Donkey Kong for Atari 8-bit Computers FAQ/Walkthrough

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Donkey Kong for Atari 8-bit Computers FAQ/Walkthrough

by BHodges

Version 1.1
Created 06/25/05
Updated 10/27/09

This document Copyright 2005,2009 by Brian Hodges. It may not be placed on any
web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission.

Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is
strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.

All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.

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Table of Contents

I. Introduction
II. Background Story
III. Getting Started
IV. Basic Gameplay
V. Stage Guide
A. Stage Order
B. Girder Stage
C. Rivet Stage
D. Elevator Stage
E. Pie Factory Stage
VI. Scoring
VII. My Top Score
VIII. Game Review
IX. Donkey Kong History
A. Game Origin
1. Radarscope
2. Popeye
3. 3rd Time's the Charm
B. Name Origins
1. Donkey Kong
2. Mario
3. Pauline
C. Trouble
1. Universal Studios
2. Atari vs. Coleco
D. Sequels
1. Donkey Kong Jr.
2. Donkey Kong 3
3. Mario Bros.
4. Donkey Kong (Gameboy Remake)
5. Donkey Kong Country
X. Atari 8-bit DK vs. Coleco DK
XI. Version History
XII. Contact Information

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I. Introduction

This is a FAQ for the Atari 8-bit Computer game Donkey Kong. It contains
information on how to play the game, tips for each of the game's four stages,
and a mini-review.

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II. Background Story

Donkey Kong has kidnapped Mario's girlfriend Pauline. Now Mario must make his
way through the construction site and rescue her.

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III. Getting Started

On the title screen press Select to toggle between a one and two player game.
Press Option to choose the starting level. The barrel is level one and the
hammer is level 5. See the Stage Order section of the stage guide for more
info on the various levels.

When you are ready to begin press Start or the joystick button.

If you wait on the title screen long enough, you will see a brief cutscene
showing Donkey Kong "creating" the Girder stage will kidnapping Pauline.

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IV. Basic Gameplay

You move Mario left and right with the joystick. Press up to climb up a ladder
and press down to climb down a ladder. Press the button to jump.

Coming in contact with a barrel, firefox, spring, pie, or Donkey Kong himself
will kill you. Falling from too great a distance will also kill you. Each
time you die, you will start back at the beginning and the stage will reset.

You can destroy firefoxes and barrels with the hammer. Jump into the hammer
to get it. You will then have it for about eleven seconds. During this time
you cannot jump or climb ladders. Just hit an enemy with the hammer to destroy
it. Make sure one doesn't sneak in underneath the hammer and kill you.

At the top left corner is displayed the hi score. Below that is a L with a
number beneath that tells you the current level. At the top right it tells
you which player's turn it is, his or her score, and the number of lives
remaining.

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V. Stage Guide

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A. Stage Order

The first stage of each level will be the Girder stage and the last the Rivet
stage.

|25m |50m |75m |100m |125m |150m |
-------|---------|--------------|-----------|-----------|-------|------|
Level 1|Girder |Rivet | | | | |
Level 2|Girder |Elevator |Rivet | | | |
Level 3|Girder |Pie Factory |Elevator |Rivet | | |
Level 4|Girder |Pie Factory |Girder |Elevator |Rivet | |
Level 5|Girder |Pie Factory |Girder |Elevator |Girder |Rivet |

All levels after 5 are the same.

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B. Girder Stage

This is the stage everyone remembers about Donkey Kong. Your goal is to make
it to the platform where Pauline is at the top of the screen. You have to make
your way up the ladders while avoiding the barrels and firefoxes. You can
climb onto the broken ladders, but won't be able to move to the next girder.

There is an oil can at the beginning of the level. You can go behind this can
and be protected from barrels. The firefoxes can go behind the can as well,
so you aren't 100% safe. You also have the timer to worry about.

Donkey Kong will throw barrels at you. The first barrel will turn into a
firefox. The first barrel will always travel the same way at a given level,
e.g. the first barrel on level 1 will go straight down until it hits the
bottom, then go left. The rest of the barrels are random. There is no way to
tell whether or not a barrel will roll down a ladder, you have to be on guard.

I find that the longer you stick around this stage, the harder it is to
complete. The first thing you need to do is avoid the first barrel. Do this
by running all the way to the right. When the barrel hits the ground, go up
the ladder. Now stand under the hammer and wait. When a barrel reaches your
girder, jump up and grab the hammer. Now hit any barrels and firefoxes on
that girder. After you lose the hammer, make your way to the left of the short
ladder. Wait for an opening then climb up. Be careful when jumping barrels,
your head will go through the girder above you, if you touch a barrel you will
lose a life.

