The B-List History of Donkey Kong

Gaming historian Jeremy Parish joins me for the entire episode to tell the story of gaming’s most famous primate.

• Act 1: How Donkey Kong saved Nintendo

• Act 2: Donkey Kong’s long journey back to the top

• Patreon Bonus: The Top 5 Donkey Kong games – and the #1 strangest

• Act 3: The news of the week

Act 1: How Donkey Kong saved Nintendo

• Jeremy Parish’s YouTube documentaries (Game Works)

• NES Works 1985-86 (Limited Run)

• SEGAIDEN Vol. 1 (Limited Run)

• Ikegami Tsushinki (Wikipedia)

• Virtual Boy Works (Limited Run)

• Super NES Works Vol. 1 (Limited Run)

• The Popeye magazine cover with a Mario-like model (NintendoLife/Katewillaert)

• How Popeye Changed Video Games (Thrilling Tales of Video Games)

Act 2: Donkey Kong’s long journey back to the top

• Who Killed Rare (Eurogamer)

• Donkey Kong Jungle Beat review (IGN)

• DK: King of Swing review (NintendoLife)

• HBomberGuy’s famous Donkey Kong 64 charity stream (H.BurgerGuy)

Bonus Act: The top 5 Donkey Kong games

• Donkey Kong 3: Dai Gyakushū (Super Mario Wiki)

• Donkey Kong 3 Dai Gyakushuu - ドンキーコング３ 大逆襲 (X1 Turbo) (Archive.org)

• Donkey Kong 3: Dai Gyakushuu (Sharp X1) Playthrough (NintendoComplete)

Act 3: News of the week

• Supergiant swears Hades 2's new update is the last one before it leaves early access and releases in full (PCGamer)

• It Took Me 10 Minutes To Hit A Paywall In The New Free-To-Play Pokémon Puzzle Game (Kotaku)

• Battlefield 6 Official Reveal Trailer (Battlefield YouTube)

• Call of Duty is firmly in its slop era, and now it's Battlefield 6's game to lose (PCGamer)

• Wheel World review (RPS)

• Credit Card Companies Are Hurting the Future of Video Games (404 Media)

• Crackdown on sex video games goes wide, alarming developers and impacting award-winning titles (Game File)

• Steam and Itch.io Are Pulling ‘Porn’ Games. Critics Say It’s a Slippery Slope to More Censorship (Wired)

• A helpful thread on how to formally and productively complain to your credit card company about their part in video game censorship (ithayla.bsky.social)

This week in video game links

• Lena Raine’s Escape From Video Game Music Purgatory (Bandcamp)

• 'The father of Elder Scrolls' Julian LeFay has died: 'His legacy will live on in every realm, every quest, and every moment of wonder' (PCGamer)

• The Softer Side of Dark Souls Fandom (SideQuest.Zone)

• How to survive as an indie developer for 20 years (PCGamer) 

• A Speculative Origin For Final Fantasy’s Tonberry (Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games)

• Shadow Labyrinth Is A Brooding Memorial of Pac-Man (and Namco’s) Bygone Glory (Endless Mode)

• As Video-Game Media Struggles, Star YouTuber Launches New Outlet (Bloomberg)

Free game of the week: Dogwalk

• "Explore a hand-crafted winter forest as a big adorable dog and with a little kid in tow. A short, free, open source project brought to you by Blender Studio."

What else I’m enjoying

• Thursday was Art House Theater Day. While you may have missed the free popcorn available at many art houses across the nation, the truth is that every day is art house movie theater day. This weekend, consider supporting your local art house theater. In a moment of intense artistic censorship via corporate apparatus, the art house is a sanctuary. (Want to watch the movie above? It's Nights of Cabiria)