Topic: Nintendo History 101 Talkback Thread

[NWR_pap64]

Discuss here our latest feature, Nintendo History Lesson 101: Donkey Kong vs. King Kong.


Here's a preview:
"Nintendo is a company with a very rich history behind them. With  over a hundred years of existence a lot of great events happened that have  shaped them and the videogame industry into what it is today. Nintendo History  101 will highlight some of the most important events in Nintendo history and  how they affected gamers and the industry as a whole. In the first entry of  this new feature we are going to take a look at the history behind one of  Nintendo’s first videogame baddies, Donkey Kong, and his connection to one of  the most recognizable movie icons of all time: King Kong."

Read more here:
https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/specialArt.cfm?artid=23122

[BeautifulShy]

Very good feature Pap64.
The Universal vs Nintendo case is basically what put Nintendo on the map. It also showed that a little fish can take on a big fish and win.

Can't wait to read more of these in the future.

[UncleBob]

>"Additional information provided by the book Game Over: Press Start to Continue by David Sheff."

Well worth the read.

[Stratos]

I like this. Can't wait to see what is next.

Say, Pap, what ever happened to your 'My Favorite Nintendo Characters' column? Did you run out of favorite characters?

[yoshi1001]

You forgot to mention that several years later Universal would actually end up paying Nintendo for the right to use their games in The Wizard (also noted in Game Over). Universal also distributed the 11th Pokemon movie on DVD.

[Ian Sane]

The thing is if Universal did own the copyright for King Kong then they totally would have had a case.  As a kid I assumed that the name Donkey Kong was a play on King Kong.  I figured the idea was that "King" Kong was this giant gorilla and that this smaller gorilla was of a considerably lower status and was thus merely "Donkey" Kong.  Like Donkey Kong was such a lower rank than King Kong that he was a second-class steed.  He's not even a horse in the kindgom of Kongs, he's a mere DONKEY.

[BeautifulShy]

Well of course Ian. Had Universal had the rights to King Kong I don't think we would be having this conversation. Universal tried to bully everybody around and many succumbed to the pressure.There was a few that stayed with Nintendo. But the majority of the companies already paid Universal for licensee fees.They would get their money back later after Nintendo won.

What do you guys think that the gaming landscape look like if Nintendo didn't win the case?
Would have Nintendo lasted as long as it has up to this point or do you think everything would be the same as it is now?

[Ian Sane]

What do you guys think that the gaming landscape look like if Nintendo didn't win the case?
Would have Nintendo lasted as long as it has up to this point or do you think everything would be the same as it is now?

Hard to say.  Donkey Kong made Nintendo.  That was their first hit.  This was a time where Nintendo's involvement in videogames was merely having a handful of big arcade hits.  If you look at the pre-crash industry companies like Taito and Midway were probably a bigger deal than Nintendo.  If they lost the case I'm assuming Donkey Kong is recalled and DK Jr. never gets made.  Those two games and Mario Bros are pre-NES Nintendo.  And since Mario Bros is a spin-off of Donkey Kong maybe it doesn't get made either.  Maybe Universal lays claim to all of Donkey Kong's IP so Nintendo never has Mario.
 
They could just have made the same games with different characters but having their big hit taken away from them might well have sunk them right then.  How much money would they have had to pay Universal?  Could they have afforded that?
 
And if Nintendo didn't make it where would the industry be right now?  The NES practically saved the videogame market in North America.  Where would videogames be without it?

[NWR_pap64]

I like this. Can't wait to see what is next.

Say, Pap, what ever happened to your 'My Favorite Nintendo Characters' column? Did you run out of favorite characters?

Man, I can't believe people remember that! The truth is that part two of my Donkey Kong was nearly finished when I got distracted and forgot about it. Since you bring it up, I will try and finish it, and create new ones as well.

You forgot to mention that several years later Universal would actually end up paying Nintendo for the right to use their games in The Wizard (also noted in Game Over). Universal also distributed the 11th Pokemon movie on DVD.

Yes, that's something I realized when I watched the Nostalgia  Critic review of The Wizard. There was so much Nintendo product placement its as if Universal is apologizing for the whole Donkey Kong thing :p .

[BeautifulShy]

What do you guys think that the gaming landscape look like if Nintendo didn't win the case?
Would have Nintendo lasted as long as it has up to this point or do you think everything would be the same as it is now?

Hard to say.  Donkey Kong made Nintendo.  That was their first hit.  This was a time where Nintendo's involvement in videogames was merely having a handful of big arcade hits.  If you look at the pre-crash industry companies like Taito and Midway were probably a bigger deal than Nintendo.  If they lost the case I'm assuming Donkey Kong is recalled and DK Jr. never gets made.  Those two games and Mario Bros are pre-NES Nintendo.  And since Mario Bros is a spin-off of Donkey Kong maybe it doesn't get made either.  Maybe Universal lays claim to all of Donkey Kong's IP so Nintendo never has Mario.
 
They could just have made the same games with different characters but having their big hit taken away from them might well have sunk them right then.  How much money would they have had to pay Universal?  Could they have afforded that?
 
And if Nintendo didn't make it where would the industry be right now?  The NES practically saved the videogame market in North America.  Where would videogames be without it?

Well Ian Nintendo was awarded 1.8 Million dollars so I would guess that they would have to pay Universal that.

About what would happen to the the game market maybe it would be more arcade based.Maybe it would be Sega that would have started the game console market.They were an arcade game maker at the time so I think Sega would do well in the type of market that hypotheticly would be there.

[ThePerm]

alternate universe!!

id travel to that one, Nintendo invents some wacky ass come-back game. Miyamoto experiments with lots of drugs because of his failure.

[vudu]

Well Ian Nintendo was awarded 1.8 Million dollars so I would guess that they would have to pay Universal that.

It doesn't work like that.  The $1.8 MM was likely just to compensate for legal fees.  Universal was suing for all profits Nintendo made from the arcade game, which was significantly more than $1.8 MM.

[UncleBob]

If Universal had won, Nintendo wouldn't exist in the same form they do today.

Assuming they didn't go bankrupt as a company, the NoA arm would have likely been shut down, Miyamoto would have left the company (remember, honor is a big thing with Japanese businessmen), Nintendo probably wouldn't have continued in the video game market, short of, perhaps, handheld LCD type games and either SEGA or one of the American companies (what was left of Atari or Mattel) probably would have eventually restarted the video game market.