The backstory of this (and btw this is the first Crazy Kong I've seen with red girders - they're usually green in Crazy Kong) is that Nintendo licensed Falcon to release these in Japan but when the company began to release them in the US too, Nintendo severed its relationship and demanded Falcon stop producing the game. Anyway, Crazy Kong was actually my first encounter with anything Donkey Kong and initially thought DK was the knock-off or at least maybe a prototype or something (I was 9). Also, we called it the pie factory not "cement factory".
They had these Crazy Kongs all over in Ontario, Canada. Used to play this in Wasaga Beach and Northern Ontario. The only thing is they were never in a cabinet. I always played Crazy Kong in a table top version and the table top was not dedicated.
Fun fact. Crazy Kong was actually legally licensed for only in Japan because Nintendo couldn’t keep up with demand in Japan for the donkey Kong cabinet. However Falcon went behind Nintendo’s back and exported it to the US
+John's Arcade Game Reviews & Tech I have seen that art used in alot stuff Nintendo marketed to go with the game, like the trading cards and the little plastic figurines.
@@branaa09 yeah I've seen that art in many of Nintendo's marketing especially the trading cards. Nintendo did allow the use of this game outside of the US. by what I even heard they also own the rights to it too. they even did a crazy kong jr which Nintendo also owns.
I grew up with these sounds but I'm sure it was donkey Kong we where playing, because we never had the holes. So me myself I like these sound better because there the ones we grew up with. So I find myself playing Crazy Kong more then DK, I'm also now into the remix of spooky! What a nice job he did making the changes! Great video.
My understanding of it was, Crazy Kong was just Donkey Kong, but hacked to run on the same hardware as Nichibutsu's 'Crazy Climber', hence 'Crazy Kong' ... very interesting hack indeed... if I ever got serious into arcade collecting I'd probably at least try to track down one of these boards... a definitely awesome piece of videogame history right there.
True story. I knew about Crazy Kong before I knew about Donkey Kong. Different rom sets could be found all over New Zealand where I'm from. Cheers for the vid John. Wonder if you can do an Elevator Action vid?
Hi John, just stumbled accros this vid... just to echo others, here in the UK this was wayyyy more common in arcades than "real" Donkey Kong. So much so, I remember the first time I played "real" Donkey Kong as a kid, we thought IT was a rip off of Donkey Kong!!. Its one of them wierd things between territories. Just like I remember Popeye and Time Pilot were both marketed by, and in Atari cabs over here....
At the skating rink in Centre, AL, in 1982, they had two games that were of this type. They were identical generic cabinets of this style. The red rectangular area where the game name usually went just said "MASTERGAMES" in black letters on a red backlit background. One game was Crazy Kong Part II (same game you played here) and the other was "FROG" (the same kind of modification for FROGGER except it was way closer to actual FROGGER). The Crazy Kong Part II game has some very interesting quirks. The holes in the floor from level 2 and on on the barrels stage is just one. You can jump through the floor on the lower right corner of the barrels stage and clear it if you do it just right. On the "pie factory" board, the conveyor belts move faster than Mario runs on levels 2 and on so you still move backward when you run forward. Only 2 fireballs come out in the beginning on all levels instead of a number matching the level number up to 6 as in Donkey Kong. The sliding ladders at the top come down and leave Mario floating at the top instead of pulling him down like Donkey Kong. The elevator level never gets as hard as Donkey Kong because the springs come in groups of 2 in harder levels instead of continuously like in Donkey Kong. The "blue boards" have regular fireballs instead of the fancier kind that Donkey Kong has, although the behavior seems about the same. The blue color of the Kongs on the intro screen to that level is very noticeable, but look closer. They match the color of the board in each case and the switch from the redder color of the barrel and elevator to the yellow of the pie factory isn't as noticeable by most for the Kongs on the intro but the change is there. The blue ones are jarring though. Oh, one last thing, you can cause a hammer to "stick" in down position on the right edge of the pie factory conveyor (levels 2 and on when it's faster) and run off and leave it. It will disappear but it will continue to kill anything that touches it as long as you are on the level before you clear it. If that hammer sticks in up position, get it again and try to restick it in down position. You usually can do it. I played this game a lot before I ever saw the real Donkey Kong.
I first encountered a dedicated KK during Summer of 81 or 82 when our Summer day camp would regularly take us on outings to the Greenbrae Lanes bowling alley in Sparks, NV. I was a huge videogame nerd and subscribed to Electronic Gaming Monthly but I’d never so much as heard rumors about a knockoff DK existing! This ended up being a somewhat frustrating find as the camp counselor’s didn’t want us playing the videogames; “we’re here to bowl!” I’d worm my way towards it whenever I had the opportunity, I was obsessed with the uniqueness of the cabinet and art, the scant few times I was able to sneak a game or two in the thing was just way different and I’d be lucky to make it past a few boards. Great video and really cool to see this game again, I’ve still yet to ever see another dedicated one.
