Donkey Kong Junior by Kimberly Keyes Stark
Most fiction writers are generally leery about suddenly turning a beloved character into a villain. That's because such a plot twist can potentially cause a backlash among the general public. Such a controversy among fans happened in the early 1980's when the writers of The X-Men comic book decided to have one of the heroes, Phoenix, become so overwhelmed by her powers that it twisted her mind. Phoenix actually caused a sun in another solar system to go super-nova and kill all the inhabitants of a nearby planet.
In the case of Donkey Kong Junior, such a plot twist created another memorable classic videogame.
The story goes as this: sometime after the events in the Donkey Kong videogame, Mario managed to capture Donkey Kong, who--as you'll recall--was responsible for kidnapping Mario's sweetheart, Pauline. Normally, that would make Mario a hero in a book, play, movie, or videogame.
But there is a complication. Donkey Kong has a baby son named Donkey Kong Junior (or Junior for short). Since Junior's mother is nowhere to be found in this game, Donkey Kong's capture has put poor little Junior in a horrible bind--unless he can somehow free his papa from captivity, he is doomed to spend the rest of his childhood as an orphan.
In Donkey Kong Junior, Mario is now the villain. Donkey Kong has taken Pauline's place as the victim who needs to be rescued from Mario's clutches. As the gamer, you are expected to take on the role of a sad-faced baby monkey who wears a white jumpsuit with a red letter "J."
Like Donkey Kong, the sequel has four unique levels as Junior climbs around vines, jumps on platforms, and avoids deadly electrodes as he tries to grab a key (or keys) to free his papa. In the meantime, Mario tries to do everything possible to prevent a father/son reunion from taking place by unleashing birds that drop eggs and try to bite Junior and red Snapjaws, creatures whose mouths resemble steel traps, who are also out to bite Junior.
Junior usually has a frown on his mouth. When Junior is clutching on to two vines at once, his mouth opens as he appears to be nervous and have this uncertain look on his face. If Junior falls down or gets bitten by a bird or Snapjaw, he exhibits deaththroes that are very memorable. His mouth opens very wide, his eyes grow large, and his arms and legs wiggle up and down as he makes a funny-sounding death sound. If he happens to be on a vine when this happens, then it's followed by a drop to the bottom of the screen and accompanied by a drop sound.
Every time Junior reaches the top of the screen, it looks like he will acheive his goal of reaching his imprisoned papa only to have Mario snatch Donkey Kong's cage and move it to the next level. By the fourth level, Junior is briefly reunited with his papa when Donkey Kong (along with Mario) falls from his cage after his son frees him. Junior catches his father (which is pretty funny to see since Donkey Kong is so much bigger than his tiny son) while somehow avoiding being crushed by his father's girth. Junior gives a big smile showing how happy he is at seeing his father again. Then father and son punch out Mario to get back at him for what he did.
At that point, the game starts at the first screen again but the action gets much harder.
When I first played Donkey Kong Junior in the early 1980's, I became just as hooked on that game as I did on the original Donkey Kong. I took the switch of Mario from hero to villain in stride since he really didn't have much of a personality in those days.
It was very easy to emphasize with poor Junior's plight. He is a very cute baby monkey with an expressive face and there were times when I felt bad whenever poor Junior met his doom. However, seeing Junior die such a horrible yet funny death did not deter me from playing this game. (In fact, it made me want to put in more quarters so I could see Junior reach his father.)
Like its predecessor, Donkey Kong Junior hasn't aged very much. The gameplay is just as compelling today as it was back in the early 1980's.
Sadly, Donkey Kong Junior marks the first and only major appearance of Donkey Kong's baby son. Junior did show up in the Game Boy Color version of Donkey Kong but that was a cameo appearance. Some of the later Donkey Kong console and portable games include a character named Diddy Kong who looks a little older than Junior but is still younger than Donkey Kong. After looking around on the Internet, I learned that Diddy Kong is NOT Donkey Kong Junior that has been aged a few years. Diddy Kong is a completely different character from Donkey Kong Junior.
Donkey Kong Junior also marked the last time that Mario and Donkey Kong would face off against each other in a videogame. After Donkey Kong Junior, Nintendo decided to put Mario and Donkey Kong in separate games. That separation has continued on the various home games to this very day. There are only two circumstances that Donkey Kong and Mario are in the same game together--in the Mario Party series and in various sporting games (such as Mario Kart, Mario Tennis, and Mario Golf). Even then they seem to be more like friendly rivals than as enemies who are out to hurt each other.
Personally, I think it would be kind of cool to have a new game where Mario and Donkey Kong are enemies once again. However, I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for a re-match to happen. Instead, I'll just play the Game Boy Advance e-Reader versions of Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Junior and relive those heady days when Mario and Donkey Kong really hated each other.
DISCLAIMER: This blog is based on one person's biased opinions of which videogames should be considered to be classics and why. It is not meant to provide a complete history of the videogame industry, the latest videogame news, technical support, or hints on how to play a certain videogame. None of the videogame manufacturers or programmers mentioned here have endorsed or supported this blog in any way, shape, or form.
NOTE: If there are any errors or updates to what I have written about Donkey Kong Junior, please send an e-mail to [link=mailto:kstarkREMOVE-ALL-CAPS-IF-NOT-SPAM@erols.com]kstarkREMOVE-ALL-CAPS-IF-NOT-SPAM@erols.com[/link] (remember to remove the capital letters from my mailing address before sending or else it will get rejected) and I'll edit this piece when time permits.
DONKEY KONG JUNIOR GAMES AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE
GAME BOY ADVANCE E-READER
e-Reader With Donkey Kong Junior--You can get the original Donkey Kong Junior arcade game bundled together with an e-Reader for your Game Boy Advance.
e-Reader Donkey Kong Junior Bundle Card Set--You get the original Donkey Kong Junior arcade game bundle d together with other e-Reader games like Excitebike, Tennis, and Balloon Fight.
GAME BOY COLOR
Donkey Kong--It's a slightly updated version of the original Donkey Kong arcade game. (Also includes a cameo appearance by Donkey Kong Junior.)
DONKEY KONG JUNIOR LINKS
Donkey Kong Junior--A brief history of Donkey Kong Junior. Also includes an animated gif at the bottom of a Donkey Kong Junior screen in action.
Donkey Kong Junior...Father and Son Reunited--A short story about one person who had purchased, refurbished, and repaired a vintage Donkey Kong Junior machine that now sits next to a Donkey Kong machine at home.
The Donkey Kong Megasite--It's an ultimate fan site that's devoted to Donkey Kong. It also includes information on Donkey Kong Junior.
The Internet Movie Database's Information on Don key Kong Junior--Includes information on both videogames and the TV cartoon series.
The Killer List of Video Games' Donkey Kong Junior Exhibit
Nintendo--The official site of the company that's responsible for Donkey Kong Junior as well as other classic games like Donkey Kong and Mario Bros.
Phosphor-Dot Fossils: Donkey Kong Junior--A brief history of Donkey Kong Junior.<
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