Donkey Kong (game)

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A vector graphic of two arrows, one red and one blue, pointing away from one another, with a purple and white circle in the middle. It has been suggested that this article be split into Donkey Kong (Arcade), Donkey Kong (Atari), Donkey Kong (Coleco), Donkey Kong (Ocean Software), Donkey Kong (Nintendo Entertainment System). (discuss)

This article needs Donkey Kong improvement. Specifically:

  • Famicom Box release date and version
  • Add development and lawsuit information from the Gaming Historian documentation release
Requested improvements must be clear, pertinent, and well-formed. Please refrain from adding bullet points such as "Add more information" or "Write the rest of the article".
This article is about the arcade game. For other games titled "Donkey Kong", see Donkey Kong (disambiguation).
"Donkey Kong 1" redirects here. For other uses, see Donkey Kong 1 (disambiguation).
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong - cabinet side art
Art of the arcade cabinet
For alternate box art, see the related gallery.
Developers Nintendo R&D1
Nintendo R&D2 (Famicom / NES port)[1]
Ikegami Tsushinki[2][3]
Coleco (ColecoVision and Coleco Adam ports)
Imaginative Systems Software (Atari 2600 port)[4]
Roklan (Intellivision port)
Atari, Inc. (Atari 8-bit port)
K-Byte (TI-99/4A and NTSC Commodore 64 ports)[5][6]
TMQ Software (MS-DOS port)[7]
Human Engineered Software (Apple II port)[8]
Syndein Systems (VIC-20 port)[9]
Sentient Software Ltd (ZX Spectrum and MSX ports)
Arcana Software Design (Amstrad CPC and PAL Commodore 64 ports)
ITDC (Atari 7800 port)
HAMSTER (Arcade Archives)
Publishers Nintendo
Coleco (ColecoVision, Atari 2600, Intellivision, and Coleco Adam ports)
Atari, Inc. (Atari 8-bit, Apple II, TI-99/4A, MS-DOS, VIC-20, and NTSC Commodore 64 ports)
Ocean Software (Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, MSX, and PAL Commodore 64 ports)
Atari Corporation (Atari 7800 port)
HAMSTER (Arcade Archives)
Platform Arcade
Atari 2600, ColecoVision, Intellivision, Atari 8-bit computers, Family Computer, Nintendo Entertainment System, TI-99/4A, MS-DOS, Apple II, VIC-20, Commodore 64, Coleco Adam, MSX, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Family Computer Disk System, Famicom Box, Atari 7800, e-Reader, Game Boy Advance, Virtual Console (Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U), Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Edition, NES Classic Edition, Nintendo Switch (Arcade Archives), Nintendo Entertainment System – Nintendo Classics
Release dates Arcade:
Japan July 9, 1981[10]
USA August 1981[11]
Europe 1981[12]
Atari 2600:
USA July 1982[13]
Europe 1983[?]
Australia 1983[?]
ColecoVision:
USA July 1982[14]
Europe July 1983[?]
Australia 1983[?]
Intellivision:
USA October 1982[15]
Europe 1983[?]
Australia 1983[?]
Germany 1983[16]
Atari 8-bit computers:
USA June 1983[17]
Europe 1983[?]
Family Computer:
Japan July 15, 1983[18]
Nintendo Entertainment System:
USA June 15, 1986[?]
Europe October 15, 1986[?]
TI-99/4A:
USA November 1983[19]
MS-DOS:
USA November 1983[?]
Apple II:
USA December 1983[?]
VIC-20:
USA February 1984[20]
Commodore 64:
USA February 1984 (Atarisoft)[20]
Europe 1986 (Ocean Software)[?]
Spain 1987 (Ocean Software)[21]
Coleco Adam:
USA June 1984[?]
MSX:
Europe 1986[?]
Spain 1987[22]
ZX Spectrum:
Europe 1986[?]
Spain 1987[23]
Amstrad CPC:
Europe 1986[?]
Spain 1987[24]
Family Computer Disk System:
Japan April 8, 1988[25]
Atari 7800:
USA November 1988[?]
Europe 1988[?]
e-Reader:
USA November 11, 2002[26]
Game Boy Advance:
Japan February 14, 2004[27]
USA June 7, 2004[28]
Europe July 9, 2004[29]
Virtual Console (Wii):
USA November 19, 2006[30]
Japan December 2, 2006[?]
Australia December 7, 2006[?]
Europe December 8, 2006[?]
South Korea April 26, 2008[31]
Virtual Console (Nintendo 3DS):
Japan October 17, 2012[?]
USA August 15, 2013[?]
Europe November 21, 2013[?]
Australia November 21, 2013[32]
South Korea March 2, 2016[?]
Virtual Console (Wii U):
Japan July 15, 2013[?]
USA July 15, 2013[?]
Europe July 15, 2013[?]
Australia July 15, 2013[?]
Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer:
Japan November 10, 2016[?]
NES Classic Edition:
Australia November 10, 2016[?]
USA November 11, 2016[?]
Europe November 11, 2016[?]
Nintendo Switch (Arcade Archives):
USA June 14, 2018[?]
Japan June 15, 2018[?]
Europe June 15, 2018[?]
Australia June 15, 2018[?]
Nintendo Entertainment System – Nintendo Classics:
USA September 18, 2018[?]
Japan September 19, 2018[?]
Europe September 19, 2018[?]
Australia September 19, 2018[?]
HK April 23, 2019[?]
South Korea April 23, 2019[?]
Language English
Genre Platformer
Ratings
ESRB:E - Everyone[?]
CERO:A - All ages[?]
PEGI:3 - Three years and older[?]
USK:0 - All ages[?]
ClassInd:L - General audience[?]
GRAC:All - All ages[?]
ACB:G - General[?]
Mode Up to two players (alternating turns)
Format
Cartridge
Game Pak
Disk Card
Digital download
Digital download
Digital download
Game Pak
e-Reader card
Digital download
Cabinet Upright, cabaret, and cocktail
Monitor Raster, standard resolution 224 x 256 (Vertical) 256 Colors
Input
Joystick
Wii Remote (horizontal)
Wii Remote (horizontal)
Joy-Con (horizontal)
Serial codes Famicom:
Japan HVC-DK
FCDS:
Japan FMC-DKD
Game Boy Advance:
USA AGB-FDKE-USA
Japan AGB-FDKJ-JPN
Europe AGB-FDKP-EUR
Australia AGB-FDKP-AUS
“How high can you get?”
—Pre-level text

