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I Wrote Donkey Kong

dadhacker.com — DadHacker author Landon Dyer has posted a compelling account of his time working as a programmer for Atari back in the early 80s, where he created, among other things, the cartridge game version of Donkey Kong. It's a fun read and gives a pretty unique perspective on the early days of the video game industry.

Who dugg this? Made popular Mar 16, 2008

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  • hypnotoad32, on 03/16/2008, -2/+60Donkey Kong for the 2600 ≠ Donkey Kong
  • megaton, on 03/16/2008, -1/+44Am I the only one getting an article about him working on the Atari ST and without any mention of Donkey Kong?

    Here's the REAL article about Donkey Kong: http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=987

    Did anybody actually READ the thing, or is it just blindly being dugg up?
  • CaptainEO, on 03/16/2008, -1/+36There's a Donkey Kong kill screen comin' up....
  • inactive, on 03/16/2008, -0/+27What an amazing timeperiod to be in the software development industry. Today its all web, trying to imitate the desktop. big woo hoo. Gaming is all the same. It's all become rather boring and mundane really. Computers are faster, but really, they arent DOING anything. Back in the day, trying to push a 6502 processor over its capable limits to do things never imagined was truly amazing. Kudos to the vets. Its an embarrassment to write code in Java or C# when these folks used bare knuckle assembly...in 10 feet of snow...up hill... both ways...
  • LordHelmet, on 03/16/2008, -0/+25Ummm...Donkey Kong for the 2600 was made by Coleco, not Atari. This article is referring to the Atari 8bit computer version, which is a brilliant translation.
  • Chocolatefatkid, on 03/16/2008, -2/+21It's on like Donkey Kong.
  • ennTOXX, on 03/16/2008, -5/+23Who doesn't like Donkey Kong? Remember Donkey Kong JR.? Ahhhhh, the days of Arcade... :||
  • BHRecon, on 03/16/2008, -1/+18I wrote Donkey Kong too... he never replied.. that bastard.
  • bigt8dogg, on 03/16/2008, -0/+16This article is about the development of the Atari ST, not Donkey Kong. It is a great article, but this is a completely misleading title.

    The only reference in this article to Donkey Kong is in the comments, and it takes you to another site completely... http://www.gamestooge.com/2008/03/13/developing-do ...
  • dvicklund, on 03/16/2008, -1/+14I didn't even have to click on that to know what you were trying to do.

    I mean, come on, that's not even close to tricky.
  • Neiby, on 03/16/2008, -0/+10I was one of those people burned by the fact that the ST didn't have basic on it. I got one of those damned things for Christmas one year. I was only in junior high and was pretty freaking excited. I go to boot it up.....and it does boot, but that's it. I get a pretty Atari screen or something. WTF???

    Neither I nor my parents knew that we had to buy BASIC separately, so for many days I had a completely worthless system. It didn't do *****. I was so bummed that it actually made my mom cry. I blame Atari for making my mom cry. Bastards...
  • RyeBrye, on 03/16/2008, -0/+9This article has nothing to do with Donkey Kong.

