Nintendo: The Company and its Founders - Sharyland ISD

NINTENDO
The gorilla, Miyamoto thought, should not
be happy with that arrangement. The gorilla finds
being the pet of such an insignificant little man to be
humiliating. He kidnaps the man’s girlfriend to even
the score.
Miyamoto and his team first decided that
the little man would be a carpenter, but later they
decided he was a plumber. Technology of the time
limited the details of the game’s graphics. The
plumber was dressed in bright blue overalls and a red
hat to make him easy to see on the screen. Miyamoto
also gave him large, blue cartoon eyes and a bushy
moustache that would make it easier to see his nose.
The artist devised the plumber’s role in the
game, which was to rescue his girlfriend from the
naughty gorilla. Naturally, the gorilla was nearly
impossible to catch. The creature climbed atop
buildings with the girl, just as in the King Kong
movies. The plumber climbed up ramps and
ladders to get to the top of a building, while the
gorilla heaved barrels and lumber over the side to
crush him.
Miyamoto wrote the music accompaniment
himself. But the game’s name required a bit of
research.
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