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.

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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

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Part of the Following Groups

Merchant	Title	Platform	Price
	Donkey Kong
	Donkey Kong	NES	$16.10
	Donkey Kong 3	NES	$3.89
	Donkey Kong (ColecoVision)	ColecoVision	$1.50
	Donkey Kong Junior (ColecoVision)	ColecoVision	$5.75
	Donkey Kong King of Swing	Game Boy Advance	$29.79
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User Reviews

A pale imitation, but there's still some fun to be had.	Atari 2600	Bob Montgomery (454)
You Can't Go Wrong With Donkey Kong, But....	Game Boy Advance	Guy Chapman (1673)
Great Graphics Don't Make Up For Horrible Gameplay	Atari 2600	Ian Stachowicz (609)

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The Press Says

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
Game Informer Magazine	Game Boy Advance	Jun, 2004	8 out of 10	80
Game Freaks 365	Atari 2600	2000	7 out of 10	70
Nintendo Land	NES	2003	60 out of 100	60
Cheat Code Central	Game Boy Advance	2004	2.5 out of 5	50
Virtual Console Reviews	Wii	Nov 19, 2006	2 out of 5	40
IGN	Wii	Dec 01, 2006	4 out of 10	40

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Trivia

At the time Donkey Kong came overseas, Universal Pictures sued Nintendo because they thought Nintendo was making fun of one of their most famous movies, "King Kong".

However, the judge decided that since the movie was already 50 years old at the time, Universal had no more exclusive rights over it. Since Universal was aware of this fact beforehand, the lawsuit was considered a waste of time and resources and it was forced to pay Nintendo 1.8 million dollars instead for costs and damages.

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This entry was contributed by Corn Popper (62801), Trixter