Nintendo: The Company and its Founders - Sharyland ISD

DONKEY KONG ARRIVES
Arakawa in front of everyone for not paying the rent.
The landlord’s name was Mario Segale. Arakawa
reassured his landlord that he would be paid, and the
man left. The landlord’s name, however—Mario—
stuck in Arakawa’s mind. The group decided that
Super Mario would be a great replacement name for
Jumpman.
LAUNCHING DONKEY KONG
In the summer of
1981, a tavern near the
Nintendo warehouse
allowed a salesman to
set up Donkey Kong,
and the game was
practically an overnight
success. People were
lining up inside the
bar to play the coinoperated
arcade game.
Yamauchi’s instincts
had been right again.
The young apprentice,
Miyamoto, had never
designed a game before,
HOWARD PHILLIPS
Soon after NOA’s move to Seattle, an
advertisement was placed in the Seattle
Times, which read: “Have fun and play games
for a living.” Howard Phillips, a 20-year-old
red-haired gaming enthusiast, answered the
advertisement and became the company’s
fifth employee, eventually handling all shipping
during the first years of NOA’s run with
the coin-operated Donkey Kong.
Phillips loved games, and his feedback
about the games gained him the trust of
NOA upper-level managers. In 1989, he was
promoted to director of Game Creative at Nintendo,
but Arakawa always referred to him
simply as the “Game Master.” He also worked
as an editor for Nintendo Power. In 1991, Phillips
left the company to work for LucasArts, a
video game creator.
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