Summary[]
A gamer finds a "long-awaited sequel" (of sorts) of the original Donkey Kong, but things are not as they first seem...
Main Story itself[]
My name is Reuben and, as you can tell from what I'm writing, I'm a video gamer. I do have healthy interests outside of gaming, don't get me wrong. But I do like to play games when all my chores and school work are done--I'm a seventh-grader, by the way.
One arcade game has really piqued my curiosty as of late. And that game is an arcade game called "Donkey Kong II: Jumpman Returns." It was made in 2006, which is about 25 years (if my arithmetic is correct) after the original Donkey Kong arcade game was made. But this game had four new levels AND the four levels of the original game. There would be a new level followed by a level of the old game. For instance, Level 1 was brand spanking new, and Level 2 is the first level of Donkey Kong 1. So the best way to describe it is this game is to Donkey Kong as Super Mario 2 Japan is to the original Super Mario Brothers--kind of the "Lost Levels" of Donkey Kong.
I used to play this game in the old neighborhood I was in when I could, but then two years ago, my family and I moved to a new neighborhood--but I'm still in my current school. One of my new neighbors owned an arcade and told me he had the game "Donkey Kong II: Jumpman Returns" in his arcade. So during weekends after whatever chores were done, I'd take some money from my allowance to get tokens to play the games. I saw some of the other games there and got to make some new friends as well as meet some of the old ones.
Soon, I saw the arcade cabinet of "Donkey Kong II."
One gamer noticed me looking at it, and he said, "Are you sure you want to play that?"
I said, "Why not?"
He replied, "Well, it IS playable, but it's kind of... well, odd."
I just shrugged and went over there anyway. I guess he called it odd because of the new levels added to the old DK1 levels.
But I would soon find out what he meant.
Now, as stated earlier, there would be a new level, followed by one of the levels from DK1. But also, there would be a cutscene after each "even numbered" level. The first cutscene, following Level 2 (DK1's Level 1) had Pauline running from Donkey Kong and leaving her things. The second cutscene, following Level 4 (DK1's Level 2) would be Jumpman sneaking up on a sleeping Donkey Kong and giving him a hot-foot. I usually would laugh audibly when I saw that. The third cutscene, which came after Level 6 (DK1's Level 3) was of Donkey Kong pulling a fast one on Jumpman, who was asleep and failing to use his cage trap. And the ending, which was after Level 8 (Level 4 in DK 1), was Donkey Kong in the cage--which I guess was what led to Donkey Kong Jr.
However, as you can guess, this wouldn't be the case here. I went ahead and went to the arcade cabinet. The title screen said "Donkey Kong II: Jumpman's Revenge." Just from the title alone, I knew something was off.
The Donkey Kong looked more like a muscular man with a business suit and a soul patch beard. This at first struck me as odd. But I remembered that Donkey Kong was supposed to be a Popeye inspired game, with Popeye for Jumpman, Olive Oyl for Pauline, and Bluto (or Brutus as he's sometimes called) as Donkey Kong.
Not only that, but the Jumpman looked different too. Almost like a ninja. As though Jumpman and Ninja-kun--another arcade game lost legend--did the Dragon Ball Z Fusion Dance.
There was no music with the Donkey Kong ascending the elevator. Yes, in DK2: Jumpman Returns, Donkey Kong rode and elevator up instead of climbing ladders. But not only did this Donkey Kong look different in game, I did not see Pauline anywhere on his person or anywhere in game... aside from brief appearances in cutscenes for that matter, which I will explain when I get to them.
Level one of DK2 normally had fire pits at the very bottom, followed by some platforms carried by wires, and a lone fireball guarding Donkey Kong and the captive Pauline. In this, though, there were no firepits--the gaps were covered up so the floor was uniform, and the platforms were still so I could leap carefully from one to another--and the fireball thing was gone. The only threat was falling, so I took my time. Also, as said earlier, Pauline was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a purplish rose was there--perhaps it was meant to be a black rose, but recolored purple to stand out from the black background. Instead of beating his chest from time to time, this Donkey Kong--if he could be called that--would have balloons with symbols, similar to Q*Bert when he lost a life. Perhaps he was taunting me. I'm just guessing. Once I reached the rose, it just vanished, and it did the usual jingle for when Jumpman got to Pauline. Donkey Kong just ascended as usual. There was no full heart nor broken heart in this.
Another weird thing about the game overall is instead of after every two levels, the cutscenes came after EVERY level. This one had Jumpman--without the mustache, oddly enough--near a casket, with a photo of Pauline--or a recolor of her--surrounded by a wreath. And an 8-bit version of "Amazing Grace" played in the background.
"What is this?!" I whispered to myself. "It after the first level, and already the story's taken a dark twist."
