An ode to Donkey Kong: How the gorilla, who is definitely not a King Kong rip-off, changed video games
Nintendo's 800-pound gorilla in a 300-pound cabinet arrived in arcades across America 40 years ago this summer.
By 1981's end, Donkey Kong had hoisted the Japanese electronics company on his broad shoulders and carried Nintendo to the top of the North American video game industry.
This game was a revolutionary kind of fun. First of all, it was one of the earliest known platform games. Called a "climbing game" at the time, a platformer is a video game genre in which players' objective is to navigate through a particular environment to reach their goal.
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The environment, in this case, was a dangerous skyscraper construction site filled with uneven girders, flaming oil drums, conveyor belts whipping cement pans around and falling metal springs. How this site passed inspection even before a giant primate broke in and started terrorizing stuff is beyond comprehension. But, who cares? It's more addictive this way. And as for your goal, your objective was to rescue a damsel in distress named Pauline.
Pauline has been kidnapped by Donkey Kong, who carries her higher and higher up the incomplete skyscraper to avoid your noble, courageous approach. And if this all sounds familiar, according to a 1985 ruling in Nintendo's favor against Universal Studios copyright infringement over King Kong (no relation), it shouldn't. So rest assured you’re playing an original concept!
A game-changer, literally
On this 40th anniversary of this monumental arcade classic, do not forget that Donkey Kong was the first video game that revealed a fully developed story as you played. This might seem like the standard status quo today, but in 1981 this changed gaming as we knew it.
Sure, Pac-Man had cut scenes, but what did they mean, really? That the ghosts were people in costumes? Was Pac raging out and swallowing Halloween outfits? No one will ever truly know. On the contrary, Donkey Kong climbs ladders and smashes steel beams right from the start. And you know exactly what you need to do about it.
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Through a combination of cut scenes and gameplay, you make your ascent to the ultimate face-off between you and the great ape where you avoid sentient balls of fire (no game can be perfect) and remove rivets that will send DK falling to his final demise. Poetic, right? Pauline is rescued and you are her hero.
Hopefully, you collected her lost belongings along the way to score some literal bonus points.
Oh, and in case you weren’t aware, Donkey Kong is the debut video game of a little-known protagonist who goes by the name of Mario. Yes, that Mario. Only he preferred the nickname Jumpman at the time. But that was just a phase.
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Before the New York handyman was exterminating vermin in city sewers and rescuing princesses from fire-breathing turtle lizards – to be honest, even before he and his brother were tossing bottles onto delivery trucks – this guy was out here saving ladies from stubborn monkeys. Whenever destiny called, Mario answered. And, if you didn't already know, here are a few fun facts about everyone's loveable hero plumber.
Mario sports a mustache only because it was more difficult for developers to put a mouth on a sprite at the time. And he wears those overalls so you, the player, can see his arms move and swing during gameplay. That's how Mario got his look. Pretty basic for an icon, huh?
But it is because of these radical moments in gaming history on this fortieth anniversary of legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto's platform classic that 1981's Donkey Kong should forever be remembered as the arcade game that changed everything forever.
Go ahead and beat your chest, DK. You deserve it.
Joe Deez is a professional comedian, published writer and obsessed gamer from Indiana. He started his own non-profit organization Humor Association to teach coping skills to at-risk kids. He will play any game with zombies for hours. You can connect with him on LinkedIn at Joe Deez and on Twitter @ArcadeJoe.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donkey Kong 40th anniversary: How one gorilla changed video games
