Donkey Kong Barrel Blast

Template:Redirectshere Template:Infobox Donkey Kong Barrel Blast (known as Donkey Kong Jet Race in Europe and Australia) is a racing game in the Donkey Kong franchise. It was released for the Wii in mid-late 2007 in Japan and North America and early 2008 in Europe and Australia. The game was developed by Paon, who previously developed DK: King of Swing and its sequel DK: Jungle Climber. Some game modes present in the game are Jungle Grand Prix, Time Trial, Candy's Challenges and Cranky's Flight School. The game incorporates Miis as indicators for records in Time Trial and Candy's Challenges mode.

A Wii Remote and Nunchuk are used to play the game, and the game makes use of motion-controls during a race. The game supports up to four players, but only in the Jungle Grand Prix and Single Race modes; the other game modes are for only one player. Jungle Grand Prix, the main mode of the game, features eight racers in a multi-lap race to the finish line on a given race track. Players race around courses using rocket-powered bongos, and during a race, players are able to use items, Wild Moves and shortcuts in an attempt to reach first place.

This game requires twenty-two blocks on the player's Wii system to save game data, and the game data can also be copied and moved to an SD card or transferred to another Wii.

Gameplay

Donkey Kong racing on Mt Dynamite.

Players pick a character with varying stats, strengths and weaknesses and race around an obstacle filled course in an attempt to finish in first place out of eight racers. During a race, players can obtain items from Item Balloons and use them to interfere their rivals progress. The item system is similar to that of the Mario Kart series prior to Mario Kart 8. More powerful items are awarded the further behind a racer is. Players in first place are likely to get either Banana Bunches or Backward Barrels, while those near last place may get a Crystal Coconut, Mega TNT Barrel or Quawks. Players receive a certain amount of points depending on which position they finished a race in. The player with the most amount of points at the end is the winner.

Donkey Kong riding on Enguarde on Salty Sea.

Donkey Kong riding in a Minecart on Scorching Canyon.

Bananas are found on the racetracks and are used to fill up a gauge that contains Wild Moves which give players a small speed boost when used that can be extended by repeatedly crashing into barrels, certain enemies like Zingers or other players, making them lose ten bananas. Players can carry up to six Wild Moves. Players are also able to attack obstacles and other players, and any player hit by an item loses ten bananas. Rocket-powered bongos are used to race around the courses. As they remain above ground at all times, they are unaffected by the course's grounded terrain, but they move slower underwater and will automatically reach their top speed inside a wormhole and when entering a Launcher Barrel. Players are also able to jump over obstacles with them but they cannot drift.

A unique feature in this game is the ability to ride a Toboggan, a Minecart as well as Animal Buddies. The former two pits the player in a small bonus game were they can obtain more bananas and use the bonus area as a shortcut, while the latter allows a player to break through obstacles. Several types of barrels are also present, each with a different purpose. Normal barrels are weak obstacles that are essential to Wild Move combos, Iron Barrels will significantly slow down a player who bumps into them while Launcher Barrels can be used as shortcuts. Players will also encounter some wooden panels with a red !-mark on them. These are known as Surprise Panels, and they will summon a wide variety of things after being touched. Some examples are Golden Bananas, barrels and Launcher Barrels. Three difficulty levels not only control how difficult CPU players will be during a race, but how fast a player will move once they reach their top speed, with Rookie being the slowest, Pro being medium and Expert being the fastest.

Point spreads works identically to Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Kart DS. If two or more human players are playing, only four racers are present but the point spread remains the same.

Point Spread Comparisons
1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
10	8	6	4	3	2	1	0

Controls

Navigating menus

Action	Buttons used
Select	/
Confirm
Cancel
Home

Racing

Action	Buttons used
Accelerate	Shake the and
Rocket Start	Shake the and simultaneously as soon as the word "Start" appear on-screen during the countdown
Steer	Shake the to go right and the to go left
Jump	Raise the and simultaneously. Players can slow down their descent by shaking the and
Attack	Press
Use item	Press /
Charge a Wild Move	Tilt the in any direction. The charge can be canceled by jumping or using an item
Use a Wild Move	Release the
Pause / Resume
Home

Jungle Grand Prix

The cup selection screen.

The main mode in the game. It manages similarly to 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 Rookie (Beginner in Europe and Australia), to Pro, to Expert, the latter two which must be unlocked before the player can use them. To unlock Pro Difficulty, the player needs to win the Sapphire Cup on Rookie difficulty. To unlock Expert difficulty, the player needs to win the Platinum Cup on Pro difficulty.

