2012/7/29: NES: Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong 3, Donkey Kong Jr.

[Sut1]

Has anyone played the Game Boy versions ?
It's the only system I have where it's available in physical form (may have been released for the Spectrum, but can't see that being great) and was wondering if it's worth getting on that ?

[Greisha1]

Yeah, Donkey Kong on the GB was great. I think it had 100 levels??

[m0zart1]

[QUOTE=Sut]Has anyone played the Game Boy versions ?
It's the only system I have where it's available in physical form (may have been released for the Spectrum, but can't see that being great) and was wondering if it's worth getting on that ?[/QUOTE]

It's fantastic.  It expands on Donkey Kong by a metric ton of levels and a tough final boss battle.  It really is the best version of Donkey Kong in my opinion.

And it's available on the 3DS Virtual Console.

[Adamant1]

Calling the Gameboy Donkey Kong a "version of Donkey Kong" is like calling Super Mario Bros a "version of Mario Bros". The few levels in the Gameboy game that are based on levels from the arcade game play nothing like them, and the overall controls and gameplay is entirely different. They are entirely different games, not mere "versions" of one another, and neither can be substituted for the other.

[Greisha1]

[QUOTE=Adamant]Calling the Gameboy Donkey Kong a "version of Donkey Kong" is like calling Super Mario Bros a "version of Mario Bros". The few levels in the Gameboy game that are based on levels from the arcade game play nothing like them, and the overall controls and gameplay is entirely different. They are entirely different games, not mere "versions" of one another, and neither can be substituted for the other.[/QUOTE]

Yep, two completely different games. More "platform-puzzler" than "arcade," but both are very worth owning.

[m0zart1]

[QUOTE=Adamant]Calling the Gameboy Donkey Kong a "version of Donkey Kong" is like calling Super Mario Bros a "version of Mario Bros". The few levels in the Gameboy game that are based on levels from the arcade game play nothing like them, and the overall controls and gameplay is entirely different. They are entirely different games, not mere "versions" of one another, and neither can be substituted for the other.[/QUOTE]

Hmph... I disagree.  The first four levels are pretty good reproductions for the tiny Gameboy screen, with a few Super-Mario-esque additions related to his agility, game physics, and his aability to transport the hammer --  certainly FAR better reproductions than other versions that never get so excluded from the list, such as the Atari 2600 version.

And after those first four levels, there was Nirvana.

If Super Mario Bros. started off with a static turtle kicking level in a sewer, you might have a tiny bit of a point, but only a very tiny bit.

[Adamant1]

No, the different physics radically alter how the levels play. The levels kind of look like their arcade counterparts, but they certainly don't play like them.
The 2600 version, on the other hand, lacks some minor element of the original (and two stages), but it's still unmistakably a pretty straight port of the arcade game, and plays the same way. 
The GB Donkey Kong just has the visuals, with a radically different gameplay and feel given to it. It's not a port, and one most definitely can't consider it a replacement or variant of the arcade game, nor would one have any real idea how the arcade game plays if one has only played the Gameboy game.

[m0zart1]

[QUOTE=Adamant]No, the different physics radically alter how the levels play. The levels kind of look like their arcade counterparts, but they certainly don't play like them.
The 2600 version, on the other hand, lacks some minor element of the original (and two stages), but it's still unmistakably a pretty straight port of the arcade game, and plays the same way. 
The GB Donkey Kong just has the visuals, with a radically different gameplay and feel given to it. It's not a port, and one most definitely can't consider it a replacement or variant of the arcade game, nor would one have any real idea how the arcade game plays if one has only played the Gameboy game.[/QUOTE]

I don't consider the physics to radically alter the gameplay.  I can see why  you say that, but I don't get that experience from it.  In any case, it doesn't "just have the visuals", it has the stages, built very similiarly and operating very simiilarly, and frankly, far more of them from the original game than most home versions.

I stand by my statement that it is a version of Donkey Kong, and the best version at that.

[Adamant1]

[QUOTE=m0zart]
I don't consider the physics to radically alter the gameplay.  I can see why  you say that, but I don't get that experience from it.  In any case, it doesn't "just have the visuals", it has the stages, built very similiarly and operating very simiilarly, and frankly, far more of them from the original game than most home versions.
[/QUOTE]

You can beat level 1 in 4 seconds with no difficulty nor risk of harm by flipping the D-pad back and forth a bit and hammering A. If that's not "radically altered gameplay", I don't know what is.

Those few stages at the beginning of GB Donkey Kong were intended to be a fun little throwback to the arcade game, they weren't intended to properly represent it. They're just a 2-minute fun lead-in to the actual game, not some sort of replacement for a mostly unrelated arcade game.

[m0zart1]

[QUOTE=Adamant]You can beat level 1 in 4 seconds with no difficulty nor risk of harm by flipping the D-pad back and forth a bit and hammering A. If that's not "radically altered gameplay", I don't know what is.[/QUOTE]

"What is" in that case would be changing it completely to be something else... which is something that did not happen.

[QUOTE=Adamant]Those few stages at the beginning of GB Donkey Kong were intended to be a fun little throwback to the arcade game, they weren't intended to properly represent it. They're just a 2-minute fun lead-in to the actual game, not some sort of replacement for a mostly unrelated arcade game.[/QUOTE]

Four legitimate stages of the game, not just "a fun throwback".  The two are not mutually exclusive.

The rest of the game acts as a mega-extension, from my POV (as do the physics for that matter).