Classic NES Series: Donkey Kong

"This ape gets to relive some old, albeit painful, memories of barrel hopping."

Nintendo has ported over the original Donkey Kong as apart of their classic series and it is probably one of the more average ports out of the Classic Series. You play as Jumpman, Mario, who must climb the ladders of a construction yard in an attempt to save the Pauline from the evil clutches of Donkey Kong himself. Yes, the lovable ape has gone completely mad and your service is required in order to take him down.

Donkey Kong will take barrels and roll them down the construction work in an attempt to try to hit Mario. As Mario you will have to jump over the barrels, which you will get 100 points for, and climb the ladders until you are able to reach the top and ultimately rescue Pauline. This is pretty much the entire game, and I do mean all of it. The game is extremely simple but is one of the most classic games out there. There are different designs once you get to the later levels and the color of the rungs will even change from red to blue later on to signify that you are reaching new heights.

That is one thing that should be noted however is the difficulty in this game. If you want nothing but flat out dieing over and over and over this is the game to get. It will challenge you beyond imagination. This game used to be in the arcades so you could imagine the vast amount of quarters this game would take from you. The control of the game is the real problem behind this, the control is extremely tight. This will cause you to have lots of trouble dodging those barrels and or ladders.

Now, you may be wondering what kind of music is in this game. I'm here to tell you... there is virtually none. Zip, nada, zilch. Remember when I said this game was simple? I meant it. The only real sound you'll hear is when Mario is walking and or jumping over a barrel. Don't expect some major piece of music by Koji Kondo, because you surely won't get it.

All in all this game is a classic, plain and simple. This is the kind of game you'll have fun reliving memories of but past that you aren't going to get much more out of it. The game is very dated and it shows, and while the port is great there is only so much of the game you will handle. If you are looking for a way to relive your childhood this is a good game to have, or if you are just seeing what all the fuss is about with this game.

Final Score: 6.0

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/24/04, Updated 05/30/06