AY version - Amazing clone of DONKEY KONG from arcade machines ported to the Spectrum. When you load this game on your Spectrum you will be transported to the arcades of the 80s. Get ready for a trip back in time.
Author's words:
"Some time ago, there was a discussion here about a possible Donkey Kong for the Spectrum, which would be better than the ugly official Ocean version from 1986. There were some attempts to improve it, for example the Arcade Edition from 2019 with partially redrawn and recoloured graphics. There was also a new Retro-Sanctuary's version from 2017 made in AGD, a bit simpler. Then Highrise started to make his version, and later also Bubu. Both versions looked promising, but they were unfinished at the time. I started to make some graphics based on the original arcade version for Bubu, but finally he was busy with other great Spectrum arcade conversions and it turned out that Highrise too. Which I understand, mainly after making my own game, because it's very difficult and time demanding and I probably couldn't make multiple games at the same time.
So in 2022, I decided to add a game to my graphics to make my own version. About a year earlier, I started to learn the Spectrum assembler and to make some vector graphics, but I thought it would be nice to make also something similar to famous Spectrum games. I stopped working on my vector game and I tried to learn and figure out how to make a sprite based game. By the way, making the 3D vector system was easier.
It bothered me a bit that all Spectrum Donkey Kong attempts looked like typical Spectrum games, because they used 1-bit graphics on coloured background, and usually there was a massive colour clash which spoiled mainly the first stage. I didn't want to use sprites coloured by a background, or a background coloured by sprites, or 8 pixels movement, or a thick black border. Moreover, I wanted all sprites masked (including the monkey), with additional pixel and colour masks (which change in every frame), some sprites with more colours (Mario, springs), some of them filled with other colours (barrels on ladders, fires) and some with non-Spectrum colours (orange or blue-violet fire parts). I also remember a discussion about whether the girders should be red or purple, so I mixed both colours. And at least 12 sprites on the screen at the same time, plus the animated monkey in front of the background and behind sprites, plus the burning barrel in front of sprites, plus the banging hammer, plus moving ladders and belt pointers, plus the beeper sound, and all this at the same time in 25 frames per second. And all four stages with the same graphics, size, speed and behaviour as the arcade version - on the Spectrum 48K. Yes, a completely crazy idea, but what do I know about making games.
All graphics were made in Art Studio, converted to various formats using several Basic programs, the assembler program was written in a simple text editor and compiled using Pasmo.
Since I had no previous experience with this type of game, I had no reasonable plan and it's probably not surprising that I had problems to put everything in the Spectrum 48K's memory. So, I had to change some faster and longer program parts to slower and shorter parts, I had to use some already used parts as parts of other parts, and to put several things to the background buffer, which is erased when the main game starts, so we can see them only in the introduction. I was thinking about some kind of compression, but I didn't know how it would work during the game, so I didn't use it at all.
The game uses a graphic system which is a bit crazy and it depends on computer timings, so the program detects the Spectrum type and make different adjustments automatically for every type of Spectrum or its clone, otherwise sprites could flicker. It should detect and adapt it for the english and swedish Spectrum 48K, english, spanish and arabic Spectrum +, english and spanish 128K, english, spanish, french and arabic +2, english, spanish and arabic +2A, +2B, +2E, english and spanish +3, +3E, Timex TC 2048, Pentagon, Scorpion, Didaktik M and Kompakt, Spectrum 48K NTSC, brazilian and argentinian TK90X and TK95, Leningrad, Vesta IK-30, HC-91, BK-001, Dubna and Inves Spectrum +. It works, only the Inves Spectrum + does some strange video memory corruption (I don't know why). I also learned how to make a simple raster multicolour effect for the title screen, which should work on the same computer types. I don't know if machines like Harlequin, Sam Coupé, ATM Turbo, Orel BK-08, Spectrum Next, Timex TC 2048 NTSC etc. have different timings, because either I haven't been able to test the game it their emulators, or I haven't figured out how to detect them.
The game is currently available on cassettes or as a TAP file from Bubu, and I hope some of you will enjoy it."
It was made by Artonapilos in 2024/25.
Get it here: [ Ссылка ]
