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World's smallest Donkey Kong cabinet delivers authentic arcade experience for tiny fingers (video)
This, friends, is a work of art. Above is a stunning, fully-functional recreation of the original Donkey Kong arcade cabinet -- and it's only 8.25 inches tall. The accomplished modder Bender posted his handiwork on the Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum and it's sure to wow even the most cynical of folks. At the heart of this build is a hacked up GamePark GP2X Wiz running MAME, but it's the attention to detail, including the printed vinyl decals and light-up marquee, that really pull this (supposedly world's smallest) 1/8 scale project together. Check out the gallery below and the pair of lengthy demo videos after the break. En garde Mr. Heck! %Gallery-122811% [Thanks, Brian]
Nintendo files to trademark 'It's on like Donkey Kong' catchphrase
Nintendo's ready to 'throw down,' it would seem, if its recent trademark filing is any indication. That's right, the company that brought you Donkey Kong now wants to claim ownership of the popular catchphrase "it's on like Donkey Kong." Apparently seeking the mark in advance of its release of Donkey Kong Country Returns, Nintendo is seeking to lay claim to the popular phrase which is loosely used by the kids these days to say they're ready to kick a little behind. Suggestions for a new, less corporate catchphrase are welcome in comments. The full press release is after the break.
Super Monkey Kong crams 14k of Jumpman excellence onto Meggy Jr RGB
Like we said at the outset, the incredibly inventive and fun handheld hardware of Meggy JR RGB is only as good as the games that hackers can manage to squeeze onto it. Well, we'd say the hackers have won. Steven Read has built a fully-functional Donkey Kong clone called Super Monkey Kong that plays out on that delicious 8 x 8 grid of RGB LEDs. It took him roughly 3,000 lines of code to do it, which compresses down to 14k, the max allowable by the AVR microcontroller in use. Check out the video at the read link to see it for yourself.[Via Oh Gizmo!]
Donkey Kong quilt will keep your lonely self warm
Honestly -- if you're super into Donkey Kong and quilts (yes and yes), it's also probably likely that you're... well, single. But take cozy comfort with this specimen of craftsmanship for a cool $450 -- or you can always buy a $9,000 sewing machine to help you make your own. [Via Geeky Gadgets]
Game Boy Pocket fitted with backlit screen, one man's life now complete
You know what they say -- if you can't buy it, mod it. Michael "Bibin" Moffitt's backlighting job on this Game Boy Pocket is a case in point. Unwilling to shell out the dough for a Game Boy Light on eBay (but more than willing to destroy two old LCDs in pursuit of his mad dream), this guy removed the reflective layer and adhesive behind the handheld's display ("almost as hard as reasoning with a rabid PlayStation 3 fan," he writes) and built a backlight out of an LED, some perspex, and a diffusive layer. That's it -- now our man is playing Donkey Kong, in the dark, in all its monochromatic glory, and with no noticeable change in battery life. Hit the read link for plenty of naked GBP pics. Update: The pictured device belongs to Palmer Luckey, who worked alongside Moffitt to mod a pair of devices.
Christina Aguilera's blasphemous Donkey Kong art
When we first embarked on our blogging careers, fresh-faced and full of hope, there were titles that we never expected to use. "Christina Aguilera's blasphemous Donkey Kong art," it's fair to say, was one such example.Yet the world moves in mysterious ways, and so here we are, blogging about how pop songstress Christina Aguilera has hung the original version of the above artwork on the wall of her baby's nursery. That's right, folks: while Michael dangles his kids from balconies, and Britney has hers taken away, Christina surrounds her offspring with awesome Nintendo artwork. Titled "The Last Supper," this particular piece is by the artist Misha, and was created for the 2006 I Am 8-Bit Show.Incidentally, if you want to be just like Christina -- and with an attitude to child-rearing like hers, who wouldn't harbor such aspirations? -- then great news! Prints of the above piece are available now at the Gallery1988 website for $75. That's ... actually tempting.
