DK Bongo Blast

There are bits of Bongo Blast that are still a mystery, such as who left the tanker-load of bananas lying all over the track, and how they relate to the "banana bar" on the right of the screen. But we do know that four-player split screen is definitely in, and it'll be a raucous racing punch-up awash with power-ups. And Wi-Fi? Surely it's a no-brainer. Mario Kart DS online was so good that we inadvertently made little squeaking sounds with our mouth, and in the continued mysterious absence of a Mario Kart on Wii, we'd love to see Bongo Blast bring high-speed, barrel-flinging screaming ape battles to those information superhighways.

All this speculation will be moot in a few short weeks: Bongo Blast is penciled in for Japanese launch on June 28th, and - we suspect - the minimalist translation needed means we won't be far behind (EB Games has Bongo Blast listed for a September 1 release date, but that's far from official). The big hairy monkey of a question is whether Bongo Blast will suffer for having to crowbar its original bongo-slapping idea on to the Wii controllers - and if we'll be left pining for Mario, a tarmac racetrack and a pile of red shells as weepily as we are now.