Donkey Kong — ColecoVision

1982 · Platform · ColecoVision

Overview

The ColecoVision's Donkey Kong (1982) was the first home version of Nintendo's arcade hit, packed in with every console and praised as the most faithful arcade conversion of its day.

Deep Dive

As in the arcade original, a carpenter — the character who would become Mario — climbs girders and ladders, jumping barrels thrown by Donkey Kong, to rescue a woman held at the top of the screen. Coleco built its new console's launch around the game: every ColecoVision came with the cartridge, and the console was positioned as offering a closer arcade experience than the Atari 2600 or Intellivision. A 1983 Creative Computing review called it 'the most faithful adaptation of the original video game I have seen'.

Developer Story

The ColecoVision went on sale in August 1982 with Donkey Kong as its pack-in, and Coleco sold more than 500,000 consoles by Christmas, helped by the game. The bundled version eventually sold 2 million units. Coleco also released versions for the Atari 2600 and Intellivision.

Did You Know?

Coleco's Eric Bromley negotiated the licence with Nintendo's Hiroshi Yamauchi, who reportedly asked for $200,000 up front that day plus $2 for every unit sold.
After Universal's president threatened to sue over the home version, Coleco agreed to pay Universal royalties of 3% of the game's net sale price.