Donkey Kong Jr is the sequel to Donkey Kong, and is one of the few games that I first played at an after school babysitter. For some reason, my parents had me go to a neighbor’s house after school when I was in the first grade. There were a bunch of kids there, and I don’t think I was actually friends with any of them.
This is a pretty simple arcade game. It was one of the first games on the NES, and is a pretty good port of the game. Much like the other early arcade ports on the NES, there isn’t too much to this game, but it is a fun version of the game. I had no idea this was an arcade game when I first played it, mostly because I was seven and really didn’t know anything.
Going back to play games like this is pretty fun, especially now that I know more about the game. While it isn’t something I normally want to revisit, I do have fun with it when I give it a try. I don’t have the same memories of this game as I do with other arcade ports. My friends and I played Rampage, Gauntlet, and BurgerTime more than this.
TLDR: A bare-bones but good port of a classic arcade game.
Narrative
Like many arcade games from the early 1980s, Donkey Kong Jr has a very simple story. It gets the job done by telling the player who they are and who the bad guy is. The game does a little more than other games, but it is still a basic story.
You control Donkey Kong Jr, who is just a baby and is the son of the Donkey Kong from the first game. Mario is also back, but he’s the bad guy now! At this point, I think this is the only time that he’s been a villain. The goal of the game is for Donkey Kong Jr to save Donkey Kong. It isn’t too different from the first game, aside from the character roles being swapped.
There isn’t anything wrong with the game’s story. For what it is, the story works perfectly. Games like this don’t need an elaborate story or anything like that.
Gameplay
Donkey Kong Jr has simple gameplay. There isn’t too much to this game, as you have a simple goal and most of what you’re doing is avoiding things. While there is a narrative ending to the game, it repeats as the high score is more important.
I really like the stage design in this game. Like most good arcade games, it gets more complex as the game goes on. Several things were introduced to make this game a little different from the previous game.
Because this is an arcade game, you have one hit deaths and a set number of lives. This is because the game is trying to get as many quarters from you as possible. While this doesn’t always make for a good console game, I think it works here.
Overall, I like the gameplay. It isn’t all that complicated, but it is a lot of fun. Donkey Kong Jr has a fun premise, and while it isn’t my favorite arcade game, it is a very good one.
Visuals
The graphics are pretty good on the NES port. It won’t wow anyone, but it doesn’t have to. The character sprites look good, the stages are set up well, and the graphics are good.
Mario, Donkey Kong, and Donkey Kong Jr all look good. For the time it was made, they look better than average. The enemies and stage hazards are very nice. Again, they aren’t spectacular, but they do get the job done.
Each stage looks good. It is easy to know what you have to do and where you need to go. The way each stage is set up is rather nice. There are a few ways to reach the end goal. This is a single screen arcade game, and each stage feels a little different and challenging.
Overall, the visuals are very good. The graphics are a little basic, but look good for an early NES game. These games were a step up from what was on the Atari, Intellivision, and Colecovision. While not as good as the arcades, they still looked good enough.
7/10. When I compare this to the other arcade ports, I think this game is lacking a little. Everything about it is solid, but it isn’t something I’ll come back to often. If I had more memories of playing it, then I would think more highly of it. Assuming that those memories were positive, of course.
Pros
- Good Controls
- Decent Graphics
- It’s fun to see Mario as a villain
Cons
- Few game modes
- Repetitive
Conclusion
The few memories I have of this game are odd. I did play it when I was a kid, but it wasn’t memorable enough for me to get it until the late 2010s. It wasn’t one of the games I was looking for when I started collecting games, and I only got it when I thought I was going to get a complete set of NES games. Then I realized I was priced out of several games and just moved on to something else.
The after school thing I went to was a little odd. We could play an NES game for five minutes at a time, and then had to pass the game off to the next person. I played a lot of simple NES games. This was in 1990 or 1991, and most of the games that were there happened to be arcade games.
The only two games I really remember from that time were Donkey Kong Jr and Rampage. While Donkey Kong Jr is a fun arcade game, it wasn’t as memorable as Rampage. Its very interesting to see what games stick with you and which games fade from memory.
If you like this post, check out some of my other posts about Arcade ports. Such as BurgerTime or Rampage.
Awesome review – and another unique perspective for your exposure to this game. I was one who did play it in the arcade first and just loved the ability to climb vines, straddle between two of them, and move a little faster upward with the new momentum. One of my friends had a NES at his house and we’d only play two games – Little League Baseball and the Donkey Kong/Donkey Kong Jr collection.
I’ve been reminiscing about the games I was only able to play at friends houses and how those had almost more of an impact on me than the games I had at home! Something about not having something that makes you want it more, I suppose??