Donkey Kong (game)

Donkey Kong was Nintendo's first big hit in America. It also marked the first appearances of Mario (originally known as "Jumpman", a carpenter) and of the original Donkey Kong.

The game sold well in the United States. It is one of four games to be inducted into the Nintendo Hall of Fame. The original arcade version has four screen levels, but the NES version only has three (50m was cut from this version).

Super Smash Bros. Brawl also has the game Donkey Kong as an unlockable masterpiece. Instead of starting from the beginning stage, players will start at the second stage. To unlock it, the player must play the game for ten hours. There is also an unlockable stage, 75m that is based on the third level of the game.

Characters Appearing in This Game

• Mario (Playable)
• Donkey Kong (Boss)
• Fireball (Enemy)
• Pauline (Non-Playable)

Story

Donkey Kong has kidnapped Mario's girlfriend Pauline (originally known as Lady), and taken her to the top of a construction site. Mario must climb to the top of this construction site and rescue Pauline from the giant ape.

Official Story Quoted From Nintendo of America

File:Donkeykongflier.jpg

The flier for the game, which was handed out in arcades and places like Toy Stores and such.

"HELP! HELP!" cries the beautiful maiden as she is dragged up a labyrinth of structural beams by the ominous Donkey Kong. "SNORT. SNORT". Foreboding music warns of the eventual doom that awaits the poor girl, lest she somehow be miraculously rescued. "But, wait! Fear not, fair maiden. Little Mario, the carpenter, is in hot pursuit of you in this very moment".

Throwing fate to the wind, risking life and limb, or worse, little Mario tries desperately to climb the mighty fortress of steel, to save the lovely lady from the evil Mr. Donkey Kong. Little Mario must dodge all manner of obstacles - fireballs, plummeting beams and a barrage of exploding barrels fired at him by Donkey Kong. Amidst the beautiful girls' constant please for help, your challenge is to maneuver little Mario up the steel structure, while helping him to avoid the rapid-fire succession of hazards that come his way.

As little Mario gallantly battles his way up the barriers, he is taunted and teased by Donkey Kong, who brazenly struts back and forth, beating his chest in joyful exuberance at the prospect of having the beautiful girl all to himself. It is your job to get little Mario to the top. For it is there, and only there, that he can send the mighty Donkey Kong to his mortal doom. Leaving little Mario and the beautiful girl to live happily ever after. "SIGH. SIGH".

Enemies

• Donkey Kong
• Normal Barrels - (Can be thrown in any direction)
• Fireballs
• Blue Barrels - (Can only be thrown directly down to the bottom of the stage)
• Springs

History

File:DKMachineBlue.gif

The cabinet.

Donkey Kong was created when Shigeru Miyamoto, under the supervision of the late Gunpei Yokoi, was assigned by Nintendo to convert Radar Scope, a poorly selling arcade game in the U.S., into a game that would have more appeal to gamers. The result was a major breakthrough for Nintendo and for the video game industry. Sales of the machine were brisk, with the game becoming the best-selling arcade machine of all time in its era. The gameplay itself was the first of its time. With the growing base of arcades to sell to, the game was able to gain huge distribution. A little well-known fact is that Donkey Kong was the first appearance of Nintendo's world famous Mario character - originally known as Jumpman in this game, but early renamed Mario by Nintendo of America. The machine was Nintendo's first worldwide success.

In 1982, Universal Studios sued Nintendo, claiming that Donkey Kong infringed on Universal Studios' intellectual property rights to the film King Kong. Howard Lincoln, attorney and future president of Nintendo of America, decided to fight the case, and hired seasoned attorney John Kirby to represent Nintendo. When Kirby showed that not only was Nintendo not in violation of any copyrights, but also that Universal Studios themselves had sued RKO Pictures in 1975 to prove that the plot of King Kong was in fact in the public domain, Judge Robert W. Sweet ruled in Nintendo's favor, ordering Universal to pay Nintendo $1.8 million in legal fees. In an ironic twist, Judge Sweet also ruled that Tiger's King Kong video game, licensed by Universal, infringed on Donkey Kong. After the victory, Nintendo awarded John Kirby with a $30,000 sailboat, christened the Donkey Kong, and gave him exclusive worldwide rights to use the name for sailboats.

The Donkey Kong arcade saved Nintendo from certain bankruptcy. Due to the huge success of Donkey Kong, Nintendo of America was able to grow and release many more games in succeeding years and had the resources necessary to release the Nintendo Entertainment System in the USA.

Sequels

File:Donkey Kong arcade.PNG

Mario just jumps over a barrel

Donkey Kong has seven sequels to date.

• Donkey Kong Jr.
• Donkey Kong II
• Donkey Kong 3
• Donkey Kong '94
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!

Ports

In addition to the arcade version, Donkey Kong was ported into several other gaming systems.

• NES
• Game & Watch
• GBA as Classic NES Series: Donkey Kong
• Famicom Disk System
• Atari 2600
• Atari 7800
• ColecoVision
• Intellivision
• Virtual Console
• Donkey Kong Classics
• Donkey Kong/Donkey Kong Jr./Mario Bros.

Trivia

File:Dkmachine64.jpg

The arcade machine found in the Frantic Factory.

• In the Frantic Factory level of Donkey Kong 64, an original arcade machine can be found. If Donkey Kong has learned to pull levers, he can play the original game (as Mario, though). In order to reach King K. Rool, this game must be completed up to the last level, with Mario starting out with one life and able to gain one more each per 10,000 points.
• Donkey Kong was the second platformer ever made, Space Panic being the first in history.
  • Donkey Kong's original engine was actually a heavily edited engine of Space Panic.
• Pauline, according to the manual for the game, had blond hair. However, in the newer Mario Vs. Donkey Kong games, Pauline has brown-maroon hair.
• It is debated whether or not the Donkey Kong in this game is actually Cranky Kong, and that the Donkey Kong that appears today is actually his son, probably Donkey Kong Jr.. However, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Otacon says that the Donkey Kong fought in this game is Donkey Kong's grandfather.
• Billy Mitchell, currently, has the world's highest score in the arcade game: 1,050,200 points.
• The pie factory (second) stage from the arcade game wasn't present in the NES version, supposedly due to a lack of space. As a result, that version only contains three stages, as opposed to the original four.
• In the game of 1995 for SNES: EarthBound (featuring Ness), in the town of Onett, there is a shop and several arcade video game machines are silhouettes of Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong.

External links

• Donkey Kong Megasite
• The Killer List of Video Games entry on Donkey Kong
• Arcade History Database entry for Donkey Kong
• MobyGame's entry on the Donkey Kong consumer games
• Category at ODP

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