Topaz Cup

• 

  DK Jungle
  (DK Jungle course)

• 

  Salty Sea
  (Seaside course)

• 

  Mt. Dynamite
  (Mt. Dynamite course)

Sapphire Cup

• 

  Scorching Canyon
  (Desert course)

• 

  DK Jungle Falls
  (DK Jungle course)

• 

  Shimmering Sea
  (Seaside course)

• 

  Mammoth Glacier
  (Snowy Mountain course)

Diamond Cup

• 

  Open Ocean
  (Seaside course)

• 

  Mt. Dynamite Remix
  (Mt. Dynamite course)

• 

  Parched Palace
  (Desert course)

• 

  Cranky's Temple
  (Sky Temple course)

Platinum Cup

• 

  Dynamite Run
  (Mt. Dynamite course)

• 

  DK Jungle Sunset
  (DK Jungle course)

• 

  Alpine Peak
  (Snowy Mountain course)

• 

  Temple Heights
  (Sky Temple course)

• 

  Cosmic Highway

Selection Cup

The player selects two to five of any of the race courses, but one race course cannot be selected twice. 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 trophies given during the award ceremony have differing designs and sizes, depending on which cup was beaten. 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.

Cup unlocking criteria

Cup	Criteria
Sapphire Cup	Win the Topaz Cup on Rookie difficulty.
Diamond Cup	Win the Sapphire Cup on Rookie difficulty.
Platinum Cup	Win the Diamond Cup on Rookie or Pro difficulty.
Selection Cup	Win the Diamond Cup on Rookie or Pro difficulty.
Random Cup	Win the Selection Cup (any difficulty level and course combination can be used).

There is also the Training Course, which isn't used in any of the cups, but it is used in Cranky's Flight School, some of Candy's Challenges and during the credits.

Other modes

The selection menu.

• 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, a time limit and a lap 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 stats for the courses, such as highest amount of bananas collected, highest Wild Move combo count and best time when clearing a cup.
• 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

The character select screen.

Including Ultra Barrel DK as a separate character from Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Barrel Blast features a total of 17 playable characters (consisting of 9 Kong characters and 8 Kremling characters). 6 characters are available from the start and 11 are unlockable. Kip, Kass, Kalypso, and Kludge make their first appearances in this game. The game also marks the first game appearance of Lanky Kong (excluding remakes) since his debut, which was released 8 years prior. Unlockable characters will appear during a race, but Wrinkly Kong, Cranky Kong, and King K. Rool need to be unlocked before they can appear as CPU opponents. Ultra Barrel DK never appears as a CPU opponent even after being unlocked, as he can only be used by human players.

It is also not possible for one player to use Ultra Barrel DK while another player uses Donkey Kong or vice versa, due to them sharing the same character slot. If a character hasn't been unlocked yet, a black silhouette of Donkey Kong will take its place on their character slot, except for Ultra Barrel DK. Once he is unlocked, the player will see a small speech bubble when hovering over DK's character slot that explains the buttons that needs to be pressed in order to select him. In order to select Ultra Barrel DK on the character select screen, the player needs to highlight Donkey Kong, hold and press .

Each character have three stats, all of which are shown when highlighting them on the character select screen.

• Boost: How fast a character can reach their top speed from a standstill start.
• Speed: How high a character's top speed will be when they are going at full speed.
• Agility: How tight a character can turn.

Kongs

Character	Name	Attributes	Unlock method	Rival	Stats
File:Normal donkeykong.jpg	Donkey Kong	The most balanced Kong.	Available by default.	Kritter	Boost	3/5
					Speed	3/5
					Agility	3/5
File:Normal diddy.jpg	Diddy Kong	Sacrifices speed for greater agility.	Available by default.	Kip	Boost	3/5
					Speed	2/5
					Agility	4/5
	Dixie Kong	Minimal speed, but high agility and maxed out boost.	Available by default.	Kass	Boost	5/5
					Speed	1/5
					Agility	4/5
	Lanky Kong	Very high speed, but low boost and poor agility.	Win the Topaz Cup with a Kong.	Klump	Boost	2/5
					Speed	4.5/5
					Agility	1/5
File:TinyJetPNG.png	Tiny Kong	Maxed out boost and high speed, but low agility.	Win the Sapphire Cup with a Kong.	Kalypso	Boost	5/5
					Speed	4/5
					Agility	2/5
File:Funky.jpg	Funky Kong	Maxed out speed, but poor agility and boost.	Win the Diamond Cup with a Kong.	Kludge	Boost	1/5
					Speed	5/5
					Agility	1/5
File:WrinklyJet.jpg	Wrinkly Kong	Average boost and speed with maxed out agility.	Win Candy's Challenge 26: Let Wrinkly Kong win!.	Kopter	Boost	3/5
					Speed	3/5
					Agility	5/5
File:CrankyJet.jpg	Cranky Kong	High boost, speed, and agility.	Win Candy's Challenge 24: Challenge Cranky!.	King K.Rool	Boost	4/5
					Speed	4/5
					Agility	4/5
File:Ultra Barrel DK artwork.PNG	Ultra Barrel DK	All stats are maxed out.	Complete all 32 Candy's Challenges.	None	Boost	5/5
					Speed	5/5
					Agility	5/5

