+wongojack Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 The maze craze overtook arcades after Pac Man and created some games that may have even been better than the dot munching pizza based icon's initial effort. Of course we had Ms. Pac Man, Baby Pac Man, and Jr. Pac Man, but there were others that we all know about like Ladybug, Mouse Trap, Pepper II, and Blueprint. There was even the reverse maze classic Dig Dug that came out of the desire to innovate after the Puck. But what about Donkey Kong? The examples of spinoffs don't seem to come to mind as readily - certainly not great games like those we saw after Pac Man. I've been playing a bunch of the "Sock Master" remixed versions of Donkey Kong and Dk Jr lately and they are truly great, unquestioned high-quality sequels to the original games that we never got bitd. I went digging around looking for other games inspired by DK and I couldn't really find many that held my attention. Possibly the best example is Intellivision's Beauty and the Beast which also seemed to be a primary source of inspiration for the fun little arcade game produced from the fallout of the Disney movie Wreck it Ralph. So what other arcade games are "out there" that remind you of Donkey Kong (and are not just a rip-off)? Space Panic came first right? Popeye? Kangaroo? Maybe Lode Runner? Feels like there should be even more. Also feels like we should have gotten something that innovated more along the way. Note - I do love me some Jumpman and Ultimate Wizard on the 8-bit computers, but I don't think those were ever in the arcade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynicaster Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 I guess it depends on how loosely you define the parameters of what constitutes "similarity" to DK. If it is sufficient to simply have a fixed-screen level filled with platforms and obstacles where a character runs, jumps, climbs ladders, avoids enemies, etc. then you've got games like Kangaroo, Pandora's Palace, Jump Coaster, Mr. Do's Wild Ride, and even Burgertime. Miner 2049er comes to mind as well, although that one is more of a hybrid of DK and Pac-Man. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 It is rather obscure, but Canyon Climber for the Coco is very definitely inspired by Donkey Kong. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted April 10, 2019 Author Share Posted April 10, 2019 Cool suggestions. I didn't know about some of these. I can't believe I didn't think of Burgertime when making my initial post . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoyous Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 Congo Bongo adapts a similar style of play to an isometric perspective - particularly in the first level. After that, Congo Bongo branches out a bit to more fully forge its own identity. Incidentally both Donkey Kong and Congo Bongo were programmed by the same company, Ikegami Tsushinki. I think the platformer genre became so ubiquitous it could be argued that any number of games were inspired by Donkey Kong. I'm curious how many platformers came out before DK? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynicaster Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 Congo Bongo adapts a similar style of play to an isometric perspective - particularly in the first level. After that, Congo Bongo branches out a bit to more fully forge its own identity. Incidentally both Donkey Kong and Congo Bongo were programmed by the same company, Ikegami Tsushinki. I think the platformer genre became so ubiquitous it could be argued that any number of games were inspired by Donkey Kong. I'm curious how many platformers came out before DK? As far as arcade games go, the only title I've ever heard of that can make a credible case for being a "predecessor" to DK in the platformer genre is Space Panic, released by Universal in 1980. Indeed, there are some superficial similarities between the two games. The only sticking point is that in Space Panic, your character doesn't have the ability to jump, and jumping is arguably a defining characteristic for platform games. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted April 12, 2019 Author Share Posted April 12, 2019 Congo Bongo adapts a similar style of play to an isometric perspective - particularly in the first level. After that, Congo Bongo branches out a bit to more fully forge its own identity. Incidentally both Donkey Kong and Congo Bongo were programmed by the same company, Ikegami Tsushinki. I think the platformer genre became so ubiquitous it could be argued that any number of games were inspired by Donkey Kong. I'm curious how many platformers came out before DK? You're right about Congo Bongo. I didn't know they were done by the same company, but there is something about that game that reminds you of Donkey Kong for sure. Welp, we are building quite the list of games here now. Here are the ones mentioned that got an arcade release: Burgertime Congo Bongo Jump Coaster Kangaroo Lode Runner Mr Do's Wild Ride Pandora's Palace Popeye Space Panic maybe even Mappy fits? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 (edited) Arabian. I didnt know lode runner was made into an arcade machine. There's tons of home games inspired by donkey kong. Space panic preceded donkey kong as did Crazy Climber. Edited April 12, 2019 by mr_me 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted April 12, 2019 Author Share Posted April 12, 2019 Arabian. I didnt know lode runner was made into an arcade machine. There's tons of home games inspired by donkey kong. Space panic preceded donkey kong as did Crazy Climber. Yeah - I didn't know it either until I saw all the different versions in MAME. Apparently it got like 4 sequels too: KLOV Page. I'm adding Arabian and Crazy Climber to the list. I've never gotten the hang of Crazy Climber. Seems like now might be the time to get over the hump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy the Atarian Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 Yeah - I didn't know it either until I saw all the different versions in MAME. Apparently it got like 4 sequels too: KLOV Page. I'm adding Arabian and Crazy Climber to the list. I've never gotten the hang of Crazy Climber. Seems like now might be the time to get over the hump. Lode Runner is like Spelunker in Japan - for whatever reason, both of those titles gained cult status there, so you got a few arcade recreations. Not many people know that Choplifter & Pitfall II were also turned into arcade games; I have Pitfall II, which is like a combination of Pitfall I, II and some Super Mario envy. It's weird, but charming. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted April 13, 2019 Author Share Posted April 13, 2019 I HAVE played arcade Pitfall II! Here's the list as it stands: DK-Like Games Arabian Burgertime Congo Bongo Crazy Climber Jump Coaster Kangaroo Lode Runner Mappy Mr Do's Wild Ride Pandora's Palace Pitfall II Popeye Space Panic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+x=usr(1536) Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 Stretching the bounds of what could be considered a platform game a bit: Universal's Jumping Jack from 1984. Frankly, this always felt like it should have been the 5th game in the Mr. Do! series - but it's a good game in its own right. Mr. Do!'s Castle is definitely a platformer in the Space Panic vein, just with a different mechanism for punching or filling holes in platforms. No jumping in that one, though. And given that 'rip-off' can be something of a broad definition: take a look at Century's Logger. It's an awful, awful game, and clearly takes close to 100% of its inspiration from Donkey Kong - but it's such a piss-poor reworking of the original that it stands on its own. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynicaster Posted April 15, 2019 Share Posted April 15, 2019 There's also Crazy Kong, which is pretty much a ROM hack of DK running on different (Galaxian I think?) hardware. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slab0meat Posted April 15, 2019 Share Posted April 15, 2019 There's also Crazy Kong, which is pretty much a ROM hack of DK running on different (Galaxian I think?) hardware. If going that route, there's also Congorilla. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramses Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 (edited) Mario Bros. Caloriekun vs. Moguranian Chameleon Ponpoko Amazing Adventures of Mr. Flea Bagman Boggy '84 Complex X Dock Man/Port Man Dr. Micro Hopper Robo Jumping Jack Levers Monster Bash Mouser Mr. Do's Castle Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory Roc'n Rope Super Bagman Super Glob Super Mouse Woodpecker Edited April 17, 2019 by Ramses 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+x=usr(1536) Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 There's also Crazy Kong, which is pretty much a ROM hack of DK running on different (Galaxian I think?) hardware. It depends. Falcon's Crazy Kong was a Nintendo-licensed version of Donkey Kong. Falcon manufactured it, using hardware that was effectively a variant of Konami's Scramble hardware. This version was only licensed for sale in Japan, however. Having said that, the game did find its way into pretty much every other territory in the world. These are effectively the bootleg / hack versions, and typically run on either straight Scramble or Galaxian hardware, or modified versions thereof. Crazy Climber was also used as a hardware base for certain of the Crazy Kong bootlegs such as Monkey Donkey and Big Kong. Pretty much anything at the time with lower-end Z80 hardware and a close-enough sound chip was a candidate for having some version of Crazy Kong running on it. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimefighter Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 Logger - DK ripoff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacman000 Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 If we're counting home games there's Pick Ax Pete, Frankenstein, & certain levels of Swordquest Earthworld. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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