NES Games I Beat #34: Donkey Kong

    Most of us know Donkey Kong as the platformer games from the Country series. However Donkey Kong began as a trilogy of 8 bit arcade games designed by the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto , creator of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. This game however was not only the first Donkey Kong game but the first Mario game as well, known as Jumpman in this entry. See, this was a new idea at the time and what eventually birthed the entire genre of side scrolling platformers. The impact this game had for getting Nintendo on their feet after the colossal failure of games like Radar Scope cannot be understated. Super Mario Bros, arguably the most premiere and recognized video game franchise of all time technically began here. Nintendo’s iconic mascot was born. It launched Miyamoto’s career and propelled Nintendo to save video games as we know them. This is one of the most important games of all time and only in recent years I feel has it gotten the recognition it deserves through movies like King of Kong.
    The story of Donkey Kong, while simple, is vastly important. Donkey Kong snatches Pauline (that’s not Peach by the way) and Mario, or Jumpman as it were, needs to save his girl. It’s not revolutionary or deep but it’s a driving force to the entire experience of the game and it is integrated to make the player actually feel their motivation to play. The story and character of Donkey Kong was actually inspired by King Kong and Nintendo was sued by Universal only to win due to Universal actually not having the rights to King Kong as they had proved a decade earlier in a different court case. The settlement also got Nintendo out of their debt and Universal ended up creating LJN to get into the video game market. Anyways, back to the game.
The gameplay in Donkey Kong is the essence of a classic arcade game. There are enemies ranging from fireballs to barrels and springs which cannot be simply jumped on like in later Mario games but can be jumped over for points. There are also hammers, which Smash players may realize came from this game, that allow Mario temporary invincibility and the ability to smash barrels and fireballs. Mario can also take falling damage so it is necessary to time and angle jumps properly. The last thing is that items of Pauline’s, such as an umbrella and purse, can be obtained for extra points.
    The game is separated into three stages for the NES port, the fourth stage, the cement factory, being excluded for reasons of memory limitations. Donkey Kong was a launch title “Black Box” game as they called them for NES so this is understandable. The first stage is a Construction Site which is apt because Mario is actually a carpenter in this game. The level consists of a set of ladders set up to scale five slanted platforms. To your left at the start is an oil barrel that spawn fireballs. As you climb the ladder, Donkey Kong throws barrels that are set to randomly fall down ladders or roll to the end and fall to the next platform. Two hammers are placed here to help with the barrels. This stage is pretty easy with practice, jump barrels and make it to the top.
Stage two is known as the Elevator Stage and is set up with platforms, ladders, and a system of rising and falling platforms. It is necessary to time you jumps on these as they can crush you at the top and there is a firball on the next platform that can move sporadically. Once you reach the right side of the screen, you’ll have to time your climbing to dodge the spring that moves very quickly which can prove to be quite difficult especially when you’ve reached the top where it’s very easy to fuck up and die. Watch the pattern and stand in one of the few safe spots and time the ladder climb to advance.
    Stage three is vastly more simple. The objective is no longer to get to the top but to dodge the fireballs and jump over the pegs holding the structure of the floors together to topple Donkey Kong and win the game. The hammers make a return and it’s not too hard.
    Mario controls very slow here but fairly. It feels a lot like Simon Belmont in early Castlevania titles where jumping needs to be planned out really well. It’s learn or be killed. Three lives, no continues. The jump is fine because it’s obvious this was intentional. The controls aren’t bad, just different. They are excellently integrated with the level design to add just enough challenge to the game. This game isn’t insanely hard to beat, it just takes some practice. To master this game takes a life time. Playing for points in Donkey Kong is a complicated art beyond my interests in this game. 22 levels in of repeated gameplay there is a stage called the killscreen which ends the arcade version but only the most elite of players have ever reached it. In terms of sheer run throughs of the three stages, I actually beat this twice today because I didn’t catch the image of Mario saving Pauline until time 2 but the fun and short 5-10 minute length really makes it fun every time.
    Overall, most would call this game a masterpiece or would at least recognize it’s innovations. While short due to its arcade gameplay, it revolutionized the industry, put Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto on the map, created the platforming genre as well as Mario, and innovated the use of story in video games to give the player a connection to the events they were playing through. It’s one of the most important games of all time with an addicting simple to beat hard to master style of gameplay and very nice graphics and sound for its time. It’s a 10/10 game in terms a fair, critical analysis but for myself it’s not my favorite game ever or anything. Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate and love what it’s done and how fun it is but personally I’d give it more like an 8/10 in terms of everything else. Take that at face value though, that’s just an opinion. Donkey Kong is a fantastic game that pioneered the industry we have now.