******************************************************************************* Donkey Kong for Atari 8-bit Computers FAQ/Walkthrough by BHodges Version 1.1 Created 06/25/05 Updated 10/27/09 This document Copyright 2005,2009 by Brian Hodges. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. ******************************************************************************* Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Background Story III. Getting Started IV. Basic Gameplay V. Stage Guide A. Stage Order B. Girder Stage C. Rivet Stage D. Elevator Stage E. Pie Factory Stage VI. Scoring VII. My Top Score VIII. Game Review IX. Donkey Kong History A. Game Origin 1. Radarscope 2. Popeye 3. 3rd Time's the Charm B. Name Origins 1. Donkey Kong 2. Mario 3. Pauline C. Trouble 1. Universal Studios 2. Atari vs. Coleco D. Sequels 1. Donkey Kong Jr. 2. Donkey Kong 3 3. Mario Bros. 4. Donkey Kong (Gameboy Remake) 5. Donkey Kong Country X. Atari 8-bit DK vs. Coleco DK XI. Version History XII. Contact Information ******************************************************************************* I. Introduction This is a FAQ for the Atari 8-bit Computer game Donkey Kong. It contains information on how to play the game, tips for each of the game's four stages, and a mini-review. ******************************************************************************* II. Background Story Donkey Kong has kidnapped Mario's girlfriend Pauline. Now Mario must make his way through the construction site and rescue her. ******************************************************************************* III. Getting Started On the title screen press Select to toggle between a one and two player game. Press Option to choose the starting level. The barrel is level one and the hammer is level 5. See the Stage Order section of the stage guide for more info on the various levels. When you are ready to begin press Start or the joystick button. If you wait on the title screen long enough, you will see a brief cutscene showing Donkey Kong "creating" the Girder stage will kidnapping Pauline. ******************************************************************************* IV. Basic Gameplay You move Mario left and right with the joystick. Press up to climb up a ladder and press down to climb down a ladder. Press the button to jump. Coming in contact with a barrel, firefox, spring, pie, or Donkey Kong himself will kill you. Falling from too great a distance will also kill you. Each time you die, you will start back at the beginning and the stage will reset. You can destroy firefoxes and barrels with the hammer. Jump into the hammer to get it. You will then have it for about eleven seconds. During this time you cannot jump or climb ladders. Just hit an enemy with the hammer to destroy it. Make sure one doesn't sneak in underneath the hammer and kill you. At the top left corner is displayed the hi score. Below that is a L with a number beneath that tells you the current level. At the top right it tells you which player's turn it is, his or her score, and the number of lives remaining. ******************************************************************************* V. Stage Guide ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Stage Order The first stage of each level will be the Girder stage and the last the Rivet stage. |25m |50m |75m |100m |125m |150m | -------|---------|--------------|-----------|-----------|-------|------| Level 1|Girder |Rivet | | | | | Level 2|Girder |Elevator |Rivet | | | | Level 3|Girder |Pie Factory |Elevator |Rivet | | | Level 4|Girder |Pie Factory |Girder |Elevator |Rivet | | Level 5|Girder |Pie Factory |Girder |Elevator |Girder |Rivet | All levels after 5 are the same. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Girder Stage This is the stage everyone remembers about Donkey Kong. Your goal is to make it to the platform where Pauline is at the top of the screen. You have to make your way up the ladders while avoiding the barrels and firefoxes. You can climb onto the broken ladders, but won't be able to move to the next girder. There is an oil can at the beginning of the level. You can go behind this can and be protected from barrels. The firefoxes can go behind the can as well, so you aren't 100% safe. You also have the timer to worry about. Donkey Kong will throw barrels at you. The first barrel will turn into a firefox. The first barrel will always travel the same way at a given level, e.g. the first barrel on level 1 will go straight down until it hits the bottom, then go left. The rest of the barrels are random. There is no way to tell whether or not a barrel will roll down a ladder, you have to be on guard. I find that the longer you stick around this stage, the harder it is to complete. The first thing you need to do is avoid the first barrel. Do this by running all the way to the right. When the barrel hits the ground, go up the ladder. Now stand under the hammer and wait. When a barrel reaches your girder, jump up and grab the hammer. Now hit any barrels and firefoxes on that girder. After you lose the hammer, make your way to the left of the short ladder. Wait for an opening then climb up. Be careful when jumping barrels, your head will go through the girder above you, if you touch a barrel you will lose a life. Now move to the right of the short ladder on this girder. Wait for an opening, then climb up again. Grab the hammer and start bashing things. When you lose the hammer, go between the short ladder and the broken one and wait for an opening. Once you reach the top girder, make your way to the right and climb up the ladder to reach Pauline. You cannot climb the two tall ladders next to Donkey Kong and if you touch him, you will die. When you reach Pauline, it will show Mario with a heart over his head, then Pauline will disappear and the heart will break. They don't show it in this version, but in the arcade it showed Donkey Kong grabbing Pauline and climbing up the two tall ladders (I used to be confused as to why Mario would be sad after completing the stage, then I played the arcade game and saw why). |-| |-| P |-| |-| ##############|-| |-| |-| |-| |-| D ########################################################### ########## |-| |-| #### |-| |-| ########## |-| ######################## |-| H |-| #################### |-| |-| ############# |-| ########### |-| |-| #### |-| |-| |-| ################# |-| #################### ######################## ############### |-| #### |-| |-| |-| |-| ###### |-| |-| ################ |-| H ############## |-| |-| #################### ################# |-| ##### ^^^ |-| | | |-| ####### |OIL| ################### | | M |-| #################### ################################### Key M = Mario's Starting Point P = Pauline D = Donkey Kong H = Hammer ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Rivet Stage This is the "final" battle against Donkey Kong. The object of this stage is to remove all eight rivets from the girders, causing them to collapse. You can remove a rivet by running or jumping over it. If you attempt to rescue Pauline prematurely, Donkey Kong will just switch her to the opposite side. Touching Donkey Kong is instant death. The firefoxes are your main concern, they generate pretty quickly here. While they can go up and down ladders, they can't cross the holes left behind after you snag a rivet. As soon as the stage begins, run immediately to the right and grab Pauline's purse. Keep going right and run up the ladder on the end and get the hat. Hopefully the firefox will keep going left. Run over the rivet and quickly jump back over the hole, cutting him off. Make your way up the right side of the structure, removing rivets as you go. You should now be on the right of Donkey Kong. Make your way to the hammer beneath him and let the firefoxes have it. Move all the way to the left and get the rivet. When the hammer disappears, move up the ladder and remove the rivet. Quickly move down the left side and grab the hammer. Move into the middle, removing the rivet on the way. When the hammer is gone, get the remaining rivet using the least guarded route. Congratulations, you have won the game... (sort of) U D P ######V##########################V######## |-| |-| H |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| ########V##########################V########## H |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| ##########V##########################V############ |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| B ############V##########################V############## |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| M |-| I |-| |-| ########################################################## Key M = Mario's Starting Point P = Pauline D = Donkey Kong H = Hammer V = Rivet B = Pauline's Bonnet U = Pauline's Umbrella I = Pauline's Purse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. Elevator Stage It is my opinion that this is historically the most important stage in the game and perhaps in all of video games. While most people think of the Girder stage when they think of Donkey Kong, this stage contains all the elements that define the platform genre: floating platforms, moving platforms, items to collect, and enemies to avoid. Okay, back to the walkthrough... The first thing to do is to quickly climb to the top of beginning structure and grab the umbrella. Wait for the firefox to go down and then jump across the elevator to the top of next structure. If the elevator is too low you will die when you land on it and if you stay on it too long you will get smushed. When the firefox starts to ascend, take the other ladder down and grab the hat. You now have two choices: - Low Road When the elevator is even with you, hop on, then jump onto the first of the trio of floating platforms. Make your way over, be sure to watch out for the falling springs when jumping off the last one. Now climb up the ladder. Wait for the firefox to move up to the level with the cake then make your way across (again keeping a watchful eye for the springs) to the structure shaped like a lowercase 'l' on a typewriter. Climb up the ladder. Whew, that involved SEVEN jumps, two of which involve avoiding springs and one a firefox. Fortunately there is a shortcut... - High Road (Recommended) When the firefox starts to descend, take the other ladder back up. When the elevator is almost even with you, jump onto then IMMEDIATELY jump to the top of the next structure. That's it! Now you should be on top of the 'l' shaped structure. Our next objective is the retrieval of Pauline's birthday cake (it has never been made clear whose birthday it is for). Wait until the firefox is at the bottom of the structure, then quickly make your way across, grab the cake, then return, all the while still keeping a look out for those springs! Now we are almost to Pauline, we just have to make it past the springs. The trick is knowing where the safe zones are. The first one is directly