- Not to be confused with Circus Kong.
Donkey Kong Circus is a Game & Watch title released as part of the Panorama Screen series on September 6, 1984.[1] It is a remake of the second Mickey Mouse Game & Watch game, which was released worldwide seven months earlier. The two games' codes even seem to have gotten mixed up, with Mickey Mouse being model "DC-95" and Donkey Kong Circus being "MK-96."[1] Neither the Panorama Screen Mickey Mouse nor Donkey Kong Circus was released in Japan.
The alarm indicator of this game is a bell that is located under the time/score, and the bell swings when the alarm goes off.
Gameplay
Gameplay of
Donkey Kong Circus
In this game, Donkey Kong balances on a barrel while juggling pineapples and avoiding the fireballs falling from the drums. Mario watches his performance. Donkey Kong receives a point every time he catches a pineapple. If Donkey Kong loses a pineapple, Mario will laugh at him, resulting in a miss. If Donkey Kong manages to grasp a fireball, he will flail, which also counts as a miss. If Donkey Kong reaches 300 points without any misses, the points will be worth double until he does get a miss. If he has any misses at said score, every miss will be cleared instead. When he gets three misses, the player gets a Game Over.
Gallery
Box art for Donkey Kong Circus
Display when the game is reset
Names in other languages
Language
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Name
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Meaning
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Notes
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Japanese
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ドンキーコング サーカス[2] Donkī Kongu Sākasu
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Donkey Kong Circus
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Trivia
The excerpt of "Pop Goes the Weasel" on which the jingle is based
The jingle, slowed down and pitch-shifted to match the song's tempo and pitch, combined with the song itself
- This game marks Donkey Kong's first playable appearance, predating Donkey Kong Country by over a decade.
- Donkey Kong Circus used a slightly faster rearrangement of the first six seconds of "Pop Goes the Weasel" for the game start jingle.
- While this originally had a Disney license that was dropped in favor of Nintendo characters,[citation needed] the previous Game & Watch game featuring Mickey Mouse was an alternate version of Egg released simultaneously in certain countries.
- This is one of the few Game & Watch units to feature full color. This was actually due to Gunpei Yokoi's idea to move the background around the characters, rather than the other way around.
References
Donkey Kong games
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Platformers
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Donkey Kong series
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Donkey Kong (1981, arcade) • Donkey Kong Jr. (1982, arcade) • Donkey Kong 3 (1983, arcade) • Donkey Kong Jr. Math (1983, NES) • Donkey Kong 3: Dai Gyakushū (1984, computer) • Donkey Kong (1994, GB)
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Donkey Kong Country series
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Donkey Kong Country (1994, SNES) • Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (1995, SNES) • Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (1996, SNES) • Donkey Kong Country Returns (2010, Wii) • Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (2014, Wii U)
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Donkey Kong Land series
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Donkey Kong Land (1995, GB) • Donkey Kong Land 2 (1996, GB) • Donkey Kong Land III (1997, GB)
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Mario vs. Donkey Kong series
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Mario vs. Donkey Kong (2004, GBA) • Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis (2006, DS) • Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! (2009, DSiWare) • Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! (2010, DS) • Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move (2013, 3DS) • Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars (2015, 3DS/Wii U) • Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge (2016, 3DS/Wii U)
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DK series
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DK: King of Swing (2005, GBA) • DK: Jungle Climber (2007, DS) (Banana Bonanza [Unknown, Adobe Flash] • Rolling Panic [Unknown, Adobe Flash] • Banana Grab [Unknown, Adobe Flash])
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Miscellaneous
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Donkey Kong 64 (1999, N64) • Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (2004, GCN)
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Racing games
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Diddy Kong Racing (1997, N64) • Donkey Kong Barrel Blast (2007, Wii)
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Donkey Konga series