@@richardw.smithjr.6683 Extremely rare toy and a a couple of years ago I had was the first person to buy Agnes From Despicable Me out on my phone 📱 the Caillou And Teddy Ruxpin Grounded Movie are 🎦 of Facebook no one
I'm not sure about all of the sounds in the game but the walking sound and jumping sound are definitely crazy climber. Walking is when the crazy climber climbs and the jumping sound is when the bird poops on you
Theres a glitch in this cabinet: On the first stage, climb up the ladder on the ground farthest to the right. When you have climbed up the ladder, take a step right and jump off the stage. If done correctly, jumpman will fall through the floor and the game will proceed to the next stage.
My stepdad used to own a bar down in San Antonio Tx and had an all blue cabinet with Crazy Kong inside, I didn't know they had more of them I just thought somebody messed with a donkey Kong game back then. This was back in about 85 or 86.
We had this game at the arcade down the street from me about 1981 or 1982 in my small town out in the woods. It was a 2 minute walk. It didn't have any of the artwork, and it made more money than the rest of the games in the arcade despite being a clone because Donkey Kong was very popular at the time. They also had a generic Pacman which I've never found even in MAME, but a regular Pacman could be found down the street. About the same distance we had two pizza places that featured small arcades, one of which had the regular Donkey Kong. Several stores had machines too. Even a small population town out in the sticks probably had 50 machines between 81 and 82. Games could be found almost everywhere at any kind of store in those days and there were so many small arcades with in an hour's ride, I hadn't even visited half of them. I noticed in more recent versions of MAME, other variants of Crazy Kong exist with twists in the game. One version looks like it may have inspired Donkey Kong Remix. That arcade building was knocked down this past fall to make way for a new medical center. Most of the games were a year or older. Some would be rare now like a Exidy Tail Gunner II, Night Driver cockpit, Head On / Invincio, Space Invaders 2 cocktail (shoot at each other head to head) and others. I played Star Castle the most. Frogger was the 2nd most played game.
You know what, I knew that it was a modified Crazy Climber board. I never connected the dots that this was the reason it was called Crazy Climber! Duh!!!
I'm a bit surprised that you find the music distracting during the intro. I set it sooooooo low. It's barely audible! I'll look into turning it down further. I like the attract sounds in the arcade. Makes it seem alive! :P
I have in my collection an original Donkey Kong cabinet, with a Crazy Kong PCB. When I was going to pick it up from someone on Craigslist, is when I found out it wasn't a Donkey Kong Game in the original cabinet, I bought it anyway. Now I'm looking to sell it. I live in Trumbull CT if anyone is interested, let me know.
I totally remember that “How High Can You Try?” As an adult remembering I always assumed some Donkey Kongs said that back in the day. But I guess as a Kid I never noticed the difference in both game’s names.
I don't think it's a bootleg. I think falcon licensed it and there was a shady story about them not having a us license but I guess selling them regardless
I remember this game from the 80s and watching the Pixel movie made me recall it. Used to play it after school on the military base and in the town I lived in Europe. On that 4th round, the upper hammer in the middle would disappear if you grabbed the lower one first but just as shown in your video, it can be grabbed if you jumped for it. One thing I was surprised not to see was a neat secret that exists in Crazy Kong that made my buddies and I want to play it more than Donkey Kong. One of the rounds in CK has an awesome shortcut and taking this shortcut is not possible in DK. No joke, I am not kidding. Thanks for the nostalgic trip. Arx
I just discovered an art error on the marquee! Notice that Pauline has brown hair for the side art and the bezel, but they kept her being a blonde on the marquee.
Mappy in the background was epic. What would be more epic? Sky Kid. Anywho about your question at the end of the video. Honestly I think it'd be fun to make a short video and a longer one on specific days. Though I usualy prefer quality over quantity, even though it might not change too much the ''quality'' part.
Thanks for the post...as a high school kid in 1981 or so we had a CRAZY KONG at the news stand down the street here in LOS ANGELES ...I remember it well ..actually I was the neighborhood champ...I remember a few times I completed all the levels I think it was like 36 levels or so...once you got a million points the machine would freak out and the remaining Luigi's would be killed for no reason...we called that part the suicide mission LOL...funny I still have a few friends that I still keep in touch with and remember those days well...Richard P
I love Crazy Kong, that was the DK for us here in my youth. Now i have the dedicated Zaccaria Crazy Kong, and i think that is the cabinet where Crazy kong belongs IMHO. Thanks for the review John !
