Kangaroo first appeared in arcades in June 1982, developed by Sun Electronics Corp. (later known as Sunsoft) and distributed by Atari outside of Japan. In the game, a boxing glove-wearing mother kangaroo searches for her lost joey who has been kidnapped by monkeys. The game utilized a joystick to help the mother maneuver "Donkey Kong" type level designs. Every different direction on the joystick would send mother ducking or leaping from ledges or to collect scattered fruit for points. The action button makes the mother kangaroo throw a punch to defend herself against the monkeys, who will throw fruit at the mother to knock her off the tree.
Kangaroo is another gem by yesterday's standards, but remains a formidable challenge to any newcomer to the game's design.
In one of the levels that broke with the game's usual ascent format, your joey is on top of a column of monkeys that you must punch repeatedly in order to knock each monkey out from other the platform your joey is on.
The game uses Stephen Foster's song "O! Suzanna!" to signal level completion (when your little joey says MOM in big letters after you rescue them). When ringing the bell to bring in the next selection of fruit, you hear the Westminster Quarters song (often heard in college campuses).
As you get closer to the top of each level a gorilla will come out and want to box you. It's best to avoid him and keep going till you reach the top.
Kangaroo was later ported to the Atari 2600 and 5200, and to the Atari 8-bit computers via the Atari Program Exchange (APX).
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