Theme park rides. Fruit snacks. T-shirts. Bibs. These days, if there’s a surface available, Mario and other familiar Nintendo mascots are probably on it. But for much of the company’s existence, Nintendo occupied a much smaller footprint in the public eye. Its biggest moments didn’t come about overnight. They required years to build, and without one amazing arcade game, they might never have happened at all.
Founded in 1889 as a company that manufactured hanafuda playing cards in Japan, Nintendo enjoyed a string of successes across various enterprises that kept it in business, but sometimes not much more. True breakout success didn’t come until Shigeru Miyamoto, one of its newer employees at the time, created the original arcade version of Donkey Kong in 1981.
From that moment, one might say, it was on like Donkey Kong.
As Donkey Kong became an undeniable hit, Nintendo pushed the game harder and even created its own console, the Family Computer (also known as the Famicom), as the ideal way to bring the fun home. The rollout of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) followed in North America in 1985, just in time to save the ailing video game industry from itself.
Viewed 45 years after its inception, Donkey Kong hardly seems like it should have inspired the success it found so readily. The game plays like an interactive version of King Kong. A large gorilla kidnaps a woman in a dress (today known as Pauline) and carries her to the highest point in sight. Then he throws building supplies at anyone who dares to mount a rescue attempt. The brave hero who saves the day is Jumpman, a carpenter reminiscent of Popeye, but with a bushy mustache and no spinach.
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