Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング, Donkī Kongu) is a fictional ape in his video game series, created by video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Donkey Kong first appeared in Nintendo's popular 1981 video game of the same name. Since then he has appeared in over 20 games in his own series, as well as in some

games in the Mario series. He debuted at the same time as him in the original Donkey Kong game, before moving on to the more complex Donkey Kong Country platformers for the Super Nintendo. He still spars with Mario on occasion, appearing as a playable character in Mario Kart, appearing as a playable fighter in Smash Bros. and the primary antagonist in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games. In 1981, Nintendo was pursuing a license to make a game based on the Popeye comic strip. When this fell through, Nintendo decided that it would take the opportunity to create new characters that could then be marketed and used in later games. Miyamoto came up with many characters and plot concepts, but he eventually settled on a gorilla/carpenter/girlfriend love triangle that mirrored the rivalry between Bluto and Popeye for Olive Oyl. Bluto became an ape, which Miyamoto said was "nothing too evil or repulsive",