S4E10: Donkey Kong -or- Gorilla Warfare

About this episode

The episode features blindfolded speedrunner BlazeingPhoenix discussing his experiences with Donkey Kong and the world of speedrunning.

Blindfolded speedrunner BlazeingPhoenix is ready to barrel through Donkey Kong (NES, 1986) and Donkey Kong (Game Boy, 1994) with Mike and Jaymo as part of The Old SwitchAroo’s epic quest to research and review every retro game in Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics catalog. In this episode, we talk about the impressive world of blindfolded speedruns and BlazeingPhoenix takes us on his journey into blindfolded speedrunning, including watching Ocarina of Time blindfolded as part of Games Done Quick and trying to beat Kingdom Hearts blindfolded before submitting the first blindfolded Donkey Kong speed run and speedrunning Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition for GDQ Hotfix. Along the way, we’ll also look at how Donkey Kong began design as a Popeye-themed game before evolving to the giant gorilla we all know in a decision that would see Nintendo and Universal Studios face off over the rights to King Kong, what causes the Donkey Kong kill screen, and how Donkey Kong on the Game Boy nearly had a level editor years before Mario Maker would make its debut. Thanks for listening, and a very special thanks to Kristal Fields of The Lazy Circles for our catchy theme song…

People in this episode

Hosts: Mike, Jaymo

Guest: BlazeingPhoenix

Topics covered

• blindfolded speedrunning
• Donkey Kong
• Nintendo Classics
• game design history
• speedrunning events
• retro gaming

Keywords

• Donkey Kong
• blindfolded speedrun
• NES
• Game Boy
• speedrunning
• Nintendo
• retro games
• Games Done Quick
• game design
• kill screen

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Nintendo, Universal Studios, Games Done Quick, The Lazy Circles

Books & works: Ocarina of Time, Kingdom Hearts, Donkey Kong, Mario Maker

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