A startling discovery

The Passion of the Mario · 07-28-2010, 11:19 PM

Okay, here goes. Recently, I visited a big video arcade complex famous for its huge collection of classic coin-op games. It is, in fact, the home of the largest such collection in the world, and is also the place where the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters was filmed. It's located in my home state of New Hampshire, so I've been there many, many times in the past. During this most recent visit, however, I found they had installed a new game. A new Mario game.

It was called Donkey Kong 2, and the copyright date printed on the machine was 1981.

I was astonished. I'm the biggest Mario fanboy in the world, and I'd never heard of Donkey Kong 2 before. I'd always thought Donkey Kong Junior was "Donkey Kong 2". (I'd known there was a Game & Watch game called Donkey Kong 2, but that was something very different.) I scoured the Internet for information on this game, but I could find nothing. Nintendo doesn't seem to acknowledge this game, and the fans don't know about it. But I saw it! Against all odds, Donkey Kong 2 has remained completely and utterly obscured from Mario's fanbase for nearly thirty years! I feel like I spotted the Loch Ness Monster or something!

I swear by my Mario tattoo, this game exists!

Naturally, I dropped a token into the slot and tried it out. Basically, it was to Donkey Kong what The Lost Levels was to Super Mario Bros. It used the same sprites, the same story, the same characters, etc. But it was much, much harder. I didn't even make it past the first level. It was like an extra challenging semi-sequel for people who'd already mastered the original Donkey Kong.

Has anyone else ever heard of this game? It just blows me away that it's remained so obscure over the decades, even to the point that people like me don't know about it.

Dizzy · 07-28-2010, 11:28 PM

No, I've not heard anything about "Donkey Kong: The Lost Levels".

It seems interesting, but in a novelty sort of way. I don't know that I'd actually want to play it.

**Valigarmander** · 07-29-2010, 12:15 AM

I've never heard of that either.

Are you sure it wasn't just a hacked machine, or something?

***Cosmonautical*** · 07-29-2010, 12:21 AM

At the time of its release, it wasn't uncommon for 3rd parties to offer a sort of re-tooling of cabinets to arcades directly. What you've seen was likely an unauthorized 3rd party's work. The original manufacturers of cabinets often release new games to be adapted to work in older cabinets, with the circuit board switched out or modified, so it wasn't much of a shock when the uninvited pirates stepped in.

As for an example, the most obvious of official updates would have to be Ms Pacman. Ironically, both Ms Pacman and the original Pacman arcade games were actually sold to arcade owners as conversions for the Galaxian cabinet (the third in the series, Super Pacman, was a conversion for the newer Galaga).

You can follow this trend to the most obvious re-usable cabinet: The Neo-Geo MVS. The MVS cabinet series was essentially a glorified Nintendo demo machine - an arcade cabinet most commonly capable of housing 6 game cartridges. These were the same cartridges available to home-owners, and they each contain a large amount of hardware critical to playing the game. Hence why the home system never took off - it was too bloody expensive.

I'd love to see some pics of this cabinet if you get the chance to visit again soon.

Any chance the cabinet art looked at all like this?

Donkey Kong 2 (D2) Project Completed. - Part 1 - CoinOpSpace.com - Classic Arcade Game Forum

Update: Think I found the ROM. It's a recent conversion.

ROMHACK:* D2K:* Jumpman Returns

Click to view video.

The Passion of the Mario · 07-29-2010, 12:51 PM

Yes, that's it! In fact, the level shown at 3:10 in the first video is the level I played.

So, you're saying this isn't actually an official Nintendo game?

***Cosmonautical*** · 07-29-2010, 01:25 PM

Yeah, looks like it's a fan conversion for the ROM that actually has had some materials professionally manufactured to re-dress a DK or DK-alike cabinet to be D2K.

That second link goes to the site of origin. Sorry if it's not in layman's terms, the arcade collector community is pretty isolated from the rest of the gaming world.

07-28-2010, 11:19 PM	#1
The Passion of the Mario Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Gender: Posts: 68 Thanks: 0 Thanked 11 Times in 4 Posts	A startling discovery Okay, here goes. Recently, I visited a big video arcade complex famous for its huge collection of classic coin-op games. It is, in fact, the home of the largest such collection in the world, and is also the place where the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters was filmed. It's located in my home state of New Hampshire, so I've been there many, many times in the past. During this most recent visit, however, I found they had installed a new game. A new Mario game. It was called Donkey Kong 2, and the copyright date printed on the machine was 1981. I was astonished. I'm the biggest Mario fanboy in the world, and I'd never heard of Donkey Kong 2 before. I'd always thought Donkey Kong Junior was "Donkey Kong 2". (I'd known there was a Game & Watch game called Donkey Kong 2, but that was something very different.) I scoured the Internet for information on this game, but I could find nothing. Nintendo doesn't seem to acknowledge this game, and the fans don't know about it. But I saw it! Against all odds, Donkey Kong 2 has remained completely and utterly obscured from Mario's fanbase for nearly thirty years! I feel like I spotted the Loch Ness Monster or something! I swear by my Mario tattoo, this game exists! Naturally, I dropped a token into the slot and tried it out. Basically, it was to Donkey Kong what The Lost Levels was to Super Mario Bros. It used the same sprites, the same story, the same characters, etc. But it was much, much harder. I didn't even make it past the first level. It was like an extra challenging semi-sequel for people who'd already mastered the original Donkey Kong. Has anyone else ever heard of this game? It just blows me away that it's remained so obscure over the decades, even to the point that people like me don't know about it.

07-28-2010, 11:28 PM	#2
Dizzy Podiaphobe Join Date: Oct 2007 Gender: Posts: 19,359 Thanks: 1,764 Thanked 1,162 Times in 805 Posts Blog Entries: 116	No, I've not heard anything about "Donkey Kong: The Lost Levels". It seems interesting, but in a novelty sort of way. I don't know that I'd actually want to play it.

07-29-2010, 12:15 AM	#3
Valigarmander The Bee's Knees Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: The land of rain and trees (Oregon) Gender: Posts: 29,755 Thanks: 1,649 Thanked 5,701 Times in 2,581 Posts Blog Entries: 20	I've never heard of that either. Are you sure it wasn't just a hacked machine, or something?

07-29-2010, 12:51 PM	#5
The Passion of the Mario Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Gender: Posts: 68 Thanks: 0 Thanked 11 Times in 4 Posts	Yes, that's it! In fact, the level shown at 3:10 in the first video is the level I played. So, you're saying this isn't actually an official Nintendo game?

07-29-2010, 01:25 PM	#6
*Cosmonautical* Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: I rub my tilde all over your asterisk Gender: Posts: 28,102 Thanks: 2,157 Thanked 5,338 Times in 2,433 Posts	Yeah, looks like it's a fan conversion for the ROM that actually has had some materials professionally manufactured to re-dress a DK or DK-alike cabinet to be D2K. That second link goes to the site of origin. Sorry if it's not in layman's terms, the arcade collector community is pretty isolated from the rest of the gaming world.