A few years ago, Bill Trinen, long-time translator at Nintendo, tried to convince some reporters at E3, myself included, that a debuting game called "Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat" was worth checking out on the show floor. The game was a side-scroller you controlled solely by banging on or clapping over a bongo-drum-shaped controller. This game was great, he told us.

It seemed hard to believe.

Once I played it, I realized Trinen was right. And enough people at Nintendo other than Trinen must have concluded that as well, because the "Jungle Beat" team's next gig wound up being the next "Super Mario" game, "Super Mario Galaxy."

"Jungle Beat" has remained a hidden gem of a Nintendo-made game, but is now set to be the first of seven "Play on Wii" GameCube re-makes being produced for the Wii. The re-made "Jungle Beat" will be released in Japan on December 11, with a re-made "Pikmin" following on December 25.

A short video Nintendo has released for the game suggests that the Wii release is essentially a port of the GameCube game -- but with new controls. Check it out in motion near the bottom of this Nintendo page.

Nintendo of America has not yet announced details about these re-makes or even if they're coming to the U.S. I can recall that, back in March 2006, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told me in an interview that he was proud that the Wii's backwards compatibility with the GameCube would allow overlooked GCN titles to get a second shot with consumers. With this new program, his company has made its best effort yet to make his wish a reality.

Just don't ask me how players can clap their hands while their holding a Wii remote and nunchuk.

Last week, I interviewed the makers of the new, performance-enhancing pill for gamers called "FpsBrain."

I also spoke with a registered dietitian about it, and she likened the pill to most energy drinks out on the market.

Then yesterday, our friends at Kotaku published a pretty comprehensive feature on energy drinks, comparing the different brands' ingredients, tastes and effectiveness.

But there are two drinks that courageous (and no doubt bouncing-off-the-walls) feature writer Mike Fahey didn't try: the Nintendo-brand energy drinks Donkey Kong Jungle Juice and Power Up Energy Drink.

Granted, Fahey probably doesn't live near a Nintendo World Store, so I walked a few blocks from our Times Square office to Rockefeller Center, where I purchased the two drinks for $1.99 each.

Here's what I tasted...

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