Nintendo: The Company and its Founders - Sharyland ISD

DONKEY KONG ARRIVES
the lively cartoon action of video games. He gladly
accepted the challenge.
Perhaps thinking of his childhood experiences
with theater, Miyamoto told Yamauchi that video
games could be so much more than the simplistic
“shoot-‘em-ups” now on the market. He suggested
deeper themes from fiction, using mythical
characters.
Yamauchi was concerned less with artistic
themes than turning a losing enterprise around.
Radarscope had been a complete failure. He told
Miyamoto that his assignment was to convert the
failed Radarscope game into a product that would
actually sell. Yokoi would be his boss.
Miyamoto got right to work and eventually
came up with a theme he liked based on the
US cartoon Popeye. Problems arose with licensing
agreements, however. The cartoon’s creators were
reluctant to have their characters used in Nintendo’s
video game. Miyamoto had to drop the idea—or base
it more loosely on the cartoon. Miyamoto combined
his original idea with the King Kong story from
the legendary gorilla monster film. He began with
a gorilla that was not nearly as dangerous as King
Kong. He added a little man and decided that the
gorilla would be his enormous pet.
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