Friday Video: LEGO Donkey Kong
Aside from all of the blogging we do here at Wii Fanboy, our lives are pretty much a vacuum, as we lack any real kind of incentive to keep breathing other than how hard our overlords at Joystiq will beat us if our post count drops. It's just the way life is.But, we do have a lot of LEGOs. And it's scientific fact that anything combined with LEGOs is pretty much the most awesome thing ever. In fact, we have so many LEGO pieces, we're certain we could do our own version of classic NES games with them. Just like in this video.[Via Go Nintendo]
King of Kong underdog to cameo in upcoming film
When King of Kong director Seth Gordon was approached to direct a new Vince Vaughn comedy for Newline Cinemas, he couldn't help but include a small appearance by everybody's favorite underdog Donkey Kong legend. That's right, school teacher turned DK record-breaker Steve Wiebe will have a small walk-on role in Gordon's upcoming film Four Christmases. The role is uncredited by IMDB, but a representative from Newline reports that Wiebe will have a cameo appearance as Jim, Reese Witherspoon's character's brother, and brother-in-law to Vince Vaughn's character. No word yet if Wiebe's character will allude to Donkey Kong, record-breaking, or his unexplainable disdain for hot sauce.[Thanks, Edog]
Donkey Kong becomes a monster truck
Much like getting a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, we're not sure if being transmogrified into a monster truck means that a icon has "finally arrived" or has leapt headfirst into the inky blackness of cultural irrelevance. For better or for worse, Donkey Kong, noted primate, kart racer and plumber antagonist, has just made the fateful jump.Just as informative of the images of the Monster Jam truck (which actually bears a striking resemblance to DK) are the (plentiful) reactions of children at the ape's automotive debut, all of who attempt to describe how "cool" and "awesome" the truck is, but seem to be incapable of capturing the grandeur with mere words. Luckily, the camera pans away before they result to guttural grunts and screeching.[Thanks, Shawn]
WRUP: Blasting barrels with DK edition
For Wii owners, there is likely one release that rests atop your list for games you want to pick up: Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast. A game that was to release on the GameCube, it's been updated for the Wii. And, we know how much you guys love Nintendo and their games, so are we correct in our assumption?What will you be playing? Some Barrel Blast, or are you trying to play something different, such as Mercury Meltdown or Looney Tunes: ACME Arsenal?
Wii releases for the week of October 8th
Much like last week, this week is chock full of new releases for our beloved Wii. There's even one release that was to already be released last week, but had to be bumped forward to this week. There's even a title that originated on the GameCube releasing this week (which we've had some mixed feelings about).. Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast Balls of Fury FIFA Soccer 08 Bleach: The Shattered Blade Thrillville: Off the Rails Looney Tunes: ACME Arsenal Mercury Meltdown: Revolution Rock and Roll Adventures
DS Fanboy interviews Treehouse's Rich Amtower
Today, DS Fanboy has a nice little treat for all of our readers. We sit down and speak with Rich Amtower, who works in Nintendo's Treehouse division. Responsible for adapting Japanese titles to the English, French and Spanish markets, you can imagine he's got quite the difficult job to do. That doesn't stop us from bugging him for an interview, though.First of all, explain who you are and what your duties are with the company?My name is Rich Amtower, and I work in the localization department. Our job is to take games made in Japan and make them feel like they were made in America, basically -- that means recording English voices if there are Japanese voices in a game, translating and rewriting Japanese text into English (and now French and Spanish), and doing whatever sorts of alterations need to be made so that when gamers pick up a title, they feel like they're playing something tailor-made for them.
Paste Donkey Kong on photo, win a DS lite and DK Jungle Climber
Do people exist somewhere that don't own this system? If the Japanese sales charts are to be believed, then there have been enough Nintendo DS systems sold so that every man, woman, child, and dog on the planet could have one of these. And a spare.However, if you are DS-less and have a hankering to get onboard with the action, and you have some rudimentary photochopping skills, then try your hand at the Nintendo DS/DK contest at SmugMug. All you have to do is paste the little guy climbing to the top of pretty much anything, and then submit it. Keep in mind though, images must be under 12 mb in size (good gawd).It's a pretty easy contest to enter, and the swag is well worth the time, so why not whip something up and get in? We made one in just a few seconds (hint, it's the image for this post) so you should trump our skillz easily and submit it to them. Check out the rules on their site. Also, the comment on the first (and only) entry that's up so far is ... priceless. Ahh, the internets.
