Collection essentials #51: Donkey Kong Jr. (NES)

 

Released a year after the first game, Donkey Kong Jr. pulls somewhat of a role reversal. This time, Mario is the villain! He’s kidnapped Donkey Kong, and you play as the young son of the big ape in an attempt to rescue him. This was also one of the three 1983 launch titles for the NES in Japan.

The basic gameplay format is pretty much the same as the first game, as it involves getting through four one-screen stages of platforming (thankfully all four levels are here this time!) until you rescue the character in distress, and then it throws you back at the beginning with increased difficulty and repeats until you run out of lives. However, in practice Donkey Kong Jr. plays quite differently from the first one. This game primarily revolves around climbing rather than jumping. All four levels involve some kind of long and thin things for our little monkey friend to climb. He can hold onto two at once to climb upwards faster, while holding onto one lets him descend faster. There really wasn’t a platformer that had this kind of gameplay when this game first came out.

Donkey Kong Jr. was a success, but was not as successful as the original and does not have quite as high a reputation either. And my own opinion is that the game just isn’t quite as good. I think the level design is better and gameplay based on jumping is simply more fun. The climbing mechanics are okay but not something I find addictive. So, I haven’t played nearly as much Donkey Kong Jr. in my lifetime as the first one. But it’s still a highly significant early arcade release for Nintendo and it belongs in the collection.