RetroMo: Mario's Handheld History
Did you know that Mario starred in eight Game Boy and GBC games? Rediscover your roots inside...
...Continued From Page 3
Donkey Kong '94
I discovered this game while working in the change booth of a video arcade, which was not at all an exciting job. I passed the time with the help of my portable friend Mr. Game Boy.
DK, often known as
Donkey Kong '94 to differentiate it from the original game. This was a return to Mario's real roots of platforms, ladders and hammers! Our mean old gorilla friend Donkey Kong has abducted another of Mario's various ladyfriends, this time Pauline, again from the original DK arcade game. With 101 stages this game is a whopper. It starts out all nice and easy with the first four levels taken from the original
Donkey Kong, with those that follow getting progressively harder. Theres usually 8 or 12 stages in each world, every fourth level being a showdown between our hero and DK himself, usually involving the throwing of barrels. The worlds following themes like city, forest and desert - the usual suspects.
The goal of each stage was to locate the key to unlock the door to the next stage. Sound easy? It was made complicated by having to negotiate all kinds of tricks and traps, with levers to pull, and moving platforms and conveyor belts to scurry along. The stages were filled with all kinds of enemies. Some which are obviously deadly, like the flames. Others, similar to
Super Mario Bros 2, you can jump on top of, pick up, and throw at other enemies. There is a selection of items dotted around to help our man Mario on his quest. The trusty hammer is there, in two forms, one just to smash enemies in and another thats hard enough to smash through walls (of pre-determined smashableness). Then there is the indisposable platform and ladder blocks. Touching one of these pauses the game and allows you to place either a platform or a ladder (depending on the kind of block you happen to be touching) anywhere you choose, within the confines of the stage. The only problem is that they have a rather annoying time limit, so you gotta haul Mario's ass damn quickly to that key and back. It helps that Mario is incredibly athletic in this game, what with him doing handstands and multiple backflips with ease, spinning himself silly on gymnastic bars to reach those high platforms.
What makes Donkey Kong so enjoyable is that it's one of those games that will infuriate you to such extremes with some levels, but the feeling you get when you finally figure which route to take is one of intense satisfaction.
Welcome to Modojo, 
Written by Philip Jones on Thursday, August 10, 2006
posted September 26, 2006