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Donkey Kong must surely rate as one of the most complicated games to work out that is in existence probably rivalled only be Defender for complexity.

If you are unfamiliar with the original arcade game, it is vital to read through the instruction leaflet thoroughly; otherwise, you will find the game a total and utter mystery. The game centres around the character of Donkey Kong, his dad and somebody called Mario. You have to release Donkey Kong from a cage located at the top of the screen by making Junior cross a jungle swinging along from vine to vine while avoiding nasty creatures lurking around.

To start the game you again are given a choice of skill to select your own. If you haven't played it before then level one is the best to begin with. Next comes the game itself. Junior begins in the bottom left corner of the jungle, and has to travel onto platforms and jump onto vines in order to move across and up to the top of the screen. Here you must find a flashing key which Junior must take in order to unlock the door of the cage.

It's not easy to get there though. On your journey you'll find loads of little red and blue snapjaws which chomp their way along the screen scenario just waiting for Junior to walk into his jaws. the way to get rid of them is to knock Junior onto one of the fruits directly above the snapjaws and they will instantly disappear.

And when you try to capture the flashing key, even more of these snapjaws are sent by Mario to entrap you. At this point you can avoid them by making Junior jump over them, but make sure your timing is perfect or else you will land smack on top of them. And then it's sudden death.

Don't think things will get easier now that you've got the key. They only get worse, to my way of thinking anyway. The screen scene changes and you are shown a picture of Donkey Kong locked up in his cage rattling the bars to escape. Linked to the cage are a number of huge chains. At the bottom of some of these chains are keys which Junior must push up into the locks at the top of the chains in order to free his big daddy.

But now Junior not only has the dreaded snapjaws to contend with but he also has to watch out for the Nitpicker birds which fly across the screen and gobble up Junior if he gets in their way. They have a dirty trick of swooping down from Mario's platform and catching Junior on the chains.

And if you successfully manage to complete that mission and unlock the unhappy Donkey Kong from the cage things go from bad to worse. You now start all over again but with many more obstructions and opponents. After the second mission, Junior goes for the jump board challenge. Things move the whole time, like the chains and the platforms and Junior has to make super-sized leaps to reach the moving platform.

At this level, you have to deal with the Stockybirds which drop eggs and eliminate poor Junior. He can retaliate by dropping fruits on them. And after tht, it just gets more complicated.

It's certainly a good game to get to grips with, and has many devoted fans who sit glued to their game for hours. And it's probably worth spending time to learn just how to play it. Regular Donkey Kong players say that this version of the arcade original is very good, and reasonably faithful to it. Definitely one for all the familiar to have a go at.