The true story of this game. It is based off an early version of the japanese donkey kong game. That's why it has the barrel skip cheat. the bug was inherited from the old version of donkey kong. that's also why it says "HOW HIGH CAN YOU TRY" dkongjo (japan old romset) has this same message, and the same bug. It was indeed ported to the crazy climber board, which couldn't push nearly as many sprites as the donkey kong board, which is actually a bit of a beast for its day. So that's why the animations don't line up and there aren't nearly as many barrels. It's also why there are only three moving platforms instead of six on the springs board. Crazy climber board only does 8 sprites, and a bigsprite. Bigsprite is used for Kong. one for mario, one is reserved for the hammer swinging bit (even if there isn't a hammer) leaving six sprites for enemies. on springs board three are used for the elevators, and one for the lone fireball, leaving two for the springs (making this level MUCH easier once the difficulty gets high, because the third spring gets delayed until the firs tone leaves the screen, meaning there's always a gap). But the funny thing is that Nintendo actually gave Falcon a license to sell it in japan only, so they could ship out more boards to the USA. They were failing to meet demand, you see. so they sold licensing stickers to Falcon. if they bought a sticker they could place it on the board, and then legally operate it in Japan. Of course, many of these games made it out of Japan, in violation of the agreement. They were also themselves bootlegged a lot, hence monkey donkey, donkey king, etc.
I too grew up with Crazy Kong, being in Germany. Consequently, this was the first game I got when starting to collect Video Arcade PCBs. Being used to that, the level order in Donkey Kong appears totally weird to me. And I still prefer it over DK, I mean, hey, the jumping and banging sounds are digitized! Digisounds, yay! 😀
Definitely more videos John, I love your longer ones, please do something about your intro though, the music dragging on under when you talk is really distracting sometimes - great when you're on the road but not so great when you're competing with all your attract modes. My arcade is no attract mode sounds so I can film in there easily. Great vids as always though buddy.
John's Arcade Game Reviews & Tech Same here in Australia, they were everywhere, but strangely enough as kids we used to call it Donkey Kong. Probably because every second kid had a DK Game & Watch :)
I didn't go through all the comments but this version of crazy kong has some hidden features. you found out about the invisible hammer during play. now on level 2 and higher, on the pie boards, there is the hammer trick on the lower pie belt. go right and have mario pinned against the black with the belt forcing him to stay. now turn towards and away while hitting the jump button and the hammer will release and stay there. walk away and continue to play. every pie that flies by will be destroyed and points counted. trick takes a little practice. now all barrel boards have the jump off and fall through finish glitch. start off on bottom and run to the first ladder. go up and have Marios back facing you. nudge the joystick a little closer to the edge and make sure Marios back is still present. then click the stick right and jump at the same time, mario will fall through the board and you go to next level. might take a little practice. if you nudge mario and get side profile, go down the ladder a little bit and try again. keep in mind barrels are rolling and time yourself. if close, jump them, a d try to set mario up again.
They didn't rip Nintendo off, depending on who you asked... Nintendo of Japan couldn't keep up so they licensed the game to Falcon to make this version. Falcon took this to mean they could release this worldwide, but Nintendo of America said they were stealing DK and actually won court fights with Falcon and therefore even offered bounties for people who'd turn in where Crazy Kong cabs were.
You know Jon, you're not just gonna be able to take the world title! Believe it or not, Crazy Kong has some serious competition (a lot of the Donkey Kong guys cross over.) The record was just beaten by Robbie Lakeman, and he took it from JJ Cahill who actually has a tattoo of Crazy Kong himself! CK is serious business.
We had a lot of Crazy Kongs here in Australia, and a lot of (probably bootleg) Donkey Kongs. All of them in dodgy, cheap cabinets. We had very few (almost none) real, Nintendo Donkey Cabinets like those in the US.
Yeah I from discussions I have had here in the UK we had Crazy Kong back in the day instead of Donkey Kong. Though these days collectors have started importing DK Nintendo cabinets.
I was just at Funspot earlier this week, but passed on playing this game. Mainly because the weather was horrible and every single child in the state was inside playing games at once. And what was with that Pac-n-Pal with messed up coin slots? I wanted to play that game :( As well as a lot of other games that were broken down. :( :(
only works with crazy kong without extentions on the walkway. ladder must be at end of walkway. if more wal way after ladder is present, like most versions, glitch won't work. version in your video is correct.
from what I heard Falcon did licensed this and Nintendo allowed them to distribute the game outside of the U.S. only but they ended up selling the game in the U.S. and that got them in trouble. They also did a Crazy Kong Jr. and Nintendo has the rights to that one too. As a kid I never got to play DK in the arcades or at any of the stores I saw it at. It was always crowded. first time I even played a version of it was on the atari 2600 and of course it looked nothing like the real deal. Then one day at the local town theater there it was...Crazy Kong. Yep, all the way down in Texas where the game shouldn't have even been. I started playing it and was hooked. The game actually almost drove me crazy. My dad I went to the movies but I stayed in the lobby playing the game for the entirety of the film. When it was time to leave the terrible sound effects of the game stayed in my head and I was freaking out cuz they wouldn't stop. they would eventually go away for awhile but return within minutes. It took about 2 days for it to finally stop and my parents were worried that the game had messed me up. but luckily it did stop and also stopped playing the game I was afraid to even play it and the real Donkey Kong cuz of that. But i've since played DK and luckily it's never happened again.