Nevertheless, curiosity prompted me to continue playing.
Next up was Level 2, which as I said earlier was the first level of the original Donkey Kong. Now, under normal circumstances, the barrels would be going over the edges, down ladders, and sometimes even zigzag or go in other patterns. But in this, only wooden barrels appeared, and just went over the platform edges only... none went down the ladders or zigzagged or whatever. And none of the metal barrels appeared that would trigger the flames nor the sentient fireballs. Again I made it to the purple rose... what was probably intended as a black rose, and the usual jingle happened.
The next cutscene started, it had the rearranged Donkey Kong sipping on a beer mug--similar to what would be seen in the old arcade game Root Beer Tapper. He then showed the gleeful look and a balloon showing the recolored Pauline, followed by a red X over her. The mustache-less Jumpman soon showed a balloon with what I assume is a pinched nerve, like the kind you'd seen in anime of a character getting really angry.
I was starting to wonder if whoever made this version of the game made it easy on purpose, to tell a macabre story. But, again, my curiosity pushed me further.
The third level, the second of the new levels, usually had two blue-flame-tipped towers, an elevator going up and down alternatingly, and the usually living fireballs. To beat this level, you'd have to remove some blocks, similar to how you would remove the rivets in the final level of the original Donkey Kong. And after you did that, the flames would go out and you could jump safely to the top of the middle tower to save Pauline... only for Donkey Kong to stomp to tip you over and snag Pauline again. In this, though, the sentient fireballs are gone. It was just a matter of timing your jumps to and from the elevator and removing the rivets. Once that was done, I picked up the usual Purple/Black Rose. Donkey Kong didn't do that stomp move, though.
The next cutscene took place. The no-mustache Jumpman sat at a desk with what appeared to be a blueprint near it. A balloon with a devilish evil smiley appeared, followed by an 8-bit rendition of the classical tune "Mysterioso Pizzicato"... you know, that one song often used as a stock theme for evil plotting.
The fourth level came out. Normally this would be the second Donkey Kong 1 level, which is the cement pan area--often mistakenly called the "Pie Factory" level. But this time, there were no cement tins, only the burning oil drum and the conveyor belts... as well as the varying ladders. It was just a matter of taking my time, waiting for Donkey Kong to get out of the way, and reach the purple rose that Pauline would usually be at.
The next cutscene following this had the Jumpman spinning into his Ninja-kun-esque ninja outfit, followed by what seemed to be an 8-bit dramatic Asian jingle. At least this explained the outfit this Jumpman was wearing, but why? That's what I wanted to find out.
The fifth level, the third of the new levels, had under normal circumstances conveyors on the first three "floors", where you had to dodge the springer things you had to dodge in the third level of Donkey Kong 1, as well as the "cement pies". Higher up on the "floors" were the sentient flames, and a scale-like pair of platforms. In that level, you had to pick up a certain number of hearts to make the platform on the right lower so the left platform would be raised enough to reach where Pauline was. Well, in this, there were none of the dangers. And instead of hearts, you had to pick up toony-looking skulls. They looked almost like the skull raft in Super Mario World, had Super Mario World been in 8-bit form--fan de-makes aside. So, I was just careful to take my time to get the skulls so I could reach the top and get the purple rose.
The cutscene following showing a paper airplane hitting Donkey Kong. The Donkey Kong, or what is supposed to be Donkey Kong were he an ape rather than a bulky human, opened it up with a question mark balloon above his head.
"Is this Jumpman calling Donkey Kong out?" I asked myself.
Level 6 came up. As you may have deduced, this was the Level 3 of Donkey Kong 1. Normally there would be springboard thingies bouncing, and sentient flames. Also, the Donkey Kong 2 version had the platforms placed slightly differently. But in this, no springboards were about, and the only sentient fireball--there was one in this level--was near Donkey Kong, not patrolling the platforms between elevator rides. So I just took my time with the elevators, waited for the fireball to go away, and climbed to the purple rose.
The next cutscene showed Donkey Kong jumping toward the "Ninja Jumpman." Jumpman jumped twice before running away, with Donkey Kong following. Perhaps Jumpman had taunted him and provoked him.
Level 7 was the last of the new levels. And it was the hardest as you could guess. Aside from gaps in the floors, there usually was one lower conveyor belt, with a dumper putting cement in the tins, and a portion of a conveyor belt higher up, which dumped cement tins into the flames. This would normally force me to take my time. But in this, the conveyor belts were still and the cement dumper was inactive. Thus, the only threats were the two burning oil drums--aside from the one the cement fell into, there was one that was at the bottom center. I avoided those as usual and made it the purple rose again. You may be thinking this is all too easy. And you're right. I finally figured out that whoever made this made it easy on purpose to tell the player some sort of message, and I was getting that message bit by bit.
