Donkey Kong 3: The Great Counterattack: Now You Can Play the Lost Donkey Kong Game

A group of enthusiasts has managed to obtain a disk containing an exclusive game from Nintendo's iconic gorilla that has never left Japan since its release in 1984. This is “Donkey Kong 3: The Great Counterattack”, the lost Donkey Kong game that you can now play.

The popular Nintendo gorilla made his debut in 1981 with the Donkey Kong arcade series, where he was the villain and rival of a small Mario (though under the generic name Jump Man). The series featured three games: Donkey Kong (1981), Donkey Kong Jr. (1982), and Donkey Kong 3 (1983); not to mention several pirate clones. But what very few know is that there was a fourth installment that never left Japan since its release in 1984... until today. That is “Donkey Kong 3: The Great Counterattack”, the lost Donkey Kong game you can now play.

Everything began last December, when a group of fans raised money to buy a disk with the game in Sharp X1 version for $415 at an auction. They then went through an elaborate extraction process to get the data from the disk, which can now be played on an X1 emulator. When testing “Donkey Kong 3: The Great Counterattack”, the first thing that stands out is that, unlike previous entries, Nintendo was not in charge of development; the baton passed to Hudson Soft, which developed the game for the Japanese personal computers NEC PC-6601, NEC PC-8801, and Sharp X1.

As for gameplay, it seems copied from Donkey Kong 3 but with some slight differences. You again control Stanley, the insecticide, who must prevent Donkey from descending to the ground. The most notable difference is that Stanley cannot jump; he moves on a single flat platform at the bottom of the screen, shooting at the gorilla, who now comes down slowly by parachute instead of vines. It seems simple, but a series of bees and other enemies wander the scene to attack you, though you can kill them with insecticide to earn more points.

The scenes are no longer greenhouses but a journey through a series of landscapes across the world and the universe. In fact, it features twenty levels in total, with difficulty constantly increasing. Given the premise and gameplay, The Great Counterattack would be a sequel (or expansion) of Donkey Kong 3 that only Japanese players could enjoy at the time. Developed by Hudson Soft, “Donkey Kong 3: The Great Counterattack” is available for free download and play on an X1 emulator.

• Download: Donkey Kong 3: The Great Counterattack
• Emulator: X1
• Source: Medium