Donkey Kong [SRAI]

Play free reimagined classic video arcade games of the past from Sonic Radiation

About

Donkey Kong is a 1981 platform arcade game developed and published by Nintendo. Players control Mario (originally known as "Jumpman") as he runs, jumps across platforms, and climbs ladders to reach the top of a construction site in New York City and rescue Pauline (then called "The Lady") from the giant ape Donkey Kong. It is the first game in the Donkey Kong series and marks Mario’s debut appearance in a video game. Following the commercial failure of Nintendo’s Radar Scope (1980), Donkey Kong was created to repurpose unsold arcade cabinets for the North American market. Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi assigned the project to first-time video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, who worked alongside chief engineer Gunpei Yokoi. Drawing inspiration from Beauty and the Beast, King Kong, and Popeye, Miyamoto developed the characters, story, and gameplay.At the time of its release, Donkey Kong was one of the most advanced arcade games ever made. It featured expressive character graphics, animated cutscenes to tell a simple story, and multiple distinct stages. The game pioneered the platformer genre (before the term even existed), introduced jumping as a core mechanic, and helped popularize the "damsel in distress" narrative in video games. It received a limited release in Japan on July 9, 1981, followed by a wider release several weeks later.