As featured in Retrogaming Times Monthly issue #43, December 2007.

It's hard to think of Nintendo without the world's most famous plumber Mario coming to mind.  However the super plumber began life as a humble carpenter known as Jumpman.  The giant ape Donkey Kong as kidnapped Mario's girlfriend Pauline and climbed a large structure of girders.  It's up to Mario to rescue Pauline by giving Donkey Kong chase, scaling any structure and clearing any obstacle that may come between him and his girl.  Donkey Kong was unique in that it was one of the first games that had a unified objective across all stages yet constantly threw something different at the player, requiring the player to refine and adapt their skill set to progress.  The arcades of 1981 were filled mainly with shooting, driving, and maze games.  Although there were some real gems released prior to this era, the majority of the arcade scene started to look the same.  When Donkey Kong appeared it introduced something different - personality.  Instead of squares, circles, or shapes Donkey Kong featured real characters portrayed in a detailed cartoony style.  The colors were bright and the animation was smooth and beautiful.  At the time it was unlike anything else before seen or played.  The game itself was challenging yet fair with just enough randomness to keep the most skilled players on their toes.  It was Nintendo's first big video hit and an obvious choice for their Famicom console, as noted two years ago by Scott Jacobi back in RTM issue #19.  So two years after its arcade debut Donkey Kong appeared on the Famicom and a couple years after that on the NES.

Donkey Kong was one of the first NES games and part of the short lived Arcade Classics Series along with Popeye, Mario Bros. and the other two Donkey Kong games.  It's no surprise that Nintendo handled the conversion on their own both since it was one of their premier titles and also one of the very first games developed for the Famicom platform.  The NES release is a direct duplicate of the Famicom title with no graphic or gameplay changes between the two releases.  The first and most obvious issue to tackle is screen orientation.  Arcade Donkey Kong used a vertical display and of course home televisions use a horizontal display.  To compensate for this all the graphics are compressed down and stretched out.  Donkey Kong, Mario and Pauline are all shorter and fatter but maintain their basic design and detail.  Barrels, fireballs, springs and the like are all compressed down in this same fashion as well, including the level graphics and platform spacing.  However nothing is compromised graphically because of this and unless you just came from the arcade you wouldn't know any better.  This is the same with the audio package which features a solid mix of the sound effects and music from the arcade game.  Play control is spot on with the directional pad controlling movement and the A button being used to jump.

While it may seem like a perfect conversion, it's important to note the differences between the arcade original and the NES port - and there are quite a few of them.  The core gameplay mechanics are exactly the same and any differences in perspective and distance are adjusted in the abilities of Mario, which allows the game to play tight and smooth as it should.  The trade off here is that the game moves at a different pace from the arcade.  While smooth, the game seems to play slower than it did originally.  This is nowhere more apparent than in the elevator stage which is far easier to complete in the NES version with slower moving elevators and springs.  The fireballs in all stages move slower than they originally did as well, which makes the rivet stage much easier.  Of course then there's also the notoriously missing conveyor stage.  There were four different boards in the original Donkey Kong: girders, elevators, conveyors, and rivets.  Its never quite been explained why Nintendo omitted the conveyor stage but it's nowhere to be found.  Also the order of the stages is completely different.  In the NES version the three included stages loop in order.  Originally a stage would be added after each completion of the rivet stage, starting with just the girders and rivets.  The introduction sequence with Donkey Kong climbing up the girders with Pauline and then demolishing them below, creating the first stage in the process, is also missing.  The last minor presentation change is that after completing a level your bonus is added and then the next screen appears.  The arcade version concluded each screen with Donkey Kong grabbing Pauline and progressing offscreen to the next stage, breaking your heart in the process.

Any gripes about presentation differences are minor ones and outside of the arcade original this is still my favorite port of Donkey Kong to play.  The drop in difficulty may make it different from the original however it makes the game over all more accessible.  A lot less craziness happens on the screen, even on the higher levels, than one would originally encounter in the arcade.  Personally I consider the NES version of Donkey Kong somewhat of a "Donkey Kong light."  It's less featured, requires less concentration to play, is far more forgiving than the original yet is still fun to play and a great time killer.  Regardless of the differences this game is still Donkey Kong and is the home version to get outside of arcade emulation or an original cabinet.  Every NES collection needs a copy of this game, if you haven't played the arcade version in years it will be a more than adequate substitute.  Pick up in the Donkey Kong Classics compilation which features both Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr., it can be found cheaply and easily.
 

"InsaneDavid" also runs a slowly growing gaming site at http://www.classicplastic.net/dvgi

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