Now move to the right of the short ladder on this girder. Wait for an opening,
then climb up again. Grab the hammer and start bashing things. When you lose
the hammer, go between the short ladder and the broken one and wait for an
opening.

Once you reach the top girder, make your way to the right and climb up the
ladder to reach Pauline. You cannot climb the two tall ladders next to Donkey
Kong and if you touch him, you will die.

When you reach Pauline, it will show Mario with a heart over his head, then
Pauline will disappear and the heart will break. They don't show it in this
version, but in the arcade it showed Donkey Kong grabbing Pauline and climbing
up the two tall ladders (I used to be confused as to why Mario would be sad
after completing the stage, then I played the arcade game and saw why).

|-| |-|
P |-| |-|
##############|-| |-|
|-| |-| |-| D
###########################################################
########## |-| |-|
#### |-|
|-|
########## |-|
######################## |-| H
|-| #################### |-|
|-| #############
|-| ###########
|-| |-| ####
|-| |-|
|-| #################
|-| ####################
########################
############### |-|
#### |-| |-|
|-| |-|
###### |-| |-|
################ |-| H
############## |-|
|-| ####################
#################
|-| #####
^^^ |-|
| | |-| #######
|OIL| ###################
| | M |-| ####################
###################################

Key

M = Mario's Starting Point
P = Pauline
D = Donkey Kong
H = Hammer

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C. Rivet Stage

This is the "final" battle against Donkey Kong. The object of this stage is
to remove all eight rivets from the girders, causing them to collapse. You can
remove a rivet by running or jumping over it. If you attempt to rescue Pauline
prematurely, Donkey Kong will just switch her to the opposite side. Touching
Donkey Kong is instant death.

The firefoxes are your main concern, they generate pretty quickly here. While
they can go up and down ladders, they can't cross the holes left behind after
you snag a rivet.

As soon as the stage begins, run immediately to the right and grab Pauline's
purse. Keep going right and run up the ladder on the end and get the hat.
Hopefully the firefox will keep going left. Run over the rivet and quickly
jump back over the hole, cutting him off. Make your way up the right side
of the structure, removing rivets as you go.

You should now be on the right of Donkey Kong. Make your way to the hammer
beneath him and let the firefoxes have it. Move all the way to the left and
get the rivet. When the hammer disappears, move up the ladder and remove
the rivet. Quickly move down the left side and grab the hammer. Move into
the middle, removing the rivet on the way. When the hammer is gone, get
the remaining rivet using the least guarded route.

Congratulations, you have won the game... (sort of)

U D P
######V##########################V########
|-| |-| H |-| |-|
|-| |-| |-| |-|
|-| |-| |-| |-|
########V##########################V##########
H |-| |-| |-| |-|
|-| |-| |-| |-|
|-| |-| |-| |-|
##########V##########################V############
|-| |-| |-|
|-| |-| |-|
|-| |-| |-| B
############V##########################V##############
|-| |-| |-| |-|
|-| |-| |-| |-|
|-| M |-| I |-| |-|
##########################################################

Key

M = Mario's Starting Point
P = Pauline
D = Donkey Kong
H = Hammer
V = Rivet
B = Pauline's Bonnet
U = Pauline's Umbrella
I = Pauline's Purse

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D. Elevator Stage

It is my opinion that this is historically the most important stage in the
game and perhaps in all of video games. While most people think of the Girder
stage when they think of Donkey Kong, this stage contains all the
elements that define the platform genre: floating platforms, moving platforms,
items to collect, and enemies to avoid. Okay, back to the walkthrough...

The first thing to do is to quickly climb to the top of beginning structure
and grab the umbrella. Wait for the firefox to go down and then jump across
the elevator to the top of next structure. If the elevator is too low you will
die when you land on it and if you stay on it too long you will get smushed.
When the firefox starts to ascend, take the other ladder down and grab the hat.

You now have two choices:

- Low Road

When the elevator is even with you, hop on, then jump onto the first of the
trio of floating platforms. Make your way over, be sure to watch out for the
falling springs when jumping off the last one. Now climb up the ladder. Wait
for the firefox to move up to the level with the cake then make your way across
(again keeping a watchful eye for the springs) to the structure shaped like
a lowercase 'l' on a typewriter. Climb up the ladder.

Whew, that involved SEVEN jumps, two of which involve avoiding springs and one
a firefox. Fortunately there is a shortcut...

- High Road (Recommended)

When the firefox starts to descend, take the other ladder back up. When the
elevator is almost even with you, jump onto then IMMEDIATELY jump to the top
of the next structure. That's it!

