Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong ( DK for short ; Japanese : ド ン キ ー コ ン グ , Donkī Kongu ) is a popular video game character from the Nintendo company who is the eponymous hero of several video games , some of which are highly successful . Along with Super Mario , Pokémon and The Legend of Zelda , the Donkey Kong games are among the company's most successful video game series and - with a few exceptions - are only distributed by Nintendo. Donkey Kong represents an adult gorilla with brown fur.
Origin and development
1981 by Shigeru Miyamoto completed, which established arcade game Donkey Kong with a same monkeys in the lead role, the genre of the Jump 'n' runs and became the second most successful arcade games of all time. This was followed by two more arcade games, various implementations for several game platforms (for example for the Commodore 64 ) and some appearances by Donkey Kong in other games. The very first platform game was Space Panic (1980), but it is less well known.
In 1994 the character Donkey Kong was redesigned by the British developer Rare for the SNES game Donkey Kong Country . The game distributed by Nintendo was a great success thanks to its CGI graphics, which were revolutionary for the time, and has continued to this day several times. The Donkey Kong Country series featured a character named Cranky Kong, an old monkey with a gray beard who claimed to be the real Donkey Kong from the original Donkey Kong series , several times .
After numerous appearances in various games, often together with Super Mario , some merchandising items and a television series , Donkey Kong is one of the most popular and commercially successful figures in the video game world today.
From 1981 to 1994
Arcade games
Donkey Kong
In 1979 the Japanese game manufacturer Nintendo tried to gain a foothold in the United States by manufacturing and selling coin-operated arcade machines. The arcade game Radarscope, which was successful in Japan, did not give the newly founded subsidiary Nintendo of America the breakthrough it had hoped for, and only 1,000 of the 3,000 devices produced were sold. Shortly before, Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi had, to do an old friend a favor, whose son Shigeru Miyamoto hired as a game designer, even though he had never programmed a game. He was given the job of developing a game that was to be built into the remaining radarscope machines. A Popeye game, it was hoped, would bring the desired success in America. However, Nintendo lost the rights to the character Popeye before the planned release of the finished game.
Miyamoto was then commissioned to create a game based on his own ideas. The game Donkey Kong he developed is about a gorilla who kidnapped the girlfriend Pauline of his master Jumpman (later Mario ). It is up to the player to guide Jumpman through four different levels , dodging barrels and other objects and climbing ladders in order to finally catch up with Donkey Kong and save his girlfriend. The four two-dimensional game segments the size of a screen are displayed from the side. The play figure is controlled to the right, left and, on ladders, up and down using a joystick , and a jump is performed at the push of a button. This made Donkey Kong the very first platform game ever. Miyamoto chose the name Donkey Kong because he had conceived the gorilla as a stubborn, stubborn figure and these characteristics are generally associated with donkeys. In an interview on May 16, 2001 at the E3 game fair , Miyamoto said of the name:
- "For Donkey Kong I wanted to do something with 'Kong' because it kind of makes you think of monkeys in the Japanese language, and I made up Donkey Kong because I heard that 'donkey' means 'stupid' [...] . Unfortunately, when I mentioned the name to Nintendo of America, nobody liked it and I was told that it wasn't called 'Silly Monkey' and they all laughed at me! Nevertheless we kept the name. "
The name alone made some NoA employees doubt the success of the game, which after the failure with Radarscope was the last hope for the young subsidiary. Regardless of this, Donkey Kong became the best-selling arcade game after Pac-Man with 65,000 slot machines sold and brought NoA the long-awaited breakthrough. Several replicas of the arcade machine followed, such as Donkey King and Crazy Kong .
Donkey Kong Jr.
In the successor Donkey Kong Jr. , released in 1982, the player takes control of Donkey Kong's son Donkey Junior, who has to free his father from Mario's captivity. While the control and division into four two-dimensional levels have been adopted from the predecessor, the focus of this game is less on jumping than on climbing. It is Junior's job to collect keys to DK's cage and insert them into their locks by climbing along lianas and avoiding obstacles.
Donkey Kong 3
In 1983, Donkey Kong 3 was the third and final arcade game in the series. In this game, the player controls the greenhouse gardener Stanley, who has to drive Donkey Kong up a greenhouse with his spray gun while the latter constantly scares off insects that attack Stanley. Due to the spray gun, the game contains shoot-'em-up elements, but could not build on the success of the original.
Home console games
Since Nintendo had not yet brought its own game console onto the market in 1982, it was decided to entrust the American company Coleco with the marketing of Donkey Kong for the home console market in return for royalties of $ 1.40 per game module sold and $ 1 per Donkey Kong sold - Left tabletop console. Coleco sold the game as a package with its new ColecoVision console and manufactured it exclusively for this console for six months in order to use the popularity of the game to increase sales of its own video game system. Coleco then brought out implementations for other game consoles such as Atari 2600 and Intellivision in order to win over owners of these consoles as buyers and thus to maximize profit. Even Donkey Kong Jr. was implemented by Coleco for different home consoles.
With the release of the Nintendo console Family Computer (Famicom / NES) on July 15, 1983 in Japan, Nintendo finally launched its own console versions of Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. , and Donkey Kong 3 was released exclusively for the NES. With Donkey Kong Classics , Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. were later released in the set on an NES module, and Donkey Kong Jr. Math , which combines the gameplay of Donkey Kong Jr. with solving arithmetic problems, was released.
The quality of the different console versions is very different. Although the ColecoVision version of Donkey Kong was the best implementation of an arcade game to date, one of the original four levels is missing. This is the case even in the NES version, which comes closest to the arcade original, while the Intellivision and Atari 2600 versions also have significant technical and gaming deficits due to their inferior hardware. This is also the case with the corresponding Donkey Kong Jr. - implementations of the case; the NES version, on the other hand, contains all four levels and is otherwise very close to the original. The NES version of Donkey Kong 3 also comes without major compromises. The implementation of the 8-bit Atari home computer version is superior to the ColecoVision version in terms of the number of levels: it contains all four levels as well as the springs in the second level. This version was programmed by Atari and not by CBS.
LCD games
Furthermore, Nintendo released the Nintendo Game - & - Watch series some portable Donkey Kong - LCD games that are sought after today by collectors. In addition to the titles Donkey Kong , Donkey Kong 2 and Donkey Kong Jr. , based on the original games , the game Donkey Kong Circus , in which Donkey Kong juggles with fruit, and the two-player games Donkey Kong Hockey and Donkey Kong 3 , in which two players fight each other with spray guns.
Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. also appeared as LCD toys in the Nintendo Mini Classics series.
Since 1994
Home console games
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
After a successful year in which the British game developer Rare developed numerous games for Nintendo systems and established itself as one of the most important developers for Nintendo, the team around the brothers Tim and Chris Stamper withdrew from active game development for two years in 1992 to develop technology that would change the look of games. This made it possible game world and figures first as 3D objects on Silicon Graphics - workstations to model and in True Color to render . This high-quality image material was then converted and used in the form of pixel graphics for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System console (launched in 1991). Other games at the time used comic-style graphics in the form of sprites or primitive polygon models.
Using a boxing game developed by Tim Stamper, the possibilities of the process were demonstrated to Genyo Takeda, one of Nintendo's top technicians, at the rare seat in Twycross. Impressed by the new technology, he returned to Japan to report to Hiroshi Yamauchi. When Nintendos asked what kind of game Rare wanted to develop, Tim Stamper replied that he wanted to develop a game with Donkey Kong. Yamauchi and Donkey Kong inventor Miyamoto agreed, and Stamper and his design team got to work. Knowing that this title would be very important for the lucrative holiday season, Rare attached great importance to its quality. An in-house musician wrote several accompanying themes and Miyamoto sent concept art to inspire the graphic design, but the team was allowed to customize the design. For the game graphics, 3D objects were composed of polygons and then covered with colors and textures. To make everything look realistic, the surroundings of the old rural building in which Rare was based were used. For example, if textures were required for trees, leaves were plucked from trees. If textures were needed for a rusty barrel, an old shovel was scanned.
