Super Donkey Kong for ColecoVision is a hacked
version of the enhanced game made for Coleco's Adam computer. Because of what was likely a
means of cost-cutting by Coleco, the version of Donkey Kong they "gave
away" with the system was scaled down to fit in about half as much memory as the
ColecoVision can handle. When they did the Adam computer version of the game, they
pulled out all the stops and made is much truer to the arcade. A few years back I
discovered an in-house version of Donkey Kong and I titled it Super DK. This
version uses all of the available memory space on the ColecoVision and while some minor
bugs had to be worked out, I was able to get it to run on a stand-alone ColecoVision
system.
The main difference you will notice is the addition of the intermission sequences. While these were present in the arcade version of the game, Coleco elected to omit them in the cartridge version. They make for a more arcade-like experience but add nothing to the game.
One extra level is present in this version over the released cartridge. While it will come up and seemingly let you play it, something called sprite collision is not implemented which means you cannot get killed by any of the nasties chasing you. You also can't pick up any of the bonus items. You can navigate the screen and make your way to the top (with ease I might add) and complete the level, but there is no challenge whatsoever.
All the regular levels of Donkey Kong are here as you would expect and they are exactly the same as they are in your cartridge.
I have mixed feelings about this version of
Donkey Kong. Being a big fan of the arcade game, I got a kick out of the
intermission sequences, but the extra level is not much of a plus since it's not completed
and, quite frankly, even if it was finished, it seems like it would be a pretty boring
level anyway. The die hard Donkey Kong fanatic is certainly going to want to check
this one out, but others aren't really missing all that much.
However, just because the extra level isn't anything to write mom about, the game overall is certainly one of the better arcade translations ever done. I find it interesting that this ColecoVision version is even better than the same game on the Atari 7800 which supposedly had superior technology. Go figure....
