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Donkey Kong has finally been captured by Mario! Reverse roles and help his son Junior avoid many dangers to save the giant ape. Here is another smash hit of the early Eighties.

Not long after the successful platform game Donkey Kong, Nintendo released this highly popular sequel in which, for the first and only time, Mario plays the role of the "bad guy". To reflect Junior's abilities, it is now possible to climb vines and drop fruits on your enemies. A precious tip is that it is possible to move much faster by grabbing two vines at the same time.

Donkey Kong Jr. elaborated and expanded upon the platforming gameplay that Shigeru Miyamoto had created in his first game, and did so with vines. Long, hanging vines cover the playing field and must be climbed to reach the top. Junior can shimmy his way up a single strand, or reach and grab two at a time for quicker ascents. This climbing mechanic was mirrored in later generation Nintendo games, like the Donkey Kong Country series. 

The game has only four levels, after which play restarts again from the first stage. That makes this release a pretty shallow offering, and hard to justify for the expense of 500 points. The same pricetag could buy you a number of other, deeper NES hits. But at least this one's a full port (the NES version of the first Donkey Kong cuts out a stage).