Donkey Kong (also known as The Original Donkey Kong)[33] is an arcade game that was Nintendo's first major success in North America. It marked the beginning of the Super Mario and Donkey Kong franchises and introduced several of their earliest characters, including Mario himself (a carpenter rather than a plumber), the original Donkey Kong (who, in later games, would become Cranky Kong, the current Donkey Kong's grandfather[34]), and Lady (later renamed Pauline). A port of this game was one of the three launch titles for the Family Computer in 1983. This port was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System as part of the Arcade Classics Series in 1986. The game sold very well in the United States, becoming one of four games to be inducted into the Nintendo Hall of Fame. The original arcade version had four screen levels, but the Nintendo Entertainment System version has only three, with the stage 50 m cut. This game was also the first title to be released on Virtual Console. Donkey Kong was the second platform game ever made; the 1980 game Space Panic was the first, and like Donkey Kong, it features climbing up ladders. However, Donkey Kong was the first to include jumping as an ability, and it also features a power-up to defeat enemies similar to the Power Pellets in PAC-MAN.

Story[edit]

Donkey Kong has kidnapped the beautiful Lady and taken her to a dangerous construction site somewhere in New York.[35] Mario must climb to the top of the construction site and rescue her from the Kong.

Official story quoted from Nintendo of America[edit]

“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 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. 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 girl’s constant pleas 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.”

So, if you want the most exciting, most fun-filled, most talked about family video game on the market, don’t monkey around with anything but the original Donkey Kong.

Gameplay[edit]

A screenshot of 25m from the arcade version of Donkey Kong.
Screenshot of the first level, 25 m

Donkey Kong stars Mario, who attempts to reach the top of a construction site where Lady is held captive. He is able to walk along platforms, jump, and climb ladders. In the process, Donkey Kong may attempt to hinder Mario from a higher location by sending obstacles towards him. Mario has the ability to jump over these obstacles or obliterate them using a Hammer; in both cases, he obtains several points that are added to a score. However, if Mario ends up falling off the side of a platform and lands on one below him (or lands on the bottom of the screen), and the height difference is greater than Mario's, he loses a life. Each time Mario reaches Lady, Donkey Kong will carry her away on a pair of ladders to the next level until the fourth stage, where he is defeated upon the level's completion.