Yes we should have more videos!! That sounds cool, like short vids so we can get out johnsarcade fix during the week and then on sunday we get the real deal =D
Your videos are great man! Really fun and informative I have a Crazy Kong Falcon and i'd love to get a dedicated cab for it. I'd seen the Zac cab before with the angry more realistic Kong but until I saw your video I had never seen this east coast one.. I have seen the kong, mario and lady pics before but just thought they were a Nintendo variant... I would really like it in my gamesroom. Same as Scott Simpson, We only had Crazy Kong in Derby, UK although sometimes played it in seaside towns.
I have one of those Crazy Kong machines but in a Zaccaria european cabinet, personally I hate it but it's easier to get CK than DK in the UK as we didn't get the release here. We had tons of other weird bootlegs just look in MAME sometime. I'll do a video of my cab sometime.
A bootleg that was meant to be a temporary version of Donkey Kong, released for microcomputers in Europe. The company that created Crazy Kong made an agreement with Nintendo, since the official game couldn't be sold worldwide at the time. Falcon being this unknown other company, didn't follow the agreement all the way through. Nintendo was okay with the idea of arcade cabinets, but soon as Falcon mentioned the US, Nintendo ended the contract right away. This didn't stop Falcon to make US cabinets, with the help of another company called Zaccaria, the temporary clone became an official ripoff of Donkey Kong. Trivia: Which one do you like better, also which one did you grow up with? (I didn't grow up with either, I like Crazy Kong more.)
If you don't think Crazy Kong is better then you don't know Kong.... And yes it was licensed in other countries because Nintendo couldn't keep up with demand but falcon started selling in US and Nintendo sued the shit out of them. There was literally a burn order on these. Getting harder to find
I was actually a bit better at Crazy Kong then regular Donkey Kong. I know of one machine that was at some hole in the wall burger joint in Chicago. When I first saw it I just thought it was a bootleg and that was it. The colors were completely off as in a green Mario and Donkey Kong. It was all kinds of messed up. And then the sounds. Oh the sounds. I have it on an emulator now and it's the exact same as I remember it from the hole in the wall place.
The backstory of this (and btw this is the first Crazy Kong I've seen with red girders - they're usually green in Crazy Kong) is that Nintendo licensed Falcon to release these in Japan but when the company began to release them in the US too, Nintendo severed its relationship and demanded Falcon stop producing the game. Anyway, Crazy Kong was actually my first encounter with anything Donkey Kong and initially thought DK was the knock-off or at least maybe a prototype or something (I was 9). Also, we called it the pie factory not "cement factory".
"Mom, can we play donkey kong?"
"We have donkey kong at home."
Donkey kong at home:
LMAO!!!!!
That’s the best description for crazy kong I have ever heard.
They had these Crazy Kongs all over in Ontario, Canada. Used to play this in Wasaga Beach and Northern Ontario. The only thing is they were never in a cabinet. I always played Crazy Kong in a table top version and the table top was not dedicated.
Had them around Toronto Ontario as well back in the day!
I could here namco's MAPPY in the backround XD
Despite right next to Mappy.
Fun fact. Crazy Kong was actually legally licensed for only in Japan because Nintendo couldn’t keep up with demand in Japan for the donkey Kong cabinet. However Falcon went behind Nintendo’s back and exported it to the US
They kept playing dirty even after Nintendo took them to court, going so far as making a completely unauthorized clone of Donkey Kong Jr
"The art's almost better than nintendo's" Ha! It IS nintendo's. That art just wasn't used on the cabinet, but WAS used somewhere by nintendo.
It's total bootleg. Not Nintendo. They copied it.
+John's Arcade Game Reviews & Tech A Italian company called, ZACCARIA
+John's Arcade Game Reviews & Tech I have seen that art used in alot stuff Nintendo marketed to go with the game, like the trading cards and the little plastic figurines.
@@branaa09 yeah I've seen that art in many of Nintendo's marketing especially the trading cards. Nintendo did allow the use of this game outside of the US. by what I even heard they also own the rights to it too. they even did a crazy kong jr which Nintendo also owns.
This was in my neighborhood arcade when I was a kid. I used to love the "hiya" jumping sound.
I grew up with these sounds but I'm sure it was donkey Kong we where playing, because we never had the holes. So me myself I like these sound better because there the ones we grew up with. So I find myself playing Crazy Kong more then DK, I'm also now into the remix of spooky! What a nice job he did making the changes! Great video.
My understanding of it was, Crazy Kong was just Donkey Kong, but hacked to run on the same hardware as Nichibutsu's 'Crazy Climber', hence 'Crazy Kong' ... very interesting hack indeed... if I ever got serious into arcade collecting I'd probably at least try to track down one of these boards... a definitely awesome piece of videogame history right there.
I remember seeing KK games around TN/KY arcades and other places before DK made it to our neck of the woods during the 80s.
True story. I knew about Crazy Kong before I knew about Donkey Kong. Different rom sets could be found all over New Zealand where I'm from. Cheers for the vid John. Wonder if you can do an Elevator Action vid?
