"The classic that made the ape? Or the ape that made classic?"

Intro
Gee, most probably the first actual videogame I've ever played... Heh, I still remember the day of my first videogame, Donkey Kong, on none other than the Colecovision game console. I remember my grandmother asking me when I was very young if I wanted to play ''Coleco''. I was curious and wanted to know what she meant, so my grandfather taught me how to play this game. I can still remember that damn controller, it looked more like a tv remote now that I mention it. Anyhow, the main thing you needed for this game was the control stick. You'd need to press up on the stick to jump, and I still remember having a lot of difficulty with this game compared to the NES version, which had a separate button to jump. Although a tough challenge for my age, I managed to beat it after many attempts, and hence, got me started on videogames from there. Altogether, I'll never forget the joystick and controller for that matter, of the Colecovision game console. I never knew who Mario or was until much after the creation of NES, when I bought one, and the game ''Super Mario Bros.''. I guessed who Donkey Kong was, and I still wonder why they call him DONKEY Kong, when he doesn't look the slightest bit like a donkey. ?_? And the story was quite basic too for someone my age at the time, because it is quite plain to see the you in must rescue the princess from the over-sized barrel hurling ape. Not a bad classic game overall though looking back now on it several years later.

Story 3/10
No real story here... this ain't no RPG, that's for sure. It's all general knowledge basically, you're Mario, you're saving the princess from the obstacles set forth by the bad guy ape Donkey Kong.

Gameplay/Entertainment 9/10
Yes, this is an old game, but, it isn't a boring game. Usually, one wouldn't be spending long hours on this game, it's fairly easy to beat, even after you go for a harder difficulty level. This is the kind of game you keep coming back to. The traditional be Mario the hero and save the princess from the evil Donkey Kong. It's fun just as long as you don't play it religiously, and I can't really see anyone actually living for this game either O_ O it's not that exciting a game. If you are looking for a bit of a twist from the typical NES version, try the Colecovision one out. It offers quite a challenge with the control stick, and although tough, gives you a whole new aspect of play for the Donkey Kong game. If you're looking for some good old classic fun though, you may get the craving to actually play this game!

Graphics 5/10
Well, what I'm looking at is near the first videogame hit of Donkey Kong. As a kid, I wasn't looking at the area of graphics, especially now with the game consoles we have today. The characters were obviously ''grainy'', the colors were very basic, and you can see the graphics were sloppily arranged. Although it didn't exactly match the technology we have with consoles today, Coleco still did a decent job for it's time on the graphics in my opinion.

Sound/Music 4/10
Ah, not much to say, typical boing sounds, and repetitive music, it's all signs of your old console games. Not much to sound in this game, the jumping gives one of the noises, and there are some hopper thingys in one level (which are VERY annoying =P ) and thats about it. The music in the first level is very basic, you get a typical start theme song, then the usual repetitive ''beat'' type music. I don't remember if the later boards have music, I know for a fact the second level (if there even is music) has those annoying hopping thingys, which is the dominant sound the whole time you play on that level. That's all I have to say there.

Replay Value 7/10
As I said before, if you'd like to get a good twist of the Donkey Kong classic game, give it a try. The Colecovision version of this game gives a whole different play environment, because you're pressing up to jump now, and you have one control stick to do it all. The controller is quite big and clumsy too, so it proves a challenge over the typical NES version. I'm not the one to play this game religiously, but I know after a long drought, I'll come crawling back and actually have the urge to play this game!

Conclusion 6/10
Well, it's not an easy game to rent nowadays, but if you happen to have the system, or know someone who owns the system, it's definitely worth a shot at playing this game on Colecovision. It gives a different perspective to the typical NES classic Donkey Kong world. If you do happen to own this game and the Colecovision game console for that matter, BE SURE TO HOLD ON TO IT! Believe me, you'll see in a couple years or so why it was worth holding on to. ^_~

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/11/02, Updated 07/14/02