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Donkey Konga (2003, GC) • Donkey Konga 2 (2004, GC) • Donkey Konga 3 JP (2005, GC)
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Other
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Donkey Kong Circus (1984, G&W) • Donkey Kong Hockey (1984, G&W) • Donkey Kong (1996, arcade) • Donkey Konk (1999, Adobe Shockwave) • Donkey Kong 64 Lore Quiz (1999, Adobe Shockwave) • Memory Kong (1999, Windows/Mac OS) • Couic d'or ! (1999, Windows/Mac OS) • Picross NP Vol. 8 (2000, SFC) • Kremling Krushin (2000, Adobe Flash) • Donkey Kong Country Barrel Maze (2003, Adobe Shockwave) • Mini-Mario Factory Game! (2004, Adobe Flash) • Hurling for Distance (2005, Adobe Flash) • Barrel-Blastapalooza (2005, Adobe Flash) • Donkey Kong: Jungle Fever (2005, arcade) • Mario vs. DK 2: Cannon Kaos (2006, Adobe Flash) • Donkey Kong: Banana Kingdom (2006, arcade) • Timber's Balloon Pop (2007, Adobe Flash) • Play Nintendo activities (2014–present)
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Reissues
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Crazy Kong (1981, arcade) • Donkey Kong (1982, G&W) • Donkey Kong Jr. (1982, G&W) • Donkey Kong II (1983, G&W) • Donkey Kong Jr. + Jr. Sansū Lesson (1983, NES) • Donkey Kong 3 (1984, G&W) • Donkey Kong Classics (1988, NES) • Donkey Kong (1994, NGW) • Donkey Kong Country Competition Cartridge (1994, SNES) • Donkey Kong Country (2000, GBC) • Donkey Kong Country (2003, GBA) • Classic NES Series: Donkey Kong (2004, GBA) • Donkey Kong Country 2 (2004, GBA) • Donkey Kong/Donkey Kong Junior/Mario Bros. (2004, arcade) • Donkey Kong Country 3 (2005, GBA) • Diddy Kong Racing DS (2007, DS) • New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (Wii, 2008) • Donkey Kong Original Edition (2010, VC) • Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (2013, 3DS) • Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (2018, Switch) • Mario vs. Donkey Kong (2024, Switch) • Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (2025, Switch)
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Tech demos
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Unnamed Donkey Kong Country proof-of-concept (Unknown, VB) • puzzle (Unknown, N64) • spritemonkeyEX (Unknown, N64) • Mario vs. Donkey Kong Wii U demo (2014, Wii U)
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Pitches / canceled games
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Donkey Kong no Ongaku Asobi (FC) • Donkey Kong IV (arcade) • Return of Donkey Kong (NES) • Super Donkey (SNES) • CD-i Donkey Kong game (CD-i) • Donkey Kong vs. Super Wario (SNES) • Donkey Kong and the Golden Bananas (SNES) • D.K.R. DMG (GB) • Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers (GBA) • Diddy Kong Pilot (2001/2003) (GBA) • Donkey Kong Racing (GCN) • Donkey Kong Plus (GCN/GBA) • Diddy Kong Racing Adventure (GCN) • Donkey Kong Country 4 (DS) • DK Bongo Blast (GCN) • Freedom (Switch)
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Crossovers
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Super Smash Bros. series
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Super Smash Bros. (1999, N64) • Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001, GCN) • Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008, Wii) • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (2014, 3DS) • Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (2014, Wii U) • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018, Switch)
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NES Remix series
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Main
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NES Remix (2013, Wii U)
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Reissues
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NES Remix Pack (2014, Wii U) • Ultimate NES Remix (2014, 3DS)
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Game & Watch games
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Super Mario franchise
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Donkey Kong (1982, MS) • Mario Bros. (1983, MS) • Mario's Cement Factory (1983, TT/NWS) • Mario's Bombs Away (1983, PS) • Donkey Kong Hockey (1984, MVS) • Super Mario Bros. (1986, CrS | 1987, Sp | 1988, NWS) • Mario the Juggler (1991, NWS) • Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. (2020, CoS)
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Donkey Kong franchise
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Donkey Kong (1982, MS) • Donkey Kong Jr. (1982, NWS | 1983, TT & PS) • Donkey Kong II (1983, MS) • Donkey Kong 3 (1984, MVS) • Donkey Kong Circus (1984, PS) • Donkey Kong Hockey (1984, MVS)
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Miscellaneous
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Green House (1982, MS)
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MS: Multi Screen • TT: Table Top • PS: Panorama Screen • NWS: New Wide Screen • MVS: Micro VS. System • CrS: Crystal Screen • Sp: Special • CoS: Color Screen
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