above the ladder, so head up. (An interesting side note: while you are in this spot, if you jump when a spring is directly overhead, you will get 100 points.) Now wait for a spring to land in front of you then run left and stand under Pauline's rear foot. You will be safe here. As soon as a spring passes overhead, head up the ladder to Pauline. |-| |-| P |-| |-|############# D |-| |-| |-| ###########OOOOO##############OOOOO########## C * * |-| #### ### U ##### * ### |-| ####### * ########## * #### |-| |-| * |-| |-| ##### |-| ########## |-| * |-| |-| * |-| |-| |-| ##### |-| |-| * ###### #### ###### |-| * |-| |-| * |-| ####### * |-| |-| ##### #### |-| * |-| B|-| * #### M|-| ##### ######## * #### ####### * * #### * ##### ###########OOOOO##############OOOOO###################### Key M = Mario's Starting Point P = Pauline D = Donkey Kong B = Pauline's Bonnet U = Pauline's Umbrella C = Cake ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E. Pie Factory Stage Technically it is a cement factory, but since the piles of sand look like pies, everyone calls it the Pie Factory. This is by far the toughest stage in the game. Your goal is to make it to Pauline in the top right of the screen. The first thing you have to watch out for are the sand piles or "pies". If you touch one, you die. Fortunately they can be jumped or destroyed with the hammer. The oil can in the center will spit out firefoxes like crazy so you want to hurry. Lastly the conveyor belts will suddenly change direction, so you have to be careful, watch the way the pies are going to see the belt direction. If you fall off a conveyor belt, you die. (It is actually worse in the arcade version, the ladders there move up and down!) First run to the right and collect Pauline's hat. Then zoom up a ladder and grab the hammer. Destroy any firefoxes or pies on the belt, you have to be very careful here because when the belt changes direction the pies can come at you in a hurry and slip under the hammer. When the hammer expires, climb the ladder on the right. Depending on the firefoxes either climb the ladder or jump onto the next platform and climb that one. Grab the cake and then climb the ladder to Pauline. |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| D P @OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO@ |-| |-| |-| ^^^ |-| |-| | | C |-| @OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO@|OIL|@OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO@ H |-| |-| |___| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| ########### ########################## ########### |-| H |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| @OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO@ |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-| |-|M |-| B |-| |-| ########################################################## Key M = Mario's Starting Point P = Pauline D = Donkey Kong H = Hammer U = Pauline's Umbrella C = Cake O = Conveyor Belt ******************************************************************************* VI. Scoring 100 points Jumping over a barrel, firefox, spring or pie 100 points Collecting a rivet 300 points Jumping over two barrels at once 300 points Destroying a barrel, firefox, or pie with the hammer Pauline Items (Hat, Umbrella, Purse, or Birthday Cake) Level 1 300 points Level 2 500 points Level 3 800 points Level 4 800 points Level 5 800 points Time Bonus (starting amount) Level 1 5000 Level 2 6000 Level 3 7000 Level 4 8000 Level 5 8000 Score 7,000 points to earn an extra life. ******************************************************************************* VII. My Top Score My top score 42,200 points. ******************************************************************************* VIII. Game Review This is the best port of the arcade game ever. It is the only port that includes the Pie Factory stage. Mario moves faster and controls better in this version than he does in the arcade. This version is better than the ports on the 2600, 7800, Coleco, and NES. The cons listed below are really just minor things this game lacks from the arcade version. This is a must own title for anyone with an Atari 8-bit computer. Pros + Mario controls better and moves faster than he does in the arcade version. + Excellent graphics, IMO the Donkey Kongs shown on the screen between stages look better than the ones in the arcade version. + This game has been ported to at least ten different platforms and this is the ONLY one that has the Pie Factory stage. (No, the Gameboy remake doesn't count!) + The stages are in the same order they are in the arcade version. + This is also the only version that lets you choose the starting level. + Captures the magic of the arcade game. Cons - Doesn't show the ending animation after each stage where Donkey Kong takes Pauline to the next level or the ending where Mario and Pauline are reunited. - Due to the dimensions of a TV screen, Donkey Kong is on the right side of the Girder stage. This feels awkward to arcade game veterans. - The ladders in the Pie Factory don't go up and down like they did in the arcade. - The firefox barrels aren't blue like they were in the arcade game. ******************************************************************************* IX. Donkey Kong History This is normally the section in my FAQs labeled "Useless Trivia" filled with facts and snippets about the game but since this game was so influential and the history so interesting I decided to make it a full-fledged history lesson. * Most of this info is from Steven Kent's The Ultimate History of Video Games, a must own book for any gamer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Game Origin Donkey Kong has one of the most unusual histories of any video game: ............................................................................... 