Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong (Japanese: ドンキーコング) is developed by Nintendo R&D2 and released on July 15, 1983, as one of the three launch titles for the Famicom. It is a port of the legendary 1981 arcade original, widely recognized as the originator of the platform game genre. It marks the debut of both Mario (originally named Jumpman, a carpenter) and Donkey Kong. The giant ape Donkey Kong kidnaps Pauline. Players control carpenter Jumpman, climbing ladders and jumping across construction girders, dodging barrels and fireballs thrown down by Donkey Kong, to reach the top and rescue Pauline. Due to cartridge size constraints, the Famicom port removes the conveyor belt stage from the arcade original and retains three fixed-screen stages. It includes two difficulty settings: Game A for beginners and tougher Game B. Two players can take turns playing. Collect items such as parasols and purses dropped by Pauline for bonus points. After clearing all stages, the game loops with gradually rising difficulty, and high score chasing is the main goal. Controls are simple with movement, ladder climbing and jumping, yet demand precise timing. It established the core design blueprint for platform games and influenced countless later titles. Widely included on Subor multicarts in China, it is a foundational classic Famicom game for retro gamers.

These are the default keys. Click the gamepad icon 🎮 in the player’s bottom toolbar to rebind them. Gamepads are detected automatically. On phones you get on-screen buttons.

1P

2P

The NES was always two-player — 2P uses the numeric keypad, and NumLock does not matter. No numpad? Rebind 2P to other keys in the 🎮 panel.