Overview
- Number of Players
- 2
- Genre
- Release Date
Arcade
31st Jul 1981
9th Jul 1981
- Also Available On
- Series
- Tags
Reviews
Sorry, no Donkey Kong review yet.
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Screenshots 7
Donkey Kong Guides
Guide Best Donkey Kong Games Of All Time
Swing when you're winning
While Mario is the main man when it comes to all things Nintendo, it was Donkey Kong who gave the plumber a leg-up in the world of video games. The ape's debut not only conquered the arcade and introduced the world to a video gaming legend, but it saved the company and put Nintendo on the path to becoming the cultural force...
Donkey Kong News
Random Paul Rudd "Got A Real Kick" Out Of Reuniting With Nintendo For New Commercial
"It made me nostalgic in all the right ways"
If you haven't seen the new Nintendo Switch 2 commercial featuring Paul Rudd, where have you been? It's a delightful throwback to one of the Ant Man and Anchorman actor's first ever acting roles, a SNES commercial from 1991. It's daft, it's silly, and we didn't think we could love Rudd any more. F
Random Speedrunner Takes Donkey Kong Run To New Heights By Beating The Kill Screen
But wait, there's more!
44 years after its release, you'd think that the speedrunning community would have pushed the Donkey Kong arcade game to its limit. But, as it turns out, there are a handful of extra levels hidden behind the game's long-assumed unbeatable kill screen. All you've got to do is beat it. That's the challenge that was recently...
Poll Box Art Brawl - Donkey Kong
The OG
Welcome back to another edition of Box Art Brawl! Before we get cracking with this week's epic battle, let's take a look at how Contact went on with its own duel. It was incredibly close; possibly one of the closest brawls we've seen to date, but ultimately the design favoured by North America and Japan won the round with 51% of the vote...
News Coleco's Failed Negotiations With Nintendo Apparently Resulted In The Birth Of The Famicom
"The rest is history"
Time Extension recently got the chance to speak to Coleco exec Bert Reiner about the history of the American toy and console maker. According to his account, there was a time when Nintendo almost ended up buying and marketing the 1982 video game system 'ColecoVision' for Japan but negotiations fell through. The former Coleco...
News Strong Museum Making The World's "Largest, Playable" Donkey Kong Cabinet
Nintendo of America is "providing input on the project"
The Strong National Museum of Play - best known for its "World Video Game Hall of Fame" - has announced it's creating the world's "largest playable" Donkey Arcade cabinet, standing "nearly 20-feet tall" and about "370% bigger" than the original. It will be part of The Strong's...
News This Donkey Kong 'LEGO Ideas' Project Is Halfway To An Expert Review
If it reaches 10k LEGO will take a look
Mario Lego has become quite popular, but what other Nintendo IP could be adapted to the world of brick building? A Lego Ideas user known as 'By If You Build It' has submitted a Donkey Kong-themed set. Although the big ape kind of looks terrifying up close, the project itself has already got close to 5,000...
The DK drama continues
New evidence has been uncovered that suggests Billy Mitchell did indeed cheat to attain his record-breaking Donkey Kong scores — the ones which Twin Galaxies removed from its record boards because they were allegedly achieved via emulation rather than original arcade hardware, and for which Mitchell is suing the...
News Early Donkey Kong Design Document From Miyamoto Showcases 'Popeye' Origin
"I yam what I yam an' tha's all I yam"
If you've swotted up on your gaming history, then you'll perhaps already know that the original Donkey Kong from 1981 (lord almighty...) actually started life as a Popeye the Sailor Man project, featuring the main man himself alongside Olive Oyl and antagonist Bluto. As the tale goes, Nintendo had failed to...
Random Billy Mitchell Claims Doctor Won't See Him Due To Donkey Kong Cheating Accusations
According to court documents
By this point, if you've heard of Donkey Kong, then you've also probably heard of Billy Mitchell. The former 'King of Kong' held multiple world records in arcade games such as Pac-Man and the aforementioned, but many have since been called into question, with some accusing him of playing via Multiple Arcade Machine...
Random Retro Enthusiasts Accomplish World's First Donkey Kong 2P Kill Screen
"There's a kill screen comin' up!"
If you're familiar with the classic Donkey Kong arcade game, then you'll have undoubtedly heard of the kill screen. For those not in the know, the game essentially features a level known as the 'kill screen', whereby the in-game timer will be so low that's it's impossible to complete the stage as a result of a...
About The Game
Mario must save Pauline from the evil clutches of Donkey Kong!
Mario's girlfriend Pauline has been grabbed by the big gorilla Donkey Kong and now he must traverse 4 levels of girders, elevators, and a host of other dangers as he scales his way to his true love.
Released in 1981, Donkey Kong has become one of the most beloved arcade games of all time and remains a staple of video game platforms, even still to this very day.
Comments 5
Did this really not get an eu release?
@mariofanatic128 - I'm sure it was
A classic.
While the arcade version of Donkey Kong was undoubtedly superior to the NES release, in all actuality, Nintendo was sitting upon a much better version of NES Donkey Kong, finally revealed on a special edition Wii in 2010, with the missing cement level intact, as well as additional animations never seen before on NES. Appadently, Nintendo had the game finished back in the 80s, but the larger-sized ROM chips required to run the game were too expensive, so Nintendo cut a lot of the fat (and a good bit of meat, too) out of the game code so it would fit the smaller ROM size, hence we got stuck for over twenty years with an inferior port.
Thanks to RetroZone, I now have a repro NES Donkey Kong cart that plays much better than the original. But it makes me really wonder what other lost gems Nintendo may have stashed away in the vault for all these years...
I love Donkey Kong! it's the best Nintendo Game!
"This Week in History for May 29-June 4" (article)
Quotations of certain parts of the article:
"The Week in History for May 29-June 4
Aberdeen News
Published 1:00 a.m. CT May 29, 2021"
"June 2
1941: Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig died at age 37 of a degenerative disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
1981: The Japanese video arcade game 'Donkey Kong' made its U.S. debut.
1990: Groton had a golf course for the first time in 48 years.
1997: Timothy McVeigh was convicted of murder and conspiracy in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.
2012: Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison after a court convicted him on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that forced him from power."
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