In the early 80’s Nintendo released one of the most famous games of all time, and that game was ‘ Donkey Kong ‘. A game in which you played as Mario that had to avoid obstacles across a number of platforms, with sometimes a hammer in hand to save a damsel in distress from a giant barrel throwing ape called Donkey Kong. That same game which also appeared as a more recent Arcade to Amiga conversion by JOTD, has just arrived as a pretty incredible Arcade clone to the ZX Spectrum by Artonapilos.
And here’s the latest from the developer. “Amazing clone of DONKEY KONG from arcade machines ported to the Spectrum. Developed by Artonapilos. When you load this game on your Spectrum you will be transported to the arcades of the 80s. Get ready for a trip back in time! This game is part of the definitive collection of arcade games cloned to the Zx Spectrum. They also exist in physical format”.
UPDATE : It was some time back now that Artonapilos released the free version of Donkey Kong Arcade for the ZX Spectrum with noticeable improvements that made it an incredible release for our home speccies. But as of June this year, the developer has also made available not just an updated and fixed version, but for those of you with a SAM Coupé, can check out the unfinished version too! For the full improvement list, and the entire development log link see below.
- The game includes a list of the authors of the original arcade game (after some time after the control screen).
- There is an option to turn on AY sound. It should work on any ZX Spectrum type with an AY sound chip, not only on ZX Spectrum 128K’s built-in AY. ZX Spectrum 48K with an external AY is sufficient, it also works on Timex’s built-in AY.
- There is an option to turn on background music (and the sound of falling springs in the third game stage). It works for both the internal speaker and AY, and in both cases the music plays simultaneously with other sounds.
- The Mario animation error at the top of the ladders in the first game stage is fixed (strangely, no one pointed this out during several months since the first version of the game was released, until I noticed it myself).
- Several minor graphical errors regarding Mario riding on lifts have been fixed.
- The barrels behaviour in the first game stage is changed to be closer to the original arcade game. There is also a better chance that more fires will appear earlier in the first stage.
- In the second game stage, Mario walks slower against the direction of the conveyor belts.
- The lifts in the third game stage are faster in level 2 and above.
- During the first several levels, the fires and ghosts are slightly faster at each subsequent level.
- At lower levels, the monkey throws barrels diagonally less often than before, at higher levels, he throws them diagonally more often than before.
- The monkey climbing and jumping animation with falling girders plays after each game start, not only after loading the game, therefore this animation was removed from the introduction. It is also more stable at the bottom of the screen and shouldn’t flicker there on any supported computer.
- The monkey in the climbing animation is more stable at the bottom of the screen and shouldn’t flicker there on any computer.
- The “HOW HIGH” screen has the correct monkey picture and correct font before every stage, therefore this screen was removed from the introduction.
- The final animation contains the monkey “dance” before the fall, and different monkey faces during and after the fall.
- The large blue “DONKEY KONG” text in the introduction has colours closer to the arcade version (using a home-made raster multicolour effect similar to the colouring of the monkey below the text).
- There is no longer a corrupted area in the background graphics on the Inves Spectrum + computer.
- A few other minor cosmetic improvements.
- The game works on more computer types, including Timex TC 2068, Timex TS 2068 and Komputer 2086.
- The game can be controlled with a Fuller joystick and both Timex joysticks.
- On ZX Spectrum 128K and other computers with extended memory, the introduction and control screen appear before each new game, not only after loading the game. This feature also works on Didaktik Gama.
- On ZX Spectrum 128K and other computers with extended memory, the game uses a high score table. This feature also works on Didaktik Gama.
- There is a modified version for the SAM Coupé computer, although it looks and sounds the same as the ZX Spectrum version (unfortunately without SAA sound).
Links :1) Source
