5 Fun Facts About Donkey Kong
1. The Donkey Kong games were supposed to be Popeye games.
Originally Nintendo wanted a game based off of Popeye characters, but they failed to obtain the rights they needed to make it, so instead Shigeru Miyamoto was hired to to create a game to fill that spot. He decided to keep the same premise of Popeye, a giant steals a man's girlfriend and the man tries to get her back. Only instead of Popeye it was Jumpman (later known as Mario), instead of Olive Oyl it was Pauline, and instead of Bluto it was DK himself.
2. Donkey Kong was also based off of another classic.
The name and plot were similar to the movie King Kong, and in 1982 Universal Studios sued Nintendo because of it. Nintendo hired an American attorney to handle the case, John Kirby. Nintendo won due to the fact that Universal themselves had successfully sued RKO Pictures in 1975 by proving that the rights to King Kong was in fact public domain.
3. Kirby wouldn't have had his name if not for Donkey Kong.
I'm sure you've already made this connection, but the character Kirby was named in honor of John Kirby for defending the rights of Donkey Kong in the previously discussed lawsuit. He also received a $30,000 sailboat named Donkey Kong.
4. Speaking of lawsuits, Donkey Kong was involved in a lot of them.
Nintendo was sued by several people claiming that Donkey Kong mascots at numerous events had beaten or molested them, but these cases were later thrown out after Nintendo brought samples of the suits to court showing that the costumes were too stiff to allow the people inside to hit or grab someone. Later a man who was once inside the suit, sued Nintendo saying that he suffered physical repercussions from playing the character because of the costume's bad ventilation, and the fact that the brand ambassador assigned to accompany him around didn't allow him to take off the suit until the job was done.
5. Donkey Kong Jr. was the only game in which Mario played a villain.
In the game "Evil" Mario imprisoned Donkey Kong in a cage, and it was up to DK Jr. to get him out. Now that's a bad bad Mario. What would Luigi say?
Originally Nintendo wanted a game based off of Popeye characters, but they failed to obtain the rights they needed to make it, so instead Shigeru Miyamoto was hired to to create a game to fill that spot. He decided to keep the same premise of Popeye, a giant steals a man's girlfriend and the man tries to get her back. Only instead of Popeye it was Jumpman (later known as Mario), instead of Olive Oyl it was Pauline, and instead of Bluto it was DK himself.
2. Donkey Kong was also based off of another classic.
The name and plot were similar to the movie King Kong, and in 1982 Universal Studios sued Nintendo because of it. Nintendo hired an American attorney to handle the case, John Kirby. Nintendo won due to the fact that Universal themselves had successfully sued RKO Pictures in 1975 by proving that the rights to King Kong was in fact public domain.
3. Kirby wouldn't have had his name if not for Donkey Kong.
I'm sure you've already made this connection, but the character Kirby was named in honor of John Kirby for defending the rights of Donkey Kong in the previously discussed lawsuit. He also received a $30,000 sailboat named Donkey Kong.
4. Speaking of lawsuits, Donkey Kong was involved in a lot of them.
Nintendo was sued by several people claiming that Donkey Kong mascots at numerous events had beaten or molested them, but these cases were later thrown out after Nintendo brought samples of the suits to court showing that the costumes were too stiff to allow the people inside to hit or grab someone. Later a man who was once inside the suit, sued Nintendo saying that he suffered physical repercussions from playing the character because of the costume's bad ventilation, and the fact that the brand ambassador assigned to accompany him around didn't allow him to take off the suit until the job was done.
5. Donkey Kong Jr. was the only game in which Mario played a villain.
In the game "Evil" Mario imprisoned Donkey Kong in a cage, and it was up to DK Jr. to get him out. Now that's a bad bad Mario. What would Luigi say?
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