Donkey Kong Atari 2600 Review

[KurtKokaine1]

Somehow this game skipped under my radar as a child. I didn't even know an Atari version existed.

[EastCoastDude99]

I agree with this review. They could of squeezed at least one more level in this game. Graphically its not bad but its just too repetitive with just two screens.

[TheOusooner56]

this game was about as appealing as AIDS

[haloplayercp]

The graphics look almost the same as the nes version

[genesislordofdarknes]

Intelivison version of Donkey Kong is the worst version, it's practically unplayable.

[echo036]

The Colecovision had a way better version.

[fjccommish]

This was a terrible version.

[Skope111]

Maybe pauline's hair is black.... and that little bit at the end is her ear?

[ichicolla]

MARIO HAS A BONERHAMMER!!!! 

[WPH15]

Hey, are you from Brookyln? Just asking, you've kind of got an accent. And nice review. It's funny to think there's an Atari version of Donkey Kong. And DK looks like he's throwing pizzas instead of barrels.

[WPH15]

@WPH15 Oh, well, now that I looked at your profile and realized you're from Massachusetts, sorry I asked.

[WPH15]

@WPH15 Oh, well, now that I looked at your profile and realized you're from Massachusetts, sorry I asked.

[GamingWorldGuy]

At 0:57 at the top is that your score because when you beat he level it went from 3500 to 8200.

[gamegod9000]

D:

You give Pac Man a D+ yet you give this a C? 0_0

[cowellwannabe71]

The "ducks" on the 2nd screen are NOT ducks,they're fireball creatures!!

[AqualungGameReviews]

@cowellwannabe71 I know, I said they LOOKED like ducks

[pujols37105]

Donkey Kong looks like the gingerbread man in this version. Then the hammer just looks like it's going up and down from Mario's nose.

Coleco definitely tanked their versions of Donkey Kong for Atari and Intellivision so the their own system would look much better.

[CheeseSuperMonster]

Does anyone play this using Wii emulator? I have the nes, and atari 7800 version on my Wii.

[EpicNachoProductions]

Dokey kong is throwing cookies!

[haydenconnor]

theres no music when you get the hammer?

[georgef551]

The "Trap Doors" are actually rivets.

The "Ducks" are fireballs.

You can't show both the bonus timer and score, because the 2600 can only handle 6 sprites on any horizontal line. This is why scores on some games are split lines (Space Invaders), or flicker to allow everything (Pac Man Ghosts).

[MileProwersFan]

Chewy-Kong

[IMZEECATMAN]

i always thought the dougs were cheetahs =/

[MRjamminKearl]

This classic I wish I had it

[TheLlewe]

HAMMERS FOR JUMPERMAN!

[fazares]

lol the first DK game i ever played:D

[DylanMayhew]

one thing I am starting to notice is that your atari games seem to have brighter and nicer colors then mine? I am playing on a real atari... is like something wrong, or something not set right on my tv.. everything else looks fine. just the colors on my atari games are not like yours. oh well.

[AqualungGameReviews]

@DylanMayhew I'm playing these on an emulator so they may be more vibrant than the colors from your tv

[DylanMayhew]

@AqualungGameReviews yes thats what I was thinking but just kinda wanted to make sure. ether way the games play and a have a nice pice of video gaming history now. and you really helped me on frogger with your other video ha ha I turned the difficulty down with the switches and now it does not piss me off cause the walls would kill me before I could jump into the edge ones, thanks for that ha ha.

[TorchicBlaziken313]

...Why is this on Atari? It's by Nintendo!

[AqualungGameReviews]

@TorchicBlaziken313 Nintendo didn't have a console at the time, they were just developing games

[sayastra]

@AqualungGameReviews i think a better question is why atari and why not coleco (the first console company to pick this game up) hmmm.... ever thought of doing coleco games?

[UnconformistSheep]

@TorchicBlaziken313 Sega and Nintendo developed games for the Atari at the time! They didn't have consoles of their own. This is from the late 70s, and both of those companies only came up with their own console sets by the mid 80s.

[doo5time]

AVGN is better.

[MrStopmotion88]

@doo5time LOL This guy actually reviews games, AVGN just shouts the F-bomb at the TV every two seconds. If you want to see game reviews watch, well, of course Aqualung, CGR, and if you want "professional" reviews, IGN.

