How I spent my summer of 1982: the Making of Donkey Kong for the Atari 2600

Re:How I spent my summer of 1982: the Making of Donkey Kong ... by chrisdhal on Thursday October 29, 2020 @07:22AM (#24929300)

Donkey Kong was just a quarter when it came out. I distinctly remember playing it at roller rinks and arcades and as a poor teenager I wouldn't have been playing it if it was more than that. The first "big" game that was more than that (or maybe the first that was a dollar) was Dragon's Lair. Perhaps this was a local thing, but in my area (suburban Minneapolis, MN, USA) it was a quarter.

The points about communications are huge though. If you didn't grow up during that time you don't understand how different it was just to try to get ahold of somebody at any random time.

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Re:How I spent my summer of 1982: the Making of Donkey Kong ... by sigmaprimus on Thursday October 29, 2020 @10:05AM (#24930579)

Dragon's Lair was a big earner too, it used some different technology in the form of a laser disc player which made for stunning graphics at the time. What made it especially good at earning was it cost money to continue playing even if you didn't die.

I did some looking into DK and it was capable of charging 5 coins per play. It definitely was a different time.

Here is a link to an operating manual, which includes schematics and parts list.

https://www.arcade-museum.com/manuals-videogames/D/dk-tkg4u....

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Re:How I spent my summer of 1982: the Making of Donkey Kong ... by multimedial on Thursday October 29, 2020 @05:12PM (#24935969)

When you died, you had a 10 second phase in which you could enter coins to CONTINUE at the current level of the game, or you would have to start from the beginning again.

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