The game Donkey Kong Country ( Super Donkey Kong in Japan), which was completed in 1994, is a sideways scrolling jump 'n' run with fluidly animated, three-dimensional characters and partly British-inspired humor in the form of puns, comic-like animations and slapstick interludes. The “new” 3D Donkey Kong with a red DK tie introduced with this game lives in the jungle on Monkey Island , and it is the player's job to steer him through the platformer levels while adding bananas collect and defeat opponents in order to finally get back the stash of bananas stolen by the wicked crocodile King K. Rool and his Kremling gang.
With this game new characters were introduced: The old Cranky Kong (according to some allusions he is the "old" Donkey Kong from the arcade games) helps out with hints, Funky Kong gives access to new areas on the overview map, and Candy Kong the score can be saved. The small and nimble monkey Diddy Kong , Donkey's best friend, accompanies him through the entire game and can optionally also be controlled by the player. If one of the monkeys is injured by an opponent and is eliminated, the player takes control of the other. Only when he finds a barrel with the label DK and frees his comrade from it are both monkeys available again.
True to the arcade predecessor, barrels play a central role. There are not only barrels that can be thrown at opponents, but also "cannon barrels" that Donkey and Diddy throw through the air. There are also boxes from which various mounts can be freed, such as rambi the rhinoceros or enguarde the swordfish. Presented to the public at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1994, Donkey Kong Country dwarfed games for 32-bit consoles and demonstrated the technical possibilities of the alleged 16-bit discontinued model SNES. It was not only voted the best-selling game of the year, but also the second most innovative product of the year by TIME magazine . In total, it sold 9.30 million times.
The follow-up Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest came on the market just in time for the 1995 Christmas business . In this game, Diddy and his girlfriend Dixie Kong set out to rescue Donkey Kong from the clutches of Captain K. Rool . Donkey Kong Country 2 is technically and playfully the same as its predecessor, but in addition to new secondary characters such as Wrinkly Kong and Swanky Kong, there are also new action options for the characters: Dixie can use her ponytail to hover like a propeller and the two monkeys can piggyback each other and throw to open up new areas.
The third installment in the series, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! was released in 1996. This time you have to free Donkey and Diddy so that the player takes control of Dixie and her cousin Kiddy Kong . Technically and playfully based on its predecessors, the game offers some innovations. There are some secondary tasks, the solution of which rewards the player with extras such as game tips or additional levels. Various mini-games are also included.
Nintendo 64
After Diddy Kong made his appearance in a game for the Nintendo 64 in the 3D racing game Diddy Kong Racing in 1997 , Donkey Kong 64 was the first Donkey Kong game in 3D in 1999 . As the Nintendo 64 expansion pack is absolutely necessary, it was included with the game. In order to save his homeland, the Monkey Island, from a devastating attack by King K. Rools and to find the 201 golden bananas scattered over all areas of the island, Donkey Kong must gradually free his friends. In addition to Diddy Kong, the small, nimble Tiny Kong , the lanky Lanky Kong and the powerful Chunky Kong belong to the team. When exploring the non-linear three-dimensional game world, the player has to expand, use and combine the individual movement options, weapons and musical instruments of all five playable characters in order to master the game. In the additionally included multiplayer mode , up to four players can take control of different characters and fight each other with the appropriate weapons in special 3D arenas. The launch of Donkey Kong 64 was accompanied by a massive ad campaign that included comic and magazine ads, prime time television ads bombarding reporters with fruit, and a trailer. In addition, a jungle-green Nintendo 64 and the game module in a limited banana-yellow edition were released, and an official game advisor appeared with level cards, solutions and other game tips. The game turned out to be a success even if the sales figures didn't come close to Donkey Kong Country .
