General:

Date of Release: 26^th October 1982

Model Nr: DJ-101
Acronym: Donkey Kong Jr.
Rating: DC3V 0.0002W
Battery: Alkali-Manganese batteries LR44 (or SR44) x 2
Manufactured: Japan
Sold: More than 1,000,000 Worldwide
Nr. of players: 1
Lives: 3
Modes: Game A & Game B
Controls: Up, Down, Left and Right Buttons. Jump Button
Other Buttons: Game A, Game B, Time, Alarm & ACL

Game-Play:

Mario has again locked up Donkey Kong, this time in a cage. Junior is off to help his papa. To do this he has to evade snapjaws and attacking birds. He can knock down a bird or snapjaw by dropping a fruit on them. Now to the difficult part. Once you reach the edge next to the cage, you have to time your jump perfectly to grab the swinging key and unlock part of the cage. After 4 sections are unlocked Donkey Kong is freed.

Game differences:

In Game B Junior can only hold on to a vine for 5 seconds in stead of 10 seconds. Game B requires more coordination, technique and timing.

Trivia:

Maximum score is 999 and when the score reaches 300 points all miss marks will clear and if no misses are recorded all points are awarded double score until a miss is made.

Cheats and tricks:

When snapjaws come two at a time, jumping is more difficult. Make Junior grab the vines and move him along. Remember that every time you jump onto a vine the time you can hold it starts again. Fallen fruit reappears after Junior places key in cage or after a miss. After Junior opens one section of cage, game speed increases with each key. Also, while no misses are made, snapjaws and birds increase their speed every 10 seconds.

Points:

When Junior evades a snapjaw, score 1 point. (No points are awarded when Junior jumps while holding a vine.) When Junior jumps down from a vine just after a passing snapjaw, score 1 point. (When there is no vine next to the one Junior is holding, he drops in an arc, not straight down.) When Junior jumps at a fruit, it falls. If it hits a snapjaw on the upper trunk, score 3 points. If it hits a bird on the upper trunk, score 6 points. If it hits a snapjaw on the lower trunk, score 9 points. When Junior grabs 4 keys and frees his papa, 20 points are scored. When Junior grabs a key, 5 to 20 points are scored depending on how fast he does the job.

Misses:

When Junior is hit by a snapjaw or a bird. When Junior jumps for a key and misses, or when he moves too far to the left on the upper trunk, he falls to the lower left of the screen. With 3 misses (shown by 3 Juniors in the upper right corner of the screen), the game is over.

Other notices:

If you hold in Game A or Game B key the highest previous score will be displayed. If the unit is left as it is after game is over, time display will appear in about five minutes. A game is not interrupted even if TIME key or other game keys are depressed during game playing. Pressing ACL switch or removing batteries erases high score from memory.

Issue Differences (click to enlarge pictures)

The table will show how to tell the different Issues that were made:

The battery covers seem to have a number on the back, but they seem to vary a lot and I won't even speculate what the difference is.

Box Variations (Click to enlarge):

Game Variations:

Shipping Box:

Picture Wanted
Fits 10 games

Instructions (English):

Instructions (Japanese):

Instruction Variations:

Other Paperwork: