Best home version of Donkey Kong?

[Mark Wolfe]

When it comes to DK, I guess I don't quite understand why you would want to accurately emulate a system for a game that is a port of a game that can be emulated much better with a different emulator. Like MAME for instance, where you can get damn near perfect playback of Donkey Kong with a proper joystick right down to the screen bezel artwork.

 

When it comes right down to it, i'd sooner spend the money on original hardware and a flash/sd media solution than try to get around the emulation issues you're experiencing, assuming you have aspirations to do more than experience the DK port for it.

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

My favorite version is the NES as that is the one I grew up playing and thought it was one of the ports most faithful to the arcade despite missing the "pie factory level", some reproduction carts have it however. I also enjoy the 7800 version as well but would be nice to see it with a POKEY chip added in it. The Colecovision version and the 8 bit conversion to the 5200 are impressive as well.

[+Trebor]

I also enjoy the 7800 version as well but would be nice to see it with a POKEY chip added in it.

 

POKEY and much more:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVksiALE6e0

 

 

...The only thing is I am using Adamem emulator but the sound is atrocious due to the way Soundblaster is delivered to old programs in Windows XP.

 

Does anybody have a solution, I have set the maximum quality available as 5 and also even downloaded SoundFX Soundblaster card emulators but this does not work properly for me (says it has expired even though I also installed the registry key the developers put on their website on the same page)

 

Any ideas how to get this to work nicely on a Windows XP or newer system without having to buy an old Pentium II PC with an AWE32 card inside it and putting Win 95 on it?

Run ADAMEm inside the DOSBox emulator or utilize MAME instead. MAME has absorbed MESS and emulates the Coleco ADAM system just fine.

 

There is also this post, furnishing an updated version of ADAMEm for DOS and a SDL version for Windows.

[Rick Dangerous]

Of all the ports i've played recently, the A8 is tops. All the levels are there, it's graphics are good, controls crisp, and it's fast and hard as nails like the arcade. This was an easy pick for me.

[Prosystemsearch]

I'm surprised nobody here thinks that the ZX spectrum version is at least better than the forgettable Intellivision and "eh" Game&Watch ports, and maybe also the VCS/2600 version, due to the Speccy port having more levels than that one along with actually having the starting cutscene.

[NinjaWarrior]

At the time Coleco made there version better

 

The Intellvision & the VCS version could be better

[wolfy62]

DK2 for Intellivision, by far!

[wolfy62]

Donkey Kong was ported to a lot of systems over the years. I find it's a good touchstone for many systems. For example, the Colecovision version is the most user-friendly, the Atari 8-bit version is the most complete, the NES version looks and sounds most like the original, etc.

 

But, overall, which was the best version of Donkey Kong?

 

I'd like to hear why you made your choice, if you'd care to share.

Find DK2 for the Intellivision. Great new levels, graphics etc.

 

The original for the Intellivision was the worst game ever made,this version is great!

Edited March 1, 2016 by wolfy62

[VectorGamer]

7 votes combined for the INTV and 2600 versions. Are these people trolling or did they not get out to the arcade BITD so that they can see how inferior these versions are to the arcade game?

 

IMHO the best home version was released for the NES. Ocean Software's C64 release would be second.

[high voltage]

I never went to arcades, so I never knew of the original game. To me all Atari VCS games were the original, and if the game said 'Plays like the real arcade game', I thought ok, cool, if it's printed on the box, it must be so.

 

For me the VCS version of DK rocks, used to play it for hours.

Edited March 5, 2016 by high voltage

[Black_Tiger]

7 votes combined for the INTV and 2600 versions. Are these people trolling or did they not get out to the arcade BITD so that they can see how inferior these versions are to the arcade game?

 

IMHO the best home version was released for the NES. Ocean Software's C64 release would be second.

People voting for Intellivision likely didn't sift through pages to find comments of what some people consider "counts" as a "home version of Donkey Kong".

 

The third Doney Kong port for Intellivision is arguably the best and is a version that works on standard Intellivision hardware.

[Prosystemsearch]

Then there's Donky Kong Jr. ....

[arcade124]

Coleco Adam. Even though several other versions had intermissions and the pie factory, the Adam version, personally, looks and plays most like the arcade version.

[mikey.shake]

Since this popped up, I had to vote. I just discovered the 2010 Wii Special Edition version of Donkey Kong for the NES/Famicom. It's really wonderful. I like most ports, they each offer their platform's "flavor" of the basic game, but the Nintendo one, WITH the "pie/cement factory" level added back in... that's it for me. The intermissions aren't a deal breaker, and I get that it's not arcade perfect. But to me, it's got the closest to the arcade "flavor" while remaining distinctly "of it's console".

 

And a close second to the awesome "Pauline Edition" hack, too. That one's just awesome!

[arcade124]

Since this popped up, I had to vote. I just discovered the 2010 Wii Special Edition version of Donkey Kong for the NES/Famicom. It's really wonderful. I like most ports, they each offer their platform's "flavor" of the basic game, but the Nintendo one, WITH the "pie/cement factory" level added back in... that's it for me. The intermissions aren't a deal breaker, and I get that it's not arcade perfect. But to me, it's got the closest to the arcade "flavor" while remaining distinctly "of it's console".

My problem with the NES version is that it plays so slow. Even versions such as the Atari 8-bit that play too fast are better. Plus, the palettes are off. I experimented with changing them, and sure enough, Nintendo could've made them arcade accurate. For me, however silly it might sound, throwing in a stage and animation doesn't make up for that. Thirty years later, they didn't even give the pie factory its correct colors!

 

I voted other, for Coleco Adam. It has a few flaws, but so does everything else. It plays and looks great.