Sales exec who helped launch the NES says Donkey Kong Jr. Math is "the worst game we released" and Nintendo "thought it'd be great for kids' education, but we couldn't give it away"

Former Nintendo of America vice president of sales, Bruce Lowry, who helped launch the NES, has lifted the lid about the much-maligned Donkey Kong Jr. Math.

When the Nintendo Entertainment System launched in 1985, the first year of it had some major games that have stood the test of time, like Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, and several games that I wouldn't say held up but are certainly remembered, like Wrecking Crew, Ice Climber, and ROB the Robot's duo of Gyromite and Stack-Up. But one stands above all as the most revolutionary of all time: Donkey Kong Jr. Math, which takes the classic Donkey Kong Jr arcade game and makes it bad.

Speaking to Time Extension, Nintendo of America vice president of sales at the time of the NES' launch, Bruce Lowry, spoke about Nintendo's rigorous quality control: "Whenever you submitted your game to Nintendo, they not only analyzed it for bugs, but also for its play value and what was shown in it."

He adds that Nintendo boss Hiroshi Yamauchi was adamant, "'Our games will always be games that people of all ages can play. There won't be violence. There won't be shooting and killing."

However, it wasn't always perfect, as Lowry notes, "Our first year, the worst game we released was Donkey Kong Jr. Math; it was the worst game we ever sold. I think that was one game that slipped through." Jr. Math takes the gameplay of DK Jr. but instead of traversing platforming levels to get to Donkey Kong, you would climb the vines to solve math problems he held up. Lowry recalls, "We thought it'd be great for kids' education, but we couldn't give it away."

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