OVERVIEW
 
You ever wonder where Nintendo got its idea to name its future mascot, Mario? At the time of the game's release he was known as Jumpman and during the production of the game, Nintendo's landlord named Mario Segale busted in demanding rent. They managed to calm him down and promised to pay him. Donkey Kong turned out to be a huge success and all's well that ended well. In Donkey Kong, the titular character is actually the anti-villain of the game who was tired of Jumpman's abuse at the circus where they worked. For revenge, he kidnaps Jumpman's girlfriend, Pauline and takes her to the top of the building where he awaits Jumpman who is the anti-hero you play as. You go through four unique levels in a unique pattern.
 
GRAPHICS - A
 
During it's time, the graphics were excellent mainly in part that arcade units had more freedom with their color palette and size than the home console counterparts which are stuck with limitations and have to cut back on colors. Some ports are downright utter trash like the 2600 version and some other early 8-bit consoles have Donkey Kong looking like the gingerbread man. Now, let's get to Jumpman aka Mario. His iconic unique feature is his mustache. Most people do not know that the reason behind the mustache was to separate his nose from his mouth and everything worked out for him from there. The enemies and other sprites were also well polished so everything you saw was clear as day. As an added bonus, the scene were Donkey Kong carries Pauline up the ladder was one of the earliest known sightings of a panty shot in-game.
 
CONTROLS - B
 
There were times where the control scheme worked against you because you made a mistake on what you were trying to do and it was too late to correct it. Some people were in a hurry to start moving after climbing a ladder that they did not even bother to wait till he was all the way to the top of it before trying to move and got stuck there for their deaths. Other times, players were not watching where they were going and ended up dying a stupid death but I'll cover more of that during the gameplay section. For the most part, the controls did what they were meant to do without any confusion.
 
GAMEPLAY - B+
 
The game operates in a unique fashion compared to most of its home counterparts and the sequel Donkey Kong Jr. would follow in its formula in same fashion. Some ports didn't even include all levels.There are four unique levels: scaffolding, jungle, cement factory, building (where you face off with Donkey Kong himself). Instead of playing all four straight in one shot, you would go to the scaffolding then to the building and beat the game, then the game got tougher with barrels behaving smarter. Then another level was added in between the two and it went on like this until all four levels were into play. The cement factory was cut out of most ports altogether. The game would keep repeating until all lives were lost and if you were a true pro, you would reach the kill screen.
 
REPLAYABILITY - A+
 
Donkey Kong is great for competitive gaming as you can compete with others to see who was better. If you have seen the movie, Pixels, then I will tell you that they were spot on about how game tournaments were in the early days of arcades. Too bad, mom and dad were not old enough to enjoy those times themselves as they are not much older than I am.
 
OVERALL - B
 
Donkey Kong would make a return in future game albeit sparingly and never as the good guy until the release of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze where he goes by the name Cranky Kong. Aside from the Gameboy release and the Donkey Kong Country series, his only other original appearances were Donkey Kong Jr. where his son tries to rescue him and Donkey Kong 3 where he is finally considered a villain and tries to take over a greenhouse and it's up to Stanley to blow him away by shooting pesticide up his anal cavity. The modern day Donkey Kong is his grandson or son depending on the story. Donkey Kong for the Arcade was the epitome of Nintendo's rise to fame overseas and introduced us to a future video game icon as well. Now it's a on like a Donkey Kong, Momma Mia!

Great review. That's a lot to say about such a simple game. Keep up the good work