Donkey Kong Jr. (Arcade)

DONKEY KONG JR.

Our next game to look over is Donkey Kong's sequel game Donkey Kong Jr.

Set after Mario's defeat of Donkey Kong in the first game, Donkey Kong's son now works to rescue his father from Mario. Obviously, both Mario and Donkey Kong return from the previous game. Donkey Kong, like Pauline before, doesn't really do much except be the dude in distress. However, right at the very end of the game, as he and Junior are escaping, we see him deliver a punch or a kick to Mario, so I think we can add that to his skill set.

Mario, on the other hand, now takes on the role of villain, spending much of his time wielding a whip and sending creatures such as alligators and birds after Junior. He doesn't seem to use the whip much, but that can be changed in a Smash setting, and the alligators and birds would be an excellent addition to his moveset. In the third level, he also sends out balls of electricity, though this time through a mechanical switch. Whether simply as a deadlier alternative to the animals or a separate attack, this will work well. (He also apparently has a helicopter. Decent entrance for now.)

Donkey Kong Jr. takes Mario's place as our protagonist this time. Much like Mario before him, he mainly just jumps and clings to vines in order to navigate the game, occasionally collecting fruit or keys which are used to free Donkey Kong from his cage. Jumps and clings will always work as standard character staples, and the fruit and keys might be used as throwing items much like Pac-Man's standard special. The only bar to Donkey Kong Jr.'s inclusion is his lack of appearance in later games, all but disappearing from video games altogether. However, much like Duck Hunt and the Ice Climbers, he would be an excellent throwback character, meaning it's a definite yes from me.

As far as stages go, the game is made up of four levels for Junior to traverse: the first two being jungle levels, the latter two being more laboratory levels (because Mario has a science lab now). All four would work well as stages, Level 2 likely being the best. They could be recreations like 75M or re-imaginings like Wrecking Crew. Either one would work.

Now, let's look over what we've got:

Characters:
Mario: Jump, hammer, whip, animals, and balls of electricity

Donkey Kong: Punch/kick, barrels, jacks

Donkey Kong Junior: Jump, climb, keys/fruit

<Tentative> Pauline, with nothing (though possibly built on references to the game)


Items:
Barrels

Jacks

Hammer

Keys


Stages:
25M (Donkey Kong)

50M (Donkey Kong)

75M (Donkey Kong)

100M (Donkey Kong)

Level 1 (Donkey Kong Jr.)

Level 2 (Donkey Kong Jr.)

Level 3 (Donkey Kong Jr.)

Level 4 (Donkey Kong Jr.)

On the next blog: Donkey Kong Jr. Math