User:Croper-1/Donkey Konga pre-release

This page covers the pre-release article about all 3 Donkey Konga games designed for the DK Conga drums.

All 3 Donkey Konga games are unveiled at Tokyo Game Show every year. There are some leftovers that are included in the final game, such as text related to it.

There is no mention of Donkey Konga unveiled to other regions, suggesting that the Japanese version was first made before localization, which was the reason why it got different songs before, and after the localization process.

Biography

This section contain information about the products related it.

DK Congas

Technical information needed. You can check out Data Digs instead.

The Donkey Kong Bongo Drums were a utility that is used in all 3 Donkey Konga games and Jungle Beat. They were first released and unveiled in Japan sometime in 2003 with the introduction of Donkey Konga ever since November of 2003 as rhythm drums that can be plugged in to a GameCube or Wii and function like regular bongo/conga drums, but it's not a shape of a regular bongo or conga, but they are Barrel Drums. It also warned players that the vibration of the conga drums, the loud noises that the conga can make, and the amount of time they play, which is why it gotten its own rules in Japan to prevent further reports or recalls of the Donkey Konga drum which were made before and after production of these drums. The drums had two inputs, A(clap) and B(Left pad and Right pad), and B is the primary input of the congas while the A button is the small button in the middle of the congas, and 1 plug depending on the console you plug in (GC or Wii), and it could depend on games. The players are also depended on the number of DK Congas they brought.

A lot of regional differences and localizations have done since 2004 to 2005 when all 3 Donkey Konga games were released in Japan. Localization ended in June of 2005, possibly due to time constraints.

History

2003

The Donkey Kong conga/bongo drums began manufacturing, and some tests of the Donkey Konga drum ran during the production process to test out the pros and cons(loud noises, time of play, vibrations) of the drums, which is the reason why there is a screen involving Cranky Kong in all 3 Donkey Konga games. After the drums were released and approved for the manufacturing process, the game continues its development, not long after, a demo was showcased in Tokyo Game Show 2003. Both the Donkey Kong drums and Donkey Konga was released in December, and development of Donkey Konga 2 along with localizations began. 30 songs were released along with modes and features such as Ape Arcade, and even compatible with 2 players.

Some of the TGS 2003-2005 leftovers are scattered around through all 3 Donkey Konga games, while the .res files and other files can be easily distinguished by the "_tgs" label, which may imply that it is from a demo.

2004

Donkey Konga 2 continues its development until a demo of Donkey Konga 2 was showcased in Tokyo Game Show 2004 and was released in 1st of July. Development for a 3rd Donkey Konga began, along with further localizations of Donkey Konga 2. In Autumn, the localization process is done for Donkey Konga with song changes. All 30 songs were somewhat changed because players do not understand the language or the song, so they have to pick some songs and replace them, but some might have kept, such as the DK Rap, the Donkey Konga theme, and the Hungrian Dance. Donkey Konga 2 was released and included 2 additional songs (1 hidden), and an extra player. Another game released in December this year, and with the improved functionality of the DK bongos, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat came forward with platforming mechanics.

2005

A demo Donkey Konga 3 was showcased at Tokyo Game Show 2005, and localizations of Donkey Konga 2 have started development, ever since it stopped with the European release of Donkey Konga 2 in June. Donkey Konga 3 was released in May of 2005, including 23 more songs and a extra player. There was never a localization of Donkey Konga 3 and it is extremely rare to come by a localization prototype since there is no international versions of Donkey Konga 3.

Differences

To do: Compare the TGS 2003-2005 differences.

Some of the TGS Demos are somewhat "late", though this is the only known public mention of this game aside from E3.

Donkey Konga

TGS 2003	Final (Japan)	Final

Donkey Konga 2

TGS 2004	Final (Japan)	Final

Dixie's Notes

The Japanese version has 2 resource files related to the version of Dixie's Notes that is seen in a TGS 2004 version of the game. These are:

• Memo.res
• Memo_tgs.res

While the US version adds 2 extra resource files which adds the "_us" label in it:

• Memo_us.res
• Memo_tgs_us.res

Donkey Konga 3

The most notable difference is that the game originally had 50 freshly packed songs for spring before 6 extra songs were added, as implied by the title screen and the tentative song list found leftover in SongData_tgs.res. Several others are blank and have a placeholder title such as " ？？？？？", which suggests that these songs haven't been implemented at the time of the Tokyo Game Show '05 demo build. Many songs use the Star Fox theme (34Fox) as a placeholder file, but could be a different song other than Star Fox. It also had really low prices, most likely for coverage. Some of these blank slots have "みてい" ("pending") in their ruby field and some song titles were edited to add formatting whitespace. The song that is shown in the video of the possibly late demo is unknown.

TGS 2005	Final

Another interesting thing is that a demo ending text in Funky News appears, and the leftover file associated is MemoData_tgs.res, which implies that it was a demo ending screen before the game came out in March, but could be possible that the demo was built before March of 2005, or in February, just days or weeks after the release of Donkey Konga 3. This text would possibly appear in the demo if you select and view the Funky News.

Japanese	Translation
プレイしてくれてサンキュ～ ドンキーコンガ３は ３月発売するＹＯ！ 完成するまで もうチョット待っててくれよナ！	Thank you for playing~ Donkey Konga 3 will be out this March, yo! Just hang in there a little longer 'til it's ready!