Donkey Kong(video game)
Donkey Kongis anarcadevideo gamemade byNintendoin1981.It was designed byShigeru MiyamotoandGunpei Yokoiafter their other games failed inNorth America.It is the first game starringMario(then called Jumpman) andDonkey Kong,where Mario has to climb aconstruction siteto save his girlfriend Pauline from Donkey Kong, an escapedgorilla.
Gameplay
[change|change source]The player is Jumpman (Mario). He must climb to the top of the level to reach his girlfriend Pauline who has been kidnapped byDonkey Kong,who escaped from azoo.There are four different levels, and Donkey Kong has different weapons in each. Donkey Kong rolls barrels down a busted construction site, and Mario has to climb ladders and jump over these barrels until he reaches the top. He can grab ahammerto defeat obstacles, and each level has three of Pauline's things that will give him bonus points.
When Mario beats the fourth level, it goes back to the first level and it gets harder. Like all arcade games with looping levels has an end level because the game cannot go farther than that. In this, Mario dies ten seconds into the final level.
Music
[change|change source]The music was made byHirokazu "Hip" Tanaka.Severalremixeshave been made of music from this game and used inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl.
Development
[change|change source]Shigeru MiyamotomadeDonkey Kongwith the help of other people, such asGunpei Yokoi.It was based on an older Nintendo game calledRadar Scope,which did not do very well in the United States, soHiroshi Yamauchi,the president of Nintendo, asked Miyamoto to make a game to replaceRadar Scope.
Name
[change|change source]There are a lot of rumors about where the name comes from. One rumor says that someone misheard or mistranslated the phrase "Monkey Kong" intoDonkey Kongwhen talking over the phone or on a fax machine. Another rumor is that Miyamoto used a Japanese-to-Englishdictionaryto find words that meant stubborngorillaand came up withDonkey Kong.
Reception
[change|change source]WhenDonkey Kongwas first announced inAmerica,gamemagazinesthought it was not going to be a good game because it was not like other games being made at the time, which were mostly shooting games. But when it came out, it got great reviews and made a lot of money at the arcades. It is one of Nintendo's most famous games ever made.
Legacy
[change|change source]There was adocumentarymade about the game calledThe King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarterswhere someone tries to beat the high score for the game.
A lot of items from this game are used inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl.There is also a stage that copies the third level.
Sequels and re-releases
[change|change source]Donkey Konghas had many sequels.Donkey Kong Jr.andDonkey Kong 3were sequels to this game. The playable character calledMariowent on to become the biggest game character of all time, making Nintendo more than 1 billion dollars and releasing more than 200 games, more than any other series. Donkey Kong went on to have his own series apart from Mario, starting withDonkey Kong Countryfor theSuper NES.Donkey Kong also starred in many more sequels, as well as spin-offs like theDonkey Kongamusic games.
Donkey Konghas been re-released many times; first on theNintendo Entertainment Systemwhere it was the same game except that it does not have the second level. It has also appeared on other consoles includingAtariconsoles. A sequel came out for theGame BoycalledDonkey Kong,which has the first four levels and 100 new levels after that.
Donkey Kongappeared as a bonus game in the Frantic Factory level forDonkey Kong 64.
This game has not to be confused with theGame & WatchDonkey Kong Jr.portable game console, because the history of the game is a little different. In the Game & Watch version, the main character is Donkey Kong Jr., that has to save its father Donkey Kong from Mario. This game recently released for theNintendo DSias a downloadable for the cost of 200Nintendo Points.
- 1981 video games
- Donkey Kong
- Mario platformers
- Apple II games
- Atari 2600 games
- Commodore 64 games
- Famicom Disk System games
- Game Boy Advance games
- Intellivision games
- MSX games
- Nintendo Entertainment System games
- Nintendo Research & Development 1 games
- Nintendo Switch games
- Pack-in video games
- Single-player video games
- Video games developed in Japan
- Virtual Console games for Wii U
- ZX Spectrum games