In 1985, Nintendo released an edutainment game called Donkey Kong Jr Math for the NES. This game makes you solve maths problems to win. The way you do this is that you must climb on a rope and collect numbers and mathematical symbols in order to create the correct formula. There are three modes in this game: Calculate A, which is easier calculations, Calculate B, which are harder calculations and the +-/* Exercise mode which lets you practice the game.
It sounds like a good game, right? HELL NO IT ISN'T!!! And i'll explain why it's not!!
Controls
Just like Donkey Kong Jr, the controls are a load of donkey sh*t, making it harder to play the game properly. They could have been improved, but sadly, Nintendo didn't even bother to improve them!! This makes trying to get the numbers and symbols all that harder!!! C'mon Nintendo, this is a move that Sega would make, not you!!
The modes
For Calculate A, the sums are far too easy and they could have done with some more challenge. As for Calculate B... WHAT THE ACTUAL F**K WERE NINTENDO ON IN '85??!! The target numbers are negative numbers that go down to the depths of the -700's!!! How the hell are Nintendo expecting to come up with a formula that makes the answer -787 HMM?? And the game only allows single-digit calculations!!! I know you were trying to make it challenging, but you didn't have to go to this extremes now did you??!! If you have a sibling who is playing this game, then make sure to keep them FAR away from Calculate B mode, as this will just make them hate Maths more than ever!!!
The gameplay
The choice of mixing platforming with edutainment was a good concept on paper, but the execution was just horrible!! Why would Nintendo use a good game like Donkey Kong Jr. and put a maths spin on it??? It doesn't work!!! It's like taking Luigi's Mansion and mixing it with a survival-horror game called Resident Evil Code: Luigi or taking Animal Crossing and mixing it a first-person shooter game called Call of Tom Nook: Animal Warfare!!! It just does not work at all!!!
This was a good concept, but it was an overall crappy execution!!! This game is a low for edutainment games and is one of the worst Nintendo games ever made!!! This game is worse than Mario and Yoshi for the NES in terms of gameplay, and it's a good thing I got this on an emulator, coz I ain't paying 500 points for this sh*t!!! I question even how this game got into the Virtual Console service at all!! They should have released other NES games on there that are better than this game AND Mario and Yoshi!!!
If you haven't got this game, then please, for the love of everything beautiful, DO NOT BUY IT!!! There are other edutainment games which are better than this game, like Brain Training, Big Brain Academy or even Learn with Pokémon: Typing Adventure!! Anything but that game!!! That game isn't even worth 200 points!!