Characters[edit]

Character Name Debut Information
Mario's sprite in the arcade version of Donkey Kong Little Mario 25 m A carpenter, little Mario serves as the protagonist of the game, possessing the ability to jump over obstacles and wield hammers. Certain materials for the arcade version use the alternate name Jumpman.[36][37][38][39] The Arcade Archives release revives the Jumpman name in its manual.[40]
Sprite of Pauline from Donkey Kong (Arcade) Lady 25 m The damsel in distress, held by Donkey Kong at the end of every level. The MS-DOS and Apple II ports were the first to change her name to Pauline, followed by the Coleco Adam and then the Western NES release. Prior to these, she was named in licensed media and merchandise.
Sprite animation of Donkey Kong pounding his chest in Donkey Kong (Arcade) Donkey Kong 25 m The eponymous antagonist, Donkey Kong appears in every level at the end of each stage, hurling obstacles at Mario or guarding Lady.

Enemies[edit]

Enemy Name Debut Information
Sprite of a Barrel from Donkey Kong (Arcade)
Sprite of a blue barrel from Donkey Kong 		Barrel 25 m Barrels are tossed by Donkey Kong throughout 25 m. Mario can jump over these barrels or destroy them with a Hammer. Certain barrels appear to be blue, which will spawn a Fireball if they reach the oil drum at the beginning of the stage.
Sprite of a Fireball from Donkey Kong (Arcade) Fireball 25 m Sentient flames that follow Mario, even climbing up ladders. They spawn from oil drums located amongst each stage and can be defeated with a Hammer.
Sprite of a Fire from Donkey Kong (Arcade) Fire 100 m Fires are larger than Fireballs, making them harder to jump over. Multiple Fires spawn from the sides of the screen and can be fended off using a Hammer.
Sprite of a Cement tub from Donkey Kong (Arcade) Cement tub 50 m Cement contained in blue tubs. They are moved along conveyor belts and kill Mario if he touches them.
Sprite of a Jack from Donkey Kong (Arcade) Jack 75 m Spring-like obstacles that appear in 75 m. They bound from where Donkey Kong stands before falling straight down when it reaches an edge.

Items[edit]

Item Name Effect
Hammer in the arcade version of Donkey Kong Hammer Hammers can be used to defeat all enemies in the game. As soon as Mario grabs a hammer, he starts swinging the hammer back and forth repeatedly and strikes anything in his path. While holding the hammer, Mario cannot jump. After a certain time, the hammer disappears and cannot be used again until another one is picked up.
Parasol
Hat Bag 		Parasol, Hat & Bag For each one of these items that Mario collects, he gains bonus points.

Levels[edit]

In the Japanese arcade versions, each of the 22 playable levels consist of these four screens:

After completing the fourth screen, 100 m, the player has reached the next level, which starts at 25 m again, but with increased difficulty like more frequent barrels and faster fireballs.

In the international arcade versions, the order of the screens is more complicated with the middle screens revealed in later levels and up to six screens per level from level 5 onward.

Kill screen on Level 22[edit]

Although the game is intended to be playable indefinitely by not having a level cap, it is not normally possible to complete the first screen of level 22, due to a glitch within the calculation of the level's time limit. This is the 85th screen in the later Japanese versions (since there are 4 screens per level in these versions) and the 117th screen in the international versions.

The time limit for each level is shown as the remaining bonus, which is displayed in the top-right corner of the screen in the bonus counter; once the bonus counter hits 0, Mario dies. The initial bonus is calculated as (10×level)+40 multiplied by 100, and decreases by 100 at a time. The base value (before multiplying by 100) is stored as an 8-bit integer (which can only store values up to 255). At level 22, the bonus would be 260, but because this number is too large for one byte, it overflows modulo 256, which means the base value becomes 4, corresponding to an initial bonus of just 400. As a result, Mario dies a few seconds after starting level 22, being unable to finish it.[41]

In the first Japanese version, it is possible to get past the kill screen by exploiting another glitch which lets Mario warp to the top of the screen by jumping off the first girder and through the floor. However, the 88th screen cannot be beaten as there is not enough time to remove all the bolts. In the international versions, it is possible to get past the kill screen by exploiting a glitch which allows Mario to climb to the top of the screen by using a broken ladder. It also requires Donkey Kong to delay his fourth barrel throw for a second time after the initial delay (since the time limit is tied to his throws), which has a 1 in 32 chance of happening. It is also possible to beat the kill screen without the ladder glitch if Donkey Kong delays his fourth throw for an additional nineteen times, although this is a 1 in 3219 or 39.6 octillion chance. It is impossible to beat the 122nd screen as there is not enough time to remove all the bolts, like in the Japanese version.[42]

Development[edit]

Concept art for 25m with Popeye characters. The sheet is dated March 21, Showa 56 (1981).
Concept art for the scrapped Popeye game that developed into Donkey Kong (March 21, 1981)

