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That dastardly gorilla, Donkey Kong has packed in munching bananas for a hobby, and much to everyone's annoyance he's taken up abducting young ladies. This has particularly annoyed one Mario, his nearest and dearest - the lovely Nicola - is one of the girlies that's been snatched. Mario is realy hard, so he's decided to get after Kong, who's at this moment holed up at a nearby semi-completed building.

The building is split into four screens, all of which Mario must negotiate before he can get his girlfriend back. Each screen is divided into a number of platforms connected by ladders and other such stuff. Kong is always at the top and Mario must reach him to complete a screen.

Mario is controlled by the classic left, right and jump method. With this he can scamper to the top of the screen and defeat the manic monkey. Each screen has its own meanies to hamper and berate him. On the first, Kong throws barrels, the second has deadly custard pies, on the third it's leaping thingies and the fourth contains flaming nasties.

On the fourth screen, Mario's objective is slightly different. This time it's necessary to weaken the structure of the building by running over and removing key-stones. Once all these key-stones have gone, Kong falls onto his grisly bonce and Mario is reunited with his beloved Nicola.

Right, that's it, it has to be over now. Kong had fallen about a million miles and landed on his head, and our hero has got his girly back... Wrong! Somehow or other the loathsome gorilla lifts himself up, and while Mario's back is turned, he grabs Nicola and off we go again - Aaaaargh!

Although being a very accurate conversion, Donkey Kong doesn't offer much in the way of new or exciting gameplay. It's fun having a couple of games and reminiscing about the good old days (in fact, it's nearly six years since this first came out!), but after that the game becomes very boring.

There are only four screens of action and these become very repetitive once they've been played a couple of times. Graphically the game is quite jolly and the sound is almost identical to the arcade game, i.e. pretty grotty.

If you never played the original, or still love the game, you might want to check it out. Personally, I think it's a bit too pricey to be worth buying.

I really enjoyed playing this game but the bottom line is that there's no way I'd shell out nine quid for it. Ever. Kong's a very nice game indeed and fun to play. But nine quid? I don't think so. Even if you've never played Kong or a derivative of it, you'll probably get bored of this within a week.

See if you can play it and then make up your own mind, but I'm sure you'll come to the same conclusion.

Donkey Kong games have plagued us since the beginning of time, but at last here is the real one, and it's a very pleasing conversion of the original arcade game. Okay, so it's not visually or aurally astounding, but it does have a great deal of playability and, if you're a fan of the original, like me, you'll love this conversion.

All your old favourites are there without the cover up names that so many other Kong games had to employ. If you want a Kong game, this is the one to buy.

Presentation 72%
Bog standard arcade style presentation.

Graphics 60%
Dated, but crisp and colourful.

Sound 40%
Simple but suitable jingles and spot effects.

Hookability 74%
Addictive but not demanding or compulsive.

Lastability 51%
Fun, although interest will no doubt wane once the game is completed.

Value For Money 49%
Overpriced for what it offers.

Overall 60%
A competent conversion of an old game which should have been considerably cheaper.