Never mind the atrocious colors, the almost unrecognizable graphics and the recycled music. The fact is, Donkey Kong on the Commodore VIC-20 is an amazing conversion, and every bit as fun to play as the arcade game. Sure, Mario looks like a thumbtack and Donkey Kong is apparently blushing like a rose, but all of that is quickly forgotten once the game begins. All four screens are here, looking as close to their arcade counterparts as the VIC-20 can make them. The barrels, the hammers, the springs, the fireballs... they're all here and they all act exactly the way they are supposed to. And, further proving the programmers went the extra mile, there is practically no flicker whatsoever, a rarity among VIC-20 games!
Of course this isn't the best home version of Donkey Kong there is, but it doesn't have to be. When a game looks and plays this good on a system supposedly too weak for the task, that's more than good enough. Very well done.