[GuitaristVitaly]

Love your reviews, They're always true and so funny. "Donkey kong, He looks like a red ginger bread man and pauline's hair really should have been a different color then her skin"

[AussieHuddo]

Nes version beats Coleco Sorry!



[drunkendan]

the intellvision version was pretty acurate to the original(my father owned it along with an intellivision) yeah that port doesn't look too bad all things considered

[madder128]

A red ginger bread man lol

[MFZ95]

This version dosnt suck! yes it looks and plays shitty compared to the arcade version but this version is great for an atari 2600 game, thank god mario isnt a mess of pixels

[gamewizard]

The best version of DK from that time frame prior to the NES was the Colecovision/ADAM version.

[bigpun721]

haha.. the ducks

[anthonywastrinh]

@bigpun721 lol

[nooblet911]

whats that big red thing in the upper left?

[TheDutchGame]

@nooblet911 That's donkey kong dumbass this guv sed it in the review.

[nooblet911]

I know its supposed to be donkey kong, you are the dumbass here because you haven't noticed that I was making fun of how bad he looks in this version

[TheDutchGame]

@nooblet911 Well how the fuck could i be noticing it?

[wildstein22]

it looks like carp

[rubberdidgit]

No, the weakest version of Donkey Kong is on the Intellivision. Look it up, it's shit.

[KreoTheHedgehog]

barrels looks like pizza and donkey kong looks like o.0

[rocksoliddude1]

there's only 2 levels? that sucks.

[Pattonfrodo]

now hands up how many people knew that was a Jethro Tull song?? :)

[bugauga1]

Well it was´nt nice to see it, but the only chance to play Donkey Kong at home for me.....the Atari 2600 was the only console i got at that time.

[GoodVibedGuy]

I remember when I was a kid, the commercials for this game. They would show you the Intellivision screens and that convinced me to tell my mom to buy it. When I took it home for my Atari 2600 and l played it, I realized then that I had been gypped!. I took this piece of crap the next day back and convinced the guy at the counter to refund my money!

[edgar02]

lol's at 1:35

[RealMadRoke]

the red gingerbread man :D sad but true xD

[edsucksfredrocks]

Actually, when the "duck" turns around right under you, what really happens is you jump a tiny bit too early so the duck doesn't get across to the smaller platform. As you know, when a "duck" reaches the end of a platform it turns around.

[edsucksfredrocks]

Who's Mario?

jk

[spider486]

donkey kong looks like a shit monster in this game lol awesome reveiw 5 stars ur videos rock

[jubei455]

ok what was worse dk or pac-man

[Zangamarth]

Both are great.

[jubei455]

not in the arcade i meant on the home system

[NightGoblin5]

coleco vision for life lol

[Nemesis986]

her name was Paulene? when was she officaily named Peach/Toadstool?

[Bauglir100]

Pauline and Toadstool are 2 seperate characters. Princes Toadstool didn't appear until Super Mario Bros on the NES.

[SteevDragon67]

I played 2600 donkey kong. it sucked big time!

[waarde2]

Dude, this is an awesome review, really understandable and detailed! Great work

[uhfnutbar1]

good review well done ,hay for thows who are to young to know it was all we had and it was the best

[WTFBOOMDOOM]

LOL at the argument between neogeon and datacipher! xD

[croacherman]

hair that has a different color eh? maybe these people were simpsons fans.

[8bitPikachu]

i had the nes version, it comes as close to the arcade exculding the level "50M"

[fixationreturns]

Mario...I mean, Jumpman, hurtling over ritz crackers and marshmallow peeps to save a girl from a gingerbread man?

I liked the colecovision version though

[phreakindee]

Quite enjoying your review so far, especially the Atari ones. Great job, and keep it up! Short and sweet, good stuff

[neogeon]

I thought it was a pretty good port by Atari 2600 standards. What do you mean by missing 2 screens? The original had 3 screens that repeat, the only one missing is the elevator stage. Personally, I always found the 3 stage thing to be a pile of shit as once you beat the first 3, there really isn't much motivation to keep going other than for a high score. I still prefer PacMan/Ms. PacMan for this reason as those games make more sense to repeat levels.

[datacipher]

Sigh...the original had FOUR screens. You've forgotten the concrete factory or more likely, given your age, never actually played the arcade game. Kids....

