Looking for authentic version of Donkey Kong (including ALL 4 levels)

zman73

zman73

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I had this game growing up on the Atari 400 computer and loved being able to play all 4 levels that were included in the arcade, most versions since such as the NES are without the level with the conveyor belts, was wanting to know if there were any authentic versions out there

... I would not count the shrunken down levels at the beginning of the gameboy Donkey Kong

I would like something on console, looking over the options before I buy an atari 400 off of ebay
 
My dad had the game for the NES somewhere and it had 4 levels but I haven't seen it in at least 8 years.

And what do you mean the "strunken down levels"? I thought they were the same.
 
Just for variety you can check out the various Atarisoft versions under emulation. It's kind of interesting to compare how they did it on the C64 vs. the TI994a and others.

Don't bother with the Atari 7800 versions of any of the Nintendo licenses. Despite the 7800's greater power these games (DK, DK Jr., Mario Bros.) were all horribly botched and and are inferior to the 400/800 versions.
 
[quote name='David85']My dad had the game for the NES somewhere and it had 4 levels but I haven't seen it in at least 8 years.

And what do you mean the "strunken down levels"? I thought they were the same.[/quote]

Ive never seen an original NES cart that had all the original levels on it... if anyone knows about them... I have DK classics (exact reproductions of the already released games on the NES, while DK Jr HAS all its 4 levels, DK has only 3 :cry: )

I said "shrunken" (don't know if that is proper english... :wink: ) down levels on the GB Donkey Kong, the screens dont have all the information of say the arcade donkey kong
, eveything had to be shrunk down to fit on the gameboy (original)
 
Before you ebay, Coleco had a version of DK. Maybe that had all the versions? Something to consider if you get stuck looking on ebay for the Atari 400 and you can find the Colecovision cheaper.
 
yeah, the NES version doesn't have the "pie" level. A bunch of people Bitched about it when the e-reader version came out.
 
[quote name='The-Bavis']Before you ebay, Coleco had a version of DK. Maybe that had all the versions? Something to consider if you get stuck looking on ebay for the Atari 400 and you can find the Colecovision cheaper.[/quote]

No, the Colecovision cart was imcomplete too. The game was part of the notoriously rushed launch library that had ugliness all over. All of the Coleco branded version were incomplete. The Atari 400/800 cart was the first complete version on any home system. (The Famicom wouldn't come to the US as the NES for a few more years.

One tricky element was how the rights were handled. Coleco had the rights to produce versions of Donkey Kong on dedicated game systems and Atari's rights were for computers. The contract defined the difference as a computer having a keyboard. This was important since in many case that was just about the only difference. Several home computers had the exact same off the shelf chipset as the Colecovision ie MSX, and the Atari 5200 was just a 400 with no keyboard and analog controllers on 15-pin ports. Porting a game between the 5200 and 400 could be done overnight.

This made for some weird situations. Coleco could do a Atari 5200 version of DK if they chose but not for the effectively identical computers. Likewise Atari could do DK for their computers and the Coleco Adam but not for their own 5200 or 2600. (By the time of the Atari 7800 Coleco was out of business and Atari got the contract altered for a small fee as part of the futile 7800 investment.) This is what led to the Atarisoft releases of DK and DK Jr. for most major home computers in the US market.

There were stranger arrangements out there. Sometimes the rights were defined by media. Sierra On-Line had the rights to produce versions of Frogger on any platform so long as it was on magnetic media. Parker Bros. had the mask ROM rights. Thus Sierra had an excellent version of Frogger that Parker Bros. had to license to publish on the 5200 rather than investing in their own programming effort. This came about as part of a lawsuit between Sierra and Parker Bros. over the Atari 2600. The Parker Bros. version had been a big hit but some folks came up with a device to add a chunk of RAM to the 2600 and load more sophisticated games from cassette. Sierra lent their Frogger rights to producing a much superior 2600 version of Frogger using the Starpath device. Naturally, Parker Bros. was pissed.
 
[quote name='GameDude']I know DK64 has something about old school DK on it, not sure if it's all 4 levels though.[/quote]

It does have all 4 levels, and you're required to beat all 4 to beat DK 64.. I'm pretty sure they're accurate to the original, too.
 
[quote name='zman73'][quote name='David85']My dad had the game for the NES somewhere and it had 4 levels but I haven't seen it in at least 8 years.

And what do you mean the "strunken down levels"? I thought they were the same.[/quote]

Ive never seen an original NES cart that had all the original levels on it... if anyone knows about them... I have DK classics (exact reproductions of the already released games on the NES, while DK Jr HAS all its 4 levels, DK has only 3 :cry: )

I said "shrunken" (don't know if that is proper english... :wink: ) down levels on the GB Donkey Kong, the screens dont have all the information of say the arcade donkey kong
, eveything had to be shrunk down to fit on the gameboy (original)[/quote]

Maybe it does only have three then. I remember seeing it on the night stand years and years ago but for the life of me I can't remember how many levels are in it, and i don't even know where it is.
 
IIRC, the only Donkey Kong released in North America that included the "pie level" was the 100 level b&w Gameboy version.
 
[quote name='int80h']IIRC, the only Donkey Kong released in North America that included the "pie level" was the 100 level b&w Gameboy version.[/quote]

I have the GB version, it is NOT the same thing (the levels are smaller), and of course after level 4, you jump into the Key levels, you dont repeat the same 4 like the arcade version

The version I had when I was young, for the Atari 400 computer DID have the levels... including the pie level... WHY did I get rid of that system?

I do have the N64 version of DK, and if I can ever get to playing it more than an hour without dozing off, it would be cool to unlock it on that... I just hate the game... maybe there is a cheat to unlock it :wink:
 
Yeah I can't stand DK 64 either. But I actually got to the part where you have to play through the arcade version of DK to get a banana or whatever the fuck you had to collect, but I could never beat it with the goofy ass N64 controller. Oh well.
 
All this talk has made me nostalgic for the Atari 400 I had growing up... and as much as I may pick on my father for being thrifty growing up, he certainly shelled out some dough back then for a system that was far superior to the 2600... the 400 version of Pac Man was about as close to the arcade as you could get... Had a decent collection for it too DK Jr, Q-bert, Frogger, Jungle Hunt, Space Invaders, Centipede, etc...

the only game I have played through on the N64 in which the god awful controller didnt annoy me was Paper Mario.

I am amazed how none of the earlier systems had the complete game, it is one of the reasons I dont play my NES or e-reader versions that much
 
[quote name='Snake2715']I have the white atari cartridge for this game I think its for teh 2600 does that have all four levels?[/quote]

That one just has two levels. The graphics are bugly too. I don't know what the Atari 400 version looks like, but the 2600 isn't looking like the arcade game at all.

Thanks for the history lesson about Coleco/DK, epobirs. I remember the DK license pissing off the Atari prez and causing the Atari distribution of the Famicom to get trashed. Interesting about selling the rights to putting the game on only certain types of media.
 
Yep. MAME is not only arcade perfect, it IS the arcade game. You even have to "insert coins" to start. They also have pretty much any other classic arcade game you want to play, as well as more recent efforts.
 
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