Donkey Kong
is a
gorilla character from
Nintendo that has appeared in many
video games since 1981.
Donkey Kong was created by
Shigeru Miyamoto. Since
1994 he has worn a
necktie, his sole item of clothing.'''
Donkey Kong was created when
Shigeru Miyamoto was assigned by
Nintendo to convert
Radar Scope, a game that had been released to test audiences with poor results, into a game that would appeal more to Americans. The result was a major breakthrough for Nintendo and for the videogame industry. Sales of the machine were brisk, with the game becoming one of the best-selling arcade machines of the early 1980s. The gameplay itself was a large improvement over other games of its time, and with the growing base of arcades to sell to, it was able to gain huge distribution. Due to the game's success, Nintendo released two sequels,
Donkey Kong Junior and
Donkey Kong 3, as well as eight games for the
Game & Watch platform. Later on, Nintendo also released a game simply called
Donkey Kong that was based upon the previous arcade versions.
|
Original Donkey Kong game (screen from NES version) |
Throughout the 1990's, the British company
Rareware developed Donkey Kong related games, establishing an entirely new world for the franchise. These games included
Donkey Kong Country,
Donkey Kong Country 2, and
Donkey Kong Country 3 for the SNES, as well as
Diddy Kong Racing and
Donkey Kong 64 for the
Nintendo 64. However, following the sale of Rare to
Microsoft in
2002, Rare announced that they were concentrating their efforts on
Xbox games. Even so, Rare continues to support Nintendo's portable consoles, the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, since Microsoft has not yet released a competing handheld console.
Though Donkey Kong did not appear in any platformer games while on the Gamecube, he did appear in the Mario sport and party spinoffs as well as the
Super Smash Bros. franchise. He also starred in his own spinoff rhythm-action game series, which included
Donkey Konga,
Donkey Konga 2,
Donkey Konga 3, and
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.
In the future, Donkey Kong is set to appear in
Mario Hoops 3-on-3 with his special move being
DK's Konga Dunk [
1],
DK-King of Swing DS,
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, and
Yoshi's Island 2 for the
Nintendo DS,
DK Bongo Blast for the
GameCube, as well as
Donkey Kong Wii for the
Wii.
The original premise for the Donkey Kong game was a game built around the Popeye characters but before the game was finished the license fell through and left Nintendo with a game, but no characters.
The name was chosen by game designer
Shigeru Miyamoto as a combination of the word "Kong", since the movie
King Kong had caused it 'to colloquially mean monkey' in Japan. According to
Snopes,
Donkey was chosen because Miyamoto intended it "to convey a sense of stubbornness." Various urban legends have circulated, saying that the actual name was to be "Monkey Kong" but was changed by accident for the American release.
Snopes debunked these myths in "
Donkey Wrong."
In the original
Donkey Kong game, the player's character,
Mario (originally called Jumpman in Japan), must jump over barrels thrown by Donkey Kong while climbing ladders up a crooked construction site to reach the top of the screen to rescue his girlfriend Pauline (who was originally called Lady in Japan). Each screen is a game stage, with stages grouping to form
levels. As the player advances through each level, the degree of difficulty increases proportionately.
This game was first released in the arcades, but was ported to home
video game consoles and
home computers. The game was also sold as a
Game & Watch unit in 1982.
The game was quite revolutionary for its time, featuring multiple, distinct levels, large colorful graphics, and a unique form of play control.
Segments of "
Saturday Supercade" featured Donkey Kong, along with Mario and Pauline (here billed as Mario's niece), who tried to recapture Donkey Kong, who had escaped Mario's circus. The show aired from 1983 into 1984 on CBS.
The original version of Donkey Kong had appeared on
Captain N: The Game Master (and its spin-off comic book). There, he was shown to be about 20-30 feet tall.
A computer generated
animated television series that lasted 40 episodes was produced in 1996 by a
French animation studio, released in
North America as simply
Donkey Kong Country.
Donkey Kong appears in two
The Simpsons episodes, and a third episode compares Homer to him:
*In "
The Springfield Files," he appears as a guest at a local arcade. When the turnout is low the owner replies that he's "just not a draw anymore." Donkey Kong replies by throwing a barrel at him and bowling him over. The man then exclaims happily, "Hey! He's still got it!"
*In "
Marge Be Not Proud", Mario, Luigi, Sonic the Hedgehog and Donkey Kong try to convince
Bart to steal a video game ("Duuuh, it's the company's fault for making you want it so much!").
*In "
Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass," Mario arrives on a bus of Italian tourists, who mock Homer for being featured in an embarrassing Internet video. Homer throws trash cans at him. Mario jumps over the trash cans, making distinctive noises from Donkey Kong, and gets a hammer.
