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How I discovered an Easter Egg in Donkey Kong 26 years later

donhodges.com — In 1983, the arcade smash hit Donkey Kong was ported to the Atari 400/800 home computer systems by Landon Dyer. Mr. Dyer, in between pulling his hair out while working on this game, included what is known as an "Easter Egg" in the game's code. 26 years later, I am pleased to announce that I have discovered the way to trigger this Easter egg.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 6, 2009

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188 Comments

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  • MattM0914, on 07/05/2009, -6/+390Dugg for the geekiness.
  • XxbladesfirexX, on 07/06/2009, -2/+327Dugg for explaining it with code.
  • plokij909, on 07/06/2009, -2/+309Dugg for 1996 website design skillz.
  • Leminnes, on 07/06/2009, -2/+245http://digg.com/nintendo/Easter_Egg_For_Atari_Donk ... < 1day 15hrs ago.
    http://digg.com/gaming_news/How_I_discovered_an_Ea ... < 11hrs ago.

    Good job finding your own stories, MrBabyMan.
  • inactive, on 07/06/2009, -9/+150nobody told this guy about sex?
  • doshindude, on 07/06/2009, -13/+133Definitely not worth the effort though. The original programmer even said it. All that for initials.
  • Shadic, on 07/06/2009, -0/+105"Totally original, I swear!'
  • Andrewbot, on 07/06/2009, -3/+94I found an Easter Egg in his website: If too many people go to it, it breaks!
  • inactive, on 07/06/2009, -0/+77What do you think the 75 bucks is for?
  • l31101, on 07/06/2009, -0/+73Glad he did it the smart way, and not actually playing the game til eternity.
  • adudenamedjon, on 07/05/2009, -10/+73THE KING OF KONG
  • btraxx, on 07/06/2009, -1/+61"There's a Donkey Kong kill screen coming up if anyone's interested"
  • AndrewDB, on 07/06/2009, -1/+53Thinking about digging this just because the douche bag Billy Mitchell didn't discover it.
  • seaDragon, on 07/06/2009, -5/+51http://rorr.im [in case the site goes down]
  • kjoe51689, on 07/06/2009, -0/+43He's a programmer... What do you expect?
  • BREZZZ, on 07/06/2009, -5/+46It seems totally worth it. I am sure at that point the arcade machine will become a pussy magnet. You are going to have so much fun fending off all the haters out there who are going to say it is just the name of a company that built the cabinet or something, but oh boy, those peons could not be more wrong.
  • neilyn, on 07/06/2009, -0/+40is that a different easter egg or something?
  • americanoboy, on 07/06/2009, -3/+41$75
  • BoneStamp, on 07/06/2009, -0/+35Dugg for reminding me of olde Digg... ***** I'm NOT going to see on CNN five days from now.
  • inactive, on 07/06/2009, -2/+36Yeah, you should leave Digg and get out of your basement.
  • Jdshald, on 07/06/2009, -0/+34This discovery will soon rival history's most infamous and scientific breakthroughs of the 21st century. Remember this day, men, for it will be yours for all time.
  • zyklon, on 07/06/2009, -0/+31Dugg for the dedication.
  • Fogell, on 07/06/2009, -1/+30Only on digg.
  • dafragsta, on 07/06/2009, -0/+28"3. Set the game difficulty to 4 by pressing the Option button 3 times. The icon for this difficulty is a firefox."

    A firefox?
  • inactive, on 07/06/2009, -0/+27It's no "minus world", that's for sure.
  • Imissnaptime, on 07/06/2009, -10/+37"how i discovered i was still a virgin, 26 years later"

    /fixed
  • AeroZeppelin, on 07/06/2009, -0/+24I'm sure Billy Mitchell is going to declare it as fraud and then proceed to deliver a videotape of him doing it.
  • AndrewDB, on 07/06/2009, -0/+21Even then, it's something about Donkey Kong taken away from Billy Mitchell.
  • GeorgeStone2, on 07/06/2009, -3/+24Dugg for lack of web 2.0 "usability"
  • flashingcurser, on 07/06/2009, -1/+17I hate it when it's all on one page like that.
  • WheezyMustafa, on 07/06/2009, -0/+14All it's missing is the little 'under construction' GIFs and the page visitor counter. :p
  • inactive, on 07/06/2009, -5/+18your point being ?
  • shadowspawn, on 07/06/2009, -0/+13Oh how I miss assembly.
  • mrsonicblue, on 07/06/2009, -0/+13Here is page 9 of the book "How to Win at Donkey Kong", published in 1982:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/21118604@N08/36935877 ...

    They refer to them as "Foxfires", but I've known (old) people who hopelessly refer to the browser as "Foxfire" as well.
  • freshyill, on 07/06/2009, -1/+14Hi, let me Google that for you. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=dave+pc+game
  • supakoopa, on 07/06/2009, -0/+12Actually, this is only on the Atari version.
  • andrewa, on 07/06/2009, -1/+13wtf is wrong with people that can't read simple text? The text was formatted just fine, what actually were you looking for? Go take your OCD meds.
  • dafragsta, on 07/06/2009, -0/+12I think he only plays the arcade version.
  • DurtyJ, on 07/06/2009, -0/+11I can't remember the exact words but the conversation he has to the camera about his tie proves he is the biggest douche that has ever existed. There is no fancy editing in that scene, and nothing to argue about.
  • gl77, on 07/06/2009, -2/+13Ads? what ads?
  • Mujokan, on 07/06/2009, -0/+11And maybe another few bucks from the ads now he's on Digg (and I assume Reddit etc.)
  • BrokenVisage, on 07/06/2009, -2/+12KILL SCREEN! JUST WANT TO LET YOU GUYS KNOW A KILL SCREEN IS COMING UP!
  • zeabu, on 07/06/2009, -0/+10It's because of this, others (like the original) don't make the frontpage. Digg should get rid of friends, fans, and should be completely anonymous as far as submitting stories. There's no way I'm going to submit stories anymore, I don't play the game with the result my most popular story had 11 diggs. A story about Apple that was.
  • Googled, on 07/06/2009, -0/+10Let me know if you discover it.
  • Rememberthe0511, on 07/06/2009, -0/+9Dude. after watching that movie, I would drive for at lest 15 minutes to see one in person.
  • ninja0, on 07/06/2009, -3/+12Shoulda been something cooler like a cutscene, or donkey kong raping the princess.

    what?
  • TheRascalKing, on 07/06/2009, -0/+9Nice, at least he made 75 bucks off of this.
  • allyant, on 07/06/2009, -1/+10Assembly.
  • solid12345, on 07/06/2009, -0/+8Billy, is that you?
  • solid12345, on 07/06/2009, -0/+8http://www.rom-world.com/

    [In case Atari goes down]
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