Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング) is an arcade game developed by Nintendo, released in 1981. It is an early example of the platform genre, as the gameplay focuses on maneuvering the main character across a series of platforms while dodging obstacles. In it, Jumpman (now known as Mario) must rescue a damsel in distress, Lady (now known as Pauline), from a giant ape named Donkey Kong. The hero and ape later became two of Nintendo’s most popular characters.
The game was the latest in a series of efforts by Nintendo to break into the North American market. Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo’s president at the time, assigned the project to a first-time game designer named Shigeru Miyamoto. Drawing from a wide range of inspirations, including Popeye and King Kong, Miyamoto developed the scenario and designed the game alongside Nintendo’s chief engineer, Gunpei Yokoi. The two men broke new ground by using graphics as a means of characterization, including cut scenes to advance the game’s plot, and integrating multiple stages into the gameplay.
Despite initial misgivings on the part of Nintendo’s American staff, Donkey Kong proved a success in North America and Japan. Nintendo licensed the game to Coleco, who developed home console versions for numerous platforms. Other companies cloned Nintendo’s hit and avoided royalties altogether. Miyamoto’s characters appeared on cereal boxes, television cartoons, and dozens of other places. A court suit brought on by Universal City Studios, alleging Donkey Kong violated their trademark of King Kong, ultimately failed. The success of Donkey Kong and Nintendo’s win in the courtroom helped position the company to dominate the video game market in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Donkey Kong is one of the earliest examples of the platform genre (it is sometimes said to be the first platform game, although it was preceded by Space Panic). Competitive video gamers and referees stress the game’s high level of difficulty compared to other classic arcade games. Winning the game requires patience and the ability to accurately time Jumpman’s ascent. In addition to presenting the goal of saving the Lady, the game also gives the player a score. Points are awarded for finishing screens; leaping over obstacles; destroying objects with a hammer power-up; collecting items such as hats, parasols, and purses (presumably belonging to the Lady/Pauline); and completing other tasks. The player typically receives three lives with a bonus awarded for the first 7,000 points, although this can be modified via the game’s built in DIP switches. The game is divided into four different one-screen stages. Each represents 25 meters of the structure Donkey Kong has climbed, one stage being 25 meters higher than the previous. The final screen occurs at 100 m. Later ports of the game omit or change the sequence of the screens; the original arcade version includes
- Screen 1 (25 m), Jumpman must scale a seven-story construction site made of crooked girders and ladders while jumping over or hammering barrels and oil barrels tossed by Donkey Kong. The hero must also avoid flaming balls, which generate when an oil barrel collides with an oil drum. Players routinely call this screen “Barrels”.
- Screen 2 (50 m), Jumpman must climb a five-story structure of conveyor belts, each of which transports pans of cement. The fireballs also make another appearance. This screen is sometimes referred to as the “Factory” or “Pie Factory” due to the resemblance of the cement pans to pies.
- Screen 3 (75 m), Jumpman rides up and down elevators while avoiding fireballs and bouncing objects, presumably spring-weights. The bouncing weights (the hero’s greatest danger in this screen) emerge on the top level and drop near the rightmost elevator. The screen’s common name is “Elevators”. This screen appears as an unlockable stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
- Screen 4 (100 m), Jumpman must remove the eight rivets which support Donkey Kong. The fireballs remain the primary obstacle. Removing the final rivet causes Donkey Kong to fall and the hero to be reunited with the Lady. This is the final screen of each level. Players refer to this screen as “Rivets”.
You lose a life if
- Jumpman runs into a barrel, fireball, flaming oil barrel, spring weight, cement pan, or Donkey Kong;
- Jumpman falls off the structure or through open rivet holes;
- The bonus timer reaches 0.
These screens combine to form levels, which become progressively tougher. For example, Donkey Kong begins to hurl barrels faster and sometimes diagonally, and fireballs get speedier. The victory music alternates between levels 1 and 2. The 22nd level is unofficially known as the kill screen, due to an error in the game’s programming that kills Jumpman after a few seconds, effectively ending the game. With its four unique levels, Donkey Kong was the most complex arcade game at the time of its release, and only the second game to feature multiple levels (the first was Gorf by Midway Games).
| Developer(s) | Nintendo |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Designer(s) | Shigeru Miyamoto |
| Composer(s) | Yukio Kaneoka |
| Series | Mario, Donkey Kong |
| Engine | Radar Scope |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Release date(s) | June 2, 1981 |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Up to two players, alternating turns |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E |
| Input methods | joystick |
| Cabinet | Upright, mini and cocktail |
| Arcade system | Main CPU: Zilog Z80 (at 3.072 MHz) Sound CPU: I8035 (at 400 kHz) Sound chips: DAC (at 400 kHz), samples (at 400 kHz) Monitor: raster, standard resolution 224 × 256 (vertical), 256 palette colors |
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