Kremlings

Character	Name	Attributes	Unlock method	Rival	Stats
	Kritter	The most balanced Kremling.	Available by default.	Donkey Kong	Boost	3/5
					Speed	3/5
					Agility	3/5
File:KipBlast.jpg	Kip	High agility and average boost with low speed.	Available by default.	Diddy Kong	Boost	3/5
					Speed	2/5
					Agility	4/5
File:KassBongo.jpg	Kass	Maxed out boost and high agility, but minimal speed.	Available by default.	Dixie Kong	Boost	5/5
					Speed	1/5
					Agility	4/5
File:KlumpJet.jpg	Klump	Very high speed, but poor agility and low boost.	Win Candy's Challenge 16: Beat Klump!.	Lanky Kong	Boost	2/5
					Speed	4.5/5
					Agility	1/5
File:Kalypso DK Barrel Blast.jpg	Kalypso	Low agility, but maxed out boost and high speed.	Win the Sapphire Cup with a Kremling.	Tiny Kong	Boost	5/5
					Speed	4/5
					Agility	2/5
File:KludgeJet.jpg	Kludge	Maxed out speed, but poor boost and agility.	Win the Diamond Cup with a Kremling.	Funky Kong	Boost	1/5
					Speed	5/5
					Agility	1/5
File:KopterJet.jpg	Kopter	Maxed out agility with average boost and speed.	Win the Topaz Cup with a Kremling.	Wrinkly Kong	Boost	3/5
					Speed	3/5
					Agility	5/5
File:KroolJet.jpg	King K. Rool	High boost, speed, and agility.	Win Candy's Challenge 31: Showdown vs. King K. Rool.	Cranky Kong	Boost	4/5
					Speed	4/5
					Agility	4/5

Enemies

These characters act as obstacles and will try to attack racers. Racers will slow down when struck by their attack or by colliding with them directly. A defeated enemy will reward a racer with ten bananas. Defeated enemies will respawn after a while.

Enemies
Enemy	Location	Description
Flipflap	Mt. Dynamite, Scorching Canyon, Mt. Dynamite Remix, Dynamite Run	A bat that flies around in a set pattern. One hit will take it out.
Zinger	DK Jungle, Scorching Canyon, DK Jungle Falls, Cranky's Temple, DK Jungle Sunset	A large wasp that flies around in a set pattern. Unlike other Donkey Kong games, one hit will defeat them.
Necky	Mt. Dynamite, Cranky's Temple, Temple Heights	A vulture that flies around high in the sky, and it will ram into a racer it sees. One hit will defeat it, and they can unintentionally help a racer with Wild Move combos.
Chomps	Salty Sea, Shimmering Sea, Open Ocean	A big shark that is only encountered underwater. Regular ones appear in Salty Sea, Shimmering Sea and Open Ocean and electrified variants appear only in Open Ocean. They look intimidating, but one hit will defeat them. Electrified ones will slow down racers significantly if attacked unless they attacked it while invincible or stabbed it with Enguarde.
Hurley	Salty Sea, Shimmering Sea, Mammoth Glacier, Open Ocean, Alpine Peak	A weird-looking monkey that likes to throw bananas and barrels at the racers. They cannot be defeated, and other Hurleys can also be seen spectating the race or doing something in the background.
Lockjaw	DK Jungle Falls, DK Jungle Sunset	A piranha that is only encountered near waterfalls that will attack racers by leaping out of the water and bite them. Regular ones appear in DK Jungle Falls, while electrified variants appear in DK Jungle Sunset. Like the Chomps, both can be defeated in one hit, but electrified ones can only be defeated safely by attacking it while invincible.
Giant Centipede	Scorching Canyon, Parched Palace	A pink centipede that crawls near the finish line after being summoned by touching a specific Surprise Panel. It can't be defeated, only avoided. It will also try to eat the Golden Banana that spawns along with it, as well as any bananas it may come across.
Giant Squid	Salty Sea	A large white octopus only found underwater. A player can attack its tentacles and make it retract them briefly inside the rocks, and the head can also be attacked to stun the octopus for a while, though only if the player crashes into it while using a Wild Move or stabs it while riding on Enguarde.
Big Frog	DK Jungle Falls, Mt. Dynamite Remix, Dynamite Run, DK Jungle Sunset	A frog usually found in groups. The green ones in the DK Jungle courses attacks by breathing green bubbles, while red ones found in the Mt Dynamite courses breathe fire. Neither can be defeated.
Cyber Kong	Cosmic Highway	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 homing missiles that cannot be defeated, but it can be stunned temporarily by crashing into it while using a Wild Move.

