Donkey Kong (game): Difference between revisions

Development on ''Donkey Kong'' began in March 1981 when [[Shigeru Miyamoto]], under the supervision of the late [[Gunpei Yokoi]], was assigned by Nintendo to convert ''{{wp|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<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz0P_TcikwA&t=27m24s A Discovery Channel documentary on video games] reveals that Miyamoto wanted to make ''Donkey Kong'' tell a story, and also wrote the music for the game. ''YouTube''. Referenced March 22, 2015</ref>. 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.{{ref needed}} The game was also originally designed to have Mario escape from a maze, and jumping was not yet implemented, making platforming too difficult.<ref>[http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2009/11/25/news-miyamoto-mario-initially-couldn-t-jump.aspx GameInformer interview with Shigeru Miyamoto]</ref> 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.<ref name=NESClassic>[https://www.nintendo.com/nes-classic/donkey-kong-developer-interview Developer Interview Donkey Kong]</ref> 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.<ref>[https://youtu.be/aTyxQfpOEbE?t=749 How the Mario Characters Got Their Names | Gaming Historian] Retrieved October 25, 2021.</ref><ref name=GHTwitter>[https://twitter.com/GamingHistorian/status/1220101899455692801?s=20 Gunpei Yokoi deposition, 1983]</ref>  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.