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About Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong first arrived in the arcades in 1981 as the game that Shigeru Miyamoto designed to replace the ill-fated arcade game Radar Scope. It featured a mustachioed man in brightly colored overalls who would go on to achieve monumental fame and bring Nintendo a lot of fortune. Originally he was simply called Jumpman and was labeled a carpenter, he eventually named Mario and identified as a plumber. When the Famicom launched in 1983, Nintendo provided their three biggest arcade hits as launch titles. Donkey Kong was an obvious choice. The Famicom conversion is a very close port of the original game with only minimally altered graphics, but sadly featuring the omission of the conveyor belt stage. Despite the missing stage, the remaining three stages make it in tact, and provide all of the same challenges found the arcade version.
Story
Donkey Kong lays eyes on Mario's girlfriend Pauline and is instantly smitten, driving Donkey Kong to capture Pauline in his clutches and climb to the top of the construction site where Mario works. Mario is determined to get Pauline back, but Donkey Kong hurls barrels and employs fire to hinder the carpenter's efforts. Guide Mario through the gauntlet and up to the top before time and Pauline's patience run out!
Characters
Mario
You control Mario with the direction pad. Press left or right to make him walk along the girders, and press up or down to make him climb up or down the ladders. Mario can only climb all the way up unbroken ladders. Press the A button to make Mario jump. By pressing the A button alone, Mario will jump straight up. By pressing the A button along with left or right, Mario will do a running jump in that direction. Mario loses a life if he touches a barrel, spring, fireball, or fox fire, or if he falls a distance greater than his own height.
Pauline
This is Mario's damsel in distress. In the first two stages, she awaits your rescue at the top of the screen, while in the third stage she sits helpless and out of reach. Bonus points are awarded to you every time you successfully rescue Pauline. The bonus points count down from the beginning of each stage.
Donkey Kong
The title protagonist himself and the king of video simians. Donkey Kong is an ever present threat to Mario's rescue of Pauline. Determined to slow Mario down, he sends barrels, springs, and fire after the hero while he pounds on his chest and stomps on the floor. Though he does nothing to threaten Mario directly, touching Donkey Kong is lethal.
Hammer
If Mario jumps and grabs a hammer, he will have the ability to smash enemies with the hammer for a limited period of time. However, while holding one, Mario loses the ability to jump or climb ladders. Mario is also not invulnerable while holding the hammer and can still be killed if an object sneaks past the head of the hammer.
Barrels and Springs
These inanimate objects are fairly predictable. Barrels roll down the ramp stage and will randomly choose to fall down a ladder, or to drop off the end of a ramp. Springs bounce along the top of the elevator stage and fall off the ledge to varying distances. Mario must jump over the barrels to safety, while his best strategy is to let the springs bounce safely over his head at the top of the elevator stage before attempting to rescue Pauline.
Fireball and Firefoxes
Fireballs appear on the ramps and elevators stage, while Firefoxes appear on the final stage. These wispy flames are slow but very unpredictable. If they continue in one direction, it is possible for Mario to jump over them, but they change direction so frequently that it's best not to try. Fireballs can climb up broken ladders, but Firefoxes can not cross the gaps created by Mario when he pulls out the yellow plugs in the final stage.
How to Play
Stage 1 - Ramps
Mario starts in the lower left corner and must climb all the way to the top. Along the way, Donkey Kong will be rolling barrels down the ramps which Mario must avoid or jump over. Donkey Kong will start every ramp stage by hurling a barrel directly down to the bottom level which will enter the oil cannister and start a fire, releasing the first fireball. The fireball will slowly begin to climb up the ramps in pursuit of Mario. Along the way, there are two hammers available for Mario to use. While useful, they slow Mario down by preventing him from climbing higher. The first hammer should generally be left alone except in case of emergencies. The second hammer should be used often in early levels when there is plenty of bonus time available, and sparingly at higher levels if the path to the far right ladder is too crowded and you need a breather before climbing to the highest ramp. At later levels more than one fireball will appear to pursue Mario.
Stage 2 - Elevators
This stage features two elevators that Mario must make use of in order to reach the ladder to the ramp that Pauline is perched on. The left elevator goes up while the right elevator goes down. The fireball between the elevator presents the first challenge. If Mario is above him, he will generally take a ladder up, and if he is below, he will drop down the ladder. Use this to your advantage when you take the first elevator up. When using the second elevator, if it is slow enough, you can take a shortcut from the high ledge on the left to the high ledge on the left. Otherwise, you must ride the elevator down to the bottom and jump from island to island n order to reach Pauline. Along the way, Mario must time his jumps so as to avoid the springs that fall from above. When Mario reaches the ledge that Donkey Kong stands on, he must time is attempt to climb the ladder and rescue Pauline. The safest strategy is to stand directly over the right elevator and let the springs bounce over Mario, and make a run for the ladder as soon as a spring clears his head. The first bonus prize, Pauline's umbrella is an easy grab, but the second bonus prize, Pauline's purse is generally not worth the effort.
Stage 3 - Rivets
Donkey Kong has taken Pauline to the highest point at the construction site and has no where else to go. Mario takes advantage of the situation by removing the yellow plugs that hold each level together. To do that, Mario must run or leap over the yellow plugs and they will immediately disappear, leaving a gap behind. The firefoxes which occupy this stage can not cross those gaps, but Mario must leap over them in order to cross them safely. There are two hammers on this stage for Mario's convenience. The hammer below Donkey Kong is an easy nab, but the hammer on the level below can be obtained in two ways. One way is to move Mario's feet over the edge of the level and jump straight up. However, it's faster for Mario to jump straight off the ramp to the left. Mario will actually bounce off an invisible barrier and return safely to the level with hammer in hand. Be aware that you can not jump while holding a hammer, so do not attempt to cross a gap left behind by a pulled plug or Mario will lose a life. The prizes provide a nice bonus, but Mario should not risk his life to get them, as there will be plenty more available should he survive. Once Mario pulls all 8 plugs, Donkey Kong will fall to his doom leaving Pauline alone for Mario to rescue her. After a brief romantic interlude, Mario returns to stage 1 to repeat it all at a higher level and more frantic pace.
Arcade Differences
- The biggest difference of course is the omission of the conveyor belt stage, pictured to the right. On this stage Mario must cross two levels that are composed of conveyor belts occupied by tubs of cement. Contact with the tubs results in a lose of life. The oil canister in the center spews out fireballs from time to time, and the ladders on either side of Donkey Kong rise and fall with a set timing. Mario only needs to reach Donkey Kong in order to complete the level but he can only do so when the ladders are fully extended.
- Also omitted was the introduction scene where Donkey Kong climbs directly to the top of the first stage, places Pauline on her perch, and stomps his way to the left causing the ramps to tilt. The console version does not feature the"HOW HIGH CAN YOU GO" screen between each stage.
- Minor differences include sprite changes, the location of the first hammer on the ramp stage (it was originally on the right side of the second ramp), and the orientation of the screen, which was more tall than wide in the arcade, resulting in a stretched look on the console version.