Ah the classics. While many have played the smash hit Super Mario Bros., the number of people who have played its prequel is surprisingly low. That could be due in part to the Nintendo’s rise to fame where as the Atari, which Donkey Kong was ported for, was somewhat more obscure. All assumptions on its lack of mainstream appeal aside, Donkey Kong is one of the great old games. While, not quite up to par with such games as Pac-Man or Galiga, the game still stands on its own merit and is a great game for fans of the Mario franchise.
Many believe it to be the first game to incorporate the legendary Mario into the hearts and homes of the world but this is not true. A game made just one year before it simply called Mario Bros. was. But back to the game in question.
The graphics, though ridiculously base and crude by today’s standards, were a landmark in achievement at the time. At the time it had the best graphics of any game on any system. The story was sound as well. Donkey Kong made his début here and Mario’s girlfriend Pauline (Who he never saw again after this game), Donkey Kong being the one to kidnap her and usher in that style of "Mario must save the princess" storyline
for years to come. The controls were a bit sketchy and the height of Mario's jump is just barely enough to get over the barrels that come rolling at you, thrown by first and last time nemesis Donkey Kong. Though somewhat hard to manage, and two lives means starting over a lot and having to watch the opening movie time and again, the controls are a far cry better than its predecessor but not up to par with Super Mario Bros.
The game may be old and on the Atari but it still has some interesting surprises like an opening movie, to my knowledge the first on the Atari, and a hammer that Mario can use instead of just getting points for touching it. Another perk is that once (Or should I say if. It's not an easy game.) you beat the level, you go on to another, different one (A rare treat for an Atari game). Of course Mario wasn't called by his plumber name in those days. He was referred to as "Jump Man". And Donkey Kong was misspelled on the ride over. His original name was Monkey Kong.
I rate this game a 3 out of 5. It was ground breaking at the time but even then it was too difficult and frustrating. I'd say the only people who are going to get any real enjoyment from this game would be the fans of Mario or just of classic video games.
