Have you played every Donkey Kong game? Until recently, very few gamers could accurately make that claim. That’s because Donkey Kong 3: The Great Counterattack is such a rare title that it had been largely forgotten by the vast majority of players. It was only released for PC computers in Japan back in the ’80s, and the game was a small footnote in Donkey Kong history. Now, fans are finally going to see this title in action.
Via Kotaku, a group of dedicated fans pooled their resources to purchase a copy of Donkey Kong 3: The Great Counterattack (a.k.a. Donkey Kong 3: Daigyakushuu) when it came up for auction late last year. From there, the game was transferred from a computer disk that dates back to 1984 and unofficially released back into the wild, where it can now be played on an emulator. The YouTube channel Nintendo Era has posted an extended video that shows off The Great Counterattack’s bizarre stages, which take Donkey Kong all over the world and even into outer space.
Don’t let the red-and-blue-clad player character fool you into thinking that Mario came back to the franchise. That’s Stanley the Bugman, the star of the Donkey Kong 3 arcade game. Hudson Soft created this game under license from Nintendo, but the PC machines of that era couldn’t quite pull off a true arcade experience for that particular title.
The game plays like a sequel to Donkey Kong 3, as the big ape gets around on a pair of balloons. That seems oddly appropriate, given Luigi’s balloon DLC that was recently released for Super Mario Odyssey. The Great Counterattack is also said to be ridiculously difficult compared to the other Donkey Kong arcade games. But as Kotaku notes, the game’s sudden availability means that someone will eventually finish this title and post the video online.
What do you think about this long-lost Donkey Kong game? Throw a few barrels our way in the comment section below!
Images: Nintendo Era
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