You probably think you know the story. A guy in red overalls jumps over some barrels to save a girl from a big ape. Simple, right? But the 1st Donkey Kong game, released in 1981, wasn't just another arcade cabinet. It was a desperate, last-ditch effort to save a failing company from total bankruptcy. Honestly, if this game had flopped, Nintendo might be a footnote in a history book about playing cards rather than a global titan.
Back in the early 80s, Nintendo of America was in a mess. They had 2,000 unsold units of a game called Radar Scope rotting in a warehouse. It was a disaster. Hiroshi Yamauchi, the president of Nintendo at the time, turned to a young staff artist named Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto wasn't even a programmer. He was a designer who wanted to be a manga artist. Yamauchi told him to fix the mess. Use the old hardware, he said, and make something that sells.
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The Weird Birth of Jumpman
Miyamoto didn't start with a gorilla. He actually wanted to make a game about Popeye. He imagined a love triangle with Bluto and Olive Oyl. But Nintendo couldn't get the rights. So, he improvised. Bluto became an ape. Olive Oyl became a "damsel in distress" named Pauline. And Popeye? Well, he became a "plump" carpenter with a mustache named Jumpman.
You've probably heard the rumors that Mario was always meant to be a plumber. Not true. In the 1st Donkey Kong game, he was a carpenter because the game took place on a construction site. It wasn't until Mario Bros. (1983) that he moved into the sewers and changed careers.
The name "Mario" didn't even come from Japan. It happened in a warehouse in Tukwila, Washington. The landlord of Nintendo’s American office, a guy named Mario Segale, supposedly burst into a meeting demanding overdue rent. The staff decided to name the character after him. It’s one of those bits of gaming history that sounds fake, but it's totally real.
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Why the Gameplay Was a Nightmare for 1981
Most games back then were about shooting things. Space Invaders, Asteroids, Galaxian—you stayed at the bottom and shot up. Donkey Kong changed the "physics" of gaming. It was basically the first time a character could fall to their death just by walking off a ledge.
The programming team actually hated Miyamoto’s ideas at first. He wanted the character to jump. He wanted different stages. The programmers thought he was crazy because it was technically "impossible" with the hardware they had. They eventually figured it out, but the game was notorious for being "punishingly" hard.
- The Barrel Stage (25m): You dodge barrels. Most people never get past this.
- The Conveyor Belt Stage (50m): Also called the "Pie Factory." It’s weird, fast, and involves dodging cement pans.
- The Elevator Stage (75m): Pure timing. One pixel off and you're dead.
- The Rivet Stage (100m): You pull out the plugs to make the building collapse.
The Lawsuit That Almost Killed Kong
Universal City Studios saw the success of the 1st Donkey Kong game and got angry. They claimed Nintendo was infringing on their King Kong trademark. They sued. They sent "cease and desist" letters to everyone. It looked like Nintendo was done for.
But Nintendo’s lawyer, John Kirby, did some digging. He discovered that Universal had actually argued in a previous case that King Kong was in the public domain just so they could make their own movie. Basically, they were trying to own something they had already proven they didn't own. The judge ruled in Nintendo's favor. As a "thank you," Nintendo later named a character "Kirby" after their lawyer.
What Most People Miss About the Story
This game was the first to use "cutscenes." You know those little moments where Donkey Kong climbs the ladder with Pauline? That was revolutionary. Before this, games didn't have a "beginning, middle, and end." They just had a high score.
The 1st Donkey Kong game gave you a reason to play. You weren't just clearing a screen; you were rescuing someone. It sounds cheesy now, but in 1981, it was like watching a movie you could control.
Also, have you ever noticed Mario has a mustache? That wasn't an "artistic choice." It was a technical necessity. On the limited resolution of an arcade screen, they couldn't draw a mouth. So they gave him a mustache to separate his nose from his face. They gave him a hat because they couldn't animate hair. Every iconic part of his look was just a way to hide the limitations of the computer.
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Legacy and The "Kill Screen"
The game doesn't actually go on forever. Because of a bug in the code, when you reach Level 22, the timer is set so low that it’s physically impossible to finish the stage. The game just dies. This is known as the "Kill Screen."
Only a handful of people in the world have ever seen it in person. It took decades for the "perfect" score to be settled, and if you've seen the documentary The King of Kong, you know how intense that community gets. People take their 1981 arcade cabinets very seriously.
How to Experience it Today
If you want to play the 1st Donkey Kong game now, don't just look for a "free online version." Most of those are bad clones.
- Arcade Archives (Switch/PS4): This is the most accurate version of the original 1981 Japanese and US arcade ROMs.
- NES Version: It’s okay, but it's missing the "Pie Factory" level because the NES couldn't handle the memory.
- Donkey Kong '94 (Game Boy): This starts as a remake of the original but turns into a massive, 100-level puzzle game. It's arguably the best version of the concept ever made.
The biggest takeaway? Don't be afraid of the difficulty. The game is about patterns. Once you realize the barrels aren't random—that they follow a specific logic based on your movement—you'll start to see the "matrix." It’s a masterpiece of design that proves you don't need 4K graphics to create a legend.
Next Steps for Retro Fans:
To truly understand the evolution, play the Arcade Archives version on the Nintendo Switch. Focus on the "Rivets" level (100m) first, as it requires the most spatial awareness. After mastering the original, track down the Game Boy '94 version to see how Miyamoto expanded on his initial vision with much more complex movement mechanics.