Nothing quite like talking about legendary arcade games. It was a simpler time, where the heaviest barrier between game and player was simply skill. I could play games like William's Joust, Data East's BurgerTime, and Namco's Dig Dug for lengthy periods of time, just racking up points and bettering myself. Donkey Kong enters the chat.

Not sure how in nearly four years of writing, the original Donkey Kong arcade game eluded me. I reviewed Donkey Kong Country, a little over a year ago as of this writing, and that was a landmark platformer for the Super Nintendo, but how about the adventures of DK Jr.'s papa?

Developed by Nintendo in and released in arcades in 1981, Donkey Kong was the creation of producer/game designing legend Shigeru Miyamoto, responsible for video game's most iconic characters. Based on tales like Beauty & The Beast, and 1930's American media like Popeye and the film King Kong, wherein a brutish antagonist apprehends a damsel. It's up to Jump Man (apparently Mario's employee name before getting into plumbing) to try and rescue his love interest, Pauline, who is carried away by the ape, every time Jump Man gets closer to the top.

Gotta imagine how stressful this relationship ended up being for Pauline and Jump Man. If I consider Super Mario Odyssey canon, she decided to quit her job of being kidnapped by giant gorillas, dyed her hair, focused on her studies in political science, and became the mayor of New Donk City. It's a little bizarre that a city is named after the ape that terrorized her, but I assume it must be cathartic. And between Bowser and the King of Kongs, Mario's luck with women is hampered, due to being c**kblocked by oversized monsters.

While still being only a single screen level, Donkey Kong serves as the earliest examples of adventure platform jumping, making it an incredibly influential game in the upcoming rebirth of home console game development. The further implementation would be seen in 1983's Mario Bros., also single screen, but the first game to feature jumping used as an offensive attack. In Donkey Kong, it's about timing and dexterity to avoid stage hazards and barrels hurled by DK as you proceed up ladders. 

With very responsive controls and environments that teaches players how to be aware of their surroundings. As mentioned, hopping over fire and barrels keeps you alive, with the Hammer serving as a means to clear obstacles in front of you. Collect parasols, hats, and purses to rack up your score. Being an arcade game, it can't be "beaten", but it certainly can be something where a record-setting high score can be achieved and archived for history to look back on fondly. After a while the stages do loop, so it can become a fun test of endurance.

For as long as I've played video games, it's strange that I've never trained myself to really crush scores in games like Donkey Kong. the different maps make for some amazing challenges, and while I haven't put as much time into DK over the decades as BurgerTime, this is another one that I can get lost in. The game serves as the genesis for a a ton of Nintendo's influential history, both in characters, culture (wrestler Samoa Joe samples the DK theme for his AEW music) and game design, and when those gaps are bridged in Donkey Kong Country, there's something sentimental about that.