DK, Donkey Kong!

Everyone's favorite video game ape could have looked a lot different.

Howdy! It’s Joey, back with more Fun Fact Friyay. This fact is being shared on a Saturday because when I scheduled it to go out yesterday, I didn’t realize the date was set to Saturday. Hey, I just got back from vacation, so I must still be on island time. Fun Fact Saturyay doesn’t have quite the same ring, though I suppose the abbreviation of FFS is fitting considering the time change snafu. Anyway, here we go!

Photo by Ryan Quintal on Unsplash

The original Donkey Kong video game was initially going to feature characters from the Popeye cartoon.

Donkey Kong has been a staple of Nintendo’s catalog for 45 years. The gorilla, who at one point picked up a tie to appear more formal, has had plenty of adventures.

He’s tried to knock out King K. Rool on a host of islands and hidden lands. And he has welcomed charming additions to his team, such as Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, and, my personal favorite, the very rarely seen Lanky Kong.

We love an orangutan sighting.

In the Super Mario Bros. movie franchise, Donkey Kong is voiced by Seth Rogen. While the movie was casting, Rogen said that he doesn’t do impressions: “It’s gonna sound like me, and that’s it.”

I would not have pegged Seth Rogen as the DK voice, but hey, the movie franchise alone has done north of $2 billion worldwide, so what do I know?

One thing I do know is that Donkey Kong started off as a very different concept initially.

Back in 1980, arcade cabinets were dominated by a few titles. Chief among them were Space Invaders and Galaxian. Nintendo, which had recently pivoted from toys and playing cards into the arcade space, wanted to get in on this trend.

It produced a game called Radar Scope that took on a similar vibe, only with a 3D perspective.

To put it kindly, the game did poorly.

Critics didn’t like it. Gamers didn’t like it. And sales were abysmal. Radar Scope performed so terribly, in fact, that it almost ended Nintendo of America as a company entirely.

There were so many extra cabinets of Radar Scope sitting around that Nintendo thought to repurpose them with another game. Because all of their top developers were busy on other projects, the task went to Shigeru Miyamoto, a first-time designer.

Miyamoto, under the supervision of game designer Gunpei Yokoi, decided to create a love triangle using characters from the Popeye franchise, including Pluto, Popeye, and Olive Oyl.

However, a licensing deal between Nintendo and King Features to use the characters fell apart, so Miyamoto had to pivot. Bluto became a gorilla, which Miyamoto thought was “nothing too evil or repulsive” and was given the name Donkey Kong to convey a “stubborn gorilla.”

Popeye developed into Mario, and Olive Oyl became the damsel in distress (initially known only as “the Lady,” then Pauline, and later, Princess Peach).

Mario tried to rescue the Lady from Donkey Kong, who was throwing barrels down at the mustachioed hero as he navigated a series of platforms and ladders. Miyamoto has cited Beauty and the Beast and King Kong as references for the game’s design.

The original Donkey Kong arcade game was released in July 1981 and saved the company, bringing in $280 million upon its initial release. After being ported across multiple home consoles, it grossed a whopping $4.4 billion in total, which is still one of the best-performing games of all time.

For the sequel, Miyamoto wanted Donkey Kong to be the protagonist, but the big gorilla sprite was too cumbersome to maneuver. And thus, Donkey Kong Jr. was born, fighting against an enemy (Mario) to rescue his papa, who was caged atop the screen.

Just think: If Radar Scope hadn’t done terribly and that licensing deal hadn’t fallen through, we may never have had Mario, Peach, Donkey Kong, or a whole gaggle of characters.

And we most certainly would not have had one of the greatest video game songs ever: the DK Rap.