Donkey Kong

NES Game Reviews #14 – Donkey Kong

Keeping with the Black Box releases, I ventured onto an absolute arcade classic, Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong was an absolute smash in the arcade and Nintendo’s first outing in the video game market. It’s no surprise to see Donkey Kong ported to Nintendo’s first home console. What is a surprise is the exclusion of one of the levels, ie the Pie Factory. Instead of the classic four levels which repeat from the arcade, the NES port only has three. Still as a kid I never knew about the Pie Factory level since I never played the arcade cabinet so didn’t bother me one bit.

While Donkey Kong is nothing but charming, it holds more in common with a generation of games that preceded it on Atari systems than it does with what followed on the NES, a period in gaming driven by high scores not end-screens. By the time you can make a cup of tea, you could have complete this. Not much challenge but a joy to play regardless.

I’m attempting to complete every UK NES game for charity using original hardware and games only. No cheats, no game genie, no walkthroughs(where possible). If you would like to sponsor me to support Mental Health UK, please follow the me on Instagram @CabiNES_fever or visit my Just Giving page. www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cabines