Video game:ColecoVision Donkey Kong Junior video game cartridge

The success of Donkey Kong led Nintendo to produce a sequel to their arcade hit. Donkey Kong Junior features the diaper-wearing son of Donkey Kong swinging from vines and dodging metal traps in an attempt to rescue his father from Mario. It is the only game in which Mario is portrayed as the enemy. Donkey Kong Junior also introduced a new setting for the Donkey Kong series: the jungle. The industrial setting of Donkey Kong would be used for Mario Bros instead.

Donkey Kong Junior is a platform game in which players must navigate Donkey Kong Junior through a series of levels. In the first level, players jump from platform-to-platform and climb the vines to the top of the screen where Mario has Donkey Kong locked in a cage. By throwing fruit at the metal traps and pesky birds, you can earn bonus points and destroy the enemies. Avoiding the water below and the metal traps on the vines is necessary for survival. When you finally reach Donkey Kong, Mario whisks him away to the next level. The second level consists of avoiding the birds and metal traps in order to bring 8 keys up to Donkey Kong's cage. Again, Mario takes Donkey Kong on to the next level. The Do-Do birds of level three attack you with eggs as you transcend a moving platform. When this level is completed, you return to a more difficult version of level one. The final level takes place in Mario's jungle hideout. You must climb pulsating cables to reach Donkey Kong and release him at last. The game then restarts at a greater level of difficulty.

While Donkey Kong sold over 80,000 units in the U.S., Donkey Kong Junior sold approximately 30,000. Donkey Kong Junior may not have been as many units as the original, but it was still considered a success. The game was ported to the Atari 2600 and 7800, ColecoVision, Famicom, and a number of other home game systems. Nintendo continued to produce arcade games in the Donkey Kong series, including: Donkey Kong 3 and Donkey Kong Country. Donkey Kong Junior is an important installment in the Donkey Kong series because it introduced the setting that would be used by the series thereafter.