Game:

Don Doko Don (1989)

Duration: 0:00

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4

A 1-credit clear of the arcade game Don Doko Don [dondokod], played with WolfMAME 0.280. Score: 213,660. A single-screen platformer by Taito, a little like their famous Bubble Bobble series. This was a challenge for me - it took me something like 70 attempts (after going through and routing things using savestates). It was frustrating along the way, what some outdoorsy people might call "type II fun".

It's hard to find a consistent approach to each level. Enemies can start out the stage moving in different directions. A foolproof strategy from a savestate might immediately fail on another run if they zig when you expect them to zag. Movement speed is another variable - if you die, you reset to the dismally slow default walk speed of your jelly-bean body. And the game's physics are a bit squirrelly as well: vertical walls MAY OR MAY NOT block throws, walking across a narrow gap MAY OR MAY NOT make you fall. Thankfully, the gives score-based extends, and holds five hidden bonus rooms each with the opportunity to win up to 3 extra lives. So while I died 7 times (including two very silly avoidable deaths on the final boss), I still ended up with more lives than I started with.

I like single-screen platformers and Taito games, so unsurprisingly, I like a lot of things about of this game. I like the character design and music. I appreciate the variety of themes for each set of 10 levels. I'm impressed by the variety of hazards, some that show up on just a stage or two - falling rocks, tree teleporters. But overall I found it frustrating: Powering down feels really bad. A couple of levels can troll you - stage 37 in particular has weird windmill physics and clowns who can replicate and block the only safe approach. Time limits on some stages (like 17) feel unfairly short. I also got tired of levels that make your character harder to control (not just ice physics in stages 20-30, but also the bouncy-castle rooms in stages 10-20). It's also disappointing that there's no strong incentive to defeat enemies in a combo - the food drops an underwhelming, and the power-down poison apple is an annoyance. I'd recommend Bubble Symphony as the single-sceen platformer to play (or Joe & Mac Returns if you really want to bonk enemies on the head)