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Donkey Kong Jr. Game Review

Donkey Kong Jr. is a 1982 arcade platform game made by Nintendo for arcades and later ported to many other systems including the NES. It’s another overly short game in the series.

This was the second entry in the original trilogy after the iconic original. It of course pales in comparison to its classic predecessor, but it’s still perfectly solid in its own right. This one is rarely talked about today and is mostly criticized for its length, but I would call it quite fun and very underrated.

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There is a change to the plot and concept here. The roles are switched and it is up to the titular character to save his father from the evil Mario who captured him. It’s strange seeing Mario in the villain role and it doesn’t really work, so thankfully they never did it again.

Let’s talk about the gameplay. It’s pretty much the same as in the original. It only has four levels and from then on it repeats itself, but with a higher difficulty. It’s an arcade game meant to play to break records for sure. If you play the base game alone, it’s awfully short at just these four fleeting levels. It doesn’t have enough to offer and that length is clearly its biggest flaw.

You can go in every direction and you can jump and climb higher by using these vines. You have three lives and you can die from falling down or being hit by an enemy. I liked the vine-climbing mechanic. You can go down the vine if the enemy is incoming or you can climb up using two vines next to each other. This really worked.

The first of the four levels is rather easy and it’s all about careful planning and timing. It’s a breeze. The second level is similar, but with the added going back and forth in the lower area that made it longer and more difficult. The third level has a different aesthetic and approach with electricity, but it’s otherwise the easiest of the levels. The fourth and final level is vastly different as it makes you bring these keys up each vine to unlock the platform and make Junior’s father fall down to his rescue. It’s the hardest level, but I still wouldn’t call it particularly demanding.

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And that is the major issue here – the low level of difficult in the initial four stages. I wished that it was harder and more diverse in gameplay styles. Donkey Kong Jr. features fine graphics for the time and a pretty good score. The sound is also solid. The level design is pretty strong and the game is cozy and fun to play, but it’s way too fleeting overall.