Donkey Kong (1981 video game)

Donkey Kong is a 1981 arcade video game developed and published by Nintendo. As Mario, the player runs and jumps on platforms and climbs ladders to ascend a construction site and rescue Pauline from a giant gorilla, the titular Donkey Kong. It is the first game in the Donkey Kong series as well as 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 1930s American media such as Popeye and King Kong, Miyamoto developed the characters and scenario and designed the game alongside chief engineer Gunpei Yokoi. It was the most complex arcade game at that point, using graphics for characterization, including it and cutscenes to illustrate a plot, and integrating multiple unique stages into the gameplay. Donkey Kong pioneered the platform game genre before the term existed, is the first to feature jumping, and is the first video game with a damsel in distress narrative. It had a limited release in Japan on July 9, 1981 before receiving a wide release some weeks later.

Although Nintendo of America's staff was initially apprehensive, Donkey Kong succeeded commercially and critically, becoming the highest-grossing game of 1981 and 1982. It was ported to the Game & Watch, selling eight million units, while Nintendo licensed the game to Coleco, a developer of arcade conversions for home consoles, selling six million cartridges. It was later ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), designed to replicate its technological capabilities; both the game and NES were integral in spreading Japanese video games to Western audiences. Donkey Kong's various ports sold more than 15 million units worldwide. Other companies cloned the game and avoided royalties altogether. Universal City Studios filed a lawsuit alleging Donkey Kong violated its trademark of the King Kong franchise, ultimately failing.

Donkey Kong's success positioned Nintendo for market dominance for the 1980s and 1990s. The game debuts Mario, who became Nintendo's mascot and one of the world's most recognizable characters. It was mass marketed in multitudes of products, including breakfast cereal, toys, and television cartoons. Donkey Kong is one of the most important games from the golden age of arcade video games and one of the greatest and most popular arcade games of all time. It has been frequently referenced in pop culture and subsequent video games and has amassed an esports competition.