A bit of a revelation here: the Atari 2600 version of Donkey Kong was the very first version of Donkey Kong I’ve ever played as a kid and I’ve enjoyed it somewhat. Eventually, I’ve played the NES version via a foreign multicart that a friend of mine used to have and I found that to be a much better game. To date, I have never played the Donkey Kong arcade original, but all the subsequent versions of DK I’ve played (from the Atari 7800 version to the spectacular remake on the original Game Boy) seemed to be decent ports and better games than what was offered on the good ol’ woodgrain VCS.
So going back to this version of Donkey Kong, I find that this is a fairly underwhelming version of the game, but otherwise it has the basics down. While there are only two different screens in the game – most home ports have three while the arcade has four – they are fairly similar or at the very least approximate to what you would have in the original game. The barrel stage still has slope platforms and you still have to pick off the bolts on the second stage with the platforms and fireballs. Once you beat the second stage, the game loops and that’s it. I’ve gone through seven loops at one point and noticed no real increase in difficulty and as far as I know, no means of increasing the difficulty. So the replay value on this is extremely low unless you want to see how far you can go (or stay awake).
Graphically speaking… well, the game undeniably looks like crap. Yeah, I know it’s the Atari 2600 and the hardware is rather primitive for the time, but I’ve played a few games on the system that look great and plays beautifully and, given the time and effort, some impressive pieces of software can be done on the system. Donkey Kong, regrettably, isn’t one of them. You’ll no doubt recognize Mario, but Donkey Kong? I guess you could use your imagination and pretend it’s a gorilla, but he looks more like a naked bald caveman thumping his chest constantly.
The sound is also fairly subpar; it’s your typical Atari-quality sound effects and not one of them is particularly impressive. On the bright side, however, controls are fairly decent and responsive and what little gameplay is left is actually fairly enjoyable, but ultimately lacking compared to other versions.
Overall, Coleco pulled off a fair, but not good port of the Donkey Kong game to the Atari 2600. Given what could have been done on the 2600, you certainly can’t expect a perfect arcade port or even a port as decent as the one on NES, but given that there were truly amazing games on the good ol’ woodgrain that look and play better than this, you can’t help but feel disappointed. It’s an okay game to add to the collection if you can find it cheap enough or if you want to relive old memories, but anyone looking for a good version of Donkey Kong to sink their teeth into are better off looking elsewhere.
BREAKDOWN
Graphics: 3/10 (Jumpman/Mario looks fine, the rest of the graphics look terrible – Donkey Kong looks like crap)
Sound: 3/10 (sounds like Atari – best compliment I can give the audio here)
Gameplay: 6/10 (only two levels, but controls fine for the most part)
Challenge: 4/10 (once you memorize the patterns, this becomes a cakewalk)
Replay Value: 2/10 (almost no reason to come back to this game other than for nostalgia value)
OVERALL: 4/10
dtm666 