Now you should be on top of the 'l' shaped structure. Our next objective is
the retrieval of Pauline's birthday cake (it has never been made clear whose
birthday it is for). Wait until the firefox is at the bottom of the structure,
then quickly make your way across, grab the cake, then return, all the while
still keeping a look out for those springs!

Now we are almost to Pauline, we just have to make it past the springs. The
trick is knowing where the safe zones are. The first one is directly above
the ladder, so head up. (An interesting side note: while you are in this spot,
if you jump when a spring is directly overhead, you will get 100 points.)
Now wait for a spring to land in front of you then run left and stand under
Pauline's rear foot. You will be safe here. As soon as a spring passes
overhead, head up the ladder to Pauline.

|-| |-| P
|-| |-|#############
D |-| |-| |-|
###########OOOOO##############OOOOO########## C
* * |-| #### ###
U ##### * ### |-|
####### * ########## * #### |-|
|-| * |-| |-| ##### |-| ##########
|-| * |-| |-| * |-| |-|
|-| ##### |-| |-| * ###### #### ######
|-| * |-| |-| * |-|
####### * |-| |-| ##### ####
|-| * |-| B|-| * ####
M|-| ##### ######## * ####
####### * * ####
* #####
###########OOOOO##############OOOOO######################

Key

M = Mario's Starting Point
P = Pauline
D = Donkey Kong
B = Pauline's Bonnet
U = Pauline's Umbrella
C = Cake

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E. Pie Factory Stage

Technically it is a cement factory, but since the piles of sand look like pies,
everyone calls it the Pie Factory. This is by far the toughest stage in the
game. Your goal is to make it to Pauline in the top right of the screen.
The first thing you have to watch out for are the sand piles or "pies". If
you touch one, you die. Fortunately they can be jumped or destroyed with the
hammer. The oil can in the center will spit out firefoxes like crazy so you
want to hurry. Lastly the conveyor belts will suddenly change direction, so
you have to be careful, watch the way the pies are going to see the belt
direction. If you fall off a conveyor belt, you die. (It is actually worse
in the arcade version, the ladders there move up and down!)

First run to the right and collect Pauline's hat. Then zoom up a ladder and
grab the hammer. Destroy any firefoxes or pies on the belt, you have to be
very careful here because when the belt changes direction the pies can come at
you in a hurry and slip under the hammer.

When the hammer expires, climb the ladder on the right. Depending on the
firefoxes either climb the ladder or jump onto the next platform and climb that
one. Grab the cake and then climb the ladder to Pauline.

|-| |-|
|-| |-|
|-| |-| D P
@OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO@
|-| |-|
|-| ^^^ |-|
|-| | | C |-|
@OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO@|OIL|@OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO@
H |-| |-| |___| |-| |-|
|-| |-| |-| |-|
|-| |-| |-| |-|
########### ########################## ###########
|-| H |-|
|-| |-|
|-| |-|
@OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO@
|-| |-| |-| |-|
|-| |-| |-| |-|
|-|M |-| B |-| |-|
##########################################################

Key

M = Mario's Starting Point
P = Pauline
D = Donkey Kong
H = Hammer
U = Pauline's Umbrella
C = Cake
O = Conveyor Belt

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VI. Scoring

100 points Jumping over a barrel, firefox, spring or pie
100 points Collecting a rivet
300 points Jumping over two barrels at once
300 points Destroying a barrel, firefox, or pie with the hammer

Pauline Items (Hat, Umbrella, Purse, or Birthday Cake)

Level 1 300 points
Level 2 500 points
Level 3 800 points
Level 4 800 points
Level 5 800 points

Time Bonus (starting amount)

Level 1 5000
Level 2 6000
Level 3 7000
Level 4 8000
Level 5 8000

Score 7,000 points to earn an extra life.

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VII. My Top Score

My top score 42,200 points.

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VIII. Game Review

This is the best port of the arcade game ever. It is the only port that
includes the Pie Factory stage. Mario moves faster and controls better in this
version than he does in the arcade. This version is better than the ports on
the 2600, 7800, Coleco, and NES. The cons listed below are really just
minor things this game lacks from the arcade version. This is a must own
title for anyone with an Atari 8-bit computer.

Pros

+ Mario controls better and moves faster than he does in the arcade version.
+ Excellent graphics, IMO the Donkey Kongs shown on the screen between stages
look better than the ones in the arcade version.
+ This game has been ported to at least ten different platforms and this is
the ONLY one that has the Pie Factory stage. (No, the Gameboy remake
doesn't count!)
+ The stages are in the same order they are in the arcade version.
+ This is also the only version that lets you choose the starting level.
+ Captures the magic of the arcade game.

