Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition

Looking for a feel-good story to wrap up the weekend? You can't get much better than this one: someone calling himself "Mike Mika" (sorry, I'm not sure if that's his real name or not) recently shared on YouTube a video titled "Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition," which features a hacked copy of Donkey Kong: Original Edition--the one that reinstated the previously MIA cement factory level into the NES version of Nintendo's classic quarter-muncher--that has Pauline save Mario rather than vice versa.

What prompted Mike to make "Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition"? Here's the explanation he shared in the video's YouTube description: "My three-year-old daughter and I play a lot of old games together. Her favorite is Donkey Kong. Two days ago, she asked me if she could play as the girl and save Mario. She's played as Peach in Super Mario Bros. 2 and assumed she could do the same in Donkey Kong. I told her we couldn't in that particular Mario game [and] she seemed really bummed out by that."



Flash forward to Mike being "up at midnight, hacking the ROM [and] replacing Mario with Pauline" in order to produce the title seen above.

Although Mike and his daughter are the only gamers playing "Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition" at the moment, last night he promised that he'd "figure out the best way to share a patch for anyone interested in playing the hack."

See also: 'So, you mean I can stop cursing Nintendo of America now?' and 'Donkey Kong: Original Edition ain't all that' and 'How badly do you want to play Donkey Kong: Original Edition?'

How badly do you want to play Donkey Kong: Original Edition?

I'm guessing most of you have heard this news elsewhere, but just in case a few of you haven't: Nintendo of America will soon make Donkey Kong: Original Edition--aka the NES port of Donkey Kong with the arcade version's "cement factory" level added back in for good measure--available to select 3DS owners.

I say "select" because the game will be given (for free) to folks who buy Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone, Crosswords Plus, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask or Style Savvy: Trendsetters via the 3DS eShop by Jan. 6.



Is the promise of Donkey Kong: Original Edition enough of an incentive to prompt any of you to pick up digital copies of one or more of the above-mentioned 3DS titles?

For more information about this promotion, pay a visit to club2.nintendo.com/donkeykong/ at your earliest convenience.

(Via tinycartridge.com)

Donkey Kong: Original Edition ain't all that

Did you hear that? It was me breathing a sigh of relief for not buying one of those European red Wii systems--you know, the ones preloaded with Donkey Kong: Original Edition.

I don't know if I actually would have gone through with it, but I certainly thought about it once or twice after it was announced that Donkey Kong: Original Edition included the "pie factory" level (right) previously limited to the arcade version of the game.

After playing the game for a few hours last night, I can say with complete certainty that blowing £200 (about $315) on a European red Wii just so I could gain access to the above-mentioned level would have been an awful waste of my hard-earned money.

Why? For starters, the pie factory is the game's weakest level. Sure, the stage's conveyor belts and cement pans (sorry, they're not really pies) can be a bit of a challenge, but after you've played it a few times it can be cleared in seconds.

Even if said level were the game's strongest, though, it wouldn't make it worth $315. Subtract about $300 from that total and you'll see what I think a digital version of Donkey Kong: Original Edition is worth (although I have to admit I'd personally pay up to $10 for it).

So, you mean I can stop cursing Nintendo of America now?

The brass at Nintendo have made some strange decisions in recent years regarding the worldwide (or not) release of their games.

One example: Their decision to release games like Another Code: R, Disaster: Day of Crisis and Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse in Japan--and Europe, in the case of the first two titles--but not in North America. (Maybe they think Americans are anti-colon when it comes to game titles?)

Another example: Their decision to preload their "special edition" red Wii systems with a 25th anniversary edition of Super Mario Bros. in Japan and Donkey Kong: Original Edition in Europe--and a big, fat nothing in North America.

Honestly, I'd run out and buy one of the red Wiis that are currently available in North America right now if it included a copy of Donkey Kong: Original Edition--despite the fact that I already own a Wii and I'd rather save that money to buy a few Famicom or PC Engine games (or maybe a PS3 or an Xbox 360).



As that isn't the case, I've spent way too much of my time cursing Nintendo of America since the red Wii was released--sans Donkey Kong: Original Edition--on Nov. 7.

Well, all of that cursing ended last night (for the most part) when I discovered that someone recently ripped the game from his/her European Wii and posted it on line. (The version I found seems to be playable on any Famicom/NES emulator.)

Don't worry, I'll hand over whatever the folks at Nintendo of America decide to charge for the game should they ever get the go-ahead to put it on their Virtual Console service.

Until that time, though, I'll enjoy playing it--using FCE Ultra GX--on my homebrew-enabled Wii.

See also: 'Cement pie'