Donkey Kong Jr.

Donkey Kong Jr.[lower-alpha 1] is a 1982 platform game that was released by Nintendo. It is the sequel to Donkey Kong, but with the roles reversed compared to its predecessor: Mario (previously named "Jumpman") is now the villain and Donkey Kong Junior is trying to rescue his father. It first appeared in arcades and, over the course of the 1980s, was released for a variety of home platforms. The game's title is written out as Donkey Kong Junior in the North American arcade version and various ports to non-Nintendo systems.

This article is about the video game. For the video game's eponymous character, see Donkey Kong Jr. (character).

Donkey Kong Jr.
North American arcade flier
Developer(s)Nintendo R&D1, Iwasaki Engineering (Arcade)
Nintendo R&D2 (NES)
Atari, Inc.
Coleco
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Atari, Inc.
Coleco
Hamster (Arcade Archives)
Director(s)Shigeru Miyamoto
Producer(s)Gunpei Yokoi
Artist(s)Shigeru Miyamoto[1]
Yoshio Sakamoto[1]
Composer(s)Yukio Kaneoka[2]
SeriesDonkey Kong
Platform(s)
Release
    • JP: August 1982
    • NA: 1982
    • EU: 1982
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player, 2 player alternating

The game was principally designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and one of his coworkers.[3] Miyamoto also created the graphics for the title along with Yoshio Sakamoto.[1] As with its predecessor, the music for the game was composed by Yukio Kaneoka.[2]

Plot

The game's protagonist, Donkey Kong Junior, also called simply Junior[4] or abbreviated Donkey Kong Jr. or DK Jr.,[5] is trying to rescue his father Donkey Kong, who has been imprisoned. Donkey Kong's cage is guarded by Mario, in his only appearance as an antagonist in a Nintendo video game.

Donkey Kong Jr. must rescue his father by working his way through a series of four screens. Mario attempts to stop DK Jr. by releasing animals and putting obstacles in his way. When DK Jr. succeeds on the last screen, Donkey Kong is freed and kicks Mario into the distance, leaving him to run away and to an unknown fate; the game then begins again at a higher difficulty level.

Gameplay
Donkey Kong Jr. trying to rescue his father from the cage next to Mario.

Like its predecessor, Donkey Kong Jr. is a platform game. There are a total of four stages, each with a unique theme. DK Jr. can run left and right, jump, and grab vines/chains/ropes to climb higher on the screen. He can slide down faster by holding only one vine, or climb faster by holding two. Enemies include "Snapjaws," which resemble bear traps with eyes; bird-like creatures called "Nitpickers," some of which can attack by dropping eggs; and "Sparks" which roam across the wiring in one of Mario's hideouts. DK Jr. can jump over these enemies while on platforms, switch from one vine/chain/rope to another to dodge them, and knock down pieces of fruit that will destroy every enemy they touch before falling off the bottom of the screen.

To pass the first three stages, DK Jr. must reach the key hanging next to his father's cage, whereupon Mario flees while pushing the cage off the screen. In the fourth stage, DK Jr. must push six keys into locks on the topmost platform to free Donkey Kong. After a brief cutscene, the player is taken back to the first stage at an increased difficulty. A bonus timer runs throughout each stage, and any points remaining on it are added to the player's score upon completion.

DK Jr. loses a life when he touches any enemy or projectile, falls too great a distance, touches the water and falls off the bottom of the screen or if the bonus timer counts down to zero. The game ends when the player loses all of their lives.

Versions

The order of the levels is different in different territories. In the Japanese version, the four levels appear in 1-2-3-4 sequence and then repeat, just as with the Japanese release of Donkey Kong. In the US version, the order is 1-4. 1-2-4, 1-3-4, 1-2-3-4 and then 1-2-3-4 from then on.

Kill screen

Donkey Kong Jr. has a kill screen at level 22. Due to the level counter only having one digit, the counter shows numbers 1 to 9 in levels 1 to 9, seven blanks in levels 10 to 16, and the letters A to F in the levels 17–22. The kill screen occurs the same way as in Donkey Kong, where an integer overflow occurs after too big a result is given after a multiplication problem in the computing. The timer counts as if there are 700 points, then kills Donkey Kong Jr. until all lives are gone.

Ports
New Wide Screen Game & Watch Donkey Kong Jr.

Donkey Kong Jr. was ported to the NES (for which it was one of three Japanese launch games[6]), Family Computer Disk System, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, Coleco Adam, and Intellivision. A BBC Micro conversion was made but unreleased. Three Game & Watch versions of the game were also made. Two black-and-white versions for the New Wide Screen and Multi Screen handheld series (the later under the model name Donkey Kong II), and a color version for the Tabletop and Panorama series. In 2002 the NES version was rereleased on the GBA add-on, the e-reader.

Reception

Donkey Kong Jr. received an award in the category of "1984 Best Videogame Audio-Visual Effects (16K or more ROM)" at the 5th annual Arkie Awards, where the judges described it as "great fun", and noted that the game was successful as a sequel–"extend[ing] the theme and present[ing] a radically different play-action" than its predecessor, Donkey Kong.[7]:42

Donkey Kong Jr. is regarded as one of the Top 100 Video Games by the Killer List of Videogames. It was selected to be among five arcade games chosen for history's first official video game world championship, which was filmed at Twin Galaxies in Ottumwa, Iowa by ABC-TV's That's Incredible! over the weekend of January 8–9, 1983.

