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 Donkey Kong Jr. Platform: Atari 2600 Release Date: 1982 Developer: Atari Publisher: Atari There are so many things wrong with this misbegotten spawn of a game that we're surprised Nintendo allowed it to even be published at all. It resembles the arcade version in name alone. Virtually everything that made Donkey Kong Jr. what it was is missing in this version. The graphics are abominable, the Snapjaws have been replaced by what look to be moving crescents, and there is no fruit to drop on them to destroy them - all rendering the gameplay far from that of the original. All of the nuances (like the fact that Donkey Kong Jr. climbs at the same speed as the Snapjaws when using two hands on one vine but twice as fast when using one hand on two vines) are gone. Donkey Kong moves at equal speed with the rest of the Snapjaws, even when he's sliding down a vine for dear life. There are also horrible control issues with Junior not jumping when ordered to. Finally, the third level is nothing like that in the arcade version and instead is just a zigzagging pattern to the top of the screen.
Donkey Kong Jr. It took a while for the NES version of Donkey Kong Junior to reach the West, because the NES (Famicom) had not yet been released in the US. But the game was as good a translation as the system could offer. All four arcade levels were present, the control was dead on, and the graphics and music were equal or superior to anything that Atari was churning out at the same time. North American gamers wouldn't have the honor of playing this port for several years, though.
Donkey Kong Jr. Donkey Kong Jr. for the Intellivision. It doesn't get much better than this, folks.
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