DK: Jungle Climber
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Template:Infobox 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
Bosses
- Banana Spaceship
- Robot Kremling Head
- Mega AMP
- Dragon Kremling
- King K. Rool, the game's main antagonist.
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
Worlds
Quotes
- Main article: List of DK: Jungle Climber quotes
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.
| Reviews | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Release | Reviewer, Publication | Score | Verdict |
| Nintendo DS | Ryan Davis, GameSpot | 7.5/10 | "DK Jungle Climber refines the bright and busy visuals of DK King of Swing, which itself borrowed its charm from the Donkey Kong Country games. Improved resolution means that both screens are packed with detail, though it also ends up making Donkey Kong appear fairly small onscreen. Ultimately, though, being able to see more of the environment is more significant to the gameplay than a bigger DK sprite, despite how much we enjoy watching his dangling legs swing about. Despite being a sequel to a game based on a well-established franchise, DK Jungle Climber still feels surprisingly fresh. While it could've relied on the sheer novelty of its control scheme, it does a smart job of fleshing out the gameplay and offering a well-balanced challenge once the novelty has worn off." |
| Nintendo DS | Tom Bramwell, Eurogamer | 8/10 | "As it is, it's a game that veers between excellence and anguish a little bit too often. When it falls into bad old habits, it undermines its strengths, plunging the largely capable controls into context they suffer from. This is doubly annoying because the controls are ideal for most of what the game does, and have even greater potential: the mistake here is something akin to pitching aerial enemies against a limited aiming ability in a shooter; an unforced error that repeals confidence. We certainly hope Paon and Nintendo are smart enough to see this for themselves, because when Jungle Climber peaks, it's among the DS' best, and a bigger and better instalment - perhaps on the Wii - would again be welcome." |
| Nintendo DS | Craig Harris, IGN | 8/10 | "What was a very good Game Boy Advance title turns out to be an even better Nintendo DS game. The development team stuck to its guns with the original concept and fleshed it out with new levels, new elements, and more stuff to beef up the variety and to toughen things up. The lack of variety is what hurt King of Swing in the long run, and while Jungle Climber shares the same core mechanic that makes the game just a tad repetitive, the designers injected some great ideas into the original to bulk up the fun." |
| Aggregators | |||
| Compiler | Platform / Score | ||
| Metacritic | 77 | ||
| GameRankings | 76.75% | ||
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.
The strange unused swings.
An early Jungle Beach
A foggy Panic Factory
A group of different paletted pegs
An unused background
Early logo
Staff
- Main article: List of DK: Jungle Climber staff
Gallery
- For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:DK: Jungle Climber.
Media
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References to other games
- Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: A cover of "Funky the Main Monkey" can be heard.
Name in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ドンキーコング ジャングルクライマー Donkī Kongu Janguru Kuraimā |
Donkey Kong Jungle Climber |
Trivia
- This is most of the Kongs' and Kremlings' only appearance in a DS game.
External links
| DK: Jungle Climber | ||
|---|---|---|
| Characters | Playable | Donkey Kong • Diddy Kong • Dixie Kong • Funky Kong |
| Non-playable | Candy Kong • Cranky Kong • Wrinkly Kong • Xananab | |
| Enemies and obstacles | Bramble • Click-Clack • Flipflap • Flitter • Ghost • Klobber • Kritter • Lockjaw • Mini-Necky • Neek • Puftup • Shuri • Spike • Zinger | |
| Bosses | Banana Ship • Junklomp • Mega Amp • Draglinger • King K. Rool | |
| Items | Banana • Banana Bunch • Banana Coin • Crystal Banana • Crystal Star • DK Coin • Gem • Hammer • KONG Panels • Oil barrel • Torch • Wings | |
| Objects | Booster Barrel • Cannon Barrel • DK Barrel • Exit • Giant flower • Handle Peg • Iron Barrel • Jack Peg • Mine • Peg • Peg Board • Question Barrel • Rock • Spike • Spirowarp • Spinner Barrel • Spinning Peg • Switch Peg • TNT Barrel | |
| Worlds | Sun Sun Island • Lost Island • Ghost Island • Chill 'n' Char Island • High-High Island • Wormhole • Extra Stages | |
| Minigames | Rolling Panic • Banana Grab • Speed Climb • Throw 'n' Crush • Orange Picker • Booster Battle • Banana Bonanza | |
