Donkey Kong Review – Another Early Platformer on the NES, but Is It As Good as Mario Bros?

Continuing our exploration of early NES titles, we come to another single-screen platformer for the Nintendo Entertainment System. This one also stars Mario, but this time he is trying to rescue Pauline from Donkey Kong, who has kidnapped her. If you’ve been following my blog, you know I grew to enjoy Mario Bros. quite a bit when I reviewed it earlier this month, but how about this one?

Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. Compared

From the onset, I think it’s important to note that this game was originally released in the arcades in 1981, while Mario Bros. came out in 1983, and it shows. Even though Donkey Kong has some fun elements, and an interesting design aspect in that there are three different rounds to complete to rescue your girlfriend, the ways in which they change after you finish them are less pronounced compared to Mario Bros. Sure, the diversity of the levels is pretty good, but the enemies and objects mainly just get faster or more numerous as you finish each loop. This is in contrast to Mario Bros., which has a greater variety of enemies as the game progresses.

The Stages of Donkey Kong

Looking at the levels of Donkey Kong themselves, stage 1 primarily has you going up different ladders to get up to rescue the lady, all the while jumping over barrels that Donkey Kong throws down the construction site. Some also roll down the ladders that you’re trying to go up. At the beginning of the stage, there’s also a barrel that rolls into some oil near the bottom that causes an enemy of fire to chase you, which adds a little bit of urgency to the level. In stage 2, you have to cross a couple of moving platforms, with another fire guy nearby, to get to the right side of the stage. Meanwhile, Donkey Kong is also repeatedly throwing a jack to the right as you try to go up and to the left to get to Pauline. The last stage has bolts that are connecting steel girders that you cross over. While doing so, Mario takes them out. Once all of them are gone, the center girders fall down and Donkey Kong is defeated!

Mario gets the girl, but then the game starts over at a higher difficulty level after a few seconds. In each of the stages you can pick up items that Pauline has left, like a parasol or a purse, to raise your score. A hammer can also be used to bash barrels and enemies that get in the way. Unfortunately, you cannot jump or go up ladders while using it, effectively stopping movement toward your goal most of the time.

Disappointing Controls

This was quite disappointing, and had a significant impact on my play style for the game at those moments. I just used it to defend myself against hazards, but other than that, I avoided using the hammer because it slowed me down. Also saddening was how the ladders demonstrate one of the biggest shortcomings of the game, that being the controls. In it, you can go up and down ladders, but it is easy to get “stuck” on them near the bottom or top without intending to do so. I had to mentally remember to get all the way up the ladder before trying to jump in a couple of stages so I could avoid the enemies successfully. Also, walking by a ladder and accidentally pressing up caused me to get killed a couple of times. These instances were a bit frustrating, to be sure. And as I’ve already shared, I didn’t find the stages to be as interesting as in Mario Bros.

Graphics and Sound

Concerning graphics and sound, they are similar to other early NES games. It is nice to see Mario in another adventure before traveling to the Mushroom Kingdom, as the game takes place on a construction site. Plus, the sound of Mario running is fun, although I think his animation makes him look like he is constipated! His running looks more natural in Mario Bros. Similar to that one, Donkey Kong also has a short piece of music that plays at the beginning of each stage, which is nice. The song that plays during the game is fine, but not memorable. My favorite sound effect is when Mario successfully jumps over a barrel.

Sadly, as I played the game and beat a few series of levels, my interest in the title dropped quite a bit. I just can’t get over the fact that there is such a small variation between the number of enemies in the game, and how the same ones keep getting recycled on their respective stages repeatedly. There may be more of them, but most of the time they’re just faster. Yes, I had some fun with it, but the controls are a pain sometimes. I don’t think I will go back to it any time soon.

Title: Donkey Kong
Genre: Single-screen Platformer
Year Released: 1986
Developer: Nintendo
Played On: NES Classic Edition
Price Paid: $2.22, or $66.45 for the system.

Remember, we can have different opinions about the games we play. If you like something more (or less) than I do, both of our perspectives are valid.