History VideoGame / DonkeyKong

The game's sequel, ''Donkey Kong Junior'' (shortened to ''Donkey Kong Jr.'' in revised arcade releases and certain home ports) inverted the villain/hero roles: Donkey Kong Junior has to free his father from the clutches of zookeeper Mario by climbing vines and grabbing keys.

** In the arcade version, the springs in the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Spring Stage]] can appear in three different positions: before Donkey Kong's foot, ''on'' his foot, or between his legs. Starting at level 4, when the springs get really fast, you HAVE to exploit this in order to continue. However, because this game mechanic doesn't exist on the NES version, the NES version ends up becoming impossible at level 4.

A classic arcade game from Creator/{{Nintendo}} released in 1981, which not only helped to turn the company into a household name outside of Japan, but also debuted both Franchise/DonkeyKong and [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] as characters.

--> "Jump button makes Jumpman jump."

* DependingOnTheWriter: Most of the time it's clear that the Donkey Kong of this game became Cranky Kong later, but rarely this is "forgotten" and treated like the "present" DK was there all along. There's also the matter of whether Cranky is the current Kong's father or grandfather. The current line as of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' is he's his grandfather, which bears asking exactly where Junior went.

** Outside of characterization, Mario's moveset can come off as very unusual to anyone who started with the later games. Despite being named "Jumpman", Mario can manage to jump his own (very short) height, his jump itself has no air control and exists primarily as "jump straight up" or "jump in a fixed arc" (similar to the NES ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania}}'' games), he's overall pretty slow on the ground, and he dies if he falls a relatively short distance. This is in opposition to most post-''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' games, where Mario's incredible mobility and acrobatics define his gameplay. He also lacks the GoombaStomp, though he does gain points for jumping ''over'' barrels.

* ExcusePlot: The ever popular "guy chases after other guy who kidnapped his girl". Though interestingly enough, when it was released Donkey Kong was considered unique for being a game that ''had'' a story.

1994's ''Donkey Kong'' (often referred to by the production title ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong94'') for the UsefulNotes/GameBoy expanded on the formula and inspired the later ''VideoGame/MarioVsDonkeyKong'' series: You start the game by saving Pauline from a construction site as usual, but unlike in the original, Donkey Kong reawakens after falling from his perch and takes off with her again. What follows is an exhaustive chase through 101 levels in various locales, including the surrounding city, a jungle and [[LevelsTakeFlight an airplane in mid-flight]]. The majority of levels are [[PuzzleGame puzzle-focused]], with Mario having to navigate a single room filled with obstacles and [[LockedDoor carry a key to a door]], and occasionally being harried by Donkey Kong Jr. The final level in each 'world' is a standard duel against Donkey Kong, with Donkey Kong lobbing assorted crap at you, and it gets more complicated each time. It all culminates with Donkey Kong over-dosing on [[PowerUp Super Mushrooms]] and turning into a King Kong-sized menace, but Mario prevails and seemingly befriends the Kongs at the end.

* DerivativeDifferentiation: The original arcade game was born out of this kind of serendipity; Nintendo, still trying to get their foot in the American game market in 1981, tried releasing a standard ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders'' clone called Radarscope in the arcades; while it did well overseas, it completely flopped in North America and left them stuck with thousands of unsold cabinets. This prompted them to place Shigeru Miyamoto in charge of improvising another game to replace Radarscope (while converting the unsold cabinets into new games) and, instead of making another cookie cutter maze or shoot em up, created one of the earliest [[note]] but not the first; ''Space Panic'' from 1980, is generally considered the first platformer game [[/note]] and certainly one of the most important platformer games in history.

After these sequels, ''Donkey Kong'' faded into history. The same year as the Game Boy game, he would reappear as Cranky Kong: the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' franchise by British game developer Creator/{{Rare}}, which was even more successful, reinvented the character as a [[LegacyCharacter new generation]] of Donkey Kong for modern audiences.[[note]]The secondary protagonist, [[KidSidekick Diddy Kong]], was intended to be a grown-up Donkey Kong Jr., but this idea was [[ExecutiveMeddling nixed]] by Nintendo; as a result, there was some internal confusion over what became of Donkey Kong Jr., with it sometimes stated that he grew up to became the modern Donkey Kong we know today, but the official and current story is that he is the current Donkey Kong's [[AmbiguouslyAbsentParent MIA]] father.[[/note]]

A classic arcade game from Creator/{{Nintendo}} released in 1981, which not only marked the start of their legendary status in the industry, but also debuted both Franchise/DonkeyKong and [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] as characters.

