Donkey Kong Barrel Blast

Donkey Kong Barrel Blast (known as Donkey Kong Jet Race in Europe and Australia) is the third game released in the Donkey Kong racing series, but the first for the Wii. Instead of cars, players utilize rocket-powered bongos. The title was originally planned for the Nintendo GameCube for use with the DK Bongo Controller. The game incorporates Miis as indicators for records in Time Trials mode.

Gameplay
In order to accelerate the player's racing bongos, the Wii Remote and Nunchuk Attachment must be shaken together, and to jump, players need to raise the Wii Remote and Nunchuk Attachment upwards. Characters are able to attack each other by attacking with the. Characters not only use rocket powered bongos, but are also able to utilize vehicles such as Toboggans and Minecarts.

Jungle Grand Prix
The main mode in the game. It works just like the Mario Kart series, but some cups have fewer tracks to race on depending on their difficulty level. Also, like Mario Kart Arcade GP, more than one track will take place in a certain area. Three are from the DK Jungle course, three are from the Seaside course, three are from the Mt. Dynamite course, two are from the Desert course, two are from the Snowy Mountain course and two are from the Sky Temple course. Only one racetrack is in a course of its own, which is in outer space. Difficulty selection ranges from Novice, to Pro, to Expert, which must be unlocked before the player can use it. To unlock it, the player needs to win the Platinum Cup on Pro difficulty.

Selection Cup
The player selects two to five of any of the races. This trophy will not be displayed on the selection screen no matter how many times it is beaten.

Random Cup
The computer randomly picks out five tracks for the player to race on. Like the Selection Cup, the trophy will not be displayed on the selection screen.

The color of the cup will not alter the color of the trophy, but rather the design and size. Like the Mario Kart series, there will be an item displayed on top of the trophy, such as a Banana Fairy on top of the Diamond Cup.

Other Modes

 * Single Race: Players can choose one racetrack to play on.
 * Time Trial: Like the Mario Kart series, Diddy Kong Racing, and its remake, players can choose to race on a single track for the best time, and save ghost data.
 * Free Run: Players can choose a course and run it without other competitors or a time limit.
 * Cranky's Flight School: The informative part of the game where Cranky gives eight lessons on how to play the game, from accelerating, to using items and Wild Moves.
 * Candy's Challenges: In this mode, Candy Kong gives out four sets of eight challenges (a similarity to other games like Mario Kart DS, Mario Strikers Charged, and Super Smash Bros. Melee.) These challenges range from collecting a certain amount of bananas, to winning a race without getting hurt, to completing a race against the clock. Completing all of the challenges will unlock Ultra Barrel DK.
 * Records: This is where players can look at records and status in the courses.
 * Options: This is where players can turn the items in the game on or off in Single Race and Jungle Grand Prix, change the button settings, the dominant hand to play on (left or right), and check the controls.

Playable Characters
Including Ultra Barrel DK as a separate character, there are a total of 17 playable characters in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast (consisting of 9 Kong characters (when Ultra Barrel DK is included as a separate character from Donkey Kong) and 8 Kremling characters). Kip, Kass, Kalypso and Kludge make their first appearance in this game. In order to select Ultra Barrel DK on the character select screen, the player needs to highlight Donkey Kong, hold and press. Unlockable characters will appear during a race, even if a player hasn't unlocked them yet (excluding Ultra Barrel DK, who can only be used by human players).

Helpers
In order to hitch a ride on either of them, the player must run into the box on the track with their picture. The box will either stay still or move back and forth in a line for players to catch.

Enemies

 * Flipflap: a bat that flies around the Mt. Dynamite course tracks.
 * Necky: a vulture that rams into anyone that gets to close to it.
 * Zinger: a basic enemy that flies around the tracks. Unlike most Donkey Kong games, one hit will get rid of it.
 * Chomps: a big shark in underwater parts of racetracks. They look intimidating, but one hit will defeat them.
 * Hurley: a weird-looking monkey that likes to throw bananas and barrels at the racers. However, they are mostly seen as cameos in the races.
 * Electric Fish: an electric fish that shocks racers whether they are attacked or not.
 * Big Frog: a big frog that is usually in groups. In the DK Jungle courses, they use a strange breath attack to slow players down. In the Mt. Dynamite courses, red ones breathe fire.
 * Cyber Kong: A robotic DK look-alike that shoots lasers. One hit will defeat it. There is also a giant version of this that shoots multiple lasers and missiles, and cannot be defeated.

