Donkey Kong Jr. Math

Name: Donkey Kong Jr. Math

Year: 1986

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Nintendo

Genre: Educational

Hours Played: Half an hour

Beaten: N/A

One of my rules in reviewing games is to make sure I've played each game for a minimum of half an hour.  Since I have to beat each game, it's rarely an issue; there's only two games (so far) that have hurt to play that long.  The first one was Color a Dinosaur; the second is Donkey Kong Jr. Math.

Now, I'm not the kind to hate on a game just for trying to teach kids something - as a former aspiring educational game designer, I loath how "edutainment" has become a dirty word. But this game is painful.  There's three modes: "Calculate A", "Calculate B", and "Exercise".  "Excerise" is graphically based off the fourth screen on Donkey Kong Jr, and feels the most like a math game; the game gives you an equation and you have to solve it.  The weird thing is how you solve it; you climb up chains in increments.  Yeah, that's just as weird as it sounds.

"Calculate A" is the mode you always see in screen shots - it looks like the first screen in Donkey Kong Jr, but full of numbers.  Did you know that Donkey Kong Jr. Math is by default a two-player game?  I sure didn't! And by "default" I mean there isn't a one-player option! (Except for "Excerise" mode) DK JR is on the left side of the screen while a second, pinker DR JR sits on the right side.  Donkey Kong (Sr) holds up a sign with a two or three digit number, and then the two babies race to create the number by collecting combinations of single digit numbers and operators (plus, minus, multiply and divide).  So for example, if he holds up 400, you could multiply 9 by 5 to get 45, then multiply by 9 to get 405, then subtract 5 to get 400!  Fun, right?

The basic problem with this game - besides the awful controls, and the fact that it isn't any fun - is that it's a math game that doesn't teach math.  At least "Exercise" mode lets you practice math exercises.  The "Calculate" modes ("Calculate B" is the same thing, only you have to create negative numbers!) is complicated and unintuitive - even if they had a 10 you could multiply by, it might be playable.  Oh, and the numbers you pick from are random, so there's no guarantee they'll have the one you need!  Learning games tend to be skewed towards younger players, but I'm having trouble picturing the kid who could work all that out with negative numbers and also be willing to play this game.  Bottom line: I'll take Math Blaster any day of the week.

Graphics & Animation: 1 (Bad)
The only redeeming thing about this game is the graphics - it looks just like Donkey Kong Jr! On the other hand, that might be a bad thing - like the game is taunting you that you could be playing a real game.

Music & Sound: 0 (Awful)
The music sounds like you're playing a Donkey Kong Jr. rip-off where they changed just enough notes to not get sued.  Also, you get to listen to a four-second loop while doing math!

Controls & Level Design: 0 (Awful)
How can you break Donkey Kong Jr?? They could have just made a calculator interface and it would have been much easier to play.

Story & Presentation: 0 (Awful)
Maybe the manual has some sort of backstory where Donkey Kong is trying to teach his son math? Could be, but I doubt it could explain DK JR's pink clone.

Length & Replayability: 0 (Awful)
Just be grateful it's so short!

Total: 1 (Awful)