Wreck-It Ralph’s no longer the only film that can boast some major cameos from the video game world.
Adam Sandler’s upcoming Pixels has nabbed some iconic characters – all from gaming’s classic coin-op days – including Pac-Man and Donkey Kong.
Nintendo’s famous gorilla has come a long way since his 1981 arcade debut. Initially a mortal enemy of Mario, Donkey Kong’s trajectory changed when Super Mario Bros. came along in 1985, bringing with it a new bad guy, Bowser, who promptly took over princess snatching duties in the Nintendo universe. Laid off from that gig, DK became a much friendlier mascot, keeping himself occupied with his family, saving hordes of bananas, taking up the bongos and wearing a tie.
His latest adventure, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, arrives this week for the Wii U. It’s being hailed as another winning game for the big ape, though how will it ultimately stack up against his greatest hits?
While Sony and Microsoft are positioning their consoles as all inclusive entertainment devices, at Nintendo – it’s all about the games.
The House that Mario Built focused on power franchises at an intimate pre-E3 media event, eschewing big announcements to focus on six games coming this holiday season and in 2014.
For over three decades, Mario has been the hero of Donkey Kong.
But when Mike Mika’s daughter didn’t understand why she couldn’t play as damsel-in-distress Pauline in the coin-op classic, the Oakland father turned the tables on the plumber — and hopped away as a shoo-in to win a few Dad of the Year awards.
After years spent dodging countless cars, hopping across millions of floating logs and gobbling an untold number of flies, Frogger has made the jump into his 30s.
Yup, it was this day in 1981 when the coin-op classic first leapt into gamers’ lives, inspiring plenty of clones and a legacy of sequels that’s still going strong today.
It’s common for companies to trademark their characters, games and hardware – but cultural sayings revolving around them? That’s a new one.
Nintendo has filed a request with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the phrase “It’s on like Donkey Kong”. I’ll pause a minute to let that sink in.
Read more at Variety’s Technotainment blog