DK: King of Swing

DK: King of Swing is a puzzle game starring Donkey Kong for the Game Boy Advance. It is the first installment of the DK series. Its gameplay is similar to the NES game , but it has been re-formatted in aspects to provide more of an adventure game feel. In the game, Donkey Kong must quest across five worlds to recover the Jungle Jam medals that King K. Rool has stolen and scattered across the levels. DK: King of Swing is the first Donkey Kong franchise game to be developed by Paon.

A sequel, titled DK: Jungle Climber, was released for the Nintendo DS in 2007.

DK: King of Swing was re-released for the Wii U's Virtual Console in Japan and North America in November 2014 and in Europe and Australia in January 2015.

Story
The game takes place during the Jungle Jam, where a huge festival held occurs. During the tournament, medals are given out as prizes to participants in contests like breaking barrels and jumping pegs, with the winner being crowned the hero of the jungle. King K. Rool appears and steals all the medals before the tournament commences, proclaiming himself the jungle hero. Donkey Kong goes on an adventure after King K. Rool to recover the medals. After traveling through four different world, gaining the stolen medals dropped by K. Rool, Donkey Kong enters the final world, K. Kruizer III. At the end of the last world, Donkey Kong is confronted by K. Rool, who challenges him to both a climbing race and battle for the last medal. After defeating K. Rool, Donkey Kong leaves the location using a small, green aircraft while the King Kruizer III explodes and falls from of the sky.

Gameplay
Like Clu Clu Land, the gameplay consists of Donkey Kong swinging and climbing across many pegs. Donkey Kong's goal is to climb, swing, and even blast his way to the top of the level. Donkey Kong cannot battle the world boss without completing every level prior. When Donkey Kong defeats the boss, he can continue to the next world.

There is either a bronze or a silver medal hidden in each level. In every boss level, Donkey Kong is rewarded a gold medal if he defeats the boss. Medals are usually found inside a barrel located in detours of the main path, or in hard to reach areas.

Crystal Coconuts are another collectible item in the game, and they are often hidden inside a crate, a barrel, or as a reward for completing a Bonus Barrel challenge. Sometimes, Donkey Kong must defeat an enemy to obtain the Crystal Coconut. While they are not required to complete the adventure mode, the Crystal Coconuts allow the player to unlock more content. If Donkey Kong obtains all twenty of them, the player unlocks Wrinkly Kong in the single player Jungle Jam Tournament.

After completing the game and obtaining every medal, the player unlocks the Diddy Mode, where they play as Diddy Kong during the adventure mode instead of Donkey Kong. A few things were removed from Diddy Mode, including the tutorial level, the Crystal Coconuts and thus the Bonus Barrels, and most bananas were removed except for those that can be obtained from defeating enemies or breaking crates. Diddy is able to jump higher than Donkey Kong.

Controls
The game mainly uses the and  buttons, which moves Donkey Kong left and right respectively. While Donkey Kong is holding on a peg, the player can hold the or  buttons to make him spin in a counterclockwise or clockwise direction respectively. If the player releases either button, Donkey Kong jumps in the direction that he is facing. While Donkey Kong is in midair, the player can press or  to make him grab with his left or right hand respectively.

When Donkey Kong is on the ground, the player can make him move quickly from left to right by pressing the respective and  buttons. If they simultaneously press the buttons, Donkey Kong jumps up into the air.

If the player holds down both the and  buttons, Donkey Kong clutches on the pegs and builds up energy for performing a charge attack. When Donkey Kong is glowing red, the player must release the buttons to make Donkey Kong spin into a ball and charge in the direction he is facing.

By pressing the button, the player can use ten of Donkey Kong's collected bananas to restore one of his heart units. By pressing, the player can use twenty of Donkey Kong's bananas to have temporarily invincible and perform the Going Bananas move. The move also allows him to jump higher. The moves do not work if Donkey Kong does not have the necessary number to perform either move.

The is rarely used except to select an option on the main menu or a level from the world map.

Game modes

 * Adventure: The main mode of the game.
 * Single Jungle Jam: The mode has a total of twelve events, most of which are races. The player can choose between Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, and Funky Kong, and they can also unlock Bubbles, Wrinkly Kong, King K. Rool, and Kritter too. The CPU uses the other characters. The first accessible events are: Climbing Race 1, Climbing Race 2, Obstable Race 1 and Attack Battle 1.
 * Multiplayer Jungle Jam: The same as above, but in multiplayer with four players using the GBA Link Cable.
 * Extras: It features Cranky's Lectures (the tutorial level), a Time Attack Mode, and Diddy Mode.

Time Attack mode
The player can unlock the Time Attack mode after completing the Adventure mode. When the player selects the mode, they are given a list of every level, each with its own best time that the player can beat. Three other times also exist in the high scores list that the player can beat. The times are optional and do not allow the player to unlock any new mode or item.

During the mode, Donkey Kong has three hearts like in the regular adventure. If he loses all three of them, the player must restart the level. Donkey Kong can still find bananas around the level, although he is not given any to start with. When Donkey Kong completes a level, the player can record their time if it beats a score on the high scores list.

Worlds and levels
There are five worlds, each with four regular levels and a boss level at the end. There are a total of 25 levels in the game.

Pegs
Pegs are common objects in the game that have many different variants. Each variant performs a different function and assists Donkey Kong in reaching further areas.

Pre-release and unused content
DK: King of Swing went through some changes during its development.

Nintendo eShop Description
''King K. Rool has stolen the medals to be used in the Jungle Jam Tournament just as the festivities are ramping up, putting a damper to everyone's good spirits. With Cranky's blessing and techniques, Donkey Kong sets off to bring those medals back to their rightful place!''

''Grab, climb, and swing on pegs as you charge and bash through enemies that block your way. Collect bananas and Crystal Coconuts in the five worlds of Adventure mode, or play some puzzling levels in Single-player Jungle Jam mode.''

Find those medals, and let the festivities begin!

Trivia

 * It is the first game where Funky Kong, Wrinkly Kong, Kritter, and King K. Rool are playable.
 * It is the first and only game where Dixie Kong does not wear her top tied.
 * This game was planned to release in mainland China by iQue, but left unreleased due to the huge scene of piracy in China at that time. The unreleased Chinese prototype received an ISBN, meaning it was approved for distribution despite the ban on video games from Chinese government.
 * A promotional browser game was released in 2005 called DK: King of Swing -- Hurling for Distance.