1. Radarscope Released in 1980, Radarscope was a top-down shooter similar to Galaga. It was the second most popular arcade game in Japan behind Pac-man and Nintendo was hoping that it would be a hit in America. Instead it was a horrible flop that nearly bankrupted the company. ............................................................................... 2. Popeye Nintendo decided the best thing to do was to create a new game that used the Radarscope hardware. Their first choice was to do a game based on Popeye, but were unable to secure the rights (they did eventually and it was released in 1982). ............................................................................... 3. 3rd Time's the Charm Shigeru Miyamoto was an artist at Nintendo who created the artwork for the Radarscope cabinet. When Hiroshi Yamauchi asked him if he wanted to design a game, he was very eager to give it a try. The first thing he did was to come up with a background story for his game. He decided on having a man rescue his girlfriend from a giant ape. The ape would take refuge in a construction site. After dodging barrels to make it to the top, the player would have to remove the rivets so the structure would collapse and the hero could be reunited with his girlfriend. And the rest as they say is history! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Name Origins Just as colorful are the origins of the character names: ............................................................................... 1. Donkey Kong Donkey Kong was originally called "Stubborn Gorilla" (in Japanese). Since Donkey Kong was targeted at the American market, Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi wanted the game to have an English name, so Shigeru Miyamoto looked through his Japanese-English dictionary for synonyms for "stubborn" and "gorilla" and came up with "donkey" and "kong". ............................................................................... 2. Mario Originally named "Jumpman" (for obvious reasons). He was given overalls, white gloves, and a mustache to make him look more real. The name Mario came from Mario Segale, Nintendo's landlord because of similarities in their appearance. ............................................................................... 3. Pauline She is referred to in the instruction booklet simply as Mario's girlfriend. According to Wikipedia, she was originally named "Lady" in Japan. She was named Pauline after Polly James, wife of Nintendo of America warehouse manager, Don James. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Trouble Of course whenever something makes money, everyone wants a piece of the pie... ............................................................................... 1. Universal Studios Universal Studios tried to sue Nintendo saying that Donkey Kong infringed on King Kong (they had recently done a remake of the classic movie). It turned out that in order to make the movie, Universal had taken RKO (studio that made the original movie) to court and had proven that King Kong was in the public domain, so no one had trademark rights. Universal ended up having to pay Nintendo's legal fees. ............................................................................... 2. Atari vs. Coleco During the early 80s, the video game market was very competitive and the rights to hot arcade games could be very lucrative. Nintendo sold Coleco the rights to the home console version of Donkey Kong and the computer rights to Atari. Coleco made Donkey Kong the pack-in game for their Colecovision and kept the game exclusive to their own system for six months. They then released versions for the Atari 2600 and the Mattel Intellivision. Both of these were terrible (many gamers believe, myself included, that Coleco intentionally did a poor job so their system would look better). They didn't release one for the Atari 5200 (which is actually a modified Atari 400) because that was their biggest competition. Things went south when Coleco debuted the Adam computer at the 1983 CES. The game they used to demo was Donkey Kong. Since Atari was supposed to own the computer rights, they were rightly upset, but unfortunately took this anger out on Nintendo. After receiving an angry message from Atari president Ray Kassar, Yamauchi took his frustration out on Coleco president Arnold Greenberg, screaming at him in Japanese during a meeting. The fallout ruined any chance Atari and Nintendo had at future partnerships (such as licensing the NES) and ended up costing Atari billions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. Sequels While everyone is familiar with the Mario Bros. franchise, Donkey Kong has become a franchise in its own right. ............................................................................... 1. Donkey Kong Jr. Released in 1982. This is when "Jumpman" is officially renamed Mario. This time Mario is billed as the bad guy! Donkey Kong Jr. must free his papa from Mario's cage. This game features more of the great platform action of the original as well as some new gameplay elements like climbing vines and dropping fruit on enemies. ............................................................................... 