Viewing Single Trivia
subdirectory_arrow_right Donkey Kong (Game)
▲
2
▼
The development of the first Donkey Kong game was outsourced by Nintendo to Ikegami Tsushinki, a company who is believed but not confirmed to have previously worked with Nintendo on several of their early ventures into arcade games. They produced and sold to Nintendo somewhere between 8,000 and 20,000 printed circuit boards for Donkey Kong, and it is believed that Nintendo went on to copy an additional 80,000 boards from this batch without Ikegami's permission. Despite the sale, no formal contract was known to have been signed between the two companies, meaning Ikegami owned the source code to Donkey Kong as they had created it and never sent it over to Nintendo.
In order to create a sequel on the coattails of the success of the first game, Nintendo employed subcontractor Iwasaki Giken to reverse-engineer Donkey Kong so Nintendo’s staff could develop the game's sequel, Donkey Kong Jr. Should this narrative be verifiably true, this would make Donkey Kong Jr. Nintendo's first "in-house" video game created by themselves without any assistance from outside development companies. Ikegami viewed this use of the source code as blatant copyright infringement, and sued Nintendo in 1983 for ¥580,000,000 (around $91,935,800). A trial in 1990 ruled that Nintendo did not own the source code to the original Donkey Kong, and the parties settled out of court that year for an undisclosed amount.
In order to create a sequel on the coattails of the success of the first game, Nintendo employed subcontractor Iwasaki Giken to reverse-engineer Donkey Kong so Nintendo’s staff could develop the game's sequel, Donkey Kong Jr. Should this narrative be verifiably true, this would make Donkey Kong Jr. Nintendo's first "in-house" video game created by themselves without any assistance from outside development companies. Ikegami viewed this use of the source code as blatant copyright infringement, and sued Nintendo in 1983 for ¥580,000,000 (around $91,935,800). A trial in 1990 ruled that Nintendo did not own the source code to the original Donkey Kong, and the parties settled out of court that year for an undisclosed amount.
Comments (0)
You must be logged in to post comments.
Related Games
Donkey Kong no Ongaku Asobi
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Circus
Mario Bros.
Donkey Kong: Bananza
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong 3: Dai Gyakushuu
Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong: Coconut Crackers
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Plus
Donkey Kong
Green House
Donkey Kong 3
Crazy Kong
Mario Bros.
Donkey Kong: Original Edition
Super Donkey
Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong 3
Mario Golf: World Tour
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
Princess Peach: Showtime!
Game & Watch Gallery 3
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Mario Kart World
Super Mario 3D World
Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo Challenge
Mario Party 7
Diddy Kong Racing DS
Mario & Wario
Super Mario All-Stars
Donkey Kong Land 2
Tetris & Dr. Mario
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Diddy Kong Pilot
Wario's Woods
Paper Mario: Color Splash
Donkey Konga 2
Game & Watch Gallery 4
Mario Party 8
Super Mario Maker 2
Mario Artist: Talent Studio
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Mario Super Sluggers
Mario Tennis
Mario no Photopi
Game & Watch Collection