Donkey Kong Jr. (game)

Donkey Kong Jr. is an arcade game starring Donkey Kong Jr. that was later re-released along with other Mario games in Donkey Kong Classics, Donkey Kong Jr. + Jr. Math Lesson and Donkey Kong/Donkey Kong Jr./Mario Bros., remade into a Game & Watch game and a Mini Classics game and was also later released on the Virtual Console for the Wii. Donkey Kong Jr. is also a minigame in Game & Watch Galleries 3 and 4. The game was also released on the e-reader with the only difference being a player had to scan in 5 cards to play it, afterward the player didn't have to scan the cards again unless they scanned in a different game requiring 5 cards. It was the direct sequel to Donkey Kong and it and the similar Donkey Kong II are the only games in the whole Mario series where Mario is the antagonist. Donkey Kong Jr. never enjoyed the sales or the following that the original Donkey Kong did, but it did well enough to warrant a third sequel, Donkey Kong 3.

Story
After the events of Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong has been captured by Mario as revenge for kidnapping his girlfriend and Donkey Kong Jr. has to save him. Donkey Kong Jr. will travel through four stages from the jungle to the big city to get his father back, climbing vines, avoiding enemies and jumping on platforms along the way. However every time Donkey Kong Jr. gets close to freeing DK, Mario just pushes him further away.

Finally in the big city, Mario is on top of a sky-scraper similar to 100m from the last game and Donkey Kong Jr. has to put six keys into their keyholes to free his dad and make the platform they're standing on disappear. Donkey Kong and Mario both fall down and Donkey Kong Jr. catches Donkey Kong but Mario just hits the ground. Donkey Kong Jr. carries his dad off-screen and then Mario gets up and runs after them, only to be punched right back out by Donkey Kong.

Levels

 * Stage 1
 * Stage 2
 * Stage 3
 * Stage 4

Characters

 * Donkey Kong Jr.
 * Donkey Kong
 * Mario

Enemies

 * Snapjaw
 * Nitpicker
 * Spark
 * Mario (boss)

Influence on Later Games

 * Donkey Kong and Mario vs Donkey Kong: Donkey Kong Jr., as well as many enemies and gameplay elements, make an appearance in this game. Also, Mario's method of trapping Junior in Donkey Kong '94 is identical to Donkey Kong Jr.'s method of freeing his father from captivity. Many enemies and gameplay elements from Donkey Kong Jr. are reused in Mario vs Donkey Kong as well.
 * Donkey Kong Country series: It's been officially confirmed that the Donkey Kong who stars in the Country series is in fact a grown up version of Donkey Kong Jr., while his father, on the other hand, is now known as Cranky Kong. Also, Diddy and Dixie's ability to climb two ropes at a time originates from Donkey Kong Jr.

Trivia

 * Interestingly, during the intro of the arcade version of Donkey Kong Jr., there were two Marios seen carrying Donkey Kong's cage away, which has led people to speculate that the one of the Marios was actually Luigi, but Luigi didn't appear because the game's release is prior to 06/83.
 * This is the only game where Mario is portrayed as a villain.