Have you ever heard anyone under 40 tell you they're a fan of Donkey Kong Jr? They're full of it.

There's superficial reasons to be fond of Jr, clearly. The "Junior" sequel concept is a charming piece of 80s ephemera, and it's arguable that there was no better mark of Miyamoto's early success than when his concept had a direct influence on the franchise he was initially inspired by. It's also more Donkey Kong, and it plays similarly to the first game. You can picture the arcade scene as Donkey Kong veterans developed techniques and shared strategies. That was an era when hard games were in vogue. I remember the old guard's lukewarm response to Sonic 1 because it didn't take a full week of retries to get through Scrap Brain Zone. Of course they liked Donkey Kong Jr.

The thing is, Jr isn't nearly as coherent as Donkey Kong. You can look at a Donkey Kong screen and intuitively know what to do. Even the Pie Factory doesn't take much trial and error to figure out. In Junior, everything moves constantly. So much of this lush, natural jungle is operated on conveyor belts and pulley systems. You'll lose so many Credits as you figure out the routes and precise timing required to get through each screen. Just be glad Mario is a hero these days. He makes quite a vindictive villain.

I think the central hook of Donkey Kong Jr. are the vines. They're fun to work with. Hold one and you'll climb half-speed, while climbing with one in each hand gives you twice the speed while making you vulnerable to twice as many Snapjaws. They feel like the game's core innovation. I kind of wish they had a little more focus here, though. This was still the age of QIX and Pipemania. Simple games with one core mechanic that could be explored through increasingly challenging levels in a snappy, satisfying little game. Tying this to Donkey Kong comes with the expectation of variety though, and no other idea in the game is nearly as much fun to work with. Most of the time, it feels like Ice Climber horseshit. There's a good chance this game will remain a struggle for you well after your tenth playthrough.

They became one of the most reliable publishers in the industry immediately afterwards, but a Nintendo success in the early 80s was a rare gem. Try five random pre-Super Mario Bros titles from them, and feel your respect for Balloon Fight grow immeasurably. Alongside Clu Clu Land and Urban Champion, you can see why Donkey Kong Junior used to be one of the safest Famicom purchases. If you learn all the tricks, you might appreciate the higher difficulty. Once you become familiar with the original game, you can play through its three or four levels over and over again without trying. Its algorithms are too predictable, and your strategies become iron-clad. Junior has bullshit with a moving vine that's only graspable for a split-second, and Nintendo's worst trampoline ever.

Of course, it's fair to have affection for Donkey Kong Junior. We all like seeing him driving a funny little car in Super Mario Kart. It doesn't live up to the original, though. It's easy to see why Nintendo were so eager to run away from it once its original generation of arcade fans grew bored of it. Mario Bros has become the real sequel, and it's a far superior platformer, exploring the potential of running and jumping far more compellingly. These days, Mario is nice, Donkey Kong is nice, Nintendo make good games. Let's just forget this ever happened.

Oh ho ho, getting slightly better there DK arcade games.


I mean it’s an improvement from the first one, there’s a bit more to the controls, general platforming has some more unique things to it and HOLY MOLY THERE’S 4 LEVELS INSTEAD OR 3.
Aside from that stuff though, yeah it’s still pretty barebones, but this doesn’t have as much of an excuse because it didn’t really revolutionize games kinda like the original did.


Onto Donkey Kong 3……….I’ll see y’all again in like 15-20 minutes.

Fun & straightforward game! I really like Donkey Kong Jr's goofy expressions and the way Mario is the villain now.

Rest In Peace Donkey Kong Jr
(killed in prison by Illuminati assassin)
(knew too much about Mario's past)

This sequel to Donkey Kong certainly does more in comparison to its predecessor. It contains one extra unique level, and the programming of the level themselves look more complex than Donkey Kong's.

That's all the praise I can give this game, however, as I didn't enjoy playing through the 4 levels this game had to offer.

The controls for Jr. were very janky, sometimes getting stuck on corners or remaining unresponsive after a jump for a split second. The AI of the enemies were also all over the place for me, as only the birds on the 2nd stage were reasonably predictable.

I did end up beating all 4 stages eventually, but it's not a game I would want to go back to get a higher score.