A Game Boy classic now for cheap.
The original Donkey Kong arcade game might not seem like such an easy title to update at first. After all, most arcade games are based on high scores and extreme repetitiveness. In addition, you might think that there is only so much mileage that a game could get out of the original's "climb to the top of a stage while avoiding obstacles" format while trying to pad it out as a full package. With Donkey Kong '94 though, Nintendo managed to change things up by turning the title into a sort of action-puzzler, one that feels like a logical continuation of the arcade title instead of an awkward combination of two different elements.
Donkey Kong seems to control as the original did at first. Mario's famous jumps have been scaled way back, and he cannot defeat his enemies by jumping on their heads. This time though, he can perform backfliips and triple-jumps in much the same way he does in his later 3D games. The hammers from the original return, although this time Mario can ditch them if he wants. The incredibly tight sense of control that all of Nintendo's first party games have is very present, and all of Mario's abilities are taken advantage of in the game's stages.
The object of most of the levels in the game is to drag a Mario-sized key to a Mario-sized locked door and open it to proceed to the next area. Every four stages Mario will have a confrontation with Donkey Kong that plays out the way the arcade game did. Most of the game's puzzle elements revolve around figuring out how Mario's abilities will best allow him to get the key to the door. There are occasional switch puzzles that require you to make sure you've pushed all of the levers in the correct order to finish, but these never get too complicated or slow the game down. The puzzle design is intuitive and almost always fair and accessible to the player in that way that Nintendo always seems to pull off.
For just four dollars, Donkey Kong is an incredible steal on the e-shop. Fun, accessible platformers like this one have always been what Nintendo pulls off the absolute best. Now that it's downloadable on the 3DS for cheap it's available to everyone everywhere. On the go, even. Buy it if you ever find yourself looking for something fun and cheap on the 3DS and you missed it the first time.