[neogeon]

I've played the Arcade game before, both on a real machine and in MAME, I just don't like the game and never played it long enough to see that level. I'm 23 and probably own more video games than you've played. Donkey Kong is one of the worst classic arcade games IMO, I'd take Pac Man any day.

[datacipher]

Ah yes, you've played the arcade game on a real machine and mame....but I guess you were never good enough to get to the factory. Keep practicing. Whether you like Pacman or not is completely non sequitur, I said nothing about it. No, you don't own more video games, I won a DK arcade high score contest in 1983, so stop making yourself look silly. You should be embarassed to be 23 and yet be mouthing off like a 7yr old, bragging about how many games he owns yet making simple factual errors.

[neogeon]

ok, congratulations mr. 1983. I don't fixate on one game and play it exclusively, I play games until they lose their appeal, I have no interest in pixel by pixel memorization of a game, that's going beyond enjoyment into pointless nerdism. As for my collection, its in the hundreds, I still haven't counted because there are so many I have been putting it off because it will take so long to catalog. On a complete blind guess I would say its at least 500, but probably more.

[datacipher]

You claim you have no interest in "pixel by pixel memorization of a game", yet what we're talking about is your attempt to "correct" somebody about the number of screen levels (3 vs 4), hardly a minor detail and one which YOU chose to bring up.

A mature 23 yr old would simply say "oh, sorry, I am the one who made a mistake". Instead you try to spout off about how many games you own, but simultanously claim that you don't really know the details of games. Contradictory and childish.

[neogeon]

I was making a rebuttle to your INCORRECT ASSUMPTION that I was a child and ignorant of video games. When I say pixel by pixel memorization, I was referring to the pattern memorization necessary to advance in Donkey Kong vs. the much more sophisticated AI in newer games that can't easily be predicted. It is not fun in my opinion to dissect a game so far that you are in essence cheating by exploiting knowledge of the base code, which is the only way to be a Donkey Kong champion.

[datacipher]

See, you are an idiot. First, non sequitur rants about Pac Man, now non sequitur diatribes about pattern memorization. THE ACTUAL ISSUE: You presumptuously tried to declare there were 3 screens. I corrected you and told you there were 4. Your childish attempts to change the issue are laughable and revealing indictments of your maturity and mentality.

[neogeon]

douchebag, read your first post, you called me a kid, I am not. You ASSUMED, which only a fucking piece of shit like you would do, and I corrected you. I don't care if there are 4 levels instead of 3, congratulations for knowing that. There are polite ways of correcting people, and there are cock fucking prick ways of correcting people. Guess which one you picked.

[datacipher]

Ah...now you don't care if there are 4 levels instead of 3. GO read our first 2 posts. YOU are the one who started it all by trying to correct the reviewer. So, who is the one who cares? I simply corrected your factual error. Then, laughably, instead of simply accepting your error, you started trying to brag about owning games, and ranting about PAC MAN, lol. Now, you're having a little boy, profane, temper tantrum. Thanks for exposing yourself! Hilarious!

[JessewellsAR12]

i actually have this game and the atari 2600

[LAGERL0UT]

the gingerbread man of doom

[775k]

twenty six hundred in 87 damn..enough said

[TheFareWell21]

I never knew there wuz an ATARI 2600 version. KOOL!

[manyy66]

Kraftwerk????

[theones77]

when?!!!!! where?!!!!!

[emoluvjd2]

This game looks so much better on the colecovision

[CarsonBrotha1989]

Eh, this shit 's aight. Growin' up this is pretty much most I had. We was damn happy for it, too.

[HipHop1981]

Donkey kong looks like Cookie Monsters brown brother xD

[Emulatorgamer]

you should put some more enthusiasum in your reviews but other than that i though it was great

[as2421]

I think that sort of blase attitude is great. It highlights when he kicks up the energy for brief moments that turn out to be hilarious. See his "skate or die" review LOL.

He's a great reviewer and his walkthroughs are very nice. Now I think I can finally stand a chance at metal gear

[ThrillaDaMcColdKilla]

actullty the fireballs can jump over the holes and it does get harder if you played it really far.. you will encounter the fireball glitch.

[SpaceWars2025]

You made a mistake, the "ducks" do not change random directions, @ 2:03 they changed direction because you jumped over the girder lock and cleared it, causing the "duck" to change direction.

