| In 1981, a Japanese artist created
Donkey Kong, an arcade game about an ape who escapes from the
zoo and kidnaps the girlfriend of a carpenter who mistreats him.
In the original arcade version, the man was simply known as
Jumpman, and the kidnapped woman was known as Lady. However,
when Nintendo distributed the game, Jumpman became Mario and the
Lady became Pauline.
This game was a last-ditch effort by Nintendo to break into
the American video game market. All previous attempts by the
Japanese video game maker had failed, and the success of Donkey
Kong was not anticipated. However, when Donkey Kong was
introduced in the early 1980s, it was a huge hit.
For its time, Donkey Kong was a revolutionary game. Not only
was it an early example of the platform genre, which would be
used in many video games thereafter, but it featured multiple
levels that each had its own distinct characteristics and large
graphics. The platform genre referred to how the game revolved
around the movement of a character across different platforms as
he avoided obstacles and worked towards his ultimate goal. In
the case of Donkey Kong, the goal of Mario was to save Pauline
from Donkey Kong.
Originally, Donkey Kong was released as an arcade game, but
it was soon released as a console game for the Nintendo video
game system. In 1999, 18 years after Donkey Kong came to the
United States, GameBoy released an updated version of the game,
which sold 2.5 million copies. It ended up being the sixth
best-selling game of the year, proving the continued popularity
of the Donkey Kong franchise. |
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