Nintendo GameCube
After selling the Rare shares to Microsoft in 2002, Nintendo retained the rights to the Donkey Kong 3D model and the Kong characters created by Rare. The development of the planned GameCube title Donkey Kong Racing by Rare has been discontinued. As part of the increased cooperation between Nintendos and third-party developers, Namco was entrusted with the development of the game Donkey Konga . Also published in Germany in 2004, Donkey Konga is a music game that is controlled with the enclosed bongo controllers, the so-called DK bongos , or with the normal GameCube controller. To accompany different songs, up to four players have to hit the right, left or both bongos at the same time or clap their hands according to the display on the screen, which is registered by the microphone of the bongo controller. In 2005, the successor Donkey Konga 2 was launched in Europe. The title Donkey Konga 3 , which appeared in Japan in 2004, was never published outside of Japan.
In early 2005, Nintendo released the game Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, developed by the newly founded development studio Nintendo Tokyo . It is a 2D platformer with 3D graphics, which is also intended to be controlled with the Bongo controller. If the player hits the right or left drum, Donkey Kong moves in the corresponding direction. If both are hit at the same time, he takes a jump, while a clap of the player's hands causes Donkey Kong to take a punch or other action.
The aim of the game is to cross the different levels, collect as many bananas as possible, and defeat various bosses who want to challenge Donkey Kong for the title of the monkey king.
Wii
Donkey Kong: Jet Race was published in Germany in January 2008. This game was announced for the first time as DK Bongo Blast at E3 2006; the initially planned control using a bongo controller was not implemented.
On October 2, 2008, Nintendo announced at an in-house press conference another Jump 'n' Run that continues the GameCube series Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat . A sequel did not appear in the end, but a remake of the Gamecube title was released on June 5, 2009 .
At E3 2010, Nintendo announced the game Donkey Kong Country Returns . It was released in Europe on December 3, 2010.
Wii Virtual Console
The games Donkey Kong , Donkey Kong Jr. , Donkey Kong Jr. Math (all three NES) are available for the Virtual Console . Donkey Kong Country 1–3 (SNES) can also be downloaded there. On November 25, 2012, Nintendo temporarily removed them from the Virtual Console set, but the games have been available there again since October 30, 2014. Donkey Kong - Original Edition has been preinstalled on the red Wii of the “New Super Mario Bros. Wii Pack” since October 29, 2010 . The game is the NES version with a bonus level and is not available in the Wii Shop.
Wii U
At E3 2013, Nintendo presented the fifth part of the Donkey Kong Country series. It's called Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and was released for Wii U in February 2014 . Like its Wii predecessor, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze was developed by the American video game manufacturer Retro Studios .
Since October 16, 2014, Donkey Kong Country has been available in the Wii U eShop for € 7.99. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest was released there on October 23, 2014, followed by Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! . The games offered a 33% discount on Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze during the so-called "Donkey Kong Country Weeks" until November 6, 2014. Donkey Kong: King of Swing has also been available in the Wii U eShop since the beginning of 2015, and Donkey Kong 64 was also released there on April 2, 2015 .
Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are also available as amiibo figures.
Handheld games
The first Donkey Kong Game Boy game developed by Nintendo appeared in 1994. Under the simple title Donkey Kong , it is based on the arcade original, but the "old" Donkey Kong in this game wears the red tie of the "new" Donkey Kong and thus represents a kind of hybrid between the two. The first four levels correspond to those of the arcade original. After they have been mastered, the game only begins: 96 more new levels have to be mastered before Mario can finally save Pauline. The player must make use of Mario's new jumping techniques and action options to overcome the puzzles and skill tests of the levels. In most parts of the game a key has to be found and transported to the locked exit door in order to follow Donkey Kong and Pauline through it. Boss levels are also waiting for Mario at regular intervals in which he has to face Donkey Kong, for example by avoiding the barrels he threw, then picking them up and throwing them back. Donkey Kong was the first game with full Super Game Boy support.
