Donkey Kong Goes Home

Donkey Kong Goes Home is an American album published by in 1983. It was licensed by Nintendo. The songs were performed by Rena Jones, Leon Reeder, and Dana Walden. They were written and produced by Pat McBride and Dana Walden.

Story
Apart from the first track, Donkey Kong Goes Home narrates an original story at the start of each song written by the composers that explains the events of the original game.

In the track "No More Zoo For You," the narrator (voiced by Rena Jones) explains that Donkey Kong once used to live in Gamesville's zoo since he was a baby, located next to her candy shop and Mario's pizza parlor. She, Mario, and his delivery girl Pauline used to visit Donkey Kong every day to bring him food. However, the zoo closed and all animals, including Donkey Kong, were sold to the circus, which visits the city only once a year. The track "The Climber" reveals that the old zoo site is now a construction site. Donkey Kong, feeling homesick, breaks out of his cage and heads to the construction site. In the track "On Top Of The World," Jake, the watchman of the construction site, calls Mario (voiced by Pat McBride) for a pizza, and Pauline heads to the site to deliver it. Donkey Kong sees Pauline, and remembering her from his days at the zoo, he grabs her and climbs the construction site. In the track "Jump Up," the narrator tells Mario to save Pauline, after which he starts to climb the building. While he does so, Donkey Kong throws barrels of oil at him. In the track "Mario Delivers," Donkey Kong starts throwing fewer barrels as Mario gets closer, eventually fully stopping once he remembers him, and Pauline is rescued, which makes the city celebrate Mario. In the last track, "Donkey Kong Theme (Reprise)," Mario says that Donkey Kong is not actually dangerous and that he is just homesick, and everyone agrees to create a "Donkey Kong Zoo" in the top 20 floors of the building under construction.

Production
In 1983, Kid Stuff Records obtained the license from Nintendo to produce an album based on Donkey Kong. McBride, Walden, Jones, and Reeder, who previously collaborated on children albums based on  featuring a narrated story, were given the job. As the original game did not have a story that could be used for a full album, the team had to create its own story to form a narrative. The team produced the album without any creative control from Nintendo.

Trivia

 * The front cover of the vinyl is based on the original game's cabinet art, but with Mario's head redrawn to more closely resemble his appearance on the game's.
 * This marks the first time Mario is given an Italian accent, which would eventually become a defining trait of the character once Charles Martinet started portraying him.