Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi originally envisioned Donkey Kong as a Popeye game, specifically based on the 1934 cartoon "A Dream Walking", where Popeye and Bluto fight over Olive Oyl as she sleepwalks through a construction site. However, the game was retooled into an original IP due to technical limitations. Yokoi explained during the 1983 court case Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd. that "In those days we could not depict or draw the character of Popeye using the circuit in those days [sic] properly", something license owner King Features had been particularly picky over in that time frame.

Following the removal of Popeye iconography, Miyamoto used the franchise's characters as inspirations for their replacements. Mario took the role of the titular sailor, Pauline filled in for Olive Oyl, and Donkey Kong stood in for Bluto. Nintendo would eventually release a Popeye game a year after Donkey Kong in 1982.