Dad Alters Donkey Kong for His Daughter - With Pauline as the Hero

[Frezzato]

I'm sure this will make the news here later today, but you night owls (hello, Europe!) get to read about it now.

A guy named Mike Mika has altered the ROM of the original Donkey Kong arcade game to show Pauline as the hero, instead of "Jump Man", aka Mario. He did it for his daughter, and of course, he uploaded game play to YouTube.

Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition

I think it's kind of cool. No, I think it's VERY cool. The squeaking noises Mario made when he ran always cracked me up. And now it's even funnier to me with Pauline's bouncing ponytail.

Classic games never interested me before (other than Zaxxon, which I'm still looking for), but I'd pay good money for this version easily.

News courtesy of ARS Technica [http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/03/dad-hacks-donkey-kong-for-his-daughter-princess-pauline-now-saves-mario/]

 

[Jorec]

So did he make those climbing and jumping animations for Pauline himself? Or were they always in the code somewhere?

 

[Zhukov]

My God, the feminists are defiling classic games with their revisionist history!

Or something like that.

 

[Frezzato]

So did he make those climbing and jumping animations for Pauline himself? Or were they always in the code somewhere?

Apparently he drew her himself:

"...Mika may have used Tile Layer Pro to redraw Mario?s frames and change the palettes within the ROM."

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well he made a really tiny texture mod, it is cool but not really that interesting.

 

[Brad Shepard]

It's a nice gesture and the hard work shows. However, I just have this terrible feeling that Mika and many other people will look at this news piece and think "Why couldn't they do this back in the 1980's? Those people from Nintendo were so stupid.", without actually understanding the history and technological reasons why even if they wanted to that Pauline couldn't be a playable character.

The floodgates will open soon my friends, get the sandbags.

 

[Brad Shepard]

It's a nice gesture and the hard work shows. However, I just have this terrible feeling that Mika and many other people will look at this news piece and think "Why couldn't they do this back in the 1980's? Those people from Nintendo were so stupid.", without actually understanding the history and technological reasons why even if they wanted to that Pauline couldn't be a playable character.

The floodgates will open soon my friends, get the sandbags.

Yeah, yeah you are right. I'm sorry for sticking my finger in the leaky dam causing it to crack. Just know that I'll be the first to drown and be comforted by that fact .

Oh well I still consider the importance of history and context than those small moments of "go girl power" that seem to be all the rage these days.

Im all for female empowerment or whatnot, but dammit if i dont feel all this crap is going overboard, Hell, My girlfriend of 4 years got on me the other day about holding the door open for her because "She does not need a man's help" I mean really, what the hell?

 

[AstylahAthrys]

This is really cool and props to that dad for making it! He deserves a dad of the year award simply for the effort!

 

[VanQ]

This is really cool and props to that dad for making it! He deserves a dad of the year award simply for the effort!

As nice as this was, there are fathers all over the world going to much greater lengths for their children. A pat on the back and 15 minutes of fame like this is more than enough for what he did and I'm sure he'd agree.

 

[Shadowstar38]

Oh look someone did a cute little mod. Well this surely won't turn into a...

I think my main gripe is just that this generation of "feminists" have lost their way and have forgotten that the point of feminism was the pursuit of equal rights under the law.

Now it is just full of wonky double standards where people of both genders are just damned if you do, damned if you don't. Can't be a normal nice person holding a door without being seen as a prick. Ya can't enjoy hobbies because somehow despite proving that video games doesn't make a person violent, now we have people suggesting that playing video games makes a person sexist. And that developers should stop developing games like that despite that what they create is art to which fulfills the point of expression by giving people new experiences, challenging their current mindset and also used to re-tell tales of old and tradition.

I actually like seeing people like Mika go the extra mile and do things like this. He has the skills to bring some happiness but at the same time I feel it is important to understand the history and context to which any writer that wrote about this story most likely left that out because it is a soft news piece that is meant to just make people feel good and I understand that. I just don't like seeing people get wrapped up in their own fanaticism and not realize that just because someone disagree's with ya doesn't mean they aren't the enemy. Most likely they are also a hobbyist of video games that has a different set of values, or experiences.

Wow I went from sticking my finger in the dam to just asking bomberman for his bombs...

...Why? Why would you do this? Everyone was just looking at the pretty game and then you made shit get real. STOP ANAYLSYING THINGS DAMN YOU!

 

[Nouw]

What a kickass dad. Sure it may be small but imagine when you were a kid and you boot up a game to find yourself as a playable character. Simply kickass.

 

[Doom972]

That kind of rom-hacking doesn't seem very innovative. It would've been more interesting if Donkey Kong had to rescue Mario from Pauline.

 

[Batou667]

Turning a trope on its head... not bad... female empowerment? All good... wait, are the powerups pink handbags and umbrellas!? The inciteful bastard! Just wait til Sarkeesian gets her hands on him.

 

[Phasmal]

I think my main gripe is just that this generation of "feminists" have lost their way and have forgotten that the point of feminism was the pursuit of equal rights under the law.

I think your main problem is generalizing an extremely diverse group. That's just going to make you unhappy.

OT: That's adorable, really sweet.
I think it's funny people are trying to get all serious about this, it's just a nice thing for a dad to do for his kid.

 

[Xukog]

Pretty cool dad.I see nothing wrong with this idea.