Items

File:DKBBItemBalloons.png

The item balloons.

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. Some Item Balloons will change color after being picked up. Which item from the Item Balloons a racer will receive is influenced by their current race position.

Red Balloon items

Image	Name	Description
	Prop Monkey	A toy version of Hurley. It flies to the opponent in front of the user and tosses out their bananas onto the race track. If used by a Kong, it will toss out more bananas.
	Squawks	The green parrot from the Donkey Kong series. He flies to the opponent in front of the user and hovers around them, preventing them from doing Wild Moves. If the player tries to perform a Wild Move, Squawks will attack. This causes the player to lose ten bananas. If used by a Kong, he will circle around the target longer.
	Quawks	The purple parrot from the Donkey Kong series, now with a name. He'll fly all the way to the player in first place and attack them, causing them to lose ten bananas (however, this can be avoided by jumping or turning sharply before he attacks). If used by a Kong, the player that gets hit will instead lose all of their bananas.
	Banana Fairy	A glowing banana fairy. When used, it pulls in bananas from around the user that they might not have been able to reach from where they are on the track. If used by a Kong, the effect will last longer. It can also pull in Item balloons, but not Golden Bananas.
	Blazing Banana	A banana on fire. When used, the player will put some of the flaming fruit on the track for opponents to run into. This will cause the opponents to lose ten bananas. If used by a Kong, they will leave more of them behind.
	Tasty Melon	It makes players invincible for a while. If used by a Kong, the effect lasts a little longer. Unlike the Crystal Coconut, touching players while invincible won't hurt them.
	Crystal Coconut	The best Kong power-up, using it makes players invincible and have unlimited Wild Moves. Touching another player while under the effects of this item causes them to lose ten bananas.

Blue Balloon items

Image	Name	Description
	Mini-Necky	A miniature version of Necky. It will fly to the opponent behind the user and ram them, making them lose ten bananas. If used by a Kremling, the victim will also lose one Wild Move.
	Whirlwind	A small twister. It takes away bananas from all the racers and gives them to the user. If used by a Kremling, more bananas will be taken. The twister doesn't harm the opponents in any way, it simply steals the bananas.
	Backward Barrel	A barrel that is thrown backwards by the user. It then turns into three barrels for more chances of hitting someone from behind. If used by a Kremling, they will turn into TNT barrels. Neither barrel can be destroyed by attacking it or running into it while using a Wild Move. Both barrels causes a player to lose ten bananas if they run into one.
	Mini-Zinger	A swarm of small Zingers that, when used, stays on a part of the track. Players that run into the swarm will be attacked, with their speed slowed down. The victim must accelerate to get rid of them. If used by a Kremling, the Zingers will be harder to get rid of.
	Pineapple Launcher	A wooden bazooka that shoots homing pineapples. It was originally Chunky Kong's weapon in Donkey Kong 64. Players who use it will shoot a pineapple at the opponent in front of them (but they can dodge it by jumping before it hits them). If used by a Kremling, two pineapples will be shot instead of one. A player that gets hit by a pineapple will lose ten bananas.
	Wild Elixer	A strange drink that gives the user an extra Wild Move. If used by a Kremling, it will give two extra Wild Moves.
	Mega TNT Barrel	The best Kremling weapon, using it will drop TNT Barrels on all opponents, making them lose all Wild Moves, get their controls reversed, and not be able to use their items.

Both

Image	Name	Description
	Banana Bunch	A big bunch of bananas that gives the player 30 bananas when used.

