Random Game O' the Day: Donkey Kong (ColecoVision)

[digitalpress]

Well it's about time the DP Random Game Generator of Dire Circumstances (tm) pulled a game we can all talk about!

There is SO much history behind this game that it would be impossible to touch on it all in a "briefing" here, but we ARE talking about the ColecoVision version of the game, specifically. Anyone who ever owned a ColecoVision owned this game, and even many who didn't - it IS the Combat of the CV library. I'll never forget the day we brought a ColecoVision home and I saw what at the time was the first game that really looked like an arcade game on my TV.

What were your impressions? How has the game stood the test of time? How did this version of Donkey Kong fare compared to others like the 2600, Intellivision, 7800, C64? How was Donkey Kong as a ColecoVision game in general - better than most? Write your mini-review here.

DP Guide sez:

Donkey Kong (ColecoVision, by Coleco) $1/R1
Designed by Zachary Smith. Based on the 1981 Nintendo coin-op. Original arcade game designed by Shigeru Miyamoto. This game was packaged with the ColecoVision console. As such, it is extremely common. The BOX for this game is quite difficult to come by, however. It's worth at least $15. Action/Platform/Fixed Screen. EASTER EGGS: This game is loaded with bugs! BUG: Level Warp - To automatically warp to stage two, on stage one walk up to first ladder. Climb the ladder halfway, then climb back down. Now walk two steps back, then push ahead and jump at the same time. This should allow Mario to fall right through the bottom of the screen and end up at stage two. BUG: When climbing a ladder (up or down), push in the desired direction, briefly. Then let the stick center and move again. You will move twice as fast the second time. BUG: Ramp screen - have Mario jump when a barrel is passing directly overhead at the end of a ramp. Points will be awarded as though Mario actually jumped over the barrel. This trick works best when Mario is on the ramp directly below DK. BUG: Ramp screen - get the hammer and destroy a few barrels. Then move to the edge of a ramp and fall off. You won't lose a life, but the hammer will disappear. BUG: Ramp screen - move Mario up the first broken ladder, and then climb back down. Walk to the left and position Mario so that his back is almost touching the same broken ladder. Then move him 1 or 2 steps to the right and jump. If done correctly, Mario will fall through the bottom and appear on the "rivets" level, or re-appear after several seconds on the top ramp next to DK. Note- this only works on some versions. BUG: Elevator screen - move to the top right part of the screen, to where the purse is located. Position Mario directly above the short ladder and quickly move him UP and DOWN and he'll pass through the metal floor. BUG: Elevator screen - climb all the way to the top and approach Donkey Kong. Stop at the 2nd ladder (the one closest to D.K.). Climb the ladder if it will let you, otherwise jump. You will see D.K.'s face turn brown if a fireball is climbing the 1st ladder. PERIODICALS: Named "Best Solitaire Game of 1982" by Electronic Games Magazine. Listed as one of the "99 Favorite Classics" by Digital Press in 1997. c1981 Nintendo of America, 1982 Coleco. #2411.

http://www.digitpress.com/dpsightz/colecovision/donkeykong.gif

[anagrama]

This is the only Colecovision game I own. But without a console, I cannot really pass judgement. Ho-hum.

[Tetsu]

The first game I ever played. I didn't play the arcade version until many years later, so this is the "definitive" version in my mind, without the extended, and sometimes boring, animations of Donkey Kong taking Pauline to a higher platform. Making Mario hop around on stiff Colecovision controllers is rough on the old arthritis, but it can be done. Only three stages in this game, however "arcade perfect" they might be. Oh, and the flames look like orange Peeps.

[kainemaxwell]

My fav version of DK to play outside of DK Classics for the Nes.

[Eternal Champion]

YES!! I had a Coleco WAAAAY back...probably 20 years ago, now! Of course we had Donkey Kong. In fact, we had a few Coleco games and the Atari 2600 adapter, but the Coleco games blew away the 2600 games. They dominated in our house. Donkey Kong was HARD for some reason. Jumping over those stupid barrels gave us hours of pain.

