Donkey Kong (re)Works and (re)Imaginings

So this time I'm going to cover the three of the major weird Arcade Donkey Kong re-imaginings and re-workings that have popped up over the years.



Tetris DS - Donkey Kong Push



In mid 2006, Tetris DS came out. As I understand it, the Tetris community really keeps track of the various editions of Tetris and what additions/tweaks are made to the formula, rarely caring about the trappings and window dressing. For Nintendo fans however, this one was really nice, because not only did it feature the classic Tetris with retro sprites of the big Nintendo franchises running around, it also featured a number of bonus modes based on said franchises. Among them was, of course, a Donkey Kong mode (which didn't actually have Sr present in it, though he pops up elsewhere in the game) called Push.



The mode was a bit of an odd one. It could be played solo against a CPU, or over ad-hoc / wifi with another real person. I'm just going to swipe the Mario Wiki description of the mode, since they already went through the trouble of coming up with a concise description:

"Push Mode was designed for players who wanted a more competitive way to play than just comparing scores. Players are virtually seated across from each other, with a pile of blocks in the center. The Tetriminos are like missiles in this mode and can be sent by the player just as quickly as he or she can play the game. If one clears a row, the mass moves toward his or her opponent, decreasing the opponent’s play area and increasing the player's. When one player has pushed the pile out of the screen towards their opponent, he or she wins.

The mode is decorated by a Donkey Kong inspired environment. Jumpman walks around the girders on the top screen, dodging barrels and using the ladders. As the screen scrolls higher you can see DK and Pauline at the top, though it's a bit odd that this only happens when you're loosing. Jumpman's Hammer and Pauline's Parasol are located to the left of the playing field. Also, as ones play field grows smaller, fire erumpts from the oil drum at the bottom of the screen. In the original game, barrels burned up when they hit this fire. The classic Donkey Kong beeps play in the background. It speeds up as the blocks near one of the edges."



DSi Metronome - Donkey Kong Metronome



In latish 2009, Nintendo released another little app, as they were wont to do, on the DSi store. They'd released calculators, clocks, and other little fobs, sometimes skinned with Nintendo characters and sometimes not. This time it was a metronome app, which is kind of neat. What they didn't really do a good job of advertising was that the DSi Metronome had a Donkey Kong game hidden within!



It's pretty straightforward. You clap into the mic to cause Jumpman to, er, jump, thus avoiding Donkey Kong's oncoming barrels. It's a strange footnote to send off the Bongos Era of rhythm based DK games.

There's not really much more to it than that.



Nintendo Land - Donkey Kong's Crash Course



In really late 2012, Nintendo launched the Nintendo Wii. With the shiny black edition of the console was bundled a copy of Nintendo Land, though it could be bought separately as well. In effect this console's version of Wii Sports, this title eschewed athletics to instead be a Ninteno franchise themed amusement park, having various minigames based on Nintendo properties both new and old, as well as importing Smash Bros trophy collecting. It's really quite fun. One of said "attractions" is Donkey Kong's Crash Course!



The above video is only of the first board (there are three more), but as you can see that the basic conceit is one of "what if Donkey Kong was a physical arcade game instead of a video arcade game?" It would be interesting to see if I could sit down with a bunch of erector set kits and kinex scraps and put a rough aproximation of this thing together.

Anyway, you play as a mii in a delicate glass bubble with some wheels and a weak shock absorber. You have to tilt the game pad to get this "Rollman" (he can't jump! haha!) around the board, occasionally needing to tap shoulder buttons to mimic pinball bumpers or blow in the mic to wind various mechanisms on the virtual physical machine.

It's quite entertaining, and I've spent way to much time trying to speed through it.

Anyway, that's it for today. I may go over some of the physical board and party games that have featured the Arcade Donkey Kong label over the years next unless someone has anything else they want to see.