2. Donkey Kong 3 Released in 1983, this is considered to be by far the worst game in the franchise. Instead of being a platformer, it is actually a top-down shooter that is a cross between Galaga and Missile Command. It stars Stanley the Bugman trying to chase Donkey Kong out of a greenhouse using bug spray. At the beginning of each stage, Donkey Kong punches two bees' nests to make them angry. The goal is to shoot Donkey Kong with the bug spray so he will move up the vines and get his head stuck in a bees' nest. All the while you are protecting flowers on the bottom of the screen from being snatched by bugs. ............................................................................... 3. Mario Bros. Also released in 1983. This game introduced Mario's brother, Luigi, and cast them as plumbers, which has been their main occupation (after being heroes of course) since. This game featured two player co-op and marked the true beginning of the Mario Bros. franchise. ............................................................................... 4. Donkey Kong (Gameboy Remake) This was released in 1994 as the first Super Gameboy enhanced cartridge. You could play it in black and white on your Gameboy, but if you put it into the SNES adapter, you could play in color with the original arcade cabinet as the background! This game featured a whopping 100 levels and boss fights. Mario is much more acrobatic in this game, being able to do handstands and backflips. There is a heavy emphasis on puzzle solving. The first stage contains the original four arcade levels, but with Mario's new skills they are a piece of cake and not nearly as much fun. ............................................................................... 5. Donkey Kong Country Released in 1994, it marked the revival of the Super Nintendo. Rare Ltd. invented a way to use computer modeling to create 3D-like images on the SNES. The game featured incredible graphics, an awesome soundtrack, and fun gameplay. Shigeru Miyamoto has criticized this game publicly several times saying that the graphics can't cover up the dull and repetitive gameplay. One explanation for the animosity is that at the time, Miyamoto was working on Yoshi's Island and the marketing department rejected the first version of the game because they wanted graphics more like Donkey Kong Country. Donkey Kong Country was a smash hit, selling 6.1 million copies in the first month and a half, making it the fastest selling video game of all time. It sold more copies than any other game for a 16-bit system. It launched the Donkey Kong Country franchise and introduced new members of the Kong family. One last fact, Cranky Kong in Donkey Kong Country is the ape from the original game, his grandson is the main character (not sure what happened to Junior). His comments on the evolution of video games are hilarious. When I started this section, I didn't expect it to be so huge, I may end up making it a separate in-depth FAQ. ******************************************************************************* X. Atari 8-bit DK vs. Coleco DK Over the years, the misconception has been that the Colecovision port of Donkey Kong is the best ever. This may come as a shock to most gamers, but that is a bunch of @$%^! I am not saying that because I am an Atari fanboy, it's the absolute truth! First let's look at the controls. In the Atari version, Mario is clearly faster and controls much better than on the Coleco. Secondly, there is the hammer. In the Atari version the hammer works just like in the arcade, the hammer itself must hit the enemy to destroy it and it is possible for them to slip underneath it and kill you. Not so in the Coleco version, you can just run over the enemies regardless if the hammer is up or down. You can even have your back turned and it will still kill the enemy! So now you may be saying so what, those are minor nitpicks. I agree they are but they are not the biggest difference. The real kicker are the stages. The elevator stage in the Atari version is practically identical to the arcade. The Coleco version is a joke, it doesn't even have the bouncing springs! They just added a firefox to the top level. Then there is the pie factory stage. While the ladders may not move up and down like they do in the arcade, the Atari version is a good reproduction. The Coleco version, like every other port of this game (including the NES) doesn't have this stage at all! The best proof of all is to play these yourself and then you will see there is no contest, the Atari 8-bit version of Donkey Kong is the best ever!!! ******************************************************************************* X. Version History 0.5 06/25/05 Created FAQ. Finished Girder stage. FAQ was rejected by GameFAQs. 1.0 07/31/05 Finished other 3 stages. Added History section. 1.1 10/27/09 Updated legal information in header. Added info for Pauline that I found on Wikipedia. Fixed a TON of typos, I must have forgotten to run spell check the past two submissions... ******************************************************************************* XI. Contact Information You can contact me at Bhodges080@aol.com I would appreciate hearing what you thought of this guide and any thoughts you have for improving it. Be sure to let me know if I have missed anything. ******************************************************************************* End