Following from the success of Donkey Kong, designer Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo followed up with its first sequel, which flipped the script to make Mario the villain, the titular ape the kidnappee and Donkey Kong's offspring the hero. It also added more novel gameplay elements, with vertical vine-climbing in addition to horizontal platform running and the ability to kill enemies with falling fruit, and the game's vertical focus made it a significantly different challenge from the original game. Donkey Kong Jr. also featured increasingly expressive character designs, with Junior's facial expressions bringing a degree of emotion to the game that was uncommon for its era.

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