In 1995, Donkey Kong Land was followed by a Game Boy implementation of Donkey Kong Country that was adapted to the technical possibilities of the portable 8-bit console , which was developed by Rare like the SNES model. With Donkey Kong Land 2 , a corresponding implementation of Donkey Kong Country 2 appeared in 1996 : Diddy's Kong Quest , followed in 1997 by Donkey Kong Land 3 .
In 2001 Donkey Kong Country was implemented for the Game Boy Color , and is much closer to the SNES original than Donkey Kong Land due to the technical superiority of the GBC over the Game Boy . In addition, the game includes Game Boy Printer support and a two-player mode.
Diddy Kong Pilot and Donkey Kong: Coconut Crackers , both of which should have appeared for the Game Boy Advance , were also in development at the time . However, after Rare was taken over by Microsoft, the Donkey Kong characters were removed from the games and both games appeared years later under the titles Banjo-Pilot and It's Mr. Pants! .
In 2003, Donkey Kong Country was even better implemented for the Game Boy Advance with additional mini-games. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest was implemented in 2004 for the GBA.
Also in 2004 was Mario vs. Donkey Kong a game of skill for the GBA in the style of the first Game Boy Donkey Kong . Here it is Mario's task to get back the toy Mario that Donkey Kong stole.
At the beginning of 2005, Nintendo released Donkey Kong: King of Swing, a game of skill for the GBA in which swinging is in the foreground. By pressing the shoulder buttons, Donkey Kong can hold onto different surfaces, let go and swing through the levels.
In November 2005, a GBA implementation of Donkey Kong Country 3 was finally released , which was expanded to include a new game section with additional levels.
For the Nintendo DS were on the E³ 2006 Donkey Kong: King of Swing 2 and Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 - March of the Minis presented as the successor to the Game Boy Advance games. The game “Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 - March of the Minis "(translated" Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 - March of the Mini-Marios ") was released in 2007." Donkey Kong: King of Swing 2 "was also released in 2007, but under the title Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber . On February 4, 2011, the follow-up to “Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 - March of the Minis ”in Europe, it bears the title“ Mario vs. Donkey Kong - Mini-Land Mayhem! "
In 2013, the handheld version of the Wii game Donkey Kong Country Returns was released under the name Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D for the Nintendo 3DS .
Since October 16, 2014, Donkey Kong Land can be downloaded from the Nintendo 3DS and 2DS eShop . Donkey Kong Land 2 has been available there since October 23, 2014, Donkey Kong Land III since October 30, 2014. Until November 6, 2014, the games offered a 33% discount on Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D.
Donkey Kong 2: Jumpman Returns
Since 2006 there is another version of the classic Donkey Kong from the 1980s: Donkey Kong 2: Jumpman Returns . It's more or less just a so-called Rome hack that merely modifies the original game. It was created by Jeff Kulczycki, with four completely different levels being integrated. The game also has new fun interim animations. Thus, the classic was made even more interesting and now has a large fan base.
Donkey Kong in other games
Apart from the Donkey Kong games, the gorilla is also represented as a playable figure in other Nintendo game series. The 1992 SNES title Super Mario Kart was still about Donkey Kong Jr., but with the N64 game Mario Kart 64 , the 3D Donkey Kong became a permanent member of the playable characters in Mario multiplayer game series such as Mario Kart , Mario Golf , Mario Tennis , Mario Smash Football and Mario Party . In the latter row, however, it is no longer playable from Mario Party 5 onwards . Donkey Kong is also one of the fighters in the Super Smash Bros. series. Since the sale of the Rare shares to Microsoft, the character Diddy Kong from Nintendo has also been used in these games. As part of a cooperation between Activision and Nintendo, a special Donkey Kong Skylander can be played in the fifth part of the Skylanders series for the Wii U. This can also be used as an amiibo thanks to a rotating mechanism.
