Donkey Kong Jr. is a 1982 platform game created and released by Nintendo for arcade machines. It follows the 1981 game Donkey Kong, but the roles of the characters are different: Mario is now the bad guy, and Donkey Kong Jr. is trying to rescue his father, who has been captured. After its release in arcades, the game was adapted for several home consoles, including the Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System. In Japan, this version was one of the first games released for the system. The game’s title was written as Donkey Kong Junior in the North American arcade version and in other versions for non-Nintendo systems.
The game was mainly designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and his colleague, Nintendo’s chief engineer Gunpei Yokoi. Miyamoto also helped create the game’s graphics with Yoshio Sakamoto. Like the original Donkey Kong, the music was composed by Yukio Kaneoka.
In 1983, a sequel called Donkey Kong 3 and a related game named Donkey Kong Jr. Math were released.
Gameplay
Donkey Kong Jr. is a platform game, similar to its earlier version. The game has four stages, each with a different theme. DK Jr. can move left and right, jump, and climb using vines, chains, or ropes. He can slide down vines or climb faster by holding two at once. Enemies include "Snapjaws," which look like bear traps with eyes; "Nitpickers," bird-like creatures that drop eggs to attack; and "Sparks," which move along wiring in one of Mario's hideouts. DK Jr. can jump over enemies, switch between vines, chains, or ropes to avoid them, or knock down fruit that destroys enemies when it falls.
To complete the first three stages, DK Jr. must reach a key hanging near his father's cage. When he does, Mario pushes the cage off the screen while running away. In the fourth stage, DK Jr. must push six keys into locks on the top platform to free Donkey Kong. After a short scene, the game returns to the first stage with increased difficulty. A bonus timer runs during each stage, and any remaining time adds points to the player's score when the stage ends.
DK Jr. loses a life if he touches an enemy or projectile, falls too far, enters water, falls off the screen, or lets the bonus timer reach zero. The game ends when all lives are lost. Donkey Kong Jr. has a kill screen at level 22.
Plot
Mario defeats Donkey Kong and places him in a cage in a forest. Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong's son, tries to free his father by following Mario. Mario uses a helicopter to take Donkey Kong to his hideout. Then, Mario puts keys around the building where Donkey Kong is held. Several enemies attack Donkey Kong Jr., but he escapes them and reaches his father. Donkey Kong Jr. removes the chains from his father while Mario falls to the ground. Donkey Kong Jr. saves Donkey Kong, and the two leave together. Mario chases the Kongs but runs away after Donkey Kong pushes him back.
Development
During the development of Donkey Kong in 1981, Shigeru Miyamoto’s team created several ideas and completed levels that did not fit into the game. Later, they began developing these ideas further, and the designs became unique on their own. The process was so advanced, with full levels already planned, that one team member suggested starting work on another game. This happened around the same time Nintendo wanted to create another Donkey Kong coin-operated machine to take advantage of the first game’s popularity, allowing Miyamoto to expand his new series. At first, Miyamoto wanted the new game to feature Donkey Kong, but there were issues with the character’s large size. To solve this, the team created a smaller version of Donkey Kong who would be the son of the original character. Since they still wanted a large Donkey Kong on screen, they designed a story where Mario rescues him after the events of the first game.
The level counter in the game can only display one digit at a time. This means numbers 1 to 9 appear for levels 1 to 9, seven empty spaces show for levels 10 to 16, and letters A to F appear for levels 17 to 22. The kill screen happens in the same way as in Donkey Kong, where a problem occurs when the game tries to calculate a result that is too large for the system to handle. The timer counts as if 700 points were earned, and this causes Donkey Kong Jr. to be defeated until all lives are used up.
Ports
The order of levels changes depending on the region. In the Japanese version, the levels follow the sequence 1-2-3-4 and then repeat, similar to the Japanese release of Donkey Kong. In the US version, the levels appear in the order 1–4, 1–2–4, 1–3–4, and then 1–2–3–4, repeating from that point onward.
