Donkey Kong

Circa 1981, Nintendo employee Shigeru Miyamoto was entrusted with the task to make an arcade game fit for the American market. This was was after Nintendo's flop of a game called Radar Scope. Radar Scope was an unreleased arcade game that was similar to Space Invaders, in which you were a captain of a 'Sonic Spaceport,' were you had to defend against oncoming spaceships called Gama Raiders. The game was tested in the US market, but was received terribly. People found the sound effects to be annoying, including a high pitch chirping noise that occurred everytime after shooting. After arcade retailers were not impressed with the game, Nintendo of America President; Minoru Arakawa asked for help from Nintendo's CEO, Hiroshi Yamauchi. Yamauchi, got a Nintendo employee named Shigeru Miyamoto to fix the game, and make it appeal to more people. Miyamoto wanted to base the game on Popeye, and him trying to save his girlfriend Olive Oyl, from the brute, Bluto. But because of the troubles to obtain the Popeye license, Miyamoto turned Bluto into an ape.The result was a character that would stand the test of time, and one of the first games with a save the damsel in distress storyline. In Donkey Kong, the player actually controlled the character Jumpman (who later turned out to be Mario), attempting to save his girlfriend Pauline from the clutches of the giant ape. Named ‘Kong’ for ape and ‘Donkey’ for a slow stubborn nature, Nintendo’s first mascot actually came under fire from Universal for infringing on their King Kong copyright. Nintendo eventually won the case, even discovering that Universal didn’t even own the copyrights to Kong themselves. Donkey Kong went on to be remembered as the first platform game, and the first platform nemesis.

Two sequels were made for this series, Donkey Kong Junior had the player controlling DK’s son in an effort to save the ape from Mario. Donkey Kong 3 involved a spat between DK and a character called the Bugman in a greenhouse. At this time forward Nintendo decided to focus on Mario as their title character, and so Donkey Kong was laid to rest for a time.

Near the end of the SNES era, Donkey Kong returned in a big way. The Donkey Kong Country series established a whole new franchise around the character, creating a world, sidekicks, and adversaries. DK and his pal Diddy Kong set on a journey to recover their banana hoard from the evil King K. Rool. Rare’s unique humor spread across the franchise, spawning two more sequels, both of which Donkey was captured in and therefore not playable.

The Nintendo 64 title Donkey Kong 64 was also made by Rare, but had evolved to 3D in a style much like Super Mario 64 and their own Banjo Kazooie. During this era DK starred in games such as Mario Kart 64 and Super Smash Bros. Donkey Kong Racing was planned for GameCube but was ultimately scrapped after Rare was bought by Microsoft. The DK name has since been used in a variety of titles, such as the Donkey Konga series, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat and Mario spin off titles. The Country series has also seen a re-release on the Game Boy Advance.