The last cutscene before the final level had Donkey Kong and "Ninja Jumpman" running through the construction site a brief bit. I had a brief chuckle when "Ninja Jumpman" had his hand out a bit and I could assume he was flipping the bird at Donkey Kong.
The final level of Donkey Kong 2 was the same as the final level of Donkey Kong one--the one where you had to remove the rivets to make Donkey Kong fall to his defeat. But in this game, Donkey Kong doesn't give up that easily--you'd have to jump on his hands to make him fall. But in the game I was playing--none of those ghost fireballs appeared. The only thing I had to worry about was falling if I tried to go back. When the final rivet was removed and the girders piled up, aside from Donkey Kong holding on for dear life, I also noticed another thing differently... the pile of girders also had spikes atop them, and they looked almost like the spikes on the back of Spinys from Super Mario 1. I jumped on the Donkey Kong's hands and he fell. Instead of the usual googly-eyed dazed face, I saw X's for eyes--implying he was dead--and a red line across the area, just as wide across as he, as well as some specks of red on the spikes, which I could assume to be blood.
The ending scene had Jumpman, without his ninja outfit or mustache, standing near a gravestone. The gravestone was not unlike one you'd see in the original Legend of Zelda. The ending text read:
"Rest in peace, beloved Christine. I, Paul, have avenged you. My evil father Dirk is dead."
This was up for about two minutes before the title screen turned on again--enough time to write this down on my note pad.
I soon went up to the clerk at the arcade front desk and asked for the manager. The manager, who was know as Mr. G., emerged.
I asked softly, "Mr. G., do you know anyone by the names of Christine, Paul, and Dirk?"
Mr. G.'s eyes widened. He asked me, "Where did you hear these names?"
I had Mr. G. and the desk clerk follow me back to the arcade cabinet. I'm guessing at the time they assumed it was in working order and thought there were no problems. I played through it with them watching me, and it happened as before.
I asked again if they knew anyone by those names.
Mr. G. then looked to the clerk and told him, "Send the game back for repairs--I think a, er, 'defective' game chip slipped by the manufactures."
Then he turned to me and said, "Reuben, please step into my office. I'll explain everything there."
Since he was my neighbor, he knew who I was. Again, he was the one who introduced me to this arcade in the first place
Mr. G. was nice enough to give me a caffeine-free Diet Pepsi, since he knew I was trying to watch my caffeine and sugar intake. After a bit, Mr. G. cleared his throat and explained:
"Some years ago, Reuben, before your family moved here, one of my old neighbors Dirk had a woman named Christine killed in an accident, as she was the daughter of a man who bullied him in his childhood. How the authorities did not apprehend him, I can only guess.
"Dirk's son and Christine's boyfriend, Paul, had no idea at the time, until one day Dirk got drunk and admitted he did it. Paul was upset, but Dirk commanded him to tell no one.
"Paul was livid, but stayed quiet for a while. But when I caught glimpses of him, he seemed to be delving deeper into a silent insanity. When I would pass by the house on the way home, I could see his bedroom light on.
"A few days later from that, Paul went missing. In his place was this red ninja person. Paul, prior to the death of Christine, would dressed up as a ninja along with his friends, who were different colored ninja. He then threw a paper airplane at Dirk, according to witnesses. The red ninja taunted him by making an obscene gesture at him, again as the witnesses said.
"The ninja led Dirk to a construction site, and it was twilight, before night fully set in. The ninja went inside the main building construction, and Dirk followed foolishly. Witnesses say he wandered aimlessly until he was at the top, and then the red ninja knocked him over onto a pile of sharp poles, impaling him.
"At the time I thought, 'No. That CAN'T be Paul. No matter how mad he is at his father, there is just no way he'd stoop to murder.'
"Not long after the death of Dirk, Paul visited me one last time to say goodbye, as he said he had to leave town. There were rumors a month after that he might have even left the country."
It was then it hit me like a monsoon--this was a makeshift confession letter. The cutscenes after the first two levels were the motive for the murder--the death of a girlfriend. The cutscenes after stages three and four showed the person forming the plot together. The cutscenes that came after stages five, six, and seven were him leading his father into a trap. The stages themselves were him and his father in the construction site, the final stage being the actual killing committed, and the ending was him practically getting away with it.
I've heard of people losing it over a loved one, be it a pet, a sibling, a parent, or even a lover like this person's love. But I never thought it'd result in this.
Note from the creepypasta author.[]
My inspiration for this Creepypasta is Marisa's Story. Whereas Marisa's Story was a suicide note in videogame form, this is kind of a videogame version of a confession note to a crime.