Happy Birthday You Animal!

This July 9th, Donkey Kong will be celebrating his 40th birthday! Or at least in our world. Canonically, not much is known about his age, but he sure has been at the top of his game for a long time now. He has acted both as an antagonist and protagonist and has shown up in a whole lot of genres of games. But the ape with the red tie still lives on to this day as one of the more popular characters in the pantheon of Nintendo IPs.

Known as one of the first platformers to have ever existed, the original Donkey Kong game was actually about Mario, then known as Jumpman, well before he found his fame in Super Mario Bros. It featured the plumber trying to rescue his girlfriend, Pauline, from DK’s clutches. And while people who know their DK lore will tell you that the Donkey Kong in this game was actually a younger Cranky Kong, that game will continue to live on in our world as the birth of this iconic ape.

Having sold more than 48 million units worldwide across 36 different Donkey Kong titles, Donkey Kong is probably the most profitable ape that Nintendo has ever put out, and with good reason. Spawning critically and commercially acclaimed games of various genres will put any character on the map, and DK has it in spades.

Of course, aside from playing Donkey Kong games and (hopefully) a surprise announcement or two from Nintendo to complete the number of his games to 40, the best way to celebrate his 40th anniversary is by knowing more about him. And what better way to do that than by hearing about some really interesting trivia about our ape of the hour?

DK-ception

Donkey Kong 64 hits the sweet spot in terms of a 3D platformer during the N64 era, and for good reason. It featured controls that made sense, mechanical breadth, and an emphasis on exploration. And while it doesn’t hold up quite as nicely as Super Mario 64, it still did its job as a solid entry to the series back then.

However, one surprising thing that you need to consider if you want to beat the game is that to do so, you must be able to clear 100m in the original Donkey Kong game twice to progress in the game! It’s not even a side quest or a hidden mini-game. It’s a requirement if you want to see the ending. So you better know how to play the original DK if you want to finish DK64.

It’s On like What?

This one’s especially weird. The saying “It’s on like Donkey Kong” is patented and trademarked.  Nintendo is known for being fierce when defending their IPs and Donkey Kong is no exception.

As for why you would ever want to say that or how it even came about, the phrase is actually just a variation on saying “It’s on.”, but adding Donkey Kong in the mix somehow made it more humorous and sharper. And Ice Cube was the first person who publicly said it in one of his raps with a very NSFW title. So, yeah, maybe try to stay away from saying that in public.

King Donkey

Ever wondered why no one is legally trying to fight about Donkey Kong and King Kong’s obvious resemblance, especially with them both being Kongs and them both being apes who kidnapped ladies? Well, there was a lawsuit revolving around that similarity. Universal Studios tried to sue Nintendo for allegedly infringing on copyright, and they did this when they saw Nintendo raking in a huge $180 million in sales for the original DK game.

The only problem with that was Universal didn’t own King Kong because the story and character was already in public domain by the time DK showed up. Which meant that Universal wouldn’t be able to get a slice of the cash pie that they thought they would get a lick of.

Gender Swap

Due to the time period that the original Donkey Kong game was released, it was unprecedented to have protagonists that are ladies in video games. Yeah, those were pretty bad times. But this is made even more apparent when the current generations take a look at these older titles and question why they can’t play as a different gender.

Mike Mika, a video game developer, had a daughter who was pretty disappointed about not being able to “play the girl” despite there being a sprite for Pauline. So as someone adept at game code, he studied and hacked into the original Donkey Kong’s code so that his daughter could play the girl and have Mario be DK’s hostage. What a great dad!

Simian Story

While not the first game to introduce cutscenes to the video gaming world, it was surely one that helped popularize the concept. The original arcade version of Donkey Kong opened with a scene where Donkey Kong climbs a set of ladders with Pauline in tow, then stomps his feet to create the first level’s layout before taunting Mario and setting the stage for the entire game.

This is quite significant for several reasons. Donkey Kong turned out to be more popular than anyone ever expected, which, in turn, had more eyes set upon it. And with that many people seeing it, it inadvertently caused these same people to expect stories to be told in their games, which propagated the use of cutscenes in video games.

Mario, Questionable Pet Owner

Hoping he won’t mistreat you, Lil pupper!

Yep, you read that right. Mario owned Donkey Kong, keeping the poor guy as a pet. So why did Donkey Kong even try to kidnap Pauline? Apparently, it’s because Mario was such a bad master that DK got frustrated with the whole ordeal and kidnapped Mario’s then-girlfriend as revenge.

At least now you know why that game has the villain as its titular character. DK was just a sad little ape pet who just wanted to be loved by his master. Humans are the real evil or something. But hey, at least Mario became more animal friendly in the later games, right? After all, he would crush goombas underfoot so that he can rescue Princess Peach in later games. Wait a minute...

Premium Primate

Happy Early 40th anniversary to you, Donkey Kong! Maybe we should bake a giant banana cake, eh? We're set to stream some Diddy Kong Racing, or play some Super Smash Bros. Our plan for the big day? Nothing but Donkey Kong all day long. No matter which way you want to celebrate him turning 40, you've still got time to round out your collection of all 36 titles!