Donkey Kong, East vs West

[littleman jack]

I have never seen any Donkey Kong arcade machines except for US ones, however, I have read that the boards are in a different order for the US machines as compared to the Japanese machines. I've heard that the Japanese machines simply do the same order and the same four boards in order for each level, while in the US we have the wacky order, with two boards on level 1, three boards on level 2, four boards on level 3, and so on. Therefore, when I was a kid, we'd never really talk about levels, just boards. We'd say things like, "I reached the third elevator board, or the second pie factory" with little regard for the level.

So is the order thing true? And if so, why did Nintendo make the machines that way? Why not just a standard sequence, like on the NES version (something like barrels, rivets, elevators, pie, endlessly repeating)?

 

[Trebor]

16 hours ago, littleman jack said:

So is the order thing true?

Yes.

 

The Japanese sets go in the following order for every level: Barrel, Conveyor, Elevator, Rivets.  Therefore, Japanese Donkey Kong sets are just played straight through the same board order for every Level.  The highest a person can go is 100m. 

 

The U.S. sets, the order for each Level is as follows:
1: Barrel, Rivets
2: Barrel, Elevator, Rivets
3: Barrel, Conveyor, Elevator, Rivets
4: Barrel, Conveyor, Barrel, Elevator, Rivets
5 thru 21: Barrel, Conveyor, Barrel, Elevator, Barrel, Rivets

 

The highest a player can go is 150m.

 

Both U.S. and Japanese versions have the kill screen at Level 22.

16 hours ago, littleman jack said:

And if so, why did Nintendo make the machines that way? Why not just a standard sequence, like on the NES version (something like barrels, rivets, elevators, pie, endlessly repeating)?

Under the U.S. version, a player never gets to play the Pie or the Elevator levels in their easiest settings. By the time a players gets to them, they're already on the 2nd or 3rd Level of difficulty.

 

This practice typically shorten a playtime session on the machine in the U.S., which was better for operators to make more money, as some operators were skeptical of the profitability of the game when it was first introduced to the U.S.

[littleman jack]

6 hours ago, Trebor said:

Yes.

 

The Japanese sets go in the following order for every level: Barrel, Conveyor, Elevator, Rivets.  Therefore, Japanese Donkey Kong sets are just played straight through the same board order for every Level.  The highest a person can go is 100m. 

 

The U.S. sets, the order for each Level is as follows:
1: Barrel, Rivets
2: Barrel, Elevator, Rivets
3: Barrel, Conveyor, Elevator, Rivets
4: Barrel, Conveyor, Barrel, Elevator, Rivets
5 thru 21: Barrel, Conveyor, Barrel, Elevator, Barrel, Rivets

 

The highest a player can go is 150m.

 

Both U.S. and Japanese versions have the kill screen at Level 22.

Under the U.S. version, a player never gets to play the Pie or the Elevator levels in their easiest settings. By the time a players gets to them, they're already on the 2nd or 3rd Level of difficulty.

 

This practice typically shorten a playtime session on the machine in the U.S., which was better for operators to make more money, as some operators were skeptical of the profitability of the game when it was first introduced to the U.S.

Thanks! That really answers my question.