Drop in a quarter, hit start, and prepare to tackle a typical day in the life of a Jungle King: bellow out your best Tarzan yell, swing through the trees, swim through gator-infested waters, run through an avalanche, and rescue your girlfriend from cannibals.
Gameplay: As fun as it sounds, the Jungle King's day is still fraught with peril. Your first trip through the trees is pretty simple, but on the second run, vicious monkeys will try to knock you to your death on the jungle floor. When you swim through the river, you've got to make sure you don't run out of air, get caught on bubbles, or get eaten by the gators you're trying to shank with your stylish Jungle King knife. And if you thought running through an avalanche was all fun and games, think again: You can jump over most of the rocks, but you'll have to duck beneath a few sneaky ones.
When you find your girlfriend, you'll have to carefully time some leaps over the cannibals' spears and prevent her from falling into a pot of boiling water. But if you successfully save her, you'll enjoy a brief animation before she goes and gets herself caught again, and you have to do the whole thing over.
Could be mistaken for: Jungle Hunt, Moon Patrol, partying with Jay and Silent Bob after they successfully strike back
Kids today might not like it because: A two-dimensional animated kiss isn't exactly the most rewarding type of jungle-love payoff.
Kids today might like it because: Jungle King is just challenging enough to be fun and not frustrating, and the music is still really cool.
Enduring contribution to gaming history: The estate of Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs sued Taito for copyright infringement, forcing Taito to replace the Jungle King with a pith-helmeted adventurer. They also removed the Tarzan yell, and retitled the game Jungle Hunt.
Jungle King is drivin' Wil Wheaton mad, is makin' him crazy (crazy).
Historical information via Wikipedia.