Hi John, just stumbled accros this vid... just to echo others, here in the UK this was wayyyy more common in arcades than "real" Donkey Kong.
So much so, I remember the first time I played "real" Donkey Kong as a kid, we thought IT was a rip off of Donkey Kong!!. Its one of them wierd things between territories. Just like I remember Popeye and Time Pilot were both marketed by, and in Atari cabs over here....
Fun Fact: Falcon also made a very rare arcade game in 1983 called DORODON.
DORODON combines elements of the arcade game ladybug and pac-man.
At the skating rink in Centre, AL, in 1982, they had two games that were of this type. They were identical generic cabinets of this style. The red rectangular area where the game name usually went just said "MASTERGAMES" in black letters on a red backlit background. One game was Crazy Kong Part II (same game you played here) and the other was "FROG" (the same kind of modification for FROGGER except it was way closer to actual FROGGER). The Crazy Kong Part II game has some very interesting quirks. The holes in the floor from level 2 and on on the barrels stage is just one. You can jump through the floor on the lower right corner of the barrels stage and clear it if you do it just right. On the "pie factory" board, the conveyor belts move faster than Mario runs on levels 2 and on so you still move backward when you run forward. Only 2 fireballs come out in the beginning on all levels instead of a number matching the level number up to 6 as in Donkey Kong. The sliding ladders at the top come down and leave Mario floating at the top instead of pulling him down like Donkey Kong. The elevator level never gets as hard as Donkey Kong because the springs come in groups of 2 in harder levels instead of continuously like in Donkey Kong. The "blue boards" have regular fireballs instead of the fancier kind that Donkey Kong has, although the behavior seems about the same. The blue color of the Kongs on the intro screen to that level is very noticeable, but look closer. They match the color of the board in each case and the switch from the redder color of the barrel and elevator to the yellow of the pie factory isn't as noticeable by most for the Kongs on the intro but the change is there. The blue ones are jarring though. Oh, one last thing, you can cause a hammer to "stick" in down position on the right edge of the pie factory conveyor (levels 2 and on when it's faster) and run off and leave it. It will disappear but it will continue to kill anything that touches it as long as you are on the level before you clear it. If that hammer sticks in up position, get it again and try to restick it in down position. You usually can do it. I played this game a lot before I ever saw the real Donkey Kong.
I have heard about Crzy Kong for many years. Just never seen one in the wild to know what it was all about. Very strange, indeed.
I first encountered a dedicated KK during Summer of 81 or 82 when our Summer day camp would regularly take us on outings to the Greenbrae Lanes bowling alley in Sparks, NV. I was a huge videogame nerd and subscribed to Electronic Gaming Monthly but I’d never so much as heard rumors about a knockoff DK existing! This ended up being a somewhat frustrating find as the camp counselor’s didn’t want us playing the videogames; “we’re here to bowl!”
I’d worm my way towards it whenever I had the opportunity, I was obsessed with the uniqueness of the cabinet and art, the scant few times I was able to sneak a game or two in the thing was just way different and I’d be lucky to make it past a few boards. Great video and really cool to see this game again, I’ve still yet to ever see another dedicated one.
I've played Crazy Kong: Part 2: Got as high 3rd pattern on level 2 back in the 80s. Could've done better years later, but have not since.
I've played Crazy Kong: Part 2: Got as high as the 3rd pattern on level 2 back in the 80s. Could've done better years later, but haven't since.
@@richardw.smithjr.6683 Extremely rare toy and a a couple of years ago I had was the first person to buy Agnes From Despicable Me out on my phone 📱 the Caillou And Teddy Ruxpin Grounded Movie are 🎦 of Facebook no one
George Michael Freedom playing in background, RIP.
I'm not sure about all of the sounds in the game but the walking sound and jumping sound are definitely crazy climber. Walking is when the crazy climber climbs and the jumping sound is when the bird poops on you
Theres a glitch in this cabinet:
On the first stage, climb up the ladder on the ground farthest to the right. When you have climbed up the ladder, take a step right and jump off the stage. If done correctly, jumpman will fall through the floor and the game will proceed to the next stage.
My stepdad used to own a bar down in San Antonio Tx and had an all blue cabinet with Crazy Kong inside, I didn't know they had more of them I just thought somebody messed with a donkey Kong game back then. This was back in about 85 or 86.
My parents owned a cab of Crazy Kong when I was a kid (and still do) so this is the version I'm the most familiar with tbh xD
We had this game at the arcade down the street from me about 1981 or 1982 in
my small town out in the woods. It was a 2 minute walk. It didn't have any of the artwork, and it made more money than the rest of the games in the arcade despite being a clone because Donkey Kong was very popular at the time. They also had a generic Pacman which I've never found even in MAME, but a regular Pacman could be found down the street. About the same distance we had two pizza places that featured small arcades, one of which had the regular Donkey Kong. Several stores had machines too. Even a small population town out in the sticks probably had 50 machines between 81 and 82. Games could be found almost everywhere at any kind of store in those days and there were so many small arcades with in an hour's ride, I hadn't even visited half of them.