Cons

- Doesn't show the ending animation after each stage where Donkey Kong takes
Pauline to the next level or the ending where Mario and Pauline are
reunited.
- Due to the dimensions of a TV screen, Donkey Kong is on the right side of
the Girder stage. This feels awkward to arcade game veterans.
- The ladders in the Pie Factory don't go up and down like they did in the
arcade.
- The firefox barrels aren't blue like they were in the arcade game.

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IX. Donkey Kong History

This is normally the section in my FAQs labeled "Useless Trivia" filled with
facts and snippets about the game but since this game was so influential and
the history so interesting I decided to make it a full-fledged history lesson.

* Most of this info is from Steven Kent's The Ultimate History of Video Games,
a must own book for any gamer.

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A. Game Origin

Donkey Kong has one of the most unusual histories of any video game:

..............................................................................
1. Radarscope

Released in 1980, Radarscope was a top-down shooter similar to Galaga. It was
the second most popular arcade game in Japan behind Pac-man and Nintendo was
hoping that it would be a hit in America. Instead it was a horrible flop that
nearly bankrupted the company.

..............................................................................
2. Popeye

Nintendo decided the best thing to do was to create a new game that used the
Radarscope hardware. Their first choice was to do a game based on Popeye, but
were unable to secure the rights (they did eventually and it was released in
1982).
..............................................................................
3. 3rd Time's the Charm

Shigeru Miyamoto was an artist at Nintendo who created the artwork for the
Radarscope cabinet. When Hiroshi Yamauchi asked him if he wanted to design
a game, he was very eager to give it a try.

The first thing he did was to come up with a background story for his game.
He decided on having a man rescue his girlfriend from a giant ape. The ape
would take refuge in a construction site. After dodging barrels to make it to
the top, the player would have to remove the rivets so the structure would
collapse and the hero could be reunited with his girlfriend.

And the rest as they say is history!

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B. Name Origins

Just as colorful are the origins of the character names:

..............................................................................
1. Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong was originally called "Stubborn Gorilla" (in Japanese). Since
Donkey Kong was targeted at the American market, Nintendo president Hiroshi
Yamauchi wanted the game to have an English name, so Shigeru Miyamoto looked
through his Japanese-English dictionary for synonyms for "stubborn" and
"gorilla" and came up with "donkey" and "kong".
..............................................................................
2. Mario

Originally named "Jumpman" (for obvious reasons). He was given overalls,
white gloves, and a mustache to make him look more real. The name Mario came
from Mario Segale, Nintendo's landlord because of similarities in their
appearance.
..............................................................................
3. Pauline

She is referred to in the instruction booklet simply as Mario's girlfriend.

According to Wikipedia, she was originally named "Lady" in Japan. She was
named Pauline after Polly James, wife of Nintendo of America warehouse manager,
Don James.

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C. Trouble

Of course whenever something makes money, everyone wants a piece of the pie...

..............................................................................
1. Universal Studios

Universal Studios tried to sue Nintendo saying that Donkey Kong infringed on
King Kong (they had recently done a remake of the classic movie). It turned
out that in order to make the movie, Universal had taken RKO (studio that made
the original movie) to court and had proven that King Kong was in the public
domain, so no one had trademark rights. Universal ended up having to pay
Nintendo's legal fees.

..............................................................................
2. Atari vs. Coleco

During the early 80s, the video game market was very competitive and the rights
to hot arcade games could be very lucrative. Nintendo sold Coleco the rights
to the home console version of Donkey Kong and the computer rights to Atari.

Coleco made Donkey Kong the pack-in game for their Colecovision and kept the
game exclusive to their own system for six months. They then released versions
for the Atari 2600 and the Mattel Intellivision. Both of these were terrible
(many gamers believe, myself included, that Coleco intentionally did a poor job
so their system would look better). They didn't release one for the Atari
5200 (which is actually a modified Atari 400) because that was their biggest
competition.

Things went south when Coleco debuted the Adam computer at the 1983 CES. The
game they used to demo was Donkey Kong. Since Atari was supposed to own the
computer rights, they were rightly upset, but unfortunately took this anger
out on Nintendo. After receiving an angry message from Atari president
Ray Kassar, Yamauchi took his frustration out on Coleco president Arnold
Greenberg, screaming at him in Japanese during a meeting. The fallout ruined
any chance Atari and Nintendo had at future partnerships (such as licensing the
NES) and ended up costing Atari billions.

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D. Sequels

While everyone is familiar with the Mario Bros. franchise, Donkey Kong has
become a franchise in its own right.

..............................................................................
1. Donkey Kong Jr.

