Donkey Kong

Description

Released in the arcades in 1981, Donkey Kong was not only Nintendo's first real smash hit for the company, but marked the introduction for two of their most popular mascots: Mario (originally "Jumpman") and Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong is a platform-action game that has Mario scale four different industrial themed levels (construction zone, cement factory, an elevator-themed level, and removing rivets from girders) in an attempt to save the damsel in distress, Pauline, from the big ape before the timer runs out. Once the rivets are removed from the final level, Donkey Kong falls, and the two lovers are reunited. From there, the levels start over at a higher difficulty.

Along the way, Mario must dodge a constant stream of barrels, "living" fireballs, and spring-weights. Although not as powerful as in other future games, Mario can find a hammer which allows him to destroy the barrels and fireballs for a limited amount of time. Additionally, Mario can also find Pauline's hat, purse and umbrella for additional bonus points.

Donkey Kong is also notable for being one of the first complete narratives in video game form, told through simplistic cut scenes that advance the story. It should also be noted that in versions of the game for early 1980's consoles, Donkey Kong only used 2-3 of the original levels, with the cement factory usually omitted.

Alternate Titles

• "Donkey Kong-e" -- e-Reader Title
• "DK" -- Common Abbreviation
• "Crazy Kong" -- Donkey Kong's name in Japan
• "ドンキーコング" -- Japanese Spelling

Part of the Following Groups

• Donkey Kong games
• e-Reader series
• Famicom Mini series
• Games made into TV series
• Games referenced in film
• Mario licensees
• Monkey-themed games
• Nintendo's Arcade series
• Video games turned in to board/card games

Merchant Title Platform Price   Classic NES Series: Donkey Kong Game Boy Advance $15.97   Donkey Kong-e Game Boy Advance $2.99   Donkey Kong NES     Donkey Kong     Please select your country: United States Argentina Australia Austria Belgium Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Canada Chile China Colombia Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Ireland Israel Italy Japan Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Malaysia Malta Mexico The Netherlands New Zealand Norway Philippines Poland Portugal Romania Russia Saudi Arabia Serbia Singapore Slovakia Slovenia South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Uruguay Other Worldwide Not an American user?

User Reviews

A pale imitation, but there's still some fun to be had.	Atari 2600	Bob Montgomery (493)
You Can't Go Wrong With Donkey Kong, But....	Game Boy Advance	Guy Chapman (1722)
Great Graphics Don't Make Up For Horrible Gameplay	Atari 2600	Mu77etOfDeath (613)

The Press Says

The Video Game Critic	Atari 8-bit	Aug 23, 2006	A	100
Computer Games	Atari 8-bit	Feb, 1984	A	100
The Good Old Days	NES	Aug 15, 2006	5 out of 6	83
Fragland.net	Game Boy Advance	Jan 11, 2005	81 out of 100	81
VideoGame	Atari 2600	Jun, 1991		80
Eurogamer.de	Wii	Jan 19, 2007	3 out of 5	60
GameSpot	Wii	Nov 21, 2006	4.6 out of 10	46
Abandonia	PC Booter	Apr 15, 2008	2 out of 5	40
IGN	Wii	Dec 01, 2006	4 out of 10	40
Virtual Console Reviews	Wii	Nov 19, 2006	2 out of 5	40

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Trivia

The name Donkey Kong is not Japanese, as it is widely believed. Instead, it is a combination of two words: The first word is supposed to stand for something that is hard to deal with: A mule, or donkey. The second word stems from King Kong. Hence, Donkey Kong.