Years later a friend of mine had the arcade console. I still think the Coleco version is a good port. And I still love the sound of Mario walking.

[Tempest]

I like the Colecovision version but the 400/800 port is far superior and even has the fourth level. Still Coleco made the right decision packing this in with their console. I wonder how many Colecovisions were sold for this game alone? What was Atari packing in the 2600 around this time? Pac-Man? Bleh!

Tempest

[TripppsK]

DK was the reason Santa brought me it for Christmas. I must have spent an entire week straight playing that game. Its always the first game I play when I fire up the CV. It always brings back that great memory.

[NE146]

THIS is the game that blew everybody away when the Colecovision came out. I still remember the first time I saw it. Nope it wasn't at a store, it was in a magazine ('Video Games' I believe.. see scan below). I saw it and I couldn't believe my eyes! I just about croaked because it was so close to the arcade! Obviously it wasn't the arcade as Kong was in the right side of the screen but oh man did it look sweet! You gotta realize this was the day and age when just having a game look even remotely that close to an "advanced" arcade game like Donkey Kong was absolutely mind blowing.

Finally the local stores had it and I was able to demo it to death. Ironically however, after playing it so much, I decided I wanted a 5200 instead of a Colecovision (Remember the 5200 vs Colecovision wars?). But I always yearned for a Colecovion as well which happily my buddy was able to supply me when we traded systems every now and then.

These days I'm still a Donkey Kong freak as I play the arcade game regularly at various local arcades (yes, they still have it). I've played the Atari8bit version to death, the NES version, and the unlockable one in Donkey Kong 64. However, Colecovision Donkey Kong still has ring of nostalgia for me as the first one I saw. And it all lies in this one preview pic:

http://www.users.qwest.net/~userid946/coleco.jpg

[Cafeman]

CV Donkey Kong. I, an Atari 2600 owner, separated from my parents in the Gee Bee or JC Penney store, and bolted for the videogames department to play this. It seemed so awesome. Alas, I soon traded up for a 5200 but could never get the CV system so I never truly experienced the game back then.

But a few years later I got the Atari 8bit DK -- and it rocks, more than the CV one does. But CV DK is still a lot of fun, even with it's glitchiness (esp how you are invincible when holding the hammer -- a side effect of software-coded collision routines no doubt).

Donkey Kong (mostly the arcade version) is one of my top 10 games of all time. The game hasn't really aged badly at all.

[Raedon]

This was the first game I saw played on a Coleco. I remember thinking that Coleco was going to rule the home video game market lol. The only friend I had with a Coleco wouldn't hook it up ever because he had a C64 hooked up to the TV and it would take Soooo much effort to switch them out. >)

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Good game, but i prefer the NES version...

[omnedon]

I pre pubescent me, in Toys R Us, looking at the demo kiosk, had his mind blown by the graphics of this game. WOW!! A friend had one, but I never got one. (story of my life).

I have a CV now though. :D

[Zaxxon]

I'm pretty positive there must be more than one rev. of this game released. I've tried some of those bugs like the level skip on copies I have and they do not work. Considering how huge a run this game had, I believe they fixed the bugs at one point.

[Kid Ice]

Is this the version where you could climb part-way up the ladder, stop, and the zoom up the ladder? That was pretty cool.

However, at the age of 11 I took the LIFETIME VOW TO HATE COLECOVISION, and, therefore, have nothing further to say.

the kid

[Videogamerdaryll]

Donkey Kong was the first game I saw on the Colecovision..

When I was a kid I was big into the Atari 2600..I had a lot of carts..and I was known as the blocks Video game kid..
Everyone would flock to my house to play games..the local block kids.

Then I brought everything over to my girlfriends house sinse she had a huge room for all of us to hang out at.
We would play Atari so much..
Then one day her cousin who lived next door said..
"Hey you gotta come over to my house and check something out"..

