while bouncing from flowers, swinging from vines and jumping over barrels.

He wears a tie.

His last name is Kong.

Don’t tell Nintendo. I don’t want this game taken down. It’s too much fun.

Just released to the App Store, this proves that Donkey’s family tree stretches far

beyond the weirdness of Lanky and Chunky. Long ago in a jungle far away, there is Banana

Kong...a platforming ape with a rich family history and no fear of copyright infringement.

Banana Kong is an endless runner with, obviously, a kind of familiar premise. His banana pile

is so huge, it starts to crumble like an avalanche. Poor Banana has no choice but to run...but,

uh...you know. He might as well grab replacement bananas along the way. No self-respecting

Kong lets floating bananas go to waste.

So the monkey runs forward automatically, and you guide him through the jungle. Tapping

the screen makes him jump, holding your finger down lets him open a leaf parachute to drift.

The controls are really simple...unlike the jungle.

The jungle is brutal.

Obviously, it’s not terribly original, but Banana Kong is a charming tribute to gaming’s

hairiest icon. There’s even an achievement for collecting exactly 1,981 bananas. 1981,

a year that had some significance for gorillas in gaming. And of course, it doesn’t hurt

that this is a very enjoyable runner.

There’s a number of power-ups you can purchase with bananas, which is always awesome. You

can even power-up your animal friends, which give you helpful rides through the jungle.

But speaking of which...it would be nice if it were a bigger jungle. You can swing up

to the emergent layer and bounce through the sky, and you can plunge into the stinking

hot caves below...but that’s about it.

This is not an easy game. It’s not one of those runners where you make it a million

miles every turn. You don’t make it very far, and all progress is precious. That gives

Banana Kong an even more addictive quality. You want to run over and over again, which

is really the ultimate achievement of any runner.

Now if only it had some girders and a damsel in distress. It’s Banana Kong for the iPhone.