More characters from the Donkey Kong universe
Over the years many more figures have been added to the Donkey Kong universe, in addition to Donkey Kong itself there are more than 10 other "Kongs". Other well-known members of the Kong family include Diddy Kong , Donkey Kong's best friend, who himself was the protagonist of several video games, and Dixie Kong. Another frequently occurring character is King K. Rool, the eternal antagonist of the Kongs, who, however, can no longer be seen from the fourth part of the Donkey Kong Country series.
List of all Donkey Kong games
Donkey Kong games
| year | title | system |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Donkey Kong | Automat |
| 1982 | Donkey Kong Jr. | Automat |
| 1982 | Donkey Kong | Game & Watch |
| 1983 | Donkey Kong Jr. Math | NES |
| 1983 | Donkey Kong | CBS ColecoVision |
| 1983 | Donkey Kong 2 | Game & Watch |
| 1984 | Donkey Kong 3 | Automat |
| 1986 | Donkey Kong 3 | NES |
| 1985 | Donkey Kong Jr. | Game & Watch |
| 1985 | Donkey Kong 3 | Game & Watch |
| 1988 | Donkey Kong | NES |
| 1988 | Donkey Kong Jr. | NES |
| 1992 | Donkey Kong Classics | NES |
| 1994 | Donkey Kong | Game Boy |
| 1994 | Donkey Kong Country | SNES |
| 1995 | Donkey Kong Land | Game Boy |
| 1995 | Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest | SNES |
| 1996 | Donkey Kong Land 2 | Game Boy |
| 1996 | Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! | SNES |
| 1997 | Donkey Kong Land III | Game Boy |
| 1997 | Diddy Kong Racing | Nintendo 64 |
| 1999 | Donkey Kong 64 | Nintendo 64 |
| 2000 | Donkey Kong Jr. | Game Boy Classic |
| 2000 | Donkey Kong Country | Game Boy Color |
| 2000 * | Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong | Game Boy Color |
| 2003 | Donkey Kong Country | Game Boy Advance |
| 2004 | Donkey Kong Country 2 | Game Boy Advance |
| 2004 | Donkey Kong | Game Boy Advance (NES Classics) |
| 2004 | Donkey Konga | GameCube |
| 2005 | Donkey Kong Jungle Beat | GameCube |
| 2005 | Donkey Kong: King of Swing | Game Boy Advance |
| 2005 | Donkey Konga 2 | GameCube |
| 2005 * | Donkey Konga 3 | GameCube |
| 2005 | Donkey Kong Country 3 | Game Boy Advance |
| 2006 | Donkey Kong 2: Jumpman Returns | Automat |
| 2006 | Donkey Kong Country | Nintendo Wii (Virtual Console) |
| 2007 | Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest | Nintendo Wii (Virtual Console) |
| 2007 | Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! | Nintendo Wii (Virtual Console) |
| 2007 | Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber | Nintendo DS |
| 2008 | Donkey Kong: Jet Race | Nintendo Wii |
| 2009 | Donkey Kong Jungle Beat | Nintendo Wii |
| 2010 | Donkey Kong Jr. | Game & Watch for Nintendo DSi |
| 2010 | Donkey Kong Country Returns | Nintendo Wii |
| 2013 | Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D | Nintendo 3DS |
| 2014 | Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze | Wii U |
| 2014 | Donkey Kong Country | Wii U (eShop) |
| 2014 | Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest | Wii U (eShop) |
| 2014 | Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! | Wii U (eShop) |
| 2014 | Donkey Kong Jr. | C64 (fan project with Nintendo license) |
| 2016 | Donkey Kong | NES Classic Mini |
| 2016 | Donkey Kong Jr. | NES Classic Mini |
| 2017 | Donkey Kong Country | SNES Classic Mini |
| 2018 | Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze | Nintendo Switch |
* Released in Japan only.