So it was you that made it change direction. :D

[datacipher]

You're an idiot. The "ducks" in the 2600 version ARE NOT programmed to automatically changed direction whe you remove a lock, you can even see that in this video. They do change direction randomly within a certain end range however. The duck that killed him at 2:03 had already changed direction before he moved and jumped into the duck.

[SpaceWars2025]

ok ok.. calm down now... it's all fun 'n games till someone loses an eye.

[newyorkfish]

Cool -- look out THE GRAPHICS !!

[balletman]

Excellent review. I'm kind of leary of seeing game reviews on youtube since most of them tend to be nothing but kids screaming profanities because they don't appreciate older games- but this was a solid production. Scholarly, unbiased, informative, articulate and entertaining. Again, good work.

[Monsterworldfan64]

@balletman Hey...... I'm a kid and I think old games kick ass and new ones aren't so good.. I appreciate old games because they were fun and focused on gameplay, fun factor and music while today's games only care about graphics and sales. I'll take Sega Genesis, Master System, SNES, NES, Game Gear, my new PC Engine and Atari anyday. Retro rules and XBox 360 and PS3 drools. Well.... In my honest opinion anyway.

[nick245678]

Lol pauline was also in mario vs donkey kong 2 on ds she was a tv actor

[Link4587452]

Well, what do you expect from a 2600 cartridge? At least it's better than the Pac-Man port.

[morgangamer22]

COOL

[AlucardsQuest]

Actually, they squeezed as much juice as they could out of this one. The only indication that they could have done better is that the 2600 version of Donkey Kong Junior has 3 screens, (instead of 2) and slightly better graphics. But remember, that was made a year later so improvements in technology were to be expected. And then Mario Bros. 2600 was an improvement upon DKjr. with musical interludes and some special effects.

[DoggyWorld96]

wait is there an end to donkey kong

[AlucardsQuest]

No, but there might be a point where you've played so far that the game would lock up. Pac-Man is like that. I suppose I should watch the King of Kong to find out.

[cbrodows]

DoggyWorld96:

Level 22 in Donkey Kong is a "kill screen"; due to a bug (actually, more of a lack of foresight; it's due to how they declared the time variable in the original code, as the number to calculate the time bonus overflows and loops back to zero) in the code used to create the game, your time limit in Level 22 is so short that you can barely reach the second platform in time.

However, there ARE patched ROM's of Donkey Kong where this is fixed, I believe.

[FurryMuscleBear]

You actually played this piece of crap UNTIL THE 22nd LEVEL?

[DoggyWorld96]

after much thought this is what i thought of as the most reconizable characters in videogame history

1. Mario of course

2.Donkey Kong

3.Pacman

4.Zelda

anyone agree?

[GigaBoost]

zelda? i think you mean link

[DoggyWorld96]

same diff, sorta, not really

[superkuem]

man the atari version sucked

[Doommaster1994]

I have this game for the Intellivision.

[domuhoj]

Was there ever a true, accurate port of this game? The one for NES I think was missing one level.

[AlucardsQuest]

The best version is a playable arcade cabinet in Donkey Kong 64.

[domuhoj]

Thanks. I don't understand why they don't put out an accurate port with all four screens. It's not like they can't in this day and age. They have PS2 collections of like 20 arcade games all on one disc including a lot of more modern ones.

I have Donkey Kong 64 though so I'll check that out. Does it have all four screens?

[AlucardsQuest]

Nintendo always seems ton be taking two steps forward and then one step back. Even the Virtual Console version of DK has only 3 screens, (even though the Japan original had all of them). I can understand them doing that for one reason or another 20 years ago... but now?

[domuhoj]

Yeah that doesn't make sense and I find it irritating. How is it that one of their most famous games, which is also the first appearance of their most popular character, could be out for like 30 years and still not have been ported correctly?

[Anastaniel]

The game is playable but the sound is worst.

The worstes sound in the game is the sound when you arrived the top and closed the level.

What is this for a level ending sound. A big shit!!!

[AlucardsQuest]

Actually the 7800 has even worse sound aurally, Mario's running sound in particular is very irritating.

[whale102]

i never really liked the atari 2600 much

[MattMc2]

i do even tho i never played it on console i played it on emulator

[sdphost]

Having these Atari reviews is a great idea between the NES ones.