DK Jungle Climber celebrates release with photo contest
To celebrate the release of DK Jungle Climber, Nintendo is teaming up with photo-sharing site SmugMug.com to give away some DS Lites and copies of the newly-released title. A total of eight systems and eight copies of the game will be awarded to the creators of the five best images. But, photochopping experts don't have much time, as the contest will end October 1st.Any of you plan on entering the contest?
The outstretched-hand-boxart club
Though publishers aren't as big on featuring these silly poses anymore as they were during the DS's first two years, the perceptive gamers at The Platformers pointed out that we'll be receiving two new members to the outstretched-hand-boxart club next month: DK Jungle Climber and Fullmetal Alchemist: Trading Card Game.Some say that the covers are meant to emphasize the touchscreen nature of the titles, but we're convinced that there's more to it. Perhaps the characters are reaching for something unseen -- a dropped banana, a tool vital to their current task, or the wrist of a fleeing love who's spurred their unwanted advances. Keep that last possibility in your mind as you look over a few more examples of outstretched-hand boxarts after the post break.
King of Kong opens in eight more cities today
We know we probably sound like a broken record with our repeated praise-singing for the fabulous King of Kong, but with good game-based movies being rarer than a perfect game of Pac-Man, we feel this effort needs all the support it can get. The movie opens in eight more cities today, including major metro areas like Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and Washington, DC.King of Kong's limited five-screen opening last weekend brought in a respectable $10,000 per screen, just slightly less than box office leader Superbad. Sure, Superbad was on roughly 590 times as many screens, but still, it's tailing Superbad!The movie is currently holding at an incredible 98 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and a respectable 83 out of 100 on MetaCritic. What more do you need? Get some tickets already!
King of Kong opens in four cities today
Supporters of game-based movies have had to suffer through a lot in recent months. Dead or Alive, Postal and the DVD release of Game Box 1.0 have all assaulted our senses and our sensibilities since the start of the year. Now, finally, a good game-based movie has come along and, unfortunately, it's only viewable in five theaters nationwide.The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters opens today in New York (two theaters), LA, Seattle and Austin, Texas. The movie's limited release extends to seven more cities next week and four more the week after on its way to eventual release in 25 total cities.Reviews of the film continue to be overwhelmingly positive, with only one bad review among the 25 currently listed on Rotten Tomatoes (not quite 100% fresh anymore, but still close). If you want to encourage quality, non-fiction video game film-making and you're lucky enough to live in one of the above cities, vote with your wallets and buy tickets for the opening weekend. You'll be glad you did.
Donkey Kong: King of Savings
Burabura Donkey, or DK: King of Swing as we know it in the states, puts you on a quest to recover 24 stolen medals and prove yourself as the Jungle Hero. Swinging the gorilla from peg to peg is managed with your handheld's L and R buttons, while jumping can be accomplished by hitting the two shoulder buttons at the same time. Its mechanics are simple, and many feel that the graphics are a step back from the Donkey Kong Country series, but it can still be pretty fun if you're looking for something different in an action game. Import shop Play Asia will be selling Japanese copies of the Paon-developed GBA title for $10.90 for the next three days, so if you still haven't tried out DK: King of Swing, here's your chance!
Rumor: Donkey Kong 64 coming to the DS?
The folks over at NeoGAF are reporting that the latest issue of Ngamer has an interesting chunk of rumor in it. In the latest issue, a reader writes in asking if Donkey Kong 64 could appear on the Virtual Console for the Wii, what with the game requiring the expansion pack and all. Apparently, the folks at Rare have been thinking about that game too, but they've been thinking DS and not Wii.Given that Mario 64 DS doesn't have the best control scheme, we worry about how this game would handle itself in that respect should this rumor turn out to be true. Other than that, we say bring it on.
Dojo update: Donkey Kong Final Smash
Today's dojo update provides us with a look at the Final Smash maneuver for Nintendo mascot Donkey Kong. Upon retrieving the item, Donkey Kong busts out his patented bongos. Upon beating on them with his most massive of hands, he slaps out a tune so deadly that it kills all who hear it. Except for large gorillas (we imagine the song is Eddie Murphy's "Party all the Time").You know the deal, images of DK rocking the bongos are in the gallery below.%Gallery-3347%
