Game: Donkey Kong
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: June 1986
Released in arcades 5 years before its NES release, Donkey Kong featured 4 stages where "Jumpman" attempted to rescue "Girl" whilst dodging a barrage of barrels (sent by his pet ape, whom Jumpman mistreated) as well as other enemies . When the game finally came to NES, Jumpman had been renamed Mario (since Mario was based off Jumpman) and the third stage of the game was cut out, to leave just 3 levels.
The goal in the first two stages is to reach Pauline (renamed from Girl), without being hit by barrels or enemies. The final stage sees Mario remove eight supporting rivets from underneath Donkey Kong, which cause him to fall and leave the way clear for Mario and Pauline to be reunited. Once the game has been run, it restarts at stage one, on a higher difficulty level. If level 22 of difficulty is reached, the player is met with a kill screen, effectively ending the game.
The controls are simple with the d-pad being used for movement and the B button being used to jump. With a little practice its easy to avoid the barrels thrown by Donkey Kong. Throughout the stages, items of Pauline's belongings are scattered, and collectiong them for her will gain the player additional score. Also featured in the game is a hammer powerup which allows Mario to smash barrels before they reach him although this only lasts for a limited time.
Graphically the game looks fairly good for the time, with bright colours and good spriting. The in game music is simple but catchy; some fans of the Donkey Kong series may recognise the music from the start screen which was remixed for Donkey Kong Country on SNES. The game B option on the start screen provides players with a slightly more challenging version of the game, with more barrels and enemies than in the normal mode.
Overall Donkey Kong is a fun but incredibly short game which showed it age even when released on NES. By 1981's arcade standards it was revolutionary, only the second arcade game to have multiple stages. By 1986 however, Super Mario Bros has been released and that had 32 scrolling levels over 8 worlds and a game with just 3 non scrolling levels seems a little underwhelming in comparison. An extremely influential game, Donkey Kong is good for 15 minutes of fun in today's gaming market.
Rating: 30/100
Grade: E
Game: Ice Climber
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: October 1985
Ice Climber is a vertical platforming game, where the aim is to guide your eskimo up to the top of each level, breaking through ice on your way, and collecting your fruit in a bonus level which was stolen by a condor. Each level (or mountain as they're called in game) has progressively more enemies and obstacles, with faster moving platforms and slippery ice added in also. There are a total of 32 levels in all, with the option for both one and two player gameplay.
Play starts at the bottom of each mountain, with the floor of the above platform needing to be broken through to progress. When the player jumps close enough to the above platform, they can break the blocks in the floor and make their way through. Roaming each level are enemies and various hazards to be avoided by the player, and coming into contact with any of them will result in the loss of a life.
The controls are simple with only the left and right directions used, in addition to jump and attack buttons, B and A. You're able to fend off enemies with the A button if they get too close, although some are harder to catch with your hammer than others. The jumping mechanic is quite hard to master, and even if it looks like you've made it onto a platform, some of the time you'll fall right through down to where you jumped from. This does make gameplay somewhat harder, but I wonder if it'd have been too easy without it.
Graphically the game looks almost cartoonish in presentation with the eskimos and enemies all brightly coloured and designed. Its an interesting style and although there's not much too look at on the actual levels, those too work well with the mountain idea. The music on Ice Climber is good and makes the game more enjoyable in general.
Overall Ice Climber is a fun game with a lot of somewhat similar levels, which get progressively harder. Its a fun concept and once you've mastered the controls it can be fairly enjoyable on the whole too. With bright graphics and decent music, the only real issue is the jump mechanic which can really make the game's later levels hard. Although its not a fully fleshed out game in the same way as Super Mario Bros, or Metroid, it has a lasting appeal and brings new life to the platform game concept.
Overall: 46/100
Grade: D
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