[ChibiFighter]

Nice review Aqualung I was waiting for the Donkey Kong Atari review. I am a bit mad on the level thing it would not have been to hard to just put one just one tiny little extra level in it. The difficulty thing would have been nice but it still looks like a nice little game. Good stuff man.

[TheHande]

Nice review. Although now I'm beginning to think that you're perhaps letting your nostalgic sentiment for the games affect your reviews. DK is a short game as is, but the levels they cut out of the Atari version were also the most challenging. I can't believe that with that kind of a graphical downgrade they couldn't have the two extra levels in the game. Also, have you seen some of the console ports where the first level actually ends to the right and not the left?

[AqualungGameReviews]

I haven't seen those ports, what consoles were they on?

[rewwst]

"Other ports include the Apple II, Atari 7800, Commodore 64, Commodore VIC-20, Famicom Disk System, PC, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Mini-Arcade" wiki is your friend

[TheHande]

ColecoVision was one of them which is odd because the graphics certainly looked better than in the Atari version. I'm sure there was some other console but I can't remember anymore.

[sdphost]

I don't think its nostalgia. I bought an Atari Flashback 2 and it includes "Atari Climber" which is a total DK rip-off only without DK and I've spent many hours on it.

[Imyoursuperior]

heh, love that midi Aqualung theme, you should keep it for all your videos.

[DoggyWorld96]

so they want from jumpman to mario and pauliean or whatever to peach?

p.s. can you do some wrestling games? in the future?

[TheHande]

No, Pauline is an entirely different character than Peach. Peach was a princess whereas Pauline is/was just Mario's girlfriend.

[gregoriodemoncho]

Can you do PITFALL as your next game, pease?

[Aaron1046]

Id take a crap on it but it IS mario and donkey kong..

[ScrewAttackEurope]

I like the fact the Gingerbread looking Donkey Kong is throwing Chocolate chip Cookies at Mario in his Pajamas.

Oh, in the 80's, an American research program discovered that Mario was more recognisable with kids than Mickey Mouse!

Who'd have thought that an Immagrant Plumber would become more famous than an anthropromorphic rodent.

Then again maybe thats why GTA IV is so popular, Immagrants in games = Mass Munnies!!!!

[ScrewAttackEurope]

Did you ever have any of the Pitfall games as a kid? Absolutely loved those!

[AqualungGameReviews]

Yeah definitely, Pitfall was one of the all-time greats.

[ScrewAttackEurope]

You know I only just completed Pitfall II last year, the flying buzzards always drove me nuts as a kid.

[StakeJade]

Oh yeah... Pitfall II was one of my favorites! Frogger: Three Deep!, Keystone Kapers and River Raid are others. Oh yeah... and Frostbite too... that was my mom's favorite.

[ChibiFighter]

Pitfall Kicks ass!.

[jhman1]

Good work as always

[Thargh]

I was thrown off by your monotonous voice at first, but now if feels a lot more comfortable than other reviewers'.

[Kaitlynnnn]

!!

I never knew that the invincible Hammer in Super Smash Brothers is taken from DK :O

[ReeperTheSeeker]

wow, now that is old school. Great review.

[ubarcelo7]

I never knew he first appeared in Atari!

[ShadyDawgWWCF]

Awesome review, I really enjoyed this and the Pac-Man Review. I hope you give us more of these short Atari reviews. I really enjoy you going a new direction giving us these small reviews (Only so much you can say on an Atari game). Lately youve really been popping reviews like wildflowers, and Im glad to see them. I love watching all your reviews, so like always, another 5/5.

[cheetahmen92]

Coleco made the Atari, Colecovision and Intellivision ports of Donkey Kong and I believe they wanted to make it look like their system was better than the other two so they decided to make the other ports inferior. Regardless, this is still OK, at least better than Mario Bros for Atari.

[justiceiscoming]

Atari Made the Atari, you idiot.

[gtrnbm]

But Coleco made the Atari port of Donkey Kong, which is what cheetahmen92 was saying.

lol internet

[uberman111]

yay 32nd view

[Noyjeetut]

Good, fast, and informative. Great review... keep them coming.

[LunchSock]

ha I remember I had this game on Atari, 2 copy's of it actually and neither one of them worked for me ha ah well, good review anyway.

[denmarkguy89]

nice review