Donkey Kong
1981 · Platform · Arcade
Overview
Donkey Kong is the 1981 Nintendo arcade game that introduced the world to Mario and launched the platform game genre as we know it. Designed by Shigeru Miyamoto, the game tells the story of Jumpman (later Mario) climbing construction girders to rescue a woman named Pauline from a giant gorilla named Donkey Kong, who hurls barrels, fireballs, and other obstacles from above. It was Nintendo's breakthrough in the North American market, transforming the struggling playing card company into a video game powerhouse. Donkey Kong remains one of the best-selling arcade games of all time and gave birth to two of Nintendo's most enduring franchises.
Deep Dive
Donkey Kong was Nintendo's third attempt at breaking into the North American arcade market, following the failures of Radar Scope. Shigeru Miyamoto, tasked with redesigning leftover Radar Scope hardware, created a narrative-driven game unlike anything that existed — with a villain who had personality, a hero with a human form, and a structure built around challenge and story. The game's four distinct screens — barrels, conveyor belts, elevators, and rivets — each demanded different strategies. It was the first game to feature multiple distinct stages and animated cutscenes between levels. The legal battle Nintendo won against Universal Studios over the Donkey Kong name solidified Nintendo's position in America. The 2007 documentary The King of Kong brought renewed attention to the competitive Donkey Kong scene and its legendary high-score rivalry.
Developer Story
Donkey Kong was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo in 1981 — his first game. Nintendo had a warehouse full of unsold Radar Scope arcade cabinets and needed a game to repurpose them. Miyamoto, with no game design experience, created a game around a narrative he invented: a gorilla escaped from a carpenter and kidnapped his girlfriend. The carpenter was originally called Jumpman; he was later renamed Mario. Donkey Kong was the game that saved Nintendo's North American business.
Did You Know?
- Donkey Kong was Shigeru Miyamoto's first game, designed with no prior game development experience — he had been hired as an industrial artist.
- The game was built to repurpose unsold Radar Scope cabinets sitting in a US warehouse — Nintendo needed a North American hit urgently.
- Mario was called "Jumpman" and was a carpenter, not a plumber. His girlfriend was Pauline, not Peach.
- Universal Studios sued Nintendo claiming Donkey Kong infringed the King Kong copyright. Nintendo's lawyer John Kirby won the case — Nintendo named Kirby the video game character after him as thanks.
- The "how high can you get?" tagline and the construction site setting were Miyamoto's metaphor for the game's escalating difficulty.
