Donkey Kong Jr. Math
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 What were the developers thinking when they mixed mathematics with "platforming"?
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Donkey Kong Jr. Math is a 1983 edutainment game developed and published by Nintendo. It is the first educational game released on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Donkey Kong gives Junior some math problems ranging from simple to more challenging. You play as Donkey Kong Jr. solving math equations.
Why It Fails at Math
- First of all, if you get the wrong answer, you fall off and you lose a life.
- And to add insult to injury, there are a lot of falling hazards. It doesn't even make any sense, especially when comparing this to Sonic's Schoolhouse, another abysmal educational game. At least that game doesn't have any falling hazards unlike this one.
- Solving math problems while platforming is extremely difficult and is often a chore. And for the record, this game just doesn't really teach anyone anything, other than making them feel very bored.
- This game just gets old pretty fast, and it's worth mentioning that Nintendo of all people made this, especially when Mario Teaches Typing is almost as bad as this game in general.
- Who in their right minds would think that this would be useful to other players to learn more math? This not only is bizarre, but the fact that the game is barely even playable.
- It has little to no ending whatsoever:
- After completing this game, you're treated back to the title screen, meaning that all that hard work was all for nothing.
- This game is pretty much a generic "I'm gonna bore you with math because I want to", thus making this go out of the equation of how weak and uninspiring this is.
- The game's sprites literally are reused from Donkey Kong Jr..
Qualities That Are Good at Math
- The game's graphics, while they are reused from Donkey Kong Jr., are still great and are probably one of the only good and great things about this game, especially by 1983's standards, though this doesn't save the game.
- While this isn't really saying much, Donkey Kong Jr. and Donkey Kong (Cranky Kong) are still likable.
- Stays true to the 1982 arcade game, with the gameplay focusing on maneuvering Donkey Kong Jr. across a series of vines while dodging enemies.
Reception
The game has received generally unfavorable reviews. On aggregating review website GameRankings, it received 32%. Nintendo Life gave it a 1/10, summarizing: "If you get excited by doing math puzzles then this will probably be right up your street but for true gamers this is a complete waste of Wii points. The Donkey Kong licence might tempt some people but this really isn't a proper Donkey Kong game. If you really must educate yourself, pick up Brain Training on the DS. Your money will be spent far more wisely.[1]
References
Videos
Trivia
- One of Donkey Kong's alternate colors in the Super Smash Bros. games is based on the pink Donkey Kong Jr. controlled by player two.
Comments
- Edutainment games
- Games with a non-human protagonist
- 1980s games
- Virtual Console games
- Nintendo
- Games made in Japan
- Bad games from good companies
- Donkey Kong games
- Nintendo Entertainment System games
- One-hit-kill games
- Bad games from good franchises
- Games reviewed by CGR Undertow
- Unplayable games
- Bad media
- Bad games