Donkey Kong as a character or other appearances
** Published in North America.
Donkey Kong on TV and movies
As early as 1981, a Donkey Kong cartoon series produced by Ruby Spears to match the successful arcade game was broadcast on the American morning program as part of the Saturday Supercade program. As in the game, Donkey Kong kidnaps Pauline in each of the short episodes, who is then saved by Mario. A series of animated films about Donkey Kong Jr. followed, in which Junior and his friend Bones look for his father.
From 1998 to 2000 the US broadcaster Fox Family broadcast 40 episodes of a computer-animated Donkey Kong Country series, 14 of which were broadcast in Germany on Super RTL under the title Donkey Kong's Adventure .
In 2007 the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters was shown at several American festivals and in some cinemas. He tells of the competition for the high score between the two players Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe.
Donkey Kong can also be seen in the 2015 science fiction comedy film Pixels, starring Adam Sandler , Kevin James , Michelle Monaghan and Peter Dinklage . First, the characters Brenner and Eddie try to set a world record in the Donkey Kong arcade game. Later, an alien being in the form of the Donkey Kong from the arcade game (actually today's Cranky Kong) appears as the boss opponent. The "Arcaders" compete against him in the first level of the arcade game to defeat him and thus save the world. For this scene, a life-size Donkey Kong frame was set up in a television studio, divided into four sections in front of a green screen, on which the actors were filmed. The fires, barrels and Donkey Kong themselves were then added digitally. Donkey Kong also adorns the back of the Pixels Steelbook .
Merchandising
After the arcade game proved to be a success, Nintendo signed numerous merchandising license agreements, so that in 1982 over 50 companies produced Donkey Kong products. In addition to board games and collectible figures were even breakfast cereals to Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. sold. Due to a lawsuit by Universal Studios, however, most licensees terminated their contracts.
The success of Donkey Kong Country was finally accompanied by a series of merchandising items, for example plush figures , for the "new" Donkey Kong, which are still sold occasionally today.
literature
- Steven L. Kent: The Ultimate History of Video Games. From Pong to Pokémon and Beyond - The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World. Roseville Cal 2001. ISBN 0-7615-3643-4
- David Sheff: Nintendo, 'Game Boy' - How a Japanese company conquered the world. Munich 1994. ISBN 3-442-30600-0
Web links
- Donkey Kong at MobyGames (English)
- The History of Donkey Kong ( Memento from August 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- The story of Donkey Kong
- Donkey Kong on World of Everything NES
- Website about the versions of Donkey Kong from the 80s
- Website for Donkey Kong 2: Jumpman Returns (English)
- Article about the Donkey Kong board and card game
Individual evidence
- ^ Donkey Kong 1986, Ocean
- ↑ Interview with Shigeru Miyamoto ( Memento from May 19, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Donkey Kong Country Official Game Advisor, page 9.
- ↑ The most successful games of the NES and SNES . GameStar . Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved November 23, 2013.
- ↑ NEW PLAY CONTROL! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat . Nintendo . Retrieved October 20, 2014.
- ↑ Nintendo eShop promotion: Donkey Kong Country Weeks . Nintendo . October 16, 2014. Retrieved October 16, 2014.
- ↑ Andy Robertson: Bowser And Donkey Kong Coming To 'Skylanders SuperChargers' ( English ) Forbes. June 17, 2015. Accessed December 10, 2015.
- ↑ Pictures & Photos from Pixels ( English ) IMDb . Retrieved August 16, 2015.
- ↑ Fresh Movie Trailers: Donkey Kong ATTACKS - PIXELS Movie Clip ( English ) YouTube . July 3, 2015. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
- ↑ Extras of the Pixels Blu-ray Disc, chapter "Donkey Kong"
- ↑ Pixels: le steelbook francais ( French ) Steelbookpro. December 2, 2015. Accessed December 5, 2015.
- ↑ The 25 dumbest moments in gaming ( Memento of 12 March 2008 at the Internet Archive )
