Donkey Kong: Original Edition - L1-50m

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HOTU Orbit

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Published on April 17, 2024 9:34:02 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RmxLkXsRyY

Game:

Donkey Kong (1981)

Duration: 1:23

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At last, the fabled 50m stage, also known as the Cement Factory, that was cut from all of the other ports. This was the first time I ever played this stage because of that. The initial fist impressions were great, but as time went on, I started to see why this stage was cut in the first place. It's not good. It's actually terrible. I think this is one of the worst stages in any game I have ever played.

To start off, there is one aspect of the stage missing: Donley Kong is supposed to be moving side to side at the top of the screen. This is because the conveyer belts are supposed to be moving him, which would give you a heads up when the direction of the lower belt would change. In this version, Donkey Kong remains stationary, meaning it's a mystery to the player when the conveyer belt changes direction, and if it happens to change at the wrong time, then too bad for you.

Other problems include the speed of the conveyer belts. Even on Game A, you can just barely outrun the speed of the belts if you run against them, and it only gets worse the more loops you play. There's also nothing preventing a cement pan from spawning at the edge of the screen and killing you. This is a straight up design flaw. The player can't react that quickly, so cement pans shouldn't be able to spawn when you are near the screen edge. The hitboxes on the pans are also lousy. There's an area of empty space around them that still damages you. This is opposite from the Barrels which actually give you some breathing room.

In think the inclusion of this stage actually makes the game worse. Maybe it's a good thing this version got a limited release. It's terrible.

Box art from LaunchBox.

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