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Donkey Kong Junior

aka: Donkey Kong Jr, Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong Jr.-e

Description official descriptions

Mario has kidnapped Junior's Papa!

Donkey Kong Jr. was originally released in the arcades in 1982 as a sequel to Donkey Kong. In this game, Mario plays the antagonist, finally having captured Donkey Kong, and has put the ape in a locked cage. As Donkey Kong Jr., players will have to make their way through four different levels (Vines, Springboard, Chains and Mario's Hideout) in an attempt to find keys to free the little monkey's father.

Along the way, Mario will send out Snapjaws, swooping purple birds, and electric sparks in an attempt to stop Junior. Junior can defend himself by dropping fruit found around the levels on the heads of his foes. The more foes a piece of fruit hits in a falling sequence, the higher bonus points can be scored.

Junior can also avoid enemies more easily by grabbing hold of two chains or vines at a time to climb away faster, or by jumping over his foes. However, any long fall or falling into the water on certain levels will mean the loss of a life for Junior.

In the final cut scene, Junior will free Donkey Kong and both will escape after giving Mario the boot. Once all four levels are cleared, the game levels will start over at a higher difficulty.

Like the original Donkey Kong, the earlier 1980's console versions do not have all of the levels and animations from the arcade.

Spellings

  • ドンキーコングJR. - Japanese spelling

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Credits (Arcade version)

10 People

Staff
Sound Design (uncredited)
Producer (uncredited)
Executive Producer (unredited)

Reviews

Trivia

Atari 2600 port

Surprisingly, Donkey Kong Jr. for the Atari 2600 was probably the poorest conversion in the history of the franchise. It was over-simplified in every aspect and almost unplayable. That must have been one of the main reasons Nintendo later enforced such strict standards on third party developers.

Cereal

Donkey Kong Junior had a breakfast cereal released in 1983 by Ralston-Purina. It had strawberry and banana shaped and flavored cereals.

Cartoon

Donkey Kong Jr. was popular enough to have a Saturday morning TV cartoon based on it in the early 1980's. DK Jr. would often use "Monkey Muscles" as his catchphrase.

Mario

This is the only Nintendo game where Mario is portrayed as a villain.

Awards

  • TeleMatch
    • Issue 04/1984 – Hand-held/Minigames of the Year 1983 (Readers' Vote)

Information also contributed by LepricahnsGold and Silverblade

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Related Sites +

  • Video review of Donkey Kong 1,2 & 3
    YouTube reviewer Aqualung reviews <i>Donkey Kong</i>, <i>Donkey Kong Jr.</i> and <i>Donkey Kong 3</i> on NES and mentions <i>Donkey Kong Classics</i>.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 7302

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kartanym.

Wii added by Corn Popper. Nintendo 3DS added by ResidentHazard. Wii U added by Michael Cassidy. Nintendo Switch added by Rik Hideto. Coleco Adam added by ed1475. Arcade added by Pseudo_Intellectual. Atari 2600, Atari 7800, ColecoVision, Intellivision added by Servo. Atari 8-bit added by LepricahnsGold.

Additional contributors: Shoddyan, Guy Chapman, gamewarrior, formercontrib, LepricahnsGold, Patrick Bregger.

Last modified March 3rd, 2023.