I noticed in more recent versions of MAME, other variants of Crazy Kong exist with twists in the game. One version looks like it may have inspired Donkey Kong Remix.
That arcade building was knocked down this past fall to make way for a new medical center. Most of the games were a year or older. Some would be rare now like a Exidy Tail Gunner II, Night Driver cockpit, Head On / Invincio, Space Invaders 2 cocktail (shoot at each other head to head) and others. I played Star Castle the most. Frogger was the 2nd most played game.
A yogurt store by my house in Orange county California, in the early 80's had a Crazy Kong machine and a Zig Zag(Dig Dug clone) machine.
You know what, I knew that it was a modified Crazy Climber board. I never connected the dots that this was the reason it was called Crazy Climber! Duh!!!
I'm a bit surprised that you find the music distracting during the intro. I set it sooooooo low. It's barely audible! I'll look into turning it down further. I like the attract sounds in the arcade. Makes it seem alive! :P
They could have made it so that when you finish the last screen, Pauline falls instead and Mario and Kong walk off the screen together holding hands.
I remember playing Crazy Kong at most of the Army and Air Force bases in Europe when my family was stationed there in the mid to late 80’s
I have in my collection an original Donkey Kong cabinet, with a Crazy Kong PCB. When I was going to pick it up from someone on Craigslist, is when I found out it wasn't a Donkey Kong Game in the original cabinet, I bought it anyway. Now I'm looking to sell it. I live in Trumbull CT if anyone is interested, let me know.
Crazy kong/Krazy Kong is the origin of Mario’s SMB palette
I totally remember that “How High Can You Try?” As an adult remembering I always assumed some Donkey Kongs said that back in the day. But I guess as a Kid I never noticed the difference in both game’s names.
@Jamie Laszlo
It actually said "how high can you try" in the beta version of Donkey Kong.
Crazy Kong was an official licensed release...licensed by nintendo due to inability to keep up with demand
I don't think it's a bootleg. I think falcon licensed it and there was a shady story about them not having a us license but I guess selling them regardless
We had crazy kong on the zx spectrum as a kid.
I remember this game from the 80s and watching the Pixel movie made me recall it. Used to play it after school on the military base and in the town I lived in Europe. On that 4th round, the upper hammer in the middle would disappear if you grabbed the lower one first but just as shown in your video, it can be grabbed if you jumped for it.
One thing I was surprised not to see was a neat secret that exists in Crazy Kong that made my buddies and I want to play it more than Donkey Kong. One of the rounds in CK has an awesome shortcut and taking this shortcut is not possible in DK.
No joke, I am not kidding. Thanks for the nostalgic trip.
Arx
I just discovered an art error on the marquee! Notice that Pauline has brown hair for the side art and the bezel, but they kept her being a blonde on the marquee.
*Mori* when jumping be like *hayih*
Mappy in the background was epic. What would be more epic? Sky Kid.
Anywho about your question at the end of the video. Honestly I think it'd be fun to make a short video and a longer one on specific days. Though I usualy prefer quality over quantity, even though it might not change too much the ''quality'' part.
They had this game at a convenience store by my house as a kid. I pumped many a quarter earned by mowing yards into that thing.
at a arcade convention a few months ago we played crazy kong with totally different and really cool artwork
Thanks for the post...as a high school kid in 1981 or so we had a CRAZY KONG at the news stand down the street here in LOS ANGELES ...I remember it well ..actually I was the neighborhood champ...I remember a few times I completed all the levels I think it was like 36 levels or so...once you got a million points the machine would freak out and the remaining Luigi's would be killed for no reason...we called that part the suicide mission LOL...funny I still have a few friends that I still keep in touch with and remember those days well...Richard P
I love Crazy Kong, that was the DK for us here in my youth.
Now i have the dedicated Zaccaria Crazy Kong, and i think that is the cabinet where Crazy kong belongs IMHO.
Thanks for the review John !
The true story of this game.
It is based off an early version of the japanese donkey kong game. That's why it has the barrel skip cheat. the bug was inherited from the old version of donkey kong. that's also why it says "HOW HIGH CAN YOU TRY" dkongjo (japan old romset) has this same message, and the same bug. It was indeed ported to the crazy climber board, which couldn't push nearly as many sprites as the donkey kong board, which is actually a bit of a beast for its day. So that's why the animations don't line up and there aren't nearly as many barrels. It's also why there are only three moving platforms instead of six on the springs board. Crazy climber board only does 8 sprites, and a bigsprite. Bigsprite is used for Kong. one for mario, one is reserved for the hammer swinging bit (even if there isn't a hammer) leaving six sprites for enemies. on springs board three are used for the elevators, and one for the lone fireball, leaving two for the springs (making this level MUCH easier once the difficulty gets high, because the third spring gets delayed until the firs tone leaves the screen, meaning there's always a gap).
