Long Lost Donkey Kong Game Resurfaces

It's pretty awesome to see a rare video game make a comeback for the world to enjoy – even if the game wasn't always intended for public release. And a team has managed to dig up a gem featuring the biggest gaming ape of them all, Donkey Kong.

Back in the 1980's, Nintendo actually worked alongside developer Hudson Soft on a number of its franchises, including Donkey Kong. However, for some reason, the 1984 release Donkey Kong 3: Daigyakushuu (The Great Counterattack in the U.S.) never got released.

Sure, Donkey Kong 3 didn't exactly light on fire like Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. did, but it had its share of fans that probably wanted to see that follow-up.

So a few fans decided to do something. They pooled their money together to purchase a rare diskette for the Sharp X1 computer version, containing the Donkey Kong game. It set them back $415, but it would turn out to be worth it.

Following their purchase, they went through the steps to extract information from the disk (the full process is broken down here) and that resulted in the game being playable on an Xbox One via an emulator. It's a lengthy process, but one that some fans will feel is worth it.

Once again returning to the battlefield is Stanley the Bugman, with a spray can in his hand that he uses to shoot Donkey Kong upward, just as he did in Donkey Kong 3. But, as you can see from the video above (posted on the Nintendo Era channel), the playfield looks to be much more wide open, but you still have to shoot DK to the top of the screen.

The game reportedly features 20 stages to get through, although, with its difficulty settings, it reportedly takes a great deal of time to get there – if players can get there.

It's a fascinating history lesson, one that fans of the Donkey Kong series will want to give a look. Even if it is bizarre in some cases – how could two tiny balloons hold up such a large ape? – it's still a footnote that no die-hard Nintendo fan should skip over.

(Kudos to Kotaku for the tip!)