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 are different: Mario is now the antagonist, and Donkey Kong Jr. is trying to rescue his captured father. After its release in arcades, the game was made available on many home consoles, including the Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System, where it was one of the first games released in Japan. The game’s title is written as Donkey Kong Junior in the North American arcade version and in some versions for non-Nintendo systems.
The game was mainly designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and his colleague, Nintendo’s chief engineer Gunpei Yokoi. Miyamoto also created the game’s graphics with Yoshio Sakamoto. Like its predecessor, the music was composed by Yukio Kaneoka.
A follow-up game, Donkey Kong 3, and a related game, Donkey Kong Jr. Math, were released in 1983.
Gameplay
Donkey Kong Jr. is a platform game, just like 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 these items or climb faster by holding two at once. Enemies in the game include "Snapjaws," which look like bear traps with eyes; "Nitpickers," bird-like creatures that drop eggs to attack; and "Sparks," which move along wires in one of Mario's hideouts. DK Jr. can jump over enemies on platforms, switch between vines, chains, or ropes to avoid them, or knock down fruit that will destroy enemies before falling off the screen.
To complete the first three stages, DK Jr. must reach a key hanging near his father's cage. When he does, Mario runs away while pushing the cage off the screen. 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 player returns to the first stage, but the difficulty increases. A bonus timer runs during each stage, and any remaining time is added 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 bottom of the screen, or lets the bonus timer reach zero. The game ends when all lives are lost. The game also has a "kill screen" at level 22.
Plot
Mario defeats Donkey Kong and puts him in a cage in a forest. Donkey Kong's son, Donkey Kong Jr., follows Mario to try to free his father. Mario takes Donkey Kong to his hideout by helicopter. Then, Mario takes the keys to Donkey Kong's chains and places them around the building. Several enemies attack Donkey Kong Jr., but he escapes and reaches his father, freeing him from the chains as 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. They later worked on these ideas, and the designs changed into something unique. The project was so advanced, with full stages already planned, that one team member suggested starting another game. This happened around the same time Nintendo wanted another Donkey Kong coin-operated machine to take advantage of the original game’s success, allowing Miyamoto to develop his new series. At first, Miyamoto wanted the new game to feature Donkey Kong, but there were issues with the character’s large size. The team decided to create a smaller version of Donkey Kong who would be the son of the original character. To include a large Donkey Kong on screen, they designed a story where Mario captures him after the events of the first game.
The level counter in the game uses one digit, so it shows numbers 1 to 9 for levels 1 to 9, leaves seven empty spaces for levels 10 to 16, and uses letters A to F for levels 17 to 22. The kill screen happens the same way as in Donkey Kong, where a mistake in the computer’s math occurs when a multiplication problem produces a result that is too large. The timer acts as if there are 700 points, and it causes Donkey Kong Jr. to be defeated until all lives are used up.
Ports
The order of levels differs in different regions. In the Japanese version, the four levels appear in the sequence 1-2-3-4 and then repeat, similar to the Japanese release of Donkey Kong. In the US version, the levels follow this order: 1–4, 1–2–4, 1–3–4, 1–2–3–4, and then repeat 1–2–3–4 continuously.
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 created versions for the Atari 2600, Atari 7800, and Atari 8-bit computers. Coleco released versions for the ColecoVision and Coleco Adam. CBS Electronics made a version for the Intellivision. A version for the BBC Micro was created but not released. Three Game & Watch versions were made: 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 called the e-Reader.
Reception
In Japan, the original arcade version of the game was the eighth most successful arcade game in 1982.
Raymond Dimetrosky of Video Games Player gave the ColecoVision version a good review. He compared it to another ColecoVision arcade game, Sega's Space Fury, released at the same time, and said that Donkey Kong Jr. 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 described it as "great fun" and noted that the game was successful as a sequel, extending the theme and offering a very different way to play compared to its predecessor, Donkey Kong.
Donkey Kong Jr. is listed as one of 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. The event was filmed at Twin Galaxies in Ottumwa, Iowa, by ABC-TV's That's Incredible! over the weekend of January 8–9, 1983.
Allgame gave the game a review score of 4 out of 5 stars. The review praised the graphics and sound for being "exceptionally arcade-like" and the controls and gameplay for being very similar to the arcade version.
Legacy
The NES version and its earlier version were released again in 1988 as part of an NES collection called Donkey Kong Classics. This version was later released on the Nintendo e-Reader and is available on the Virtual Console for the Wii. The NES version can also be played in Animal Crossing, but a special password from an official website is needed. This website is no longer available. Donkey Kong Jr. was made available for the Nintendo 3DS through the Nintendo eShop. It was released in Japan on April 18, 2012, in North America on June 14, and in Europe on August 23. It was given free to Nintendo Ambassador users before the full release. The game was also released for 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 company's Arcade Archives series in December 2018. The NES version was released 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, Icarus Hall of Port Angeles, Washington, scored 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 of Enid, Oklahoma, surpassed Wiebe's score with 1,147,800 points at 1984 Arcade in Springfield, Missouri. Steve Wiebe regained the record with 1,190,400 points on his home machine on February 16, 2010. Mark Kiehl later set a new record with 1,307,500 points. In November 2016, Kiehl improved the record with 1,412,200 points.
On July 3, 2023, Justin Elliott achieved a score of 1,584,400 points while playing Donkey Kong Jr. on his Twitch channel. This score was verified by the Donkey Kong Forum and Twin Galaxies.
A cereal with fruit-flavored pieces shaped like bananas and cherries was created based on the game.
The game appeared in many episodes of Starcade. Host Geoff Edwards mentioned that he kept an arcade machine in his dressing room and found the game very challenging.
Donkey Kong Jr. was featured in Saturday Supercade (a show that aired on Saturday mornings from 1983 to 1985). The title character was voiced by Frank Welker.
Donkey Kong Jr. is one of the 8 playable characters in Super Mario Kart for the SNES. This version was also included 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 seen in Super Mario All-Stars and the Game Boy Advance version, the king of World 4 was changed into a young gorilla that looks like Donkey Kong Jr.
Donkey Kong Jr. is one of the characters in Super Mario Maker that players can transform into using Mystery Mushrooms.