Games Computing
1st July 1984Donkey Kong (Atarisoft)
Mario to the rescue again!
Joystick movement takes the fearless little carpenter back and forth in his desperate ascent to the top of a pile of girders, where Donkey Kong holds his girlfriend captive. He must also climb ladders and leap over rolling barrels to reach her, only to have the damsel snatched from him once again.
Next he must scale a pyramid of girders to save her and unplug rivets as he goes on his way, all the while avoiding deadly fireballs which pursue him. After accomplishing so much, he is foiled yet again and has to jump across a number of moving elevators, whilst still avoiding the relentless fireballs. Finally, to rescue his sweetheart, he must avoid moving buckets of sand, in addition to fireballs, and negotiate a complex chain of conveyor belts.
He gets three chances to reach the top of each of the four screens; a fourth if he scores 7,000 points, and it's a race against the clock. Speed counts or barrels and fireballs come thicker and faster. During his ordeal Mario can grab hammers to flatten barrels, fireballs and sand piles for limited periods and gain extra points. He can also add more by picking up his beloved's hat, purse and umbrella on the way.
The instructions are concise and humorous, with hints on strategy. One or two player games can be selected. Graphic quality is really excellent and movements smooth and realistic. The difficulty level is well set to frustrate yet encourage further play. By TI standards, it is exceptional.
In ROM cartridge form it seems expensive, but when you discover the quality of this game you'll see why it's worth it.