Kongo Falls

Kongo Jungle
Universe	Donkey Kong
Appears in	SSBM
Availability	Starter
Tournament legality Melee Singles: Available Doubles: Available

Kongo Jungle is one of three Donkey Kong stages in Super Smash Bros. Melee. The main fighting area of the stage is a raft that is stuck on the edge of a waterfall. The raft's bottom is a fairly flat but has gentle curves that change as you run and jump on it. On either side of the raft is a vertical post with two platforms attached to the middle and top of each one. The posts themselves are always perpendicular to the raft, so when the raft moves a little, the post can change its position and thus change the angles of the platforms on the posts. There is also a rock on which a character can stand that protrudes from the waterfall's edge on the right side of the stage. It is fairly low on the level and small, so landing on it can be difficult.

The barrel on the bottom of the level floats back and forth while spinning. If one lands in it, they can push any button to get out, which launches the character in the direction the arrow is facing. The arrow will sometimes stop while pointing to the bottom; this is dangerous because the barrel will automatically eject characters who have been in it for too long. There are also Klap Traps (a regular Donkey Kong enemy) on this stage. Touching one of them will result in the character being sent to his or her death. The Klap Traps occasionally get caught in the barrel cannon. These stuck monsters will still KO you if you touch them. Finally, there are logs that occasionally roll down the waterfall and stop for a moment just before they fall. These logs allow characters a narrow platform which they can escape to for a few seconds before they plummet to the bottom of the waterfall.

In All-Star mode, this stage is played on when you face Donkey Kong and any of his teammates.

Artistic Design

This stage is very well aesthetically put together. The waterfall, in contrast to the one in Princess Peach's Castle, is extremely close and raging. In the background, palm trees point to the source of the waterfall in the jungle. The jungle backdrop is surprisingly detailed; it is possible to see the large leaves, tropical tress, jungle vines, and even a protruding log. On the left of the canal is Donkey Kong's tree-house. However, it is not possible to interact with the structure.

Music

Kongo Jungle is notable for being the first stage in the Super Smash Bros. series to have fully vocalized music for its background music. Its music is a performance of the equally infamous and famous "DK Rap". The SSBM version of the song is sung with much more voices and with much more instruments than its original appearance. The word in Chunky Kong's verse "hell" was changed to "heck" to make the song more kid-friendly.

Image by Nintendorks. [1]

Other appearances

A similar stage, Congo Jungle, was available in SSB. It was released in SSBM as Kongo Jungle N64.

In the Great Maze, when you fight Donkey Kong, the stage looks similar to Kongo Jungle (but the colors and background are different).