Bananas
The key to winning is collecting bananas to fill the gauge. It takes 50 to fill it and perform a Wild Move.


 * Single Banana: worth one banana.
 * Five Bananas: worth five bananas.
 * Golden Banana: worth 50 bananas. They are not hard to get, just hard to notice.

Items
Items are obtained by getting "?" balloons on the racetracks. Each type of racer, Kong or Kremling, has their team's color, with the Kong balloons being red and the Kremling balloons being blue. When the racer grabs their team's color of balloon, the effect of what's inside may last longer than if the other team had gotten it.

Both

 * Banana Bunch: a big bunch of bananas that, when used, gives the player 30 bananas.

Barrels
Donkey Kong Barrel Blast features a variety of Barrels.


 * Launcher Barrel: a type of Barrel Cannon. Racers that run into this will gets sucked in and shot out at high speed. This is commonly found in all racetracks.
 * Spinning Launcher Barrel: a Launcher Barrel that spins around when a racer is in it, then shoots them out at some angle, usually pointing to the next Spinning Launcher Barrel, if there is one.
 * Barrel: The most common obstacle of them all. Players can avoid them or jump over them if they wanted. They are easily broken when attacked by a racer (which they will earn five bananas for each crushed), or ran into (which they will earn nothing but a brief drop in speed). Destroyed barrels will regenerate after a while. They are essential for Wild Move combos.
 * Iron Barrel: The second-most common obstacle in the game. Players that run into one will lose speed indefinitely. They can only be destroyed if the player is invincible, or is using an Animal Friend. Destroyed Iron Barrels will regenerate after a while.
 * TNT Barrel: the least-common barrel on racetracks, but the most dangerous. Players that run into one will get blown up, as well as anything close to it. They can only be destroyed safely if the player is invincible. Destroyed TNT Barrels will regenerate after a while.
 * Barrel Cannon: like the giant Barrel Cannons from Mario Superstar Baseball, these barrels shoot out smaller, cream-colored barrels that spin around and disappear when they reach the other side of the track. The small barrels can be destroyed like normal barrels. These types of barrels are found in the DK Jungle course and the Sky Temple course.
 * Style Barrel: a special red Launcher Barrel. Players that are shot out from one of these start a small game, where they must point the Wii remote a certain direction to have their racer perform stylish moves. Each correct move will earn them ten bananas, but getting all four commands right will earn them a grand total of 80 bananas! This type of barrel is rarely seen, and is found on few tracks.

References to other games

 * Donkey Kong- The theme of Cranky's flight school and parts of Cosmic Highway is a remix of this game's opening.
 * Donkey Kong Country- Several enemies from this game return.
 * Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble- Quawks returns and is named for the first time. Kopter also returns.
 * Donkey Kong 64- Lanky Kong and Tiny Kong return. Chunky Kong's Pineapple Launcher, Banana Fairies and Crystal Coconuts return as items.
 * Diddy Kong Racing DS- Tiny appears in her older teenage form which originated in this game.

References in later games

 * Mario Kart Wii: Some of Donkey Kong's and Funky Kong's voice clips from Donkey Kong Barrel Blast are reused for this game.
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl: Artwork of Kalypso and a Banana Bunch appear as stickers. Kip, Kass, Kalypso and Kludge also appear as trophies. Additionally, the trophies of Funky Kong, Candy Kong, Lanky Kong, Tiny Kong, Cranky Kong and Kritter mention this game. The theme that plays on the DK Jungle course is available as a music track on Rumble Falls.
 * Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: Kritter's trophy description in the North American version mentions his appearance as a playable character in this game.

Reception
Donkey Kong Barrel Blast met with mostly negative reviews for its slow racing, imprecise controls, a lack of online mode, and that the Bongo Controllers were left out of the game even though GameCube controllers are completely compatible with the Wii.

Trivia

 * Donkey Kong Barrel Blast has gone through many working titles, such as "DK Bongo Blast" (when it was going to be a GameCube title), "Donkey Jet", and "Donkey Kong Jet".
 * While King K. Rool rides in a single barrel, he uses the same bongo controls as the other characters.
 * In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the trophy descriptions for the newcomer Kremlings were adjusted in the PAL version so that they describe the characters in general, instead of describing their stats for this game.
 * In the official artwork, Dixie Kong is the only character who raises their left hand instead of their right hand.
 * This is the first Donkey Kong Racing game that contains the name of Donkey Kong in the title.
 * It is also the first to have Donkey Kong himself as a playable character.