40 YEARS AGO: ‘DONKEY KONG’ SAVES NINTENDO FROM FAILURE

UltimateClassicRock ^ | July 9, 2021 | Corey Irwin

[nickcarraway]

[Responsibility2nd]

It’s on…

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I was an Asteroids guy, myself.

[kaehurowing]

Space Invaders rules.

[CopperTop]

I can testify tat this game cost the US Army a pile of money. The break room in our barracks always had 2 or 3 guys hangin around dumpin quarters into it.

This and Pac-man. d:^)

[Eddie01]

Missile Command and Tempest

[FLNittany]

I have a sit down (cocktail) Ms. Pacman game that I converted w/ a new screen and a card. All I ever play is Donkey Kong. To me it's the best (and hardest) video game. When I have a great game, I'll get over 150k.

The guys on King of Kong were going near a million I think (or over it). BTW - it's a must watch documentary if you haven't seen it.

[PROCON]

I was more into PacMan and Ms. PacMan in that era.

[jocon307]

Great piece, thanks for posting it. Shared it with my Nintendo-raised kid on FB. She’ll really get a kick out of it, esp. the business angle.

[Larry Lucido]

Frogger was where it's at.

[Bernard]

The narrative game idea ended up peaking with Leisure Suit Larry. After that one, all computer games were just “me too”.

[Olog-hai]

Falcon Industries’ clone, “Crazy Kong”, was all over Europe.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

Massively underrated Seinfeld scene.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

Really cool story. Good for that guy to ce up with and debelop that idea.

[Larry Lucido]

And the Frogger was located, of all places, at Mario's.

[chaosagent]

Funny, but I heard years ago that the name Donkey Kong was actually a mistranslation, and that it was supposed to Monkey Kong. Which kind of makes sense, I thought.

[Repeal The 17th]

Is that Mario Mario or Luigi Mario?

[Larry Lucido]

Groucho Mario.

[Secret Agent Man]

So where’ve you been? WE’RE TANKIN’ HERE!

[GrandJediMasterYoda]