Hudson: Donkey Kong 3 Dai Gyakushou
In my post about old games yesterday, I briefly mentioned the home computer days of Hudson Soft. Of all the home computer publishers in Japan, Hudson is under a watchful eye more than most thanks to the bizarre Super Mario Bros. Special. But I also mentioned that the company was responsible for a handful of Nintendo games on the home computer scene, and today I’m going to look at one that you hardly ever see mentioned: Donkey Kong 3 Dai Gyakushou (Donkey Kong 3: Great Counterstrike).
Donkey Kong 3 Dai Gyakushou title screen
Released in 1984 on the PC6001, PC8801, FM-7 and Sharp X1, this game is an adaption of Nintendo’s 1984 arcade game Donkey Kong 3. The adaption is written by “ITA”, which is unhelpful, but during 1984 Hudson would run competitions for bedroom coders to send them their games and they would publish armfuls of them. In 1984 alone they published no less than 55 on home computers.
Donkey Kong 3 Dai Gyakushou screenshot
So what’s the big difference? Aside from the roadscape background and DK hanging from little parachutes there are no multi-level platforms. You’re still shooting bees out of the sky for points. There are no flowers to protect, so the aim is simply to survive the onslaught and blast DK.
But let’s come back to the roadscape background for a second. It’s bizarre! It’s easily the first thing you’ll notice, but it doesn’t appear to have anything to do with the game. The box is unhelpful, recycling art from the arcade edition:
Donkey Kong 3 Dai Gyakushou box
As far as lost treasures go, Super Mario Bros. Special is still the holy grail, but it’ll be difficult to find a more obscure game than this. I hope the deviantArt Stanley the Bugman fanclub likes it!