    Can I have 10 minutes of my life back?
  • mykalimba, on 03/16/2008, -0/+8No, just look at pictures for the rest of your life -- that's the only way to learn anything.
  • bobrobon, on 03/16/2008, -1/+98-bit is my hero.
  • FaithclubDotNet, on 03/16/2008, -0/+7In the early days of the arcade a young kid could expect "anything" to pop in on the arcades. Now a days, I pre-order my game like 6 months in advance and know what is going to be like before I even play it. Even games that haven't been made yet a person can generally theorize what is possible and what isn't. I think either Doom 1 or Dune 2 was the last time I was surprised by a game.
  • xxBondsxx, on 03/16/2008, -1/+8yeah seriously that sucked dude. rick rolls have to be GOOD to get promoted
  • WickEd101, on 03/16/2008, -2/+9Anyone remember the little clamshell Donkey Kong game that had little red squishy buttons? That was fun.
  • YellowSnowDemon, on 03/16/2008, -0/+6H-H-H...Here we go!
    So they're finally here, performing for you
    If you know the words, you can join in too
    Put your hands together if you want to clap
    As we take you through this fun-ky rap! HUH!
    D. K.! Donkey Kong!
    * He's the leader of the bunch. You know him well.
    He's finally back to kick some tail!
    His coconut gun can fire in spurts
    If he shoots ya, it's gonna hurt!
    He's bigger! faster! and stronger too!
    He's the first member of the DK crew!
    D. K.! Donkey Kong! HEY!
    D. K.! Donkey Kong is here!
    This Kong's got style, so listen up dudes!
    She shrinks in size to suit her mood!
    She's quick n' nimble when she needs to be
    She floats in air and climbs up trees!
    If you choose her, you won't choose wrong
    With a skip and a hop, she's ONE COOL KONG!
    D. K.! Donkey Kong!
    He has no style, he has no grace
    This Kong...has a funny face
    He can handstand when he wants to
    And stretch his arms out just for you!
    In-flate himself just like a balloon
    This cra-zy Kong just digs this tune! HEY!
    D. K.! (D. K.!) Donkey Kong!
    D. K.! (D. K.!) Donkey Kong is here!
    He's back again, and about time, too
    And this time, he's in the mood!
    He can fly real high
    with his jetpack on...
    With his pistols out, he's one tough Kong!
    He can make you smile when you hear his tune...
    But, Kremlings beware
    'cause he's out after you!
    D. K.! Donkey Kong!
    D. K.! Donkey Kong!
    D. K.! Donkey Kong!
    D. K....
    Fi-nal-ly, he's here for you!
    It's the LAST member of the D. K. crew!
    This Kong's...so strong, it isn't funny!
    Can make a Kremling cry out for Mummy!
    He can pick up a boulder with relative ease
    Makes crushing rocks seem such a breeze
    He may move slow; he can't jump high
    But this Kong's one heck of a guy! Hehehe...
    Come on Cranky!
    Take it to the stage!
    ** Walnuts, peanuts, pineapple smells!
    Grapes, melons, oranges, and coconut shells!
    Oh, yeah!
  • zephc, on 03/16/2008, -0/+6I worked with Landon at a small startup circa 1999 - really smart guy, and it was cool hearing about him working on these now-ancient games.
  • acetv, on 03/16/2008, -1/+5Yeah, I read this and the DK article. I liked this too, so I gave it a digg.
  • kmesp86, on 03/16/2008, -2/+6I'm pretty sure video games were made by doped up hippies.
    Case in point: http://www.cracked.com/video_16019_video-game-pitc ...
  • Langford, on 03/16/2008, -1/+5Maybe not, but when it was the only version I had access to, it was good enough.
  • jserio, on 03/16/2008, -0/+4Does anyone recall finding the easter egg he mentions in the article? He doesn't say what it is, just how to get to it.
  • retawd, on 03/16/2008, -0/+4I have DK on all 3 platforms (Atari, Intellivision, Coleco). It really doesn't impress the girls like I thought it would :P
  • bigt8dogg, on 03/16/2008, -0/+4Here is the actual blog that the guy wrote on Donkey Kong: http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=987
  • jserio, on 03/16/2008, -0/+3Scroll down the page a bit.
  • dawnraid101, on 03/16/2008, -0/+3yeh i got the thing about his days at atari no mention of donkey kong hmmmmmmm.
  • capnarrr, on 03/16/2008, -2/+5this is referring to the 8-bit atari version of donkey kong which was better in the NES version in many ways (contained all 4 levels, better gameplay and sound, etc)
  • loggia, on 03/16/2008, -0/+3He made Donkey Kong before the ST and the Tramiels...
  • verkon, on 03/16/2008, -0/+3I read the one about the Atari ST and thought, wow, that was a good read. Then when I closed the tab I was reminded by that I was actually looking for the donkey kong article.
  • historicity, on 03/16/2008, -0/+3Funny, I was thinking," Where is the rest of it?"
  • shutz, on 03/16/2008, -0/+3If you have to ask, you either haven't played it, or you just don't "get" truly original games.
  • yourpaljasper, on 03/16/2008, -0/+3So Donkey Kong was ported by a guy who's only source of reference was playing the coin op version? I didn't know atari sweded video games.
  • sum33t, on 03/16/2008, -0/+34th comment and you're bitching!
  • Regulator980, on 03/16/2008, -4/+6Dugg Mirror caught it: http://duggmirror.com/
  • vornan19, on 03/16/2008, -0/+2Yes, but how many of us have Donkey Kong for the Atari 2600 over in front of the TV ready to play?
    I do.
    Truthfully I actually have Pinball in the Atari right now but DK is out and waiting.
  • Gerbil_Juice, on 03/16/2008, -0/+2Katamari Damacy was a breath of fresh air.
  • inactive, on 03/16/2008, -0/+2It must have been awesome to be a pioneer in the electronics field, it was so much smaller back then.
  • blorc, on 03/16/2008, -0/+2I didn't read what you said, but I'm going to digg you up.
  • sat0shi, on 03/16/2008, -1/+3It was original but I really don't think it was revolutionary. I personally thought the game got old after a while, even though it was really cool to see at first.
  • Torx, on 03/16/2008, -0/+2Now that was a trip down memory lane, before i was even born lol
  • bigt8dogg, on 03/16/2008, -1/+3Atari ST had a 32 bit processor on a 16 bit bus.
  • shadowspawn, on 03/16/2008, -1/+3sad thing is that i understand this guy. i was one of those picking apart what they did and making it better in a garage or basement of a friend. there wasn't too much money back then, but we came up with some cool ass *****. even today i wonder when people are going to get a clue of what we have sitting around that runs the space shuttle, but apple's latest can't even hold a candle to what we did and still works.
    dugg for the memories and the spillage of a beer drop for those that made ***** happen with us, sitting at line-feed terminals.
  • jonnyeh, on 03/16/2008, -0/+2If you are referring to the Nintendo Game & Watch game, then yes, it was awesome. They released a compilation of those games on the GBA, go check it out for some great nostalgia. They were great games!
  • Doctoxicated, on 03/16/2008, -0/+1very plausible, but the man got a hold of Qbert and used him to promote their electricity pyramid scheme. Yes Qbert turn on all the lights, the electric bills will skyrocket making the electric companies richer than ever before.
  • bigsteve, on 03/16/2008, -0/+1I bet he doesn't even know why he's getting dunked.
  • Samas11, on 03/16/2008, -0/+1I'm not a big BillyB fan
  • f3l1x, on 03/16/2008, -0/+1Welcome to 4chan. Home of nothing ***** useful EVER. ...except maybe to unclog toilets with our SUCK.
  • Maddoktor2, on 03/16/2008, -0/+1The Donkey Kong article was very well written, and now I'm waiting for the next installment of the ST saga.
    Ah, memories... 8-)
  • OrangeSoda31, on 03/17/2008, -0/+1How many of us have the Atari pack on steam and a TV out port?
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