Donkey Kong Jr. was released on the NES and was one of three games launched with the Famicom in Japan. It was also released on the Family Computer Disk System, which was only available in Japan. Atari made versions for the Atari 2600, Atari 7800, and Atari 8-bit computers. Coleco created versions for the ColecoVision and Coleco Adam. CBS Electronics released a version for the Intellivision. A version for the BBC Micro was made but never released. Three Game & Watch versions were created: two black-and-white versions for the New Wide Screen and Multi Screen handhelds (later called Donkey Kong II) and one color version for the Tabletop and Panorama series. In 2002, the NES version was released again on the GBA add-on, the e-Reader.
Reception
In Japan, the original arcade version of Donkey Kong Jr. was the eighth most successful arcade game in 1982.
Raymond Dimetrosky of Video Games Player gave the ColecoVision version a positive review. He said it was better than another ColecoVision arcade conversion released at the same time, Sega's Space Fury, because it had better graphics and gameplay. In 1984, Computer Games magazine reviewed the Coleco Adam version and called it a "supergame adaptation," stating it was the best version of the game.
Donkey Kong Jr. won an award in the "1984 Best Videogame Audio-Visual Effects (16K or more ROM)" category at the 5th annual Arkie Awards. The judges called it "great fun" and noted that the game was a successful sequel, saying it expanded on the theme of its predecessor, Donkey Kong, and introduced a completely different style of play.
Donkey Kong Jr. is listed among the Top 100 Video Games by the Killer List of Videogames. It was chosen as one of five arcade games for history's first official video game world championship, which was filmed at Twin Galaxies in Ottumwa, Iowa, by ABC-TV's That's Incredible! during the weekend of January 8–9, 1983.
Allgame gave the game a review score of 4 out of 5 stars. It praised the graphics and sound for being "exceptionally arcade-like" and said the controls and gameplay were true to the original arcade version.
Legacy
The NES version, along with its earlier version, was released again in 1988 as part of an NES collection called Donkey Kong Classics. This version was later made available on the Nintendo e-Reader and can be found on the Virtual Console for the Wii. The NES version is also playable in Animal Crossing, but a special password from an official website is required. However, this website is no longer active. Donkey Kong Jr. was released for the Nintendo 3DS through the Nintendo eShop. It became available in Japan on April 18, 2012, in North America on June 14, and in Europe on August 23. It was given for free to Nintendo Ambassador users before its official release. The game was also released again on the Wii U Virtual Console in 2014. The arcade version of Donkey Kong Jr., which includes both the Japanese and American versions, was released by Hamster Corporation for the Nintendo Switch as part of the Arcade Archives series in December 2018. The NES version was made available on the Nintendo Classics service on May 15, 2019.
In 2004, Namco released an arcade cabinet that included Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Mario Bros.
On August 10, 2008, a player named Icarus Hall from Port Angeles, Washington, earned 1,033,000 points while playing Donkey Kong Jr.
On April 24, 2009, Steve Wiebe beat Hall’s score with 1,139,800 points. On September 3, Mark L. Kiehl from Enid, Oklahoma, played at 1984 Arcade in Springfield, Missouri, and achieved 1,147,800 points, surpassing Wiebe’s record. Steve Wiebe later regained the record with a score of 1,190,400 on February 16, 2010, using his home machine. Mark Kiehl then set a new record with 1,307,500 points. In November 2016, Kiehl improved his own record with 1,412,200 points.
On July 3, 2023, Justin Elliott achieved a score of 1,584,400 points during a live stream on his Twitch channel. This score was confirmed by the Donkey Kong Forum and Twin Galaxies as the new world record.
The game inspired a cereal that features fruit-flavored pieces shaped like bananas and cherries.
Donkey Kong Jr. appeared in multiple episodes of Starcade. The show’s host, Geoff Edwards, mentioned that he kept an arcade machine in his dressing room and found the game very challenging.
The game was also featured in Saturday Supercade, a show that aired on Saturday mornings from 1983 to 1985. The character was voiced by Frank Welker.
Donkey Kong Jr. is one of the eight playable characters in Super Mario Kart for the SNES. This version returned as a racer in Mario Kart Tour in 2020, alongside Mario from the same game. The character also appears in Mario’s Tennis on the Virtual Boy and Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64.
In the version of Super Mario Bros. 3 included in Super Mario All-Stars and the Game Boy Advance version, the king of World 4 was changed to look like a young gorilla identical to Donkey Kong Jr.
Donkey Kong Jr. is one of the characters players can transform into using Mystery Mushrooms in Super Mario Maker.