Donkey Kong is the quintessential arcade game that introduced Mario to the general public.
It’s also an awesome early platformer with a level of complexity unmatched by space invaders or asteroids or any other peers.
Checkout DonkeyKongGenius‘s “basic” manual. In wiki style it documents many mechanics and strategies that weren’t fully exploited until the last decade.
The game is incredibly deep with control, chaos, and a steep challenge.
This appeal + the success of the 2007 documentary King of Kong has created a mini culture of DK fanatics.
- Extremely competitive high score community constantly pushing boundaries to not just get a perfect game but increase the boundaries of scoring potential for the world record.
- The Kong Off
- Donkey Kong Forum
- A kickstarter for accurate reproduction buttons.
I picked up the cabaret version of the game in September 2014. It was in rough but in playing shape.
The Good
- Working Monitor
- Working CPU
- Original Control Panel + Buttons
The Bad:
- Missing Back door.
- Missing Plastic monitor cover/bezel
- Monitor rough.
The Ugly
- Lock bolt
- Dusty/Dirty in general
- vacuumed and simple-greened the exterior/interior.
- Replaced AC Power Cord
- Removed Lock Bolt
- Had a variety of board issues to work out (As DK boards tend to have)
- Fumed the game out with dryer sheets and moisture absorbing silica packets.
- Routed and painted a new back door.
- I got some glass cut locally to cover the monitor.
Mario is originally named Jumpman and he uses the iconic hammer that many my age know from smash bros.
Unfortunately Nintendo chose to use a sticker for the marquee instead of the standard Glass/Light bulb.
I carefully replaced my original light-faded one with a reproduction from This Old Game.
I installed the awesome high-score save kit. This a daughter board for the Z80 that adds some really great features like
- Free Play with Attract Mode.
- High Score Saving
- Boot up diagnostics
In the End, the game looks and plays great. I add a tiny bit of 3 in 1 oil to the original joystick but everything plays and feels like it would have in the 80s
