Donkey Kong

In 1981, Nintendo was on the verge of bankruptcy following the failure of Radarscope released the previous year. Luckily, Shigeru Miyamoto, the father of modern video games, was on board and saved the company from bankruptcy with this game. And so, two gaming legends, Mario and Donkey Kong, were born, and a whole new era of gaming began that soon turned Nintendo into the juggernaut company it is and launched Miyamoto's designer career.

Taking inspiration from King Kong, Popeye, and Beauty and the Beast, Miyamoto came up with the idea for the titular character designed with the help of his mentor Gunpei Yokoi (RIP). You controlled Mario (then known as Jumpman) as you to run and jump across four levels to rescue his sweetheart, Pauline, from the escaped gorilla, Donkey Kong. The game had colorful and well-designed stages and sprites with quirky sound effects, like Marios footsteps and jumping sounds. The synthesized keyboard music was bright and catchy, like the "How High Can You Get?" jingle that plays before each level starts.

What made Donkey Kong so revolutionary was that it introduced platform gaming and onscreen storytelling. While another platforming title, Space Panic, had already been released the previous year by Universal, Donkey Kong solidified the term and genre. This new game formula allowed the player character to run across the steel beams and floors of the stages, jump over rolling barrels and enemies, and climb up ladders. Beating the game required well timed maneuvering to avoid danger and occasionally using a hammer to defend yourself against not only barrels, but also enemies, like fireballs to net yourself points to increase your hi-score.. Grabbing pickups, like Paulines dropped hat, parasol, and handbag, earned you points as well. In traditional acrade fashion, collecting enough points would give you an extra life.

While very old by modern standards, the game's influence is undeniable and is still widely known as one of the greatest arcade games of all time and a highlight of the golden age of such games alongside Pac-Man, Frogger, Asteroids, and others. It's still enjoyable for those who enjoy classic arcade games and is available on the Nintendo Switch.

During the 1980's video games became an incredible phenomenon in America. Kids went crazy and stole any quarter they could find (much to your Stormed-The-Beaches-At-Normandy-Grampa's dismay), parents loved the empty house (time to make with the 'Whoopie'), One guy even shot some poor fool for cutting in line to play Pac Man!! Needless to say, the children's entertainment market paniced!! How can Scrappy Doo possibly compete with Mr.Do? They did what any business would and assimilated the form. In so doing, they effectively shot themselves in the head with a slow motion Gatling gun filled with video game rounds. It would take a year and a half to make the kill.

Donkey Kong was one of these lethal rounds! Your basic idea was this: Mario (I'm not sure if he was called Mario or not) is an evil zookeeper who chased the fun loving Donkey Kong around. Donkey Kong would always escape and cry in triumph "Don-KEEEEE*KONG!!"

That's it. AWFUL!

Back in 1981 Nintendo was on the verge of bankruptcy. So the hired this unknown man called Shigeru Miyamoto to do a game for them.

The game was called Donkey Kong and starred a little carpenter called Jump Man who would later change his name to Mario and become the most famous videogame-hero of all time.

The game itself was a the time revolutionary. Not only was the first real platformer, but it was also the first game with a story of some sort.

Today the game is of course outdated, but it still stands as one of the most important games ever.

I was crazy about King Kong both 1933 and 1976 versions. When I turned 10 in 1981 at Addalin's Palace in the Granite Run Mall, my brother introduced me to Donkey King . . . it featured "King Kong" throwing barrels down at Mario who was trying to rescue a kidnapped girl JUST LIKE KING KONG in the sense of the kidnapped girl . . Donkey Kong therefore became a mighty Joe young descendant my mind. Then the next year COLECOVISION brought Donkey Kong home and followed by the LED stand alone version. After which Donkey Kong Jr and Donkey Kong 3 cam along. I still have my two-screen LCD Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong 2 games in my nightstand. My reflexes are just as sharp too even. Of course some people will not find this helpful. But I'm nuts about Donkey Kong. and of course we cant forget the awesome ADAM computer super game packs and the Atari 2600 King Kong and Odyssey 2's Pick-AX Pete spin offs. PLEASE RELSEASE DONKEY KONH for Gamecube and Wii in its original form!!!!

This game came out twenty years ago and remains one of the most important video games ever. Due in part because it was the first to have a real story. However, it is mainly because this was the first appearance of the most famous video game character, Mario. Of course, he's known as Jump Man, a carpenter, in this game.

In the game, you play Jump Man and have to rescue a girl from Donkey Kong. Of course, you have to dodge all sorts of traps along the way. The graphics are vastly outdated compared to today's standards, but this game totally rocks. Thumbs up!