Donkey Kong - it's the original game! Followed by so many Mario follow-ups, this is where he came from. It's a classic old-school video game, with Mario climbing ladders and avoiding all kinds of obstacles to try to rescue the lovely lady Nicola from the tough gorilla. It looks quite easy, but can be trickier than it looks. The fireballs sometimes take the ladders as they descend, and sometimes don’t. If Mario is climbing a ladder and a fireball takes a shortcut – bye bye Mario.
And when he finally gets to the top of the screen, the big gorilla snatches Nicola and makes off with her, and Mario must start all over again on the next level. Easy level has new surprises, including fire-barrels in the first level, and later custard pies, and things that fly and other things that bounce all over. The might Kong ruthlessly hurls these items downwards. Strangely enough, he never seems to actually notice Mario, he just looks very tough and angry. Then again, Nicola is rather expressionless too. There is certainly something of homage to King Kong in all of this, of course.
Mario went on to even greater fame, especially as Mario Bros. and then Super Mario Bros. and more. I only even
tried Mario Bros, which was quite cool itself. I don’t know if it is available to download, but it’s worth looking. I guess there is a new one out now – Super Mario Sunshine! I’m not sure that I even know some of the other games they have made with this character, but Donkey Kong was the first.
I remember this game from when it came out in the 1980s. It isn’t perhaps as complicated and challenging as current games which require 20 fingers as about as many buttons, with rapid screens and virtual reality design. But the old classic games are unique and remind us of a simpler, but still fun and challenging, time.
If you enjoyed (or know about!) Frogger, Pac-Man, Galaxian, or the like – you probably already know Donkey Kong. But if you don’t know it, or any of these others, try it and them! There is something very satisfying about only needing a mouse to move and click to play a game. Not quite the same as the old “joystick” but it does the trick. And of course nothing beats the classic large arcade game, but it’s hard to find those. It’s great that many of these classic games are available to download and enjoy. It would be a shame if they were lost forever. Donkey Kong is one of the most famous, and best, of the 80s arcade games. The download versions I have seen are quite good, quick to download and easy to use.
