Number Four!

Donkey Kong
Released in 1994 for Game Boy

“Help! Help!”

Everyone knows that Mario’s arch nemesis is Bowser, King of the Koopas. However a lot of people fail to realise that Mario and Donkey Kong aren’t quite the best of buds either. Mario’s (at the time called Jump Man) very first appearance was in the original 1981 Donkey Kong arcade game, where the titular character kidnaps the Italian plumber’s then-love interest Pauline – not Peach or Daisy. The arcade version only had four levels; Girders, Conveyor Belts, Elevators and Rivets. Jump Man had to overcome various obstacles such as rolling barrels, balls of flame and platform gaps to reach Donkey Kong at the top of the stage, who would then grab the damsel in distress and run off to the next area.

In 1994 the arcade classic was re-imagined for the Game Boy and featured a mind-blowing ninety-seven extra stages spread across nine worlds. The original four stages were featured at the beginning of the game, however instead of Mario and Pauline falling into each other’s embrace after DK’s downfall at the end of the fourth stage, the ape awakes to make off with Pauline yet again. The game soon evolves from simple running and jumping to platform puzzles. To progress through the stages Mario must find the key and bring it back to the correct door Donkey Kong passed through to proceed. The catch however, is that after a short time the key is left idle after pick up, it returns to its resting place.

The adventure starts out easy, but soon toughens up.

Of course, there’s also the boss fights. Every fourth stage is a boss battle in which the player must best vigorous traps and platforming techniques to reach the damsel in distress. However at the end of every world is a major confrontation with DK, in which the player must dodge barrels thrown by the ape and hurl them back three times to win.

I remember spending a solid three or four months playing pretty much only this game when I was in first-grade. It then took me a good four years (of in-frequent play) to finish it, which was such a huge achievement to me since it was the first Game Boy game to have completed. I still return to it every couple of years and beat it within a week just to keep my skills sharp because this game features some of the most challenging and satisfying level design I’ve seen in a side-scroller. Also, the music is incredibly catchy.

This game has gone on to spawn the popular Mario vs Donkey Kong on GBA and Mario vs Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis for DS titles. I hope that someday Nintendo will release a handheld version of the Virtual Console for DSi Ware and add this to the catalogue.