Donkey Kong, Nintendo's video game, is special for a lot of reasons. It was the debut of Mario (though under the generic name Jump Man), it put Nintendo on the map of the industry (where it would later become a titan), and it earned a lawsuit from Universal Studios for the use of a name supposedly under copyright (pertaining to King Kong).
Donkey Kong is also special because, along with Pac-Man, it was one of the most cloned games in video game history. It has had countless copies for every system imaginable (and even for ones you've never heard of). By merely changing the name, a beautiful legal loophole was created, through which pirates slipped, feeling free to shamelessly copy Nintendo's creation. Many of those bootleg copies, without the big N's quality control, had terrifying art, drawings that would scare the living daylights out of even the bravest mortals.
Nintendo tried to fight, as best it could, against the horde of pirates copying its game, but never with much success. Unbridled, often hiding behind anonymity, cheap versions of Donkey Kong abounded, appearing in every arcade and on every computer of the era. It's curious, as a fun fact, how Midway handled the same issue. Instead of fighting those who had modified its game to make 'Ms. Pac-Man' (a faster and more precise version of Pac-Man), they hired them! Midway produced the game for them and Namco accepted it as official, adding it to its canon. Happy ending for everyone! In contrast, Nintendo, in its fight against windmills, accomplished very little, as you'll see in the selected images below...
A Gallery of Horrifying Donkey Kong Clones
A handheld game, old-school, with a robotic Kong. In the style of Tiger Games. You can see a video here.
No, seriously. What the hell were they thinking?! If you dare, here's a video.
If we're talking about cheap clones, Ocean's version for the Spectrum is one of the worst. See it with your own eyes...
I take it back. Ocean's Kong isn't the worst clone of all. The worst is Krazy Kong, from C-TECH. Watching the video without losing your sanity is practically impossible.
Another Krazy Kong for the Spectrum? Yes, because he who robs a thief gets a hundred years of forgiveness. See it in action!
King Kong, for the Atari 2600, is as bad as one could expect from Tigervision. But at least the art is a bit better taken care of. Suffer it here.
And although Donkey Kong officially arrived on the Commodore 64, it didn't lack infinite clones. Interceptor Software's version isn't as bad as it could be, but it's among the worst five when it comes to artistic talent. Here's the game in motion.
Direct sequel to Kong, Ocean's previous game. In Kong Strikes Back, the programmers step up a bit and design original levels, which turn out to be quite fun (why lie). Head over to YouTube to see the video.
AAAAAGHHH! How scary! Video for the brave only.
The best of all these deformities. Or, at least, my favorite. It came out for a somewhat obscure computer called the BBC Micro and looks like this as seen in this video.
Yellow! Yellow! Too yellow! (and the game too green)
It's hard to believe anyone would approve illustrations like these to sell a product. But then we remember that most of these pirates were people working from home, so it's no surprise that some of their little sisters helped out. Besides, it's just like the Genius meme. Here's the video, if you're curious.
The most original of the clones, yes. And from Sega, no less. Pretty good.
A painful game, as the guy playing it in this video says, with a terrifying illustration. As for the game itself, the Commodore 64 version below is somewhat better. But...
VAE RETRO SATANAS! The power of Nintendo compels you! (Click here to see video)
