Red DK vs Blue DK

gutsman004

New member
Joined
Sep 25, 2009
Messages
3,422
Reaction score
213
Location
Flint, Texas
Which color do you prefer? And would you convert it to your color of choice even if the cab looks fine. Just curious.
 
Red. It was the original color and I think the monitor bezel and marquee look like it was made for the red rather than the blue. But if my game was originally blue, I probably wouldn't change it.
 
Red is Radarscope's color and Blue is Donkey Kong's color. Donkey Kong art was designed for blue. Nintendo likes contrast. RED DK IS NOT RIGHT. They were forced to do it for the initial run to get rid of the old cabs.

And, I have two red cabs and neither is a DK. I refuse. :)
 
If it was a Radarscope that was switched to a DK then I'd keep it red, mine was originally blue so when I resto'd it I kept it blue, besides I pretty much only saw and played blue ones bitd and very seldom saw red ones so I'm happy to have a blue one :)
 
I was just having this discussion with myself here. http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=141986&page=3

Also just to clear up some facts.

-DK was originally converted from Radar Scope which explains the origninal red cabinets. If you look at Murph's spreadsheets, you'll see that these DK's had TKG2 serial numbers replacing the TRS (Radar Scope) serial numbers. The converted boards had TKG2 stickers over the TRS that was printed on the boards. These are all 4-board sets. It was at this point when the artwork was created. The red artwork was going into red cabs. We don't know whether Nintendo originally intended DK to be in blue cab or not.

-EVEN AFTER they converted the Radar Scopes, they continued to make dedicated DKs in red cabs. These cabs are typically going be TKG3 serial numbers. They still have the 4-board set in them.

-Somewhere around serial number 1300 they started using some blue cabs for DKs but they also continued to use red cabs. For example, I've got a red cab that is TKG3-UP 1667.

-There is a lot of wackyness about the serial numbers until Nintendo started putting the 2-board sets in DK. The serial numbers look like clearly even out with serial number 30,000 by the time Nintendo puts out the TKG-4 in December of 81, (see the letter addressing the ladder cheat).

-According to Wikipedia DK officially started selling in July of 81. They were moving cray units and it was hard to keep up with demand. This flyer from Japan, printed Sepetember 30, 1981 appears to show DK in a blue cab. http://arcadeflyers.com/index.php?pa...d=6132&image=2
The US flyer is definately shows a blue DK but we don't know when it was printed. Only that is was printed after the artwork was created because they start calling Jumpman "Mario", etc.

My hypothesis is
My running hypothosis is that Nintendo started using the light blue Popeye cabs for DK in order to fill the insane demand for DK (there was definatley a period Nintendo was producing DK in both red and blue). So it was like "We need more DK's but there's no red cabs around. Grab those blue ones we made for Popeye and ship those bitches!" (imagine Japanese dudes running around in circles and saying this in Japanese.) Then Nintendo started producing both games in light blue to make production easier. They could fill fluctuating damand more eaisly because both cabs were the same color. This is just a hypothosis not fact (except the Japanese guys running around like crazy, that part is 100% true).

This would could also explain 5 carriage bolt holes in non-converted dedicated DK games.

We don't really know for sure I guess, but I think the evidence favors the hypothesis that Nintendo created the DK artwork (at least the CP and Marquee) with the idea that it would go in a red cab. I would even take it further and say that DK was rushed to the extent that the artwork was created just to go in the radar scope cabs without any real expectation that they'd be making more than a few thousand.
 
Last edited:
But Popeye didn't come out until 1982, so if they were putting DK cabs in blue in flyers in 1981, they couldn't be Popeye cabs. I do agree with the theory that the red artwork on DK was designed to match the red Radarscope cabs.
 
I prefer blue. I think it looks better than the red cabinets. Since we are picking nits here, I do not like the widebody Mario Bros. cabinets. I much prefer the blue DK conversion kit Mario Bros. cabinets. I think the game looks better in blue and I fail to understand why they produced it in a widebody cabinet anyway. It was the only game they put in a widebody (to my knowledge). What was wrong with putting it in leftover Popeye cabinets or just building more blue cabinets?

Flame away!
 
I'll give you guys a hint from Nintendo's Japanese art direction at the time

hamatilife-img600x450-1274765703wutwqd50917.jpg



Although the Donkey Kong Junior box is white and not orange :) And Popeye is green, and DK3 is red.
 
But Popeye didn't come out until 1982, so if they were putting DK cabs in blue in flyers in 1981, they couldn't be Popeye cabs. I do agree with the theory that the red artwork on DK was designed to match the red Radarscope cabs.

Popeye was acutally set to come out before DK. They got caught up in the legal rights. So it's quite possible that they were ramping up for Popeye in fall of 1981 when DK exploded. It would make sense that if they had empty cabinets they couldn't use for Popeye becuase the legal hadn't cleared yet, that they would use them for DK because of the supply oustripping demand.
 
I think the game looks better in blue and I fail to understand why they produced it in a widebody cabinet anyway. It was the only game they put in a widebody (to my knowledge).

It came out in widebody becuase two can play at the same time. It's a little more comforatable on the wide body.
 
I really like the blue and that's the color of the first one I bought. It was the US particle board cab and I didn't care for that. I was able to get a great deal on an unmolested TKG-2 red DK with all the original art (no sideart and no outline that it was ever there), and TRS boardset with the TKG stickers. So now that I have one I like the red better myself. - Barry
 
Red for sure. It just looks better. Blue is cool but red makes it pop. Plus, if you had an original red DK factory conversion, would you paint or vinyl it blue? Me thinks not.
 
Back
Top Bottom