But the funny thing is that Nintendo actually gave Falcon a license to sell it in japan only, so they could ship out more boards to the USA. They were failing to meet demand, you see. so they sold licensing stickers to Falcon. if they bought a sticker they could place it on the board, and then legally operate it in Japan. Of course, many of these games made it out of Japan, in violation of the agreement. They were also themselves bootlegged a lot, hence monkey donkey, donkey king, etc.
I too grew up with Crazy Kong, being in Germany. Consequently, this was the first game I got when starting to collect Video Arcade PCBs. Being used to that, the level order in Donkey Kong appears totally weird to me. And I still prefer it over DK, I mean, hey, the jumping and banging sounds are digitized! Digisounds, yay! 😀
Crazy Kong would be a great addition standing next to your Mario Bros. Qix would look cool next to your Zoo Keeper too.
Are we going to ignore the walk between the two ladies without an "excuse me"?
played this at golf n stuff in California back in the day! love that jumping karate sound! 😂
Definitely more videos John, I love your longer ones, please do something about your intro though, the music dragging on under when you talk is really distracting sometimes - great when you're on the road but not so great when you're competing with all your attract modes. My arcade is no attract mode sounds so I can film in there easily. Great vids as always though buddy.
This version was very popular here in the UK along with a Galaxian conversion.
I have heard this. Interesting! It seems that a lot of people in the UK only knew Crazy Kong and not Donkey Kong. CRAZY!
John's Arcade Game Reviews & Tech Same here in Australia, they were everywhere, but strangely enough as kids we used to call it Donkey Kong. Probably because every second kid had a DK Game & Watch :)
fu
Apparently there is a crazy junior out there too, but it's a lot more rare.
I didn't go through all the comments but this version of crazy kong has some hidden features. you found out about the invisible hammer during play. now on level 2 and higher, on the pie boards, there is the hammer trick on the lower pie belt. go right and have mario pinned against the black with the belt forcing him to stay. now turn towards and away while hitting the jump button and the hammer will release and stay there. walk away and continue to play. every pie that flies by will be destroyed and points counted. trick takes a little practice. now all barrel boards have the jump off and fall through finish glitch. start off on bottom and run to the first ladder. go up and have Marios back facing you. nudge the joystick a little closer to the edge and make sure Marios back is still present. then click the stick right and jump at the same time, mario will fall through the board and you go to next level. might take a little practice. if you nudge mario and get side profile, go down the ladder a little bit and try again. keep in mind barrels are rolling and time yourself. if close, jump them, a d try to set mario up again.
Its funny hearing someone playing actual DK in the background
I have that exact clone game same sounds title and music in my grandparents basement
Climb latter until your fingers are at the top and barrels can’t roll down on you.
They didn't rip Nintendo off, depending on who you asked... Nintendo of Japan couldn't keep up so they licensed the game to Falcon to make this version. Falcon took this to mean they could release this worldwide, but Nintendo of America said they were stealing DK and actually won court fights with Falcon and therefore even offered bounties for people who'd turn in where Crazy Kong cabs were.
Love your channel. Wife hates the thumb ring... When you have a basement arcade as bad ass as yours, you can be as gangsta as you wanna be.
I just sold this machine. Great game, not as hard as OG Donkey Kong. But Damn close! Thanks for adding this video!
I remember a laundry mat next to the grocery store that had this. Sounds were completely off but kinda cool.
You know Jon, you're not just gonna be able to take the world title! Believe it or not, Crazy Kong has some serious competition (a lot of the Donkey Kong guys cross over.) The record was just beaten by Robbie Lakeman, and he took it from JJ Cahill who actually has a tattoo of Crazy Kong himself! CK is serious business.
We had a lot of Crazy Kongs here in Australia, and a lot of (probably bootleg) Donkey Kongs. All of them in dodgy, cheap cabinets.
We had very few (almost none) real, Nintendo Donkey Cabinets like those in the US.
Yeah I from discussions I have had here in the UK we had Crazy Kong back in the day instead of Donkey Kong. Though these days collectors have started importing DK Nintendo cabinets.
Hey John....there is a Crazy Kong for sale right now on Craigslist if you're interested. Hartford area I believe.
I am aware. Thanks for thinking of me.
Robbie, that's AWESOME! I'm rooting for you bro'! DO IT!
6:36 he's casting the barrel spell
They were in Chicago also. I remember playing one in some dive restaurant on the West side of Chicago.
I don't remember how the cabinet looked though.
In the town where I grew up, we had versions of Crazy Kong but never an actual Donkey Kong.
John I love your videos so twice a week it will be awesome.
I was just at Funspot earlier this week, but passed on playing this game. Mainly because the weather was horrible and every single child in the state was inside playing games at once. And what was with that Pac-n-Pal with messed up coin slots? I wanted to play that game :( As well as a lot of other games that were broken down. :( :(
Love your NEO•GEO cabinet
only works with crazy kong without extentions on the walkway. ladder must be at end of walkway. if more wal way after ladder is present, like most versions, glitch won't work. version in your video is correct.
