Firstly let me say that yesterday was one of the best and worst days I've spent on D-Toid. The best because so much news came out to get me excited to be getting a PS3, the Dual Shock 3 in Europe coupled with the long awaited new firmware seemed to validate my decision to be trading in my 360 now instead of a few weeks ago. I was coming into this group while all this new functionality would be fresh and exciting. Then the group I'm joining decided to fuck things up royally, granted it was hilarious and produces some of the best comments I've ever seen but there were moments when I considered unpacking my 360, setting it back up and ponying up another £15 for another 3 months of Live on Friday. Then I remembered Buzz was coming out and all was right with the world.

Just to throw in one reason for me switching, I'm not paying another £55 to make my console wireless.

For this week's run-in to my PS3 aquiring I was going to do a blog a day when I would gradually turn more and more PS3 fanboyish, but seeing as all possible humour in that idea was wiped out yesterday I decided to use that controller list I posted yesterday and find something to do a Control Freaks on. My eyes settled on that biggest of all 6th gen freak controllers, the Gamecube's DK Bongos. Welcome to Control Freaks.

Episode 6 - The DK Bongos

The bongos were quite frankly, ridiculous. They were the most embarassing peripheral I've ever had to use and often left my hands worn raw. Yep, I freaking adore them.

The Controller

Its not complicated, a sign of what was to come?

3 buttons and a microphone to detect clapping. Its about as unsophisticated as a controller is possible to get these days. However it was all forgotten when a game had you pounding those 2 big buttons and clapping in perfect rhythm, the feeling of being perfect with them was unbeatable. So with that lets jump into what used them.

The Games

Donkey Konga 2

When you have a controller shaped like a musical instrument you have to have a music game for it. The 2 Donkey Konga games filled that niche nicely. Hit the red notes with the right drum and the yellow with the left, then clap for blue. It was uncomplicated and insanely hard once the higher levels were taken on, I still can't complete the Mario theme on hard. The crap cover songs however killed off any chance it had of taking hold, Nintendo was in no position to throw money around at the time. The true use for the bongos for most people though came between the 2 Konga games.


Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, epic win doesn't quite cover it.

Jungle Beat was a musical platformer effectively. The tactile joy of pounding bongos, the thrill of getting a good rhythm going to cruise through the level like a freerunner, the sheer joy of getting platinum medals and the infinate challenge of high scoring. Me and my sister commenced a ceaseless pissing contest over each other's high scores. Getting home to find a gloating note taped to the bongos became a common occurance and even to this day I dread seeing a photo of a beaten score dropping into my email and that's what I found awesome about the game. We could always find new ways to go through each level getting more and more 'beats' and constantly streamlining runs, its so rare for me to get dragged into that speedrunner/high score hunter mentality that I feel every game that can do it deserved to be trumpeted for its addictiveness.

The DK Bongos were a last gasp effort to turn around the Gamecube's fortunes along with the microphone for Mario Party 6 and Odama, however they deserved to earn the GC at least a little bit more time. No matter how sore you were going to be after a heavy session. They took their joy from their shape, not their function and that is why I see them as a Control Freak.

>NJ