Donkey Kong

Also known as 1981 Donkey Kong

1981 arcade game

OverviewAI-generated

Donkey Kong is a single-player video game developed by Nintendo and Ikegami Tsushinki, and published by Nintendo. Released in 1981, the title is classified as a Platformer and Puzzle game, with additional genre tags including Platform and Arcade. It is part of the Donkey Kong and Mario franchises.

The game was released on July 9, 1981, with subsequent publication dates listed as July 15, 1983, 1986, and October 15, 1986. It is available on the Arcade platform. Ratings for the title include a score of 3.74 and a separate rating of 72 based on 213 entries. The subject has 5,010 social media followers and is referenced by 479 other encyclopedia articles.

Synthesized by Vinony from 18 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, RAWG, IGDB, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Game data

Released: 1981-07-09
User rating: 3.74 / 5
Genres: Platformer, Puzzle
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Wii, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy, NES, Apple II, Commodore / Amiga, Atari 7800, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit, Atari XEGS

via RAWG

Game details · IGDB

72User score · 213 ratings

Donkey Kong is not only Nintendo's first real smash hit for the company, but marks the introduction for two of their most popular mascots: Mario (originally "Jumpman") and Donkey Kong. The game is a platform-action game that has Mario scale four different industrial themed levels (construction zone, cement factory, an elevator-themed level, and removing rivets from girders) in an attempt to save the damsel in distress, Pauline, from the big ape before the timer runs out. Donkey Kong is also notable for being one of the first complete narratives in video game form, told through simplistic cu…

Released: 1981
Genres: Platform, Arcade
Platforms: Arcade
Game modes: Single player
Franchise: Donkey Kong, Mario
Developer: Nintendo, Ikegami Tsushinki
Publisher: Nintendo

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Key facts

Developer: Nintendo R&D1
Publishers: Nintendo 2600, ColecoVision, Intellivision NA : Coleco EU : CBS Electronics Atari 8-bit , Atari, Inc. , Apple II, IBM PC, TI-99/4A, VIC-20 , Atarisoft , C64 NA : Atarisoft EU : Ocean Software CPC, ZX Spectrum , Ocean Software, 7800 , Atari Corporation
Director: Shigeru Miyamoto
Producer: Gunpei Yokoi
Designers: Shigeru Miyamoto Gunpei Yokoi
Artist: Shigeru Miyamoto
Composer: Yukio Kaneoka
Series: Donkey Kong
Platform: Arcade Game & Watch , Atari 2600 , ColecoVision , Intellivision , Coleco Mini-Arcade , Atari 8-bit , NES , TI-99/4A , IBM PC , VIC-20 , Commodore 64 , MSX , ZX Spectrum , Apple II , Amstrad CPC , Famicom Disk System , Atari 7800 , Nintendo e-Reader , Game Boy Advance
Genre: Platform
Mode: Single-player
Arcade system: Radar Scope

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of: video game
Genre: platform game
Country of origin: Japan
Publisher: Nintendo
Series: Mario
Director: Shigeru Miyamoto
Producer: Gunpei Yokoi
Developer: Nintendo
Platform: Game & Watch series
Game mode: multiplayer video game
Image: Donkey Kong arcade.jpg

Show 7 more facts

publication date: 1983-07-15
input device: joystick
superfamicom.org URL: superfamicom.org/famicom/info/donkey-kong
title: ドンキーコング
Commons category: Donkey Kong (1981 video game)
characters: Pauline
social media followers: 5010

Sources (10)

via Wikidata · CC0

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Donkey Kong is a 1981 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for arcades. As Mario (occasionally referred to as "Jumpman" at the time), the player runs and jumps on platforms and climbs ladders to ascend a construction site in New York City and rescue Pauline (occasionally referred to as "The Lady" at the time) from the giant gorilla Donkey Kong. It is the first game in the Donkey Kong series and Mario's first appearance in a video game.

Donkey Kong was created to salvage unsold arcade cabinets following the failure of Nintendo's Radar Scope (1980), and was designed for Nintendo of America's audience. Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo's president at the time, assigned the project to first-time video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Drawing inspiration from "Beauty and the Beast" and American media such as Popeye and King Kong, Miyamoto developed the characters and scenario and designed the game alongside chief engineer Gunpei Yokoi. Donkey Kong was the most complex arcade game released at that point, using graphics for characterization, including cutscenes to illustrate a plot, and integrating multiple unique stages into the gameplay. The game pioneered the platform genre before the term existed, is the first to feature jumping, and is one of the first video games with a damsel in distress narrative, after Sheriff. It had a limited release in Japan on July 9, 1981, before receiving a wide release in the region some weeks later.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Donkey Kong” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (5)

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Donkey Kong