Playing Donkey Kong

Use the Directional Pad to move Mario left or right. Press Up or Down while standing in front of, or above, a ladder to climb it. Press the A Button to jump and the Start Button to pause the game.

Game Modes

You must choose one of the four options at the Main menu to start the game:

Game A of both 1-Player and 2-Player is considered the beginner difficulty, while Game B is for experts.

Selecting a 2-Player game mode means you take turns switching the controller whenever one of you loses a Mario. Compete to see who can achieve the highest score before getting a game over, and determine who the real Donkey Kong champion is!

Scoring

At its core, Donkey Kong is a game all about high scores. Complete all three of the game’s levels, and you’ll be sent back to the first stage to start over and keep raising that high score. Here are the ways you build your score in Donkey Kong.

Picking Up Pauline’s Possessions

Gain points by picking up things dropped by Pauline (her Parasol and Purse). Each one lands you 800 points!

Stage Bonus

The Stage Bonus window appears in the top-right corner of the screen. The bonus continuously ticks down as you play the level. When you reach Pauline in any given stage, the Stage Bonus stops and you are given the points currently shown in the window. At the start of the next stage, the Stage Bonus total restarts and begins ticking down once again. If you want the highest bonus possible, hurry to complete the stage. If the bonus runs out, Mario loses a life, so don’t delay!

Jumpman

Mario’s original name was Jumpman, and you can see why in Donkey Kong. He can’t attack enemies without a hammer, so he relies on his sky-high jumping to avoid foes and progress through each stage. Jumping over barrels nets Mario 100 points per jump—the perfect combination of form and function!

Hammerman

Pick up one of the hammers in Stages 1 and 3 and start hitting the fireballs or barrels with it. You earn 500 points for each one you destroy.

Handyman

To complete Stage 3, you must pull all the bolts out of the girders. But removing them also has the benefit of scoring you an additional 100 points per bolt.

Extraman

Reach a total of 20,000 points to gain an extra life! Every 20,000 points after that results in yet another extra life.

Loops

If you succeed in finishing Stage 3, the game loops back to Stage 1. As you complete loops, your enemies increase in number and speed, but so does the Stage Bonus total. Keep going to reach the highest score possible!