Similar to Mickey Mouse, Nintendo’s Mario has gone through many an iteration, with his beginnings lacking the mainstream-smelling, Disney-esque cuteness of modern day Mario. His very own Steamboat Willie wasn’t an adventure into a strange fairytale land, but a battle versus a blue-collar worker and an enormous ape, with the prize being a typical damsel in distress. The progenitor to the realm of platformers was, as expected, quite simple, yet it endured as one of the industry’s classics. Here’s a look at the original 1981 arcade version in one of our many retrospectives on Mario’s long and quite successful history.
You know that a video game is old when the woman the hero must save is called ‘Lady’ (basically Pauline in her early days), with the hero in question having the name Jumpman. Because he jumps and stuff. Yeah… Anyways, the villain turns out to be far more important, as his name is in the actual title of the game. Donkey Kong, for those who have been living under a rock these past 50 years, is one of the pioneers of the platforming genre, and Nintendo’s first major hit – its Hanafuda cards, which turned out to be quite profitable with the Japanese yakuza, don’t count. Being a piece of software from the distant ‘80s, the premise was painfully simple. You have to ascend a construction site and try to save the girl, while a giant gorilla is throwing barrels and other nasty stuff towards you. Ahh, the simplicity and weirdness of the industry’s first steps.
Yes, simplicity is the name of the game. You just move, jump over obstacles, and climb ladders. As always, though, a simple premise can do wonders, as shown in golden classics such as Pac-Man. This is a game of wits, rather than something aimed towards nimble fingers. Players need to “read” the screen and think when to do what; when to move, when to stand still, when to climb a ladder, and so on and so forth, as the levels are semi-unpredictable, especially the most known amongst them, which is the very first one, as barrels either roll from side to side or go down ladders. Oh, and remember that Jumpman is slow – far from the speeding Super Mario of 1983, so you can’t exactly rely on his dexterity.
It’s also important to note that this arcade version is different from the NES port that most people know of. For starters, it’s far more difficult, something that is to be expected from a machine whose job is to munch coins first and entertain second. Since the hardware is better than a home console (for ‘80s standards, that is) it’s a tad (note the word ‘tad’) more visually appealing due to a few added animations, like, for example, how Donkey Kong leaves the screen, or how he “creates” the first stage by stomping on the floor and making platforms bend.
The biggest difference between the arcade and the console port is that the original is the more complete version as it includes all four stages, with the NES one having three, with all of them having a different concept, although the goal (and the villain) remain the same. This might seem like a minor and insignificant detail, but as mentioned before, this is very simple, and typical of its era, it’s basically a tiny adventure that plays in neverending loops, with the only thing changing being the difficulty. This is basically the issue with Donkey Kong. It’s a classic, for sure, and not just for historical reasons, but its replay value isn’t as high as, say, Tetris.
A few final words before the end of this retrospective review. Donkey Kong is a looker. Those spoiled by the latest triple-A behemoths of gaming are probably laughing right now, but it’s true. It’s one of those super old yet striking games that uses the extremely tiny amount of resources it has as best it can, with the end result being nothing less than iconic – and how can anyone not love the squeaky sound Mario’s shoes make while he moves, or the way his chubby behind looks when he climbs a ladder? ‘Lady’ would surely agree.
