Donkey Kong - Nintendo

Developer: Nintendo

Year:  1981 

Genre:  Platform

Production:  80,000

Game Play

You are a workman named Mario who climbs  girders and ladders and will stop at nothing to save his stolen love  from the clutches of the giant ape.

Using the joystick and the Jump button, you maneuver Mario over  rolling barrels, away from falling barrels, over or away from fireballs  and cement tubs, away from bouncing rivets, up and down ladders, along  girders and conveyor belts, onto elevators, over rivets to remove them  and over dangerous crevices, to get to where the ape holds the girl  captive. For additional points, Mario gathers umbrellas, hats, purses  and other bonus items that the girl has dropped on her way to the top of  the building. Mario can also grab a hammer by jumping up to it to smash  barrels, fireballs, and cement tubs for additional points but the  hammer can only be used for a limited amount of time.

On the Girder, Elevator and Conveyor Belt levels, whenever Mario  reaches Pauline, Donkey Kong will grab her and carry her off to the next  higher level. But on the Rivet level, Mario must remove all the rivets  on each and every floor by running or jumping over them. After all the  rivets are removed, Donkey Kong will fall head first onto a stack of  girders and be knocked out and then Mario and Pauline will be together  again for good. Afterwards, the game starts over again with increased  difficulty.

Trivia

Mario was originally a carpenter, not a plumber as he became later with the introduction of Mario Bros. The word "donkey", in Donkey Kong, is a play on the Japanese word for "stupid". Pauline is the name of Mario's girlfriend in Donkey Kong. In the Japanese version, her name is Lady, but she got her name changed when Nintendo released the Famicom version.

Another story on how the game's name evolved was that it was supposed to be "Monkey Kong", but due to a barely legible fax transmission, the screenprinters created thousands of pieces of artwork that read "Donkey Kong" instead. Since the manufacturers were in a rush to get the game released, they opted to change the game's title rather than wait for the artwork to be reprinted.

This game appeared in an episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood where a young boy explains a little to Fred Rogers what the game is about and how it is played.

Legal Battle

Main article: Universal City Studios, Inc. vs. Nintendo Co., Ltd.

In April 1982, Sid Sheinberg, a seasoned lawyer and president of MCA and Universal City Studios, learned of the game's success and suspected it might be a trademark infringement of Universal's own King Kong.  On April 27, he met with Arnold Greenberg of Coleco and threatened to sue over Coleco's home version of Donkey Kong. Coleco agreed on May 3 to pay royalties to Universal of 3% of their Donkey Kong's net sale price, worth about $4.6 million.  Meanwhile, Sheinberg revoked Tiger's license to make its King Kong game, but O. R. Rissman refused to acknowledge Universal's claim to the trademark.  When Universal threatened Nintendo, Howard Lincoln and Nintendo refused to cave. In preparation for the court battle ahead, Universal agreed to allow Tiger to continue producing its King Kong game as long as they distinguished it from Donkey Kong. 

Universal sued Nintendo on June 29 and announced its license with Coleco. The company sent cease and desist letters to Nintendo's licensees, all of which agreed to pay royalties to Universal except Milton Bradley and Ralston Purina.  Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo, Co., Ltd. was heard in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by Judge Robert W. Sweet. Over seven days, Universal's counsel, the New York firm Townley & Updike, argued that the names King Kong and Donkey Kong were easily confused and that the plot of the game was an infringement on that of the films.  Nintendo's counsel, John Kirby, countered that Universal had themselves argued in a previous case that King Kong's scenario and characters were in the public domain. Judge Sweet ruled in Nintendo's favor, awarding the company Universal's profits from Tiger's game ($56,689.41), damages and attorney's fees.