Donkey Kong reached arcades in 1981 as Nintendo’s breakout hit, designed by Shigeru Miyamoto. The Atari 2600 version brought the action into living rooms: you play as Jumpman — later renamed Mario — climbing girders and ladders on a construction site while Donkey Kong pitches barrels from above. Reach Pauline at the top of each screen to advance; take a barrel or fall too far and you lose a life.
How to Play
Use the arrow keys to move Jumpman left, right, and up ladders. Press Spacebar to jump over incoming barrels. The Atari 2600 port includes two screens from the arcade: the barrel stage and the rivets stage. On the rivets screen, knock out all four corner rivets to bring Donkey Kong down and clear the loop.
| Player 1 | Player 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Move / Climb | ↑ ↓ ← → | T G F H |
| Jump | Spacebar | A |
| Pause | Alt+P | Alt+P |
| Reset | F12 | F12 |
| Select | F11 | F11 |
Tips
- Watch the barrel pattern before climbing. Barrels follow a rhythm; waiting a beat at the bottom is safer than rushing a ladder and colliding halfway up.
- Grab a hammer when it appears on the barrel stage — you can smash barrels for bonus points. You cannot climb while holding it, so position yourself carefully before picking one up.
- On the rivets screen, the game does not loop endlessly: removing all four corner rivets drops Donkey Kong and ends the screen. The game then restarts at higher speed.
Leave a Comment / Review: