It was the original, but starting from a higher (possibly the highest?) difficulty level and, as you say, with only one life. But yes, it’s not quite the same experience as if you just rocked up to your average cabinet in 1981.
Either way, the two games are so wildly different that I don’t see much value in comparing them directly
![2011 [FieldExplores]](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/64874969-1318-406c-8ac9-fbf5df23f6dd.jpeg){kind=link}
Considering you have to play the original to complete DK64, they probably did.
(Not only that but you have to be really good at playing the original. With an N64 pad, too!)
That wasn’t quite the original. There were a few distinctions that made the OG arcade better.
One of them was reducing the extra life’s.
It was the original, but starting from a higher (possibly the highest?) difficulty level and, as you say, with only one life. But yes, it’s not quite the same experience as if you just rocked up to your average cabinet in 1981.
Either way, the two games are so wildly different that I don’t see much value in comparing them directly