WANTED: Feedback for Donkey Kong PK for Atari 7800

[dauber]

I'm looking for the next episode of the Atari 7800 Homebrew Podcast (you can find it on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or use this feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/homebrew78 )

What are your thoughts on Donkey Kong PK? This game will be covered on Episode 12.

You can also e-mail text or audio to homebrew78 -at- fab4it -dot- com.

Deadline is noon CDT on Friday, June 2. Any comments from after then will be addressed in a later episode.

[TrekMD]

I had originally written this for the XM version of the game (which is the PK version anyway), so I have just made some changes to the text:

 

Atari’s port of Donkey Kong was pretty good but it was missing certain details from the arcade game and had TIA sound that left much to be desired.  Enter Tep392 with Donkey Kong PK, a version of the game that addresses many of the shortcomings of the original port.  This version adds POKEY sound (borrowed from the 8-bit version) and that alone makes a world of a difference.  Other changes include the addition of a more arcade-like title screen, the addition of the intro screen in which Kong climbs up the building carrying Pauline, the “How High Can You Get?” screens in between levels, Kong beating his chest (with sound) as you try to rescue Pauline, Kong escaping with Pauline at the end of each level, and the addition of the entire cement (pie) factory screen (Kong moves from left to right on the top level as in the arcade).  In addition, the graphics and colors have been updated on all screens to better match the arcade, a menu screen has been added to select various options, the score area has been updated to match the arcade, character sprites have been improved, the AI of the firefoxes and fireballs has been updated to be arcade perfect, the hammers have been moved to the correct positions, and barrel tossing and bouncer patterns have been updated to match the arcade’s. Two difficulty options are available, Novice and Arcade, and you also can select whether to play with the American or Japanese sequence of screens.  In short, with all these changes, Donkey Kong PK is probably the ultimate home version of Donkey Kong and it plays in none other than the 7800 ProSystem!