Arcade Nostalgia: "Donkey Kong" Quiz

Answer: Nintendo

Nintendo released "Donkey Kong" in 1981 after being tested in both the Japanese and American markets. Prior attempts to achieve success in video gaming had met mediocre success at best, with their best effort being a shooter game called "Radar Scope" (1979). "Donkey Kong" was an early example of a platform type of game, where players had to navigate across a number of platforms to complete a screen or level, overcoming obstacles in the process.

Answer: A construction site

While we all know and love Mario Mario as a plumber, in his original incarnation, 'Jumpman' was styled as a carpenter, with the intent that the character would fit the setting of the video game.

'Mario' was created by Shigeru Miyamoto, and the character was named after Nintendo of America's warehouse landlord Mario Segale.

Answer: A joystick and a JUMP button

The joystick was used to move Jumpman/Mario left and right along the platforms and up and down ladders. The JUMP button (appropriately) was used to leap over the (obstacles to be named in a later question) that Donkey Kong threw down the construction site girders.

Answer: Barrels

Normally, Jumpman/Mario would leap over the barrels rolling across the platforms, but occasionally, the character could pick up a hammer. It was not required to push a button to operate the hammer; Jumpman/Mario would simply move with the hammer continuously swinging, smashing the barrels that he encountered. It could also destroy flaming oil drums, cement tubs and piles of sand. It lasted for 5-7 seconds.

Having the hammer, however, limited Jumpman/Mario somewhat. While wielding it, he could not jump nor climb ladders, and he was still vulnerable when struck from behind.

Answer: Key

Pauline's items are worth 300 points during Level One play, and their value increased to 500 points each on Level Two, and 800 points on every level thereafter.

Unless you were keen to achieve a high score to beat your friends, these bonus points were not crucial to get once you achieved the only extra life (which came after 7,000 points).

Answer: The Spire

The name of the first board was, appropriately, 'Bent Girders'.

On Level One, the player encountered the boards 'Bent Girders' and 'The Long Fall'.

On Level Two, you began with 'Bent Girders', then moved on to 'Elevators' and finished with 'The Long Fall'

Advancing to Level Three, you started again with 'Bent Girders', then moved to 'Pie Factory', and then did 'Elevators' and 'The Long Fall'.

Level Four followed the same order as Level Three, but added a second 'Bent Girders' inbetween the 'Pie Factory' and 'Elevators' boards.

Finally, Level Five added another 'Bent Girders' to the Level Four board order, this time falling between the 'Elevators' and 'The Long Fall' boards. Thus, Level Five (and every level thereafter), followed the pattern BG, PF, BG, E, BG, TLF.

Answer: Eight

There are five platform levels on this board, with the base platform not having any of the yellow rivets. As Mario climbed the ladders to the different platforms, you had to make him avoid the firefoxes (created by Donkey Kong) that ran along the platforms and up and down the ladders. At least they couldn't travel over the gaps left by removed rivets.

Once all eight rivets were removed, Donkey Kong fell to his doom ('The Long Fall'), and you beat the level, rescuing Pauline. Then you started all over again with the 'Bent Girders' board on the next level of difficulty.

Answer: Jacks

In the original arcade "Donkey Kong", the objects thrown by Donkey Kong were jacks, like the kind that you jack up a car with. In later versions of "Donkey Kong", these became more commonly known as springboards, and could be used as such. In the arcade version, they were simply deadly obstacles that would bounce when they landed, causing much consternation for you and your Mario character.

This level was the 'Elevators' level, and in it there were two elevators; one that went up (on the left) and one that went down. The girders that could be walked upon were not long like in the other boards, but were small and separated and had to be jumped to.

Answer: When he moved to the left or right of the screen, it changed the direction of the conveyor belt.

Making its first appearance on Level Three, this was the 'Pie Factory' board, and the obstacles mentioned in the question were piles of sand (that looked like pies, hence the name associated with this board).

This was probably the most difficult board to play. In addition to the moving conveyor belts and the piles of sand, an oil drum also produced fireballs (the number of fireballs matched the number of the level, up to five). On the platform where the oil drum was, the conveyor belts on either side of it moved towards it (and didn't change direction like the other belts). And on that platform were only two retractable ladders to the Donkey Kong platform, one on either side of the screen. Your timing had to be very good.

Answer: False

While theoretically this might have been possible, there is a glitch in the game that will cause it to end on the first board of Level 22. Called 'the Kill Screen', there are only about eight seconds of play before the game ends by your time running out. This happens, even though your bonus countdown clock has a value of 4000 on it.