The storyline involves the plumber (originally a carpenter) named Mario (originally Jumpman[[note]]which was first used in an arcade flyer by Nintendo of America; the character was previously nameless in Japanese materials, which is why the development name showed up in earlier references, but "Mario" had mostly overtaken "Jumpman" by the first home conversions[[/note]]) saving his girlfriend Pauline (originally "[[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Lady]]"[[note]]The name Pauline was first used in the [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer MS-DOS]], [[UsefulNotes/AppleII Apple II]], [[UsefulNotes/ColecoVision Coleco Adam]], and western [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] conversions; also, due to initial confusion with the name, it was sometimes translated as the/a "lady" or thought to be nameless until later English references, and was even occasionally believed for a time in Japanese circles to be a DecompositeCharacter.[[/note]]) from Donkey Kong, in an obvious reference to ''Film/KingKong''. Donkey Kong's mode of attack is a seemingly-endless supply of barrels that Mario must either dodge, jump over or smash with a hammer.

The same year Mario was spun off into his own game with ''VideoGame/MarioBros'', the lesser-known ''Donkey Kong 3'' was released. In Mario’s place was an exterminator named Stanley trying to chase Donkey Kong away from his greenhouse with insect repellent. The arcade games were ported to various home consoles, including personal computers and Nintendo's own [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]].

* DeathByAdaptation: In the original arcade version of ''Donkey Kong Jr'', Mario falls from a great height in the ending cutscene, but wakes up none the worse for wear and chases after DK. In the NES port, Mario falls from the same height, but his body appears motionless with a halo above his head (similar to his death animation from ''Donkey Kong'').

The game's sequel, ''Donkey Kong Junior'' (shortened to ''Donkey Kong Jr.'' in revised arcade releases and certain home ports) inverted the villain/hero roles: Donkey Kong Junior has to free his father from the clutches of zookeeper Mario by climbing vines and grabbing keys. The lesser-known ''Donkey Kong 3'' has an exterminator named Stanley trying to chase Donkey Kong away from his greenhouse with insect repellent. The arcade games were ported to various home consoles, including personal computers and Nintendo's own [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]].

In another ironic twist, Nintendo itself was [[ScrewedByTheLawyers found guilty of violating the copyright]] for the arcade game, and therefore could not sell the original version of ''Donkey Kong'' for its consoles. To summarize, the original arcade game was written by a company named Ikegami Tsushinki[[note]]a maker of professional broadcasting equipment, including video cameras[[/note]] on assignment. Either that, or Nintendo made the game themselves using hardware made by Ikegami, [[OrSoIheard depending on who's telling the story]]. Either way, the contract did not include ownership rights to the code. When ''Donkey Kong'' became a hit, Nintendo either tried to make more boards themselves or simply used the code (illegally, according to Ikegami) to create ''Donkey Kong Junior'', ''Donkey Kong 3'', ''VideoGame/MarioBros'', ''VideoGame/{{Popeye}}'', and possibly other games. In any case, they got sued for copyright violation as a result, and for many years the only rerelease of the arcade version was as an EmbeddedPrecursor in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64''. A detailed report is [[http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/134790/the_secret_history_of_donkey_kong.php?print=1 available here.]] However, this finally changed with the release of the arcade version on UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, as part of Hamster's ''Arcade Archives'' series.

A classic arcade game from Creator/{{Nintendo}} released in 1981, which not only marked the start of their iconic status in the industry, but also debuted both Franchise/DonkeyKong and [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] as characters.

A classic arcade game from Creator/{{Nintendo}} released in 1981. Introduced both Franchise/DonkeyKong and [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] as characters. It was the first game of the ''Mario'' franchise.

* ExcusePlot: The ever popular "guy chases after other guy who kidnapped his girl".

The Donkey Kong character's resemblance to ''King Kong'' led to Creator/{{Universal}} Studios filing suit against Nintendo, claiming trademark infringement. In an ironic twist, Nintendo's counsel, John Kirby, countered that Universal had itself argued in a previous case that ''King Kong'''s scenario and characters were in the public domain and the court agreed. Nintendo thanked Kirby by purchasing him a big sailboat, named Donkey Kong, with exclusive worldwide rights to use the name for sailboats.[[note]]Incidentally, Nintendo later gave rise to another character bearing the name Franchise/{{Kirby}}; Creator/MasahiroSakurai, his creator, claimed it was a coincidence, but Miyamoto claims it was intentional.[[/note]] Universal and Nintendo would reconcile after the lawsuit, leading to the 1989 Universal release ''Film/TheWizard'' prominently featuring the Nintendo Entertainment System and several of its games, notably ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', then to Universal's theme parks announcing plans to open Nintendo-themed sections many years later, and Universal's Creator/IlluminationEntertainment getting the rights to make an animated ''Mario'' film.

