Apparently, Nintendo didn’t feel that Donkey Konga alone was enough to justify buying the special drum controller, so out of that comes the second game to use the device, DK Jungle Beat. Even though the game does use the bongo drum controller, it’s not a music game.

It’s a rather odd little title in where you control Donkey Kong in a platform-style side scrolling fashion. Hitting on one of the pads of the drum will move DK to the left or right, and hitting them both will make DK jump. DK also has sort of a sonic wave clap move, done when you clap yourself into the drum controller’s microphone. This is used to defeat enemies and knock banana bunches down to you, among other strange things.

How does the game work, then? Well, for the brief demo at the show, you start off in sort of a DKC-style area, with bananas for you to collect, obstacles to jump over and enemies to defeat. However, because you’re using the drums to move DK, you’ll start to get bit of a beat going as you move DK through the level.

For example, at one point, you’ll need climb up a plant. Jumping from it will spring you up a corridor, where you can jump from wall to wall up to some strategically placed monkeys. Clapping when you pass by them will shoot you over to the next one, which will land you on a vine. From there you then jump off to the next ledge to an awaiting bird, which takes you up the rest of the way and to the end of the level. Remember, this is all done with two drum pads and the clap sensor.

There was a funny little mini-game of sorts after the platform portion was done. DK and a really mean gray gorilla face off in a fight, and when you see that the bad guy is about to hit you, clapping makes you dodge him. A quick counter hit from one of the drums is all it takes for you to hit both pads as fast as possible, pummeling him into a mess.

The game is pretty funny (especially the rapid-fire smacking parts), but it’s also pretty easy. The draw of the game is probably going to be how fast you can make it through these levels, because the platforming portions had some sort of combo meter at the top of the screen, which filled up as bananas were collected and baddies were dispatched. Hopefully there will be a wider variety of games and levels to play in DK Jungle Beat, because the two levels and the extra game toward the end repeated over and over doesn’t seem like it make for an enjoyable game, even if everyone was getting a kick out of the short version on the show floor.