Re-Release Review

Donkey Kong Jr.

Hope all you non ambassadors are ready to play catchup this week, because this week Nintendo is gifting us with the sequel to its first smash game. The question is, has Donkey Kong Jr. stood the test of time like the original? Find out after the break.

Donkey Kong Jr. sees Mario returning in his most dastardly, SPCA provoking role yet: He’s setting out to kill a baby ape…or so the plot goes. You are that baby ape setting out to rescue your captured father.

Don’t think Mario is going to make it easy for you though, he’s explonding with rage and is totally prepared to throw little crocodiles at your furry butt as you climb across vines, dropping fruit on Mario’s little minions in a hail of juicy death. Did I mention that you’ll be wearing concrete shoes the entire time you play, because Donkey Kong Jr. certainly controls as if you were. You meet with death with any fall, and move with the speed of an ape… an ape swimming in molasses. That’s no complaint; keep in mind this was originally designed to be a game to bleed your pockets dry of sweet quarters in times of yonder.

While I absolutely adore this game, with its 4 levels (that’s right, 1 more than the original, how’s that for progress!), unless you’re a huge fan of high scores and impossible to comprehend physics like I am, this game may turn into a bit of a turn off for you. This is the only time you’ll probably see Mario being a jerk, except maybe for hogging the spotlight from his younger brother, so if you want to experience that particular slice of gaming history, this game is certainly for you.

It’s really hard to give a grade to a game as classic as Donkey Kong Jr. That being said, I really wish Nintendo would rethink its pricing on NES titles released on the 3DS. I mean sure, you could just keep charging $5, and droves of fans will gladly throw their wallets at it, but in an age of emulators and super(man/woman/dog)phones, $5 is incredibly steep for a game that I’ve probably played through 5 or 6 times since receiving it as an ambassador last September, and it’s especially pricey for a game that was designed for arcades, much like many other games in Nintendo’s vast catalogue.

Verdict

This game is a masterpiece, a classic, whatever you want to call it, but at $5 bucks to all you non ambassadors out there, it’s really hard for me to say bust out your wallet and buy this game. If you want the full arcade experience though, I suggest you just throw a big handful of quarters at your 3DS yelling “Take my money!” after buying it.

5/5

1 More Classic