * Davy Bones
 * Sassy Squatch
 * King K. Rool

Diddy Mode Differences

 * The tutorial stage is no longer present.
 * Each of the stages have less bananas than they did in the original mode.
 * Crystal Coconuts were removed, and as a result, Bonus Barrels and the bonus stages they led to are no longer present.
 * Diddy is slightly faster and jumps slightly higher than Donkey Kong.

Trivia

 * In this game, Kritter was called Kremling. This is because, besides King K. Rool, Kritters were the only Kremlings in the game.
 * The medals for the Jungle Jam Tournament are obviously DK Coins, but they are never referred to as such and are only called medals.