Released in 1982. This is when "Jumpman" is officially renamed Mario. This
time Mario is billed as the bad guy! Donkey Kong Jr. must free his papa from
Mario's cage. This game features more of the great platform action of the
original as well as some new gameplay elements like climbing vines and dropping
fruit on enemies.

..............................................................................
2. Donkey Kong 3

Released in 1983, this is considered to be by far the worst game in the
franchise. Instead of being a platformer, it is actually a top-down shooter
that is a cross between Galaga and Missile Command. It stars Stanley the
Bugman trying to chase Donkey Kong out of a greenhouse using bug spray. At the
beginning of each stage, Donkey Kong punches two bees' nests to make them
angry. The goal is to shoot Donkey Kong with the bug spray so he will move up
the vines and get his head stuck in a bees' nest. All the while you are
protecting flowers on the bottom of the screen from being snatched by bugs.

..............................................................................
3. Mario Bros.

Also released in 1983. This game introduced Mario's brother, Luigi, and
cast them as plumbers, which has been their main occupation (after being heroes
of course) since. This game featured two player co-op and marked the true
beginning of the Mario Bros. franchise.

..............................................................................
4. Donkey Kong (Gameboy Remake)

This was released in 1994 as the first Super Gameboy enhanced cartridge. You
could play it in black and white on your Gameboy, but if you put it into the
SNES adapter, you could play in color with the original arcade cabinet as the
background!

This game featured a whopping 100 levels and boss fights. Mario is much more
acrobatic in this game, being able to do handstands and backflips. There is
a heavy emphasis on puzzle solving. The first stage contains the original four
arcade levels, but with Mario's new skills they are a piece of cake and not
nearly as much fun.

..............................................................................
5. Donkey Kong Country

Released in 1994, it marked the revival of the Super Nintendo. Rare Ltd.
invented a way to use computer modeling to create 3D-like images on the SNES.
The game featured incredible graphics, an awesome soundtrack, and fun gameplay.

Shigeru Miyamoto has criticized this game publicly several times saying that
the graphics can't cover up the dull and repetitive gameplay. One explanation
for the animosity is that at the time, Miyamoto was working on Yoshi's Island
and the marketing department rejected the first version of the game because
they wanted graphics more like Donkey Kong Country.

Donkey Kong Country was a smash hit, selling 6.1 million copies in the first
month and a half, making it the fastest selling video game of all time. It
sold more copies than any other game for a 16-bit system. It launched the
Donkey Kong Country franchise and introduced new members of the Kong family.

One last fact, Cranky Kong in Donkey Kong Country is the ape from the original
game, his grandson is the main character (not sure what happened to Junior).
His comments on the evolution of video games are hilarious.

When I started this section, I didn't expect it to be so huge, I may end up
making it a separate in-depth FAQ.

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X. Atari 8-bit DK vs. Coleco DK

Over the years, the misconception has been that the Colecovision port of
Donkey Kong is the best ever. This may come as a shock to most gamers, but
that is a bunch of @$%^! I am not saying that because I am an Atari fanboy,
it's the absolute truth!

First let's look at the controls. In the Atari version, Mario is clearly
faster and controls much better than on the Coleco. Secondly, there is the
hammer. In the Atari version the hammer works just like in the arcade, the
hammer itself must hit the enemy to destroy it and it is possible for them to
slip underneath it and kill you. Not so in the Coleco version, you can just
run over the enemies regardless if the hammer is up or down. You can even
have your back turned and it will still kill the enemy!

So now you may be saying so what, those are minor nitpicks. I agree they are
but they are not the biggest difference. The real kicker are the stages. The
elevator stage in the Atari version is practically identical to the arcade.
The Coleco version is a joke, it doesn't even have the bouncing springs! They
just added a firefox to the top level. Then there is the pie factory stage.
While the ladders may not move up and down like they do in the arcade, the
Atari version is a good reproduction. The Coleco version, like every other
port of this game (including the NES) doesn't have this stage at all!

The best proof of all is to play these yourself and then you will see there is
no contest, the Atari 8-bit version of Donkey Kong is the best ever!!!

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X. Version History

0.5 06/25/05 Created FAQ. Finished Girder stage. FAQ was rejected by
GameFAQs.

1.0 07/31/05 Finished other 3 stages. Added History section.

1.1 10/27/09 Updated legal information in header. Added info for Pauline
that I found on Wikipedia. Fixed a TON of typos, I must have
forgotten to run spell check the past two submissions...

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XI. Contact Information

You can contact me at [email protected]

I would appreciate hearing what you thought of this guide and any thoughts
you have for improving it. Be sure to let me know if I have missed anything.

*******************************************************************************

End