Classic 1980s arcade game from Creator/{{Nintendo}}. Introduced both Franchise/DonkeyKong and [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] as characters. It was the first game of the ''Mario'' franchise.

[[caption-width-right:350:The ape may get [[AntagonistTitle top billing]], [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros but we all know who the real star of this game is]].[[note]]The screenshot is from the arcade version.[[/note]]]]

[[quoteright:224:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/donkey_kong_25m.PNG]]
[[caption-width-right:224:The ape may get [[AntagonistTitle top billing]], [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros but we all know who the real star of this game is]].[[note]]The screenshot is from the arcade version.[[/note]]]]

** Outside of characterization, Mario's moveset can come off as very unusual to anyone who started with the later games. Despite being named "Jumpman", Mario can just about manage to jump his own (very short) height, his jump itself has no air control and exists primarily as "jump straight up" or "jump in a fixed arc" (similar to the NES ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania}}'' games), he's overall pretty slow on the ground, and he dies if he falls a relatively short distance. This is in opposition to most post-''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' games, where Mario's incredible mobility and acrobatics define his gameplay. He also lacks the GoombaStomp, though he does gain points for jumping ''over'' barrels.

** Outside of characterization, Mario's moveset can come off as very unusual to anyone who started with the later games. Despite being named "Jumpman", Mario can just about manage to jump his own (very short) height, his jump itself has no air control and exists primarily as "jump straight up" or "jump in a forward arc" (similar to the NES ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania}}'' games), he's overall pretty slow on the ground, and he dies if he falls a relatively short distance. This is in opposition to most post-''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' games, where Mario's incredible mobility and acrobatics define his gameplay. He also lacks the GoombaStomp, though he does gain points for jumping ''over'' barrels.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Being the very first game in the franchise, it's a given. It didn't take place in the Mushroom Kingdom, there were no coins to collect or powerups besides Hammers, Mario was a carpenter instead of a plumber, the damsel was Pauline instead of Peach, the antagonist was Donkey Kong instead of Bowser, and, in ''Donkey Kong Junior'', ''Mario'' was the BigBad. The third game has the honor of being one of the few ''Mario'' games to not feature or mention Mario at all; instead, the protagonist was a bug exterminator called Stanley.

* DependingOnTheWriter: Most of the time it's clear that the Donkey Kong of this game became Cranky Kong later, but rarely this is "forgotten" and treated like the "present" DK was there all along. There's also the matter of whether Cranky is the current Kong's father or grandfather. The current line as of ''Videogame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' is he's his grandfather, which bears asking exactly where Junior went.
* DerivativeDifferentiation: The original arcade game was born out of this kind of serendipity; Nintendo, still trying to get their foot in the American game market in 1981, tried releasing a standard ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders'' clone called Radarscope in the arcades; while it did well overseas, it completely flopped in the US and left them stuck with thousands of unsold cabinets. This prompted them to place Shigeru Miyamoto in charge of improvising another game to replace Radarscope (while converting the unsold cabinets into new games) and, instead of making another cookie cutter maze or shoot em up, created one of the earliest [[note]] but not the first; ''Space Panic'' from 1980, is generally considered the first platformer game [[/note]] and certainly one of the most important platformer games in history.
* DifficultyByRegion: A very unusual case. In the original Japanese version, the levels are played in their proper order (25m, 50m, 75m, 100m) on each run-through. The US version, for whatever reason, shuffles the level order around for each cycle, with the first cycle being 25m followed by 100m, then the second sticking 75m in the middle, the third being the "proper" order, and the fourth and fifth onward sticking 25m in a second and a third time, respectively. Due to this, 50m is ''significantly'' harder to reach too since you'll be on the third cycle when you do, which is where the difficulty really begins to ramp up. ''Jr.'' follows suit with its four levels, though unlike with the original game, the fourth onward use the "proper" level order rather than repeating the first stage occasionally.

* GameMod: ''Donkey Kong: Original Edition'' is basically an official mod of the NES version, adding in a few elements that were previously missing (most notably the 50m stage and the animation of Donkey Kong carrying Pauline between levels)
** Unnofficially, a man created ''Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition" for his daughter where the player plays as Pauline and must rescue Mario.

* KillScreen: [[http://donhodges.com/how_high_can_you_get.htm Level 22]]; the timer is set so low that it is impossible to finish the level. Interestingly, the dev team ''did'' think to {{cap}} the level counter at 99, so how did that oversight make it into the game?