I played it every day at Peppinos pizza in Toronto
More videos would be really great! Looking forward a lot :) keep up the awesome work!
Cheers
In Panama crazy Kong was all over the place
from what I heard Falcon did licensed this and Nintendo allowed them to distribute the game outside of the U.S. only but they ended up selling the game in the U.S. and that got them in trouble. They also did a Crazy Kong Jr. and Nintendo has the rights to that one too. As a kid I never got to play DK in the arcades or at any of the stores I saw it at. It was always crowded. first time I even played a version of it was on the atari 2600 and of course it looked nothing like the real deal. Then one day at the local town theater there it was...Crazy Kong. Yep, all the way down in Texas where the game shouldn't have even been. I started playing it and was hooked. The game actually almost drove me crazy. My dad I went to the movies but I stayed in the lobby playing the game for the entirety of the film. When it was time to leave the terrible sound effects of the game stayed in my head and I was freaking out cuz they wouldn't stop. they would eventually go away for awhile but return within minutes. It took about 2 days for it to finally stop and my parents were worried that the game had messed me up. but luckily it did stop and also stopped playing the game I was afraid to even play it and the real Donkey Kong cuz of that. But i've since played DK and luckily it's never happened again.
Twice the fun, go for it !!
Did you noticed on the Crazy Kong that you can't get the upper hammer on the ramp level after the first blue level.
Actually you can.
Yes we should have more videos!! That sounds cool, like short vids so we can get out johnsarcade fix during the week and then on sunday we get the real deal =D
First let me say you live by some beautiful waterfront that drive from the funspot was awesome secondly i would love to see more content
My first arcade machine was DONKEY KONG!! Best game
Crazy Kong runs on Crazy Climber hardware, thus the name. Other versions run on Galaxian hardware.
Andrew Ambrose yeah the ape in crazy climber sounds similar to when Jumpman jumps
Your videos are great man! Really fun and informative I have a Crazy Kong Falcon and i'd love to get a dedicated cab for it. I'd seen the Zac cab before with the angry more realistic Kong but until I saw your video I had never seen this east coast one.. I have seen the kong, mario and lady pics before but just thought they were a Nintendo variant... I would really like it in my gamesroom.
Same as Scott Simpson, We only had Crazy Kong in Derby, UK although sometimes played it in seaside towns.
this game uses a very early code of Donkey Kong (Japan ROM)
Great video on one of my favorite games! Glad you showed my DK scores lol.
It even has the holes on the 2nd level set but I'd rather have normal donkey kong
I have one of those Crazy Kong machines but in a Zaccaria european cabinet, personally I hate it but it's easier to get CK than DK in the UK as we didn't get the release here. We had tons of other weird bootlegs just look in MAME sometime. I'll do a video of my cab sometime.
I'm actually picking up this cabinet in a bartop form for $140CDN this weekend. Would you say that it's a good buy? Condition wise is fine.
Great deal, still have it?
It was also called that on the BBC Micro too.
No, the BBC Micro one was called Killer Gorilla. And it was truly awful.
Remember with galaxian sounds
A local bar in Wisner, Nebraska had this--it was better than Donkey Kong, with different levels than the original!
A bootleg that was meant to be a temporary version of Donkey Kong, released for microcomputers in Europe. The company that created Crazy Kong made an agreement with Nintendo, since the official game couldn't be sold worldwide at the time. Falcon being this unknown other company, didn't follow the agreement all the way through. Nintendo was okay with the idea of arcade cabinets, but soon as Falcon mentioned the US, Nintendo ended the contract right away. This didn't stop Falcon to make US cabinets, with the help of another company called Zaccaria, the temporary clone became an official ripoff of Donkey Kong.
Trivia: Which one do you like better, also which one did you grow up with? (I didn't grow up with either, I like Crazy Kong more.)
Bring em on John!
If you don't think Crazy Kong is better then you don't know Kong.... And yes it was licensed in other countries because Nintendo couldn't keep up with demand but falcon started selling in US and Nintendo sued the shit out of them. There was literally a burn order on these. Getting harder to find
On Long Island in the early 80s, I played this game, it was actually easier to play than Donkey Kong.
plus, i would like to visit your arcade one day, play the classics i knew and love
I can look into it. I honestly purposely made a song that wasn't 80s cheese and that also reflected me. That's my music, I made it. :D
Where is FunSpot Arcade? I live in Texas.
I was actually a bit better at Crazy Kong then regular Donkey Kong. I know of one machine that was at some hole in the wall burger joint in Chicago. When I first saw it I just thought it was a bootleg and that was it. The colors were completely off as in a green Mario and Donkey Kong. It was all kinds of messed up. And then the sounds. Oh the sounds. I have it on an emulator now and it's the exact same as I remember it from the hole in the wall place.
I bought that a long time ago on eBay.
jump man looks like the recho mario
Lol left his try pod 11:15