Bananas

The key to winning is collecting bananas to fill the Wild Move gauge. It takes 50 bananas to fill it and obtain a Wild Move. Collected bananas will respawn on the racetrack after a while.

Image	Name	Description
	Banana	Worth one banana.
	Banana Bunch	Worth five bananas.
	Golden Banana	Worth 50 bananas. They are not hard to get, just hard to notice. Many of them are usually found by touching a Surprise Panel.

Animal Friends

Image	Name	Description
	Rambi the Rhino	Rambi will bash everything in his path, and players will collect bananas for it. Rambi can be found on the rocky road before the lavafall on Dynamite Run.
File:Enguarde DKBB.png	Enguarde the Swordfish	Like Rambi, Enguarde plows through all sorts of obstacles, and the player collects bananas from them. Enguarde can be found in the underwater portions of Salty Sea and Open Ocean.

In order to hitch a ride on either of them, the player must run into the Animal Crate on the track with their picture. The box will either stay still or move back and forth in a line for players to catch. They cannot hurt another racer by touching them, but they are immune to being damaged by both racers using Wild Moves, their attacks, as well as all items, except for the reversed control effects and loss of Wild Moves from a Mega TNT Barrel. Their Animal Crates will respawn to their original location once a riding racer reaches the end of the Animal Friend's area.

Barrels

Donkey Kong Barrel Blast features a variety of Barrels. Some of them can be spawned by touching a Surprise Panel.

Image	Name	Description
	Launcher Barrel	A type of Barrel Cannon. Racers who enter one will get sucked in and shot out at high speed. This is commonly found in all racetracks. There are also two other, more rare variants of the Launcher Barrel that are manually controlled by moving the and upwards simultaneously.
	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 by turning around them or jump. They are easily broken when attacked by a racer or ran into while using a Wild Move (which they will earn five bananas for each destroyed barrel). Simply colliding into a barrel will only cause a minor speed drop. Destroyed barrels will regenerate after a while. They are essential for Wild Move combos. Some are also spawned by touching a Surprise Panel.
	Iron Barrel	The second-most common obstacle in the game. Players that run into one will lose speed so they must accelerate quickly to recover. They can only be destroyed if the player is invincible, or is using an Animal Friend. Destroyed Iron Barrels will regenerate after a while. They will give five bananas when destroyed.
	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 and will give five bananas when destroyed. 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 and will give five bananas when destroyed. These types of barrels are found in the DK Jungle courses and Cranky's Temple.
	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. The first three correct moves will earn them ten bananas, but getting all four commands right will earn them an additional fifty for a grand total of 80 bananas! This type of barrel is rarely seen, and is found on few tracks.
	Yellow Launcher Barrel	A special yellow Launcher Barrel. When a player enters it, a gauge will be shown above it. The player can stop the gauge by moving the and upwards simultaneously, and they will be shot out from it. The strength of the shot and the distance traveled depends on how close the player stopped the gauge near the blue area. If they stopped the gauge at the blue area, they will always be shot out at max speed and travel the furthest distance. This barrel type is rare, as they are only seen on Mammoth Glacier and Mt. Dynamite Remix.
	DK Launcher Barrel	A special Launcher Barrel with the DK logo on it that is only found on Mt. Dynamite. When a player enters it, the barrel will align its firing position before allowing the player to shoot themselves out by moving the and upwards simultaneously. If the barrel is pointing straight ahead and the player fires, they will be successfully launched at a high speed to a Spinning Launcher Barrel that will shoot the player to the very bottom of the downhill path. If the player instead fired while the barrel was pointing upwards, they will be blasted to a dangerous area of the racetrack filled with many Spiked Balls, Iron Barrels and Blazing Bananas. When exiting this area, the player will be near the finish line.

Gallery

• 

  The game's logo.

• 

  The title screen.

• DKBBScene.png

  Scene art.

• 

  Donkey Kong, Diddy, Dixie, Lanky, Tiny, Funky, a Kritter, Kip, Kass, a Kopter, Kalypso, and Kludge on a size comparison chart.

Pre-release and unused content

Main article: List of Donkey Kong Barrel Blast pre-release and unused content

The game was originally planned for the Nintendo GameCube for use with the DK Bongo Controller. The Item Balloons originally had the DK logo on them, before being changed into question marks in the final version. Some of the character sprites, such as Donkey Kong, Funky Kong and Kritter were originally artwork reused from DK: King of Swing.

