Donkey Kong (1981, Coleco Tabletop)

Format: Coleco Tabletop
Developer: Nintendo Research & Development 1 (port developed by Coleco)
Publisher: Nintendo (port developed by Coleco)
Release Date: July 9, 1981 (port released 1982)
Playtime: 18 minutes (completed both stages to rescue Pauline then played until I ran out of lives)

Originally I thought to skip this one as it is a port of the original arcade game. I don't review ports unless they include some sort of new content. This one doesn't necessarily include new content but provides it in a way that is different enough that I considered it worthy of a playthrough. Just like the arcade game, you play as Mario and must rescue your girlfriend Pauline from the giant ape Donkey Kong.

This game basically recreates the barrel and rivet levels (the first and last levels) from the arcade game, but does so on a single screen. So first you must climb your way to the top while jumping over the barrels. Next you respawn at the bottom again but now you must go over all of the rivets while avoiding the enemies. Basically the rivets are inactive on the first level even though it is the same screen.

This is an LCD game in what is basically a small portable arcade cabinet. It is a pretty fun game by LCD standards and it recreates the feel of the original game much better than I expected. However, it is pretty difficult. The controls take some getting used to. To jump forward (instead of just straight up) you have to press the move button and the jump button at almost the same time. However, you must press move just before you press jump or you will either jump straight up or accidentally walk to either side (often resulting in your death).

Once the controls are mastered it doesn't take long to get past the first level. The second is where things get difficult. You have a time limit (which isn't displayed on screen) and the fireballs are very aggressive. They often refuse to move away from a rivet which can make it difficult to gain access to it to finish the game. Also, they can move up and down on the left or right edges of the screen in some areas where it is difficult to even see them.

Donkey Kong for the Coleco Tabletop is a pretty solid effort from Coleco. It translates the arcade game pretty well while maintaining the feel. However, I don't see any reason to play this in 2017. There are far better and easier to find ports out there of the original game so there isn't much reason to go back to this one. It does look pretty nice in a game room though if you're into that sort of thing.