Game of the Week: Donkey Kong

In the earliest days of the 1980s, the video game world was still reeling from the success of such monster hits as Space Invaders and Pac-Man. Those two games were the first gigantic arcade games on the market, and they helped create the path of future video games for the next decade (or even longer).

What would the next hit arcade game be? Would there be another hit arcade game?

The answer was yes. And that game would be Donkey Kong.

It's a simple game, really. The player controls the character Mario (yes, the Mario), who has to climb to the top of a partially-constructed building to save his girlfriend from the dastardly Donkey Kong, a giant ape bent on keeping the girl from himself.

From there, it gets more complicated. Mario not only has to climb up the building to get to his girl, but he has to jump and dodge bouncing barrels and fireballs while doing so, and he has to be careful not to fall off the side of the building.

Once Mario gets to the top of the game screen, he gets the girl. Or does he? Not yet. Kong just grabs the girl and moves on to the next screen, which is different and more challenging than the one before.

With its fun gameplay, solid colors and unique characters, Donkey Kong was a massive hit of a game for its creators, the Nintendo Company.

Donkey Kong has been so popular since its introduction in 1981 that it has gone on to spawn dozens of sequel games, ports, television shows, toys and much more.

And deservedly so. Donkey Kong was awesome back in the day.

And it's still pretty fun to play even now.