I played two games of Donkey Kong this morning, and neither one went well at all. My first game took a bad turn on the second barrel level, leaving me with just one remaining life, and the second went poorly all along. I ended up only getting 58,400 and 56,800. Pretty bad when I’m trying to get to 200,000. Oh well, I’m going to have days like this and that’s OK. It probably didn’t help that I was sorta hopped up on coffee at the time.

If you’ve ever been a little confused by the level order in the arcade version of Donkey Kong, don’t feel bad. It is extremely baffling. There are only four screens (boards, levels, or whatever you prefer) in the game, but the speed and difficulty of the enemies and obstacles vary as you advance. I have read that the Japanese arcade game has a more logical level order than our U.S. version, but I haven’t been able to confirm that. For us Yankees, though, it plays out like this:

Level 1 (L = 01):

Level 2 (L = 02):

Level 3 (L = 03):

Level 4 (L = 04):

Level 5 (L = 05) and on:

The cycle repeats until you get to the infamous kill screen, when it all ends on a barrel level. Since you have to get through six screens prior to seeing the cement factory for the first time, most people don’t really mind that it’s missing from the NES and other home conversions.

I’m not really sure why they went with this strange ordering of screens, but it does add a bit of mystery to the game and would give you something to discover while you struggle through the game in your favorite arcade or watering hole. It also makes it difficult to keep up with where you are at times, but luckily the “L = 0X” info is always in the upper right corner to remind you (as long as you understand the ordering).

Today, I made it to L = 04 on both of my games, and wasn’t really trying to collect big points, but just advance. I might try to get some more points next time and not just get closer to that kill screen, which is my typical plan.