Sunday, March 10, 2013

Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition

Looking for a feel-good story to wrap up the weekend? You can't get much better than this one: someone calling himself "Mike Mika" (sorry, I'm not sure if that's his real name or not) recently shared on YouTube a video titled "Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition," which features a hacked copy of Donkey Kong: Original Edition--the one that reinstated the previously MIA cement factory level into the NES version of Nintendo's classic quarter-muncher--that has Pauline save Mario rather than vice versa.

What prompted Mike to make "Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition"? Here's the explanation he shared in the video's YouTube description: "My three-year-old daughter and I play a lot of old games together. Her favorite is Donkey Kong. Two days ago, she asked me if she could play as the girl and save Mario. She's played as Peach in Super Mario Bros. 2 and assumed she could do the same in Donkey Kong. I told her we couldn't in that particular Mario game [and] she seemed really bummed out by that."



Flash forward to Mike being "up at midnight, hacking the ROM [and] replacing Mario with Pauline" in order to produce the title seen above.

Although Mike and his daughter are the only gamers playing "Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition" at the moment, last night he promised that he'd "figure out the best way to share a patch for anyone interested in playing the hack."

See also: 'So, you mean I can stop cursing Nintendo of America now?' and 'Donkey Kong: Original Edition ain't all that' and 'How badly do you want to play Donkey Kong: Original Edition?'

14 comments:

Justin Difazzio said...

Adorable.

thegaygamer.com said...

Yes :) I really hope he follows through and makes it available to others. I want to play it myself!

michaelstearns said...

Great bloomers, hahah! Pauline looks surprisingly natural, he did a really nice job.

thegaygamer.com said...

I agree :) Much better than I thought it would be after first hearing about it!

Zaphod65 said...

That's awesome. My nieces would enjoy that. One of them still gets aggravated that "Crackdown" doesn't give you the option to play as a female agent.

thegaygamer.com said...

Well, hopefully Mike will be able to share the patch soon. And hopefully Nintendo will take notice that gamers would like to see more of this kind of thing in the future!

Nightmare Bruce said...

He did a great job drawing the sprites for Pauline! Wonder where he got a rom with the missing level included, I didn't know it was available on any actual NES roms (other than the one Nintendo was giving on virtual console), and putting it into a DK rom wouldn't be a simple task either. If he releases a patch that results in a rom that stil fits on the proper PCB I'll definitely make a reproduction cart/label of it.

thegaygamer.com said...

Hmmm, I'm pretty sure I have a NES ROM version of 'Donkey Kong: Original Edition,' Jeremy. It was released/leaked shortly after Nintendo gave the game away to folks who bought Euro red Wiis. Anyway, if I have it, I'd certainly be willing to send it to you. Just write me at bochalla(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Nightmare Bruce said...

Whoa, I'm usually on top of news like this. This is great, I'll send you an email.

thegaygamer.com said...

I know, right? Anyway, yes, send me an e-mail and I'll reply by sending you the ROM :)

Drew Mackie said...

As a guy who always wished there was a way to play as Peach in Mario 1 and 3, this is awesome news. I kind of hope someone on the official end realizes that it's not all that hard to make the female character playable.

apricotsushi said...

Definitely wins the award of feel-good story of the day, Bryan!

thegaygamer.com said...

I agree, Drew. I'll never understand why Nintendo's never gone back to the formula of the American SBM2. Here's hoping they do so soon.

thegaygamer.com said...

Yay! :)