Development of Donkey Kong began in March 1981 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 North America, into a game that would have more appeal to more gamers. Shigeru Miyamoto later admitted that he did not focus on the story of the game, instead creating a basic plot with colorful characters and music that he himself penned.[43] He said that Mario and Lady were not intended to have a relationship, and he did not know where the idea came from, but he thought that it did not matter much.[citation needed] The game was also originally designed to have Mario escape from a maze, and jumping was not yet implemented, making platforming too difficult.[44] Originally, the four screens were supposed to be a single long stage, but this idea was scrapped due to the inability to implement vertical scrolling.[45] In a time where arcade games took around two to three months to build, Donkey Kong was built in four or five months and Shigeru Miyamoto was focused on developing it for a global market rather than just for Japan.[46] The working title during development was Table Kong Game until export manager Shinichi Todori came up with the name for both the game and the antagonist at the end of May.[47][48] Due to the late name change, the printed circuit boards (PCB) retain the "TKG" part numbering. The final version of the game was a major breakthrough for Nintendo and the video game industry, becoming one of the best selling arcade machines of its time. Its platforming gameplay also distinguished it from most other arcade games at the time.

Donkey Kong was heavily inspired by 1930s American media. It was originally conceived as a Popeye game, based on the 1930s comic and animation, with Bluto being in the role of Donkey Kong, Popeye being Mario, and Olive Oyl being Lady. The particular Popeye short that inspired Yokoi is A Dream Walking, which is set in a construction site.[49] Although Nintendo held the license to produce Popeye-branded products,[45] the characters ended up being changed for technical reasons.[48] A Popeye Game & Watch game was developed at the same time and was released only a few weeks after Donkey Kong. The Popeye arcade game came out a year later in 1982 and was followed by two more Popeye Game & Watch releases in 1983. The 1930s film King Kong would serve as another inspiration[50] and the setting of the game was New York City.[35] Coleco's American live-action commercials for Donkey Kong portrayed Mario in 1930s clothing with a fedora, and Lady was given a period appropriate hairstyle to match.

Nintendo Research & Development 1 worked on Donkey Kong, multiple Game & Watch titles, and the arcade game Sky Skipper simultaneously. Like Donkey Kong, Sky Skipper is also about rescuing captives from gorilla creatures. Miyamoto did cabinet artwork for both games.

Despite Mario originally being given the name Ossan (the Japanese term for "middle-aged man"),[51] Miyamoto envisioned Mario as a young man at around 24 or 26 years old, describing Donkey Kong as Mario's pet who escaped and kidnapped his girlfriend.[46]

Lawsuits[edit]

Universal Studios lawsuit[edit]

In 1982, around a year after the game's release, Universal Studios sued Nintendo, claiming that Donkey Kong infringed on Universal Studios's 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 likely in violation of any trademarks 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."[52][53]

Crazy Kong[edit]

To meet the unexpectedly high demand for arcade machines, Nintendo licensed production to other companies.[54] Crazy Kong was an officially-licensed clone of Donkey Kong manufactured by Falcon. They were allowed to produce a certain amount of printed circuit boards (PCB) and were banned from exporting them. Falcon breached this agreement by producing more than 9000 excess units and also by exporting them to the US. On January 29, 1982, Nintendo terminated their license agreement. On June 1, Nintendo Japan filed for an injunction against Falcon in Kyoto District Court, which was granted on June 5. A countersuit by Falcon was won by Nintendo.[55] On October 13, Nintendo launched a lawsuit seeking damages against Falcon.[56] This experience led Nintendo to decide to produce all Donkey Kong Jr. machines by themselves.[57] Falcon's president was later arrested for unauthorized copying of Donkey Kong Jr. PCBs.[58]

On June 30, 1982, Nintendo of America filed a complaint toward Elcon Industries Inc., an arcade hardware manufacturer based in Michigan that sold Crazy Kong boards. The complaint alleged that the licensing agreement with Falcon explicitly forbade the manufacturing or export of Crazy Kong outside Japan. The case was taken to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, which quickly ruled in favor of Nintendo.[59]

Ikegami Tsushinki[edit]

As Nintendo's newly established video game division lacked programming manpower, the arcade version of Donkey Kong was programmed by Ikegami Tsushinki, a contractor that had worked for Nintendo for several of its arcade releases.[2][3] For Donkey Kong's development, the two companies signed a contract which gave Ikegami Tsushinki exclusive rights to the manufacturing of Donkey Kong arcade boards.[2][3]

In 1983, Ikegami Tsushinki sued Nintendo on the ground that the comp