Staff

Main article: List of Donkey Kong Barrel Blast staff

Kenichi Imaeda directed the game, while Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka worked as supervisors. Paon's president Rikiya Nakagawa was one of the three producers of the game, Eiji Akahori worked as the lead programmer and the game's soundtrack was composed by Takashi Kouga.

References to other games

• Donkey Kong: Parts of Cranky's Flight School and Cosmic Highway is a remix of this game's opening.
• Donkey Kong Country: Several enemies from this game return. The theme that plays in Cranky's Flight School is a remix of the music that plays in Cranky's Cabin. When Kritter rides in a minecart, he resembles a Krash.
• Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: Lockjaw returns as an enemy.
• Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble: Quawks returns and is named for the first time. Kopter also returns. Many Rocket Barrels are seen in the background of Cosmic Highway.
• Donkey Kong 64: Lanky Kong and Tiny Kong return. Chunky Kong's Pineapple Launcher, Banana Fairies, Golden Bananas and Crystal Coconuts return as items. Flipflaps return as enemies.
• Diddy Kong Racing DS: Tiny appears in her older teenage redesign which originated from this game.

References in later games

• Mario Kart Wii: Some of Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, 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.

Critical reception

Donkey Kong Barrel Blast was 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. It has an average score of 43.94% from 32 reviews on GameRankings and an average of 46 based on 34 reviews on Metacritic.

Reviews
Reviewer, Publication	Score	Comment
Matt Bozon, IGN	4.5/10	What a waste of a game Donkey Kong Barrel Blast has become. Racers move incredibly slow, and even follow the specific point on the track regardless of player input, so once you drum up to full speed you could literally put the controllers down and watch the rider race around the track, if not for a slight bit of drifting within their lanes and the occasional hazard on the road. When looking at the presentation elements DK Barrel Blast shows at least a bit of merit. The game even runs in 16:9 and 480p, and goes as far as to include Mii support for profiles, IR menus, and a motion-based trick system in-game, but it just doesn't matter when you realize DK Barrel Blast looks the part, but doesn't act it. It isn't all bad with DK Barrel Blast, but unfortunately the weaker elements far outweigh the game's higher points.
KnucklesSonic8, Wiiloveit.com	23/30	One thing the game gets right is the variety of modes. Rather than simply limiting players to a barebones setup, Barrel Blast features a few other gameplay modes beyond the ones you'd come to expect. The game has over 10 characters to choose from, all hailing from the Donkey Kong universe. Even some unlikely characters show up in the roster and it's great to see such a wide selection of characters. Best of all, though, the musical stylings found within the game are really catchy and they suit each level almost perfectly. Sadly, the level of enjoyment that one may experience in the game's single-player modes doesn't translate into a fun multiplayer experience. While the game is enjoyable for younger audiences who may have trouble with running into walls in other racing games, the split-screen is just too confining for matches of 3 or 4. Unfortunately, the framerate also drops significantly during races with larger numbers and it's rather unappealing.
Alex Navarro, GameSpot	4.5/10	Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast is one in a very long line of half-baked Mario Kart wannabes, and it's one that just so happens to be published by the Mario Kart maker itself, Nintendo. If you can give Barrel Blast credit for anything, it's that there's no shortage of things to do. You can also play the game with up to three friends, including the grand prix mode. While adding other folk to the mix does alleviate some of the catch-up AI business, it doesn't make the controls any less flimsy, meaning you'll probably just end up with a few frustrated friends at the end of it. It's impossible to know whether or not Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast would have been any better with bongo drum controls instead of Wii Remote action, but in truth, it doesn't really matter. The lackluster track designs, inconsistent difficulty level, and no-personality presentation are more than enough to sink the game all by themselves, and when you throw in the wonky motion controls, that just sinks things even deeper. Skip out on Barrel Blast.
Aggregators
Compiler		Platform / Score
Metacritic		46
GameRankings		43.94%

Sales

According to Famitsu sales data, Donkey Kong Barrel Blast sold 79.201 copies in Japan by the end of 2007.

Trivia

• Unlike Diddy Kong Racing, its remake and the Mario Kart series, the music that plays on a race course will not go into a higher tempo once a player reaches the final lap.
• 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. He simply hits the sides of his rocket barrel with his hands.
• 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.
• In the official artwork, Rambi and Enguarde's Animal Crates are wooden and shows their faces as a black silhouette like the ones from Donkey Kong Country. In-game however, their crates are colored beige and shows their face clearly.

External links

• Official Japanese Website