In the first episode of Groening's other animated series
Futurama, "
Space Pilot 3000",
Fry is seen playing a game called "Monkey Fracas Jr." (an obvious parody of DK sequel
Donkey Kong Jr.), which deviates from its apparent space shooter format with the appearance of a Donkey Kong-esque character (virtually the same except that this version wears a
loincloth) as a level boss. In a later episode, "
Anthology of Interest II", the same character, this time specifically identified as Donkey Kong ("Ambassador" Donkey Kong, in fact, from the planet Nintenduu 64), appears along with
Mario and other classic game characters like
Pac-Man and
Q-bert. Also, he can be seen for a short moment in
A Bicyclops Built for Two, is referenced by Leela in
The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz when she calls Zoidberg and Fry Kong Donkeys, and in the final episode,
The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings, a student playing a holophone version of
Für Elise portrays Beethoven jumping over barrels in the style of Donkey Kong arcade.
*As a gaming mainstay, Donkey Kong is one of the few video game characters to be referenced in other media. A popular slang phrase related to Donkey Kong is the phrase, "It's on like Donkey Kong", derived from "it's on", which means something (usually exciting) is about to get started. The phrase was first used by rapper
Ice Cube in his song "Now I gotta Wet' cha" off of the
Predator album. Similarly, the phrase was tweaked for use in a
Teen Girl Squad episode on
Homestarrunner.com as "Let's get it on like
Diddy Kong."
*In the 1994
Adam Sandler film
Billy Madison, Billy is talking to one of the kids at school about videogames and is angered when the kid says,
"Donkey Kong sucks!":
Kid: Mortal Kombat, on
Sega Genesis, is the best video game ever.
Billy Madison: I disagree, it's a very good game, but I think
Donkey Kong is the best game ever.
(the kid then says the DK
-bashing line noted above) You know something? YOU SUCK!
*The country song Honkytonk Badonkadonk by
Trace Adkins includes the line "Got it goin' on Like Donkey Kong".
*The Donkey world record is 1,047,200 points achieved by Billy Mitchell of Hollywood, FL, on June 7, 2004, according to the Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard.
*In his recent single, "Googly Moogly", featuring The
Three 6 Mafia,
Project Pat references Donkey Kong with the following line: "That ain't a monkey hanging on your back; that's Donkey Kong!"
*In an episode of
Lost (The Long Con) Sawyer is sat at the computer when Jack comes in and asks Sawyer "What are you doing?" Sawyer replies "Shhh i'm like this close to getting the high score on Donkey Kong"
*On Rock 105.3's
The Mikey Show in San Diego, Sky's husband is referred to as Donkey Kong, a nickname given to him by the rest of the cast because of how well-endowed Sky claims she is. A running gag on the show includes Sky's made-up helicopter called the Donkey Kong II.
*Donkey Kong Crunch is a cereal based on the character.
*
Baby Donkey Kong: A younger version of Donkey Kong, will appear in the upcoming
Yoshi's Island 2 for the
Nintendo DS. Baby is actually pronounced "behbeh" on the game, highlighting Donkey Kong's dialect.
*
Mini Donkey Kong: A toy version of Donkey Kong created by the Mario Toy Company. The character will appear in
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis.
*
Giant Donkey Kong: In the N64 game,
Super Smash Bros., Donkey Kong was featured as a boss in Classic mode, at about twice his normal size in the game. In
Super Smash Bros. Melee, the Super Mushroom item could replicate this enlarging effect, but on any character. Giant Donkey Kong was not a playable character until then, and the effects of the Super Mushroom didn't last long.
*In the
Saturday Supercade, Donkey Kong was voiced by
Soupy Sales.
*In the animated series adaption of
Donkey Kong Country, he was voiced by
Richard Yearwood.
*In
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat and onwards, he is voiced by veteran seiyuu
Takashi Nagasako.
*
List of Donkey Kong games*
Donkey Kong cameos |
Donkey Kong's most recent appearance since 1994. |
; Official
*
Nintendo's official Donkey Kong Country website*
Nintendo's official Donkey Konga website; Other
*
MobyGames' entry for the Donkey Kong Games Series *
Twin Galaxies Scoreboard for Donkey Kong*
The Killer List of Video Games entry on the original Donkey Kong*
Nintendo's announcement of Donkey Konga 3*
Donkey Kong Anime website: using Web Archive*
Donkey Kong Database*
The History of Donkey Kong*
Article at The Dot Eaters, detailing a history of Nintendo and Donkey Kong
*
Super Mario Wiki