Allgame gave a review score of 4 out of 5 stars praising the graphics and sound being “exceptionally arcade-like” and the controls and play mechanics being faithful to the arcade version concluding “Unlike the NES version of Donkey Kong, all four levels remain intact.”[8]

Legacy

Rereleases

The NES version–along with its predecessor Donkey Kong–was re–released in 1988 in an NES compilation titled Donkey Kong Classics. This version was later released on the e-Reader and is available on the Virtual Console for the Wii.[9] The NES version is also a playable game on Animal Crossing, though a special password is needed from an official website which is now no longer available. Donkey Kong Jr. was made available for the Nintendo 3DS from the Nintendo eShop, released in Japan on April 18, 2012,[10] in North America on June 14, 2012[11] and in Europe on August 23, 2012[12] and was given away free to the Ambassadors users before the full release. It was again released for the Wii U Virtual Console in 2014.[13] On December 21, 2018, the arcade version of Donkey Kong Jr., featuring both the Japanese and American versions, was released by Hamster Corporation for the Nintendo Switch as part of the company's Arcade Archives series.[14]

In 2004, Namco released an arcade cabinet which contained Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and Mario Bros.

Competitive play

On August 10, 2008, Icarus Hall of Port Angeles, Washington, scored 1,033,000 points playing Donkey Kong Jr.[15]

On April 24, 2009, Steve Wiebe eclipsed Hall's score, finishing with 1,139,800 points.[16] On September 3, 2009, at 1984 Arcade in Springfield, Missouri, Mark L. Kiehl of Enid, Oklahoma surpassed Wiebe's record with a score of 1,147,800.[17][18] Steve Wiebe regained the record with a score of 1,190,400 on his home machine set on Tuesday, February 16, 2010.[18][19] Mark Kiehl has since eclipsed the previous world record with a score of 1,307,500. As of November 2016, Kiehl continues to hold the record today with a score of 1,412,200.[20]

The game spawned a cereal with fruit-flavored cereal pieces shaped like bananas and cherries.

Donkey Kong Jr. was a cartoon on Saturday Supercade (a series that aired on Saturday mornings from 1983-1985) with the title character voiced by Frank Welker.

Donkey Kong Jr. is one of the 8 playable characters in Super Mario Kart for the SNES. He is also a playable character in Mario's Tennis on Virtual Boy and Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64.

In the version of Super Mario Bros. 3 seen in Super Mario All-Stars, as well as the Game Boy Advance version, the king of World 4 was transformed into a young gorilla identical to Donkey Kong Jr.

Donkey Kong Jr. is among the characters in Super Mario Maker that players can transform into by use of Mystery Mushrooms.

Notes
  1. Japanese: ドンキーコングJR., Hepburn: Donkī Kongu Junia

References
  1. Kohler, Chris (April 7, 2010). "Q&A: Metroid Creator's Early 8-Bit Days at Nintendo". Wired: GameLife. Condé Nast Digital. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
  2. Famicom 20th Anniversary Original Sound Tracks Vol. 1 (Media notes). Scitron Digital Contents. 2004.
  3. "Miyamoto Interview". Nintendo Official Magazine UK. EMAP. September 2003. Archived from the original on December 10, 2006.
  4. Sakurai, Masahiro (April 9, 2008). "Sticker List". Smash Bros. Dojo!!. Nintendo, HAL Laboratory. Archived from the original on November 1, 2012. Retrieved September 29, 2010.
  5. Camelot Software, Nintendo (August 28, 2000). Mario Tennis. Nintendo.
  6. Marley, Scott (December 2016). "SG-1000". Retro Gamer. No. 163. Future Publishing. pp. 56–61.
  7. Kunkel, Bill; Katz, Arnie (January 1984). "Arcade Alley: The Arcade Awards, Part 1". Video. Reese Communications. 7 (10): 40–42. ISSN 0147-8907.
  8. Brett Alan Weiss. "Donkey Kong Jr. Review". allgame. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  9. Parish, Jeremy (October 31, 2006). "Wii Virtual Console Lineup Unveiled". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on February 14, 2013. Retrieved November 1, 2006.
  10. https://www.nintendo.co.jp/titles/50010000007241
  11. https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/hdxw0-0aCE201Slxf9Dqs2kS5CmZeQ5P
  12. https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/NES/Donkey-Kong-Jr--523767.html
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 3, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/arcade-archives-donkey-kong-jr-switch/
  15. "Twin Galaxies' Donkey Kong, Jr. High Score Rankings". August 24, 2008. Archived from the original on March 28, 2008.
  16. "Steve Wiebe Takes Donkey Kong Junior World Record With Score of 1,139,800". April 24, 2009. Retrieved April 25, 2009.
  17. Twingalaxies.com Archived March 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  18. "1984". 1984.
  19. "Twingalaxies.com". Archived from the original on February 23, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  20. "Donkey Kong Forum Donkey Kong Jr. High Score List". January 24, 2016.
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