"Revel in the far-flung adventures of... Stanley The Bugman"

This game may have been a serious mistake. How serious? Well, while the first two Donkey Kong games were big quarter munchers, this one... how shall I put it?... tanked.

Why would a sequel to a game so popular that it spawned breakfast cereals and sold ColecoVisions by the ton have tanked? Here's a big clue: There's no Mario, no Junior, no Pauline, and the hero's name is Stanley The Bugman.

Yes, Stanley the Bugman.

Stanley isn't an insect (that might have been kind of interesting); no, he's an exterminator, and he has to root Donkey Kong out of a greenhouse.

See why this didn't do so good now?

Actually, the game isn't all that bad; it just isn't all that great, either. The graphics are colorful and well-done for the time, the stages aren't too badly designed, and the control is pretty good. But the concept is just all wrong.

The best part lies in how Stanley must move Donkey Kong--Stanley has to use his little fumigation pump thingy to spray bug poison at Donkey Kong's butt. This makes Donkey Kong jump up the vines pretty fast for a few moments (the look on his face is just priceless), and eventually, you'll have dispatched him and have won the stage. The problem is, there isn't too much else to do.

I enjoy playing this game for a few minutes or so, but it isn't the kind of game you could play for hours, although the thrill of being able to shoot Donkey Kong in the butt with bug spray lends the game enough perverse amusement value to hold your interest initially. There's just nothing there to keep your interest after that. After this bizarre entry, Donkey Kong's life as an arcade franchise was abruptly ended, and he didn't truly return until the mid-'90s, when he starred in some decent (but highly overrated) Rare-designed platform games that made him a star again, but eschewed almost all the elements that made the original games so great. Donkey Kong, me boy, we hardly knew ye.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99