Donkey Kong Jr. (1982 Nintendo)
Click on Marquee for KLOV listing.
The Story: One of the first games I remember playing on the old Atari was Donkey Kong Junior. I always thought it was a fun and exciting game, climbing on vines and avoiding alligators to reach the top. As a young boy, thats all I knew about the game. I never thought about it acually having a storyline until I played it again on the NES a few years later. What a neat story... Mario get's his revenge, captures DK and locks him in a cage. And for whatever reason, he has scattered keys throughout the game. Junior is called to "save his papa" and obtain keys while climbing vines and avoiding obstacles and enemies. To this day, I always enjoy this game on the NES. It's a very faithful port. It never crossed my mind that I needed to own the arcade game. It just wasnt a priority. That is, until I bought a Donkey Kong arcade game and added it to my collection. I had already owned a Mario Bros. game as well and had the 2 side by side. While I still got my Junior "fix" on the NES, it just started bothering me that I had Donkey Kong but did not own Junior. Eventually I had to come to terms that this game was needed in my basement. So the search began. Only problem, Ive collected so many games this year alone that I'm simply out of funds, and quickly running low on space as well. What to do?
The Score: I acually worked out a trade deal with Slackers to aquire this one. They are a chain of video game stores here in Missouri . They buy-sell-trade CD's, movies & games. They also put arcade games in their stores, many of which I acually sold them in recent months (I have 4 alone in the Jefferson City store, and now 2 in Columbia). Anyway, Junior had spent recent years at their Columbia store, still munching on quarters. I fed it a few times, and I think it started calling my name. I eventually wanted this game in my basement. Only one problem, I'm a cheap bastard (as most private colectors in the community are), and this game was just out of reach. Meanwhile my search was going nowhere. It had been over a year and not a single Junior in sight. Even the auctions were lacking, couldnt even find any Nintendo cab that could possibly be converted. Its not a "rare" game by any means, but for whatever reason, I was having the hardest time trying to find one.
Then it happened. Slackers had changed up their game room a little bit at their Columbia store, and they dropped the price tag a little bit on Junior. Now I was certain this was calling my name. But like I said, I'm out of cash at this point, and I have other projects to sink funds into. If I wanted this game, something was going to have to go to raise funds and make space. I had done several deals with Slackers in the past, so I thought "hey, why not propose a trade deal?". I had a Mortal Kombat game that I decided to put on the table. Yeah, I enjoyed it, but I was the only one, and something had to go. MK would be a great game for Slackers to have on location. They agreed, and the swap was made. MK will be missed, but it made way to finally bring Junior "home".
The Service: I aquired this game fully working. It was in pretty good condition with the exception of some ripped side art and some minor damage to the lower front corners of the cabinet. Turns out it was a particle board cabinet. Nothing bad, but definitely less desireable and not as durable as the standard plywood cabinet that my other two Nintendo games have. As time went on, I eventually found a deal on a stripped plywood cabinet. The previous owner bought it as a conversion game and was going to restore it back to it's former glory. When he later found a complete game, he passed the project cabinet on to me. Not only had he already done most of the bondo work, he also threw in a working 20EZ monitor, a Nintendo power supply and brand new T-Molding. After some more wood filler, sanding painting and parts swap, I ended up with a nice restored game with spare Nintendo parts if I ever need them. I also recapped the monitor while I had it removed.
What's even better, I scored some free side art for this game. A forum member was doing a giveaway simply because one side came out a little "flat". Well that won't bother me, it still looks great applied to the game. Thanks Greg! After that, the only artwork left to purchase and apply was the instruction decal just above the control panel.
I also added a high score save kit which also features free play with attract mode.
The Score: I acually worked out a trade deal with Slackers to aquire this one. They are a chain of video game stores here in Missouri . They buy-sell-trade CD's, movies & games. They also put arcade games in their stores, many of which I acually sold them in recent months (I have 4 alone in the Jefferson City store, and now 2 in Columbia). Anyway, Junior had spent recent years at their Columbia store, still munching on quarters. I fed it a few times, and I think it started calling my name. I eventually wanted this game in my basement. Only one problem, I'm a cheap bastard (as most private colectors in the community are), and this game was just out of reach. Meanwhile my search was going nowhere. It had been over a year and not a single Junior in sight. Even the auctions were lacking, couldnt even find any Nintendo cab that could possibly be converted. Its not a "rare" game by any means, but for whatever reason, I was having the hardest time trying to find one.
Then it happened. Slackers had changed up their game room a little bit at their Columbia store, and they dropped the price tag a little bit on Junior. Now I was certain this was calling my name. But like I said, I'm out of cash at this point, and I have other projects to sink funds into. If I wanted this game, something was going to have to go to raise funds and make space. I had done several deals with Slackers in the past, so I thought "hey, why not propose a trade deal?". I had a Mortal Kombat game that I decided to put on the table. Yeah, I enjoyed it, but I was the only one, and something had to go. MK would be a great game for Slackers to have on location. They agreed, and the swap was made. MK will be missed, but it made way to finally bring Junior "home".
The Service: I aquired this game fully working. It was in pretty good condition with the exception of some ripped side art and some minor damage to the lower front corners of the cabinet. Turns out it was a particle board cabinet. Nothing bad, but definitely less desireable and not as durable as the standard plywood cabinet that my other two Nintendo games have. As time went on, I eventually found a deal on a stripped plywood cabinet. The previous owner bought it as a conversion game and was going to restore it back to it's former glory. When he later found a complete game, he passed the project cabinet on to me. Not only had he already done most of the bondo work, he also threw in a working 20EZ monitor, a Nintendo power supply and brand new T-Molding. After some more wood filler, sanding painting and parts swap, I ended up with a nice restored game with spare Nintendo parts if I ever need them. I also recapped the monitor while I had it removed.
What's even better, I scored some free side art for this game. A forum member was doing a giveaway simply because one side came out a little "flat". Well that won't bother me, it still looks great applied to the game. Thanks Greg! After that, the only artwork left to purchase and apply was the instruction decal just above the control panel.
I also added a high score save kit which also features free play with attract mode.
