CORBIE'S GAME BLOG

It probably would have been cheaper to have just actually bought a Donkey Kong arcade game considering how many quarters I stuck in this game. Not to mention the sheer number of detentions I got due to coming back to school late because I was on my fourth trip to the Cement Factory level. Needless to say this excuse didn't go over well with my principal, who obviously didn't know what it meant to get to the Cement Factory four times in one game. I finally broke down and bought a Donkey Kong arcade game used about 5 years ago and then restored it to new condition, which was almost as much fun as playing the game itself. I love the game so much I've owned it for over nine different systems over the years including: Atari 2600, Colecovision, Intellivision, Commodore 64, NES, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Apple II, and PC (using MAME of course.) I even had the little Coleco tabletop electronic game that I still have buried in the game closet here somewhere. It goes without saying that I hold the original Donkey Kong arcade game in very high regard, and that's why it's #9 on my all-time favorite games list.


In Donkey Kong you took on the role of Mario the Carpenter (he was a carpenter before he changed careers and became a plumber) and you're job was to climb up steel girders and ladders to reach the top and rescue your beautiful girlfriend Pauline from the clutches of the evil ape Donkey Kong. The bad part was, everytime you managed to make it to the top, Donkey Kong would grab Pauline and scamper up to another level. It may sound redundant, but it sure was a lot of fun climbing up those girders jumping the barrels Kong rolled down towards you and quickly dodging the fireball and firefoxes who were looking to light a fire under you. It was a very simple premise, but it worked so well in the fact that you had so many dangers to watch for all at once, it made it difficult to reach the top, especially as you reached later levels in the game where the action got really heated and the pace of the enemies and barrels sped up. The ultimate goal for most players was to at least become good enough at the game to be able to reach the Cement Factory, or "Pie Factory" as we called it. Then you became a solid player and could then try to become great by seeing how many times in one game you could reach the Cement Factory. I think my record was 7 times, but there were others I knew that could beat even that. If you've never experienced Donkey Kong, get out there and find at least one version of the game. It's still amazing even all these years later.