As I walked in his living room I could hear a video game playing..the lights were out and he had the Colecovision hooked up to a big floor model TV..

All I saw was an "awesome" looking Donkey Kong..I'll never forget this..
It's pictured in my head....I remember saying WoW!
He had a brand new Colecovision...My Atari ruling days were done..
We were always in competition..me and her cousin..
He had beat me now..His system rocked..
All the kids lined up to play his Collecovision..including myself..
Playing DK,Smurf,Zaxxon etc.
That yr I got one for Christmas..and I started buying games like no tomorrow..
Later he sold his and bought Star Wars figures and accessories
I was Crazy about this system..and still am today..
Too this day,the first game I put in The Colecovision is Donkey kong..

[Videogamerdaryll]

I like the Colecovision version but the 400/800 port is far superior and even has the fourth level. Still Coleco made the right decision packing this in with their console. I wonder how many Colecovisions were sold for this game alone? What was Atari packing in the 2600 around this time? Pac-Man? Bleh!

Tempest


What System is this for? ....."400/800 port."

I want a Donkey Kong game with the forth level..Have any suggestions?

[Tempest]

What System is this for? ....."400/800 port."

The Atari 400/800 or XE. Any Atari 8-bit system will do. It's the best version out there. Landon told me so LOL

Tempest

[zektor]

Not having the fourth level and not being entirely correct in layout (DK being on the wrong side of the board) are minor setbacks, but all in all this was THE home version to have at the time. The graphics are great, as are the sound effects, and the game plays very well. Good move on Coleco's part in acquiring the license to this sucker before the others and making it the pack in. This is what made this system sell originally. Everybody wanted Donkey Kong at the time, and this WAS an arcade experience at home!

[zektor]

Is this the version where you could climb part-way up the ladder, stop, and the zoom up the ladder? That was pretty cool.

However, at the age of 11 I took the LIFETIME VOW TO HATE COLECOVISION, and, therefore, have nothing further to say.

the kid

Yep, that is correct. That ladder trick was nice!

[Jorpho]

It is said that when Coleco produced the ADAM (which can still play Coleco carts), they had Donkey Kong running on an ADAM at an exhibition somewhere. When Atari saw this, they made quite a ruckus, claiming that Coleco had obtained only the console rights, not the computer rights. Anyone else remember this story?

The Donkey Kong "Super Game Pack" that was eventually released for the ADAM had all four levels (and highscore entry) as I recall.
________
BLOWJOB YOUNG (http://www.fucktube.com/categories/366/young/videos/1)

[ManekiNeko]

Majorly disappointing. I got into the ColecoVision late (about 1991) and expected the games to be almost as good as software on the NES. Donkey Kong was a painful reality check... the graphics were dull in comparison to the NES version and many of the features that made the arcade game so charming were completely absent.
Still, the game was a major step up from the 2600 version despite its many faults. I can understand why it was popular then, but today it fares pretty poorly as a translation of Nintendo's arcade hit.

JR

[Aswald]

Of course, in Christmas of 1982, this was THE game to have...sadly, after a time, it sort of fell short.

Aside from the missing fourth board, all 3 of the remaining screens were missing something. Compared to the Commodore 64 version, or the later 4-screen NES version, this one just doesn't compare. About the only thing it has over the 3-screen NES version is the sequence in which the screens are presented.

But, Opcode's version will probably put all but the arcade version itself to shame. Even the 4-screen CV version of Donkey Kong Jr.

[NE146]

Still, the game was a major step up from the 2600 version despite its many faults. I can understand why it was popular then, but today it fares pretty poorly as a translation of Nintendo's arcade hit.

True. But don't forget that the NES translation in and of itself is pretty poor as well. There are so many things missing and yet you'd think that the NES WOULD have been able to do a perfect arcade translation. It's dissapointing because it looks so close and so good, but it falls short in several aspects :(