Donkey Kong

With »Donkey Kong« the player can visit multiple milestones in the history of videogames.

The game mechanic by the game designer Shigeru Miyamoto was the first platformer-game and coined the whole genre. Also the story about a big gorilla kidnapping a damsel in distress, an obvious reference to the movie »King Kong«, was presented in non-interactive cut scenes. This makes the game to the first one with a narration and story inside the game. The hero of the game is »Jumpman« who has to jump over barrels and using ladders to defeat »Donkey Kong« and rescue »Daisy«. Originally »Donkey Kong« should be a game about the cartoon character »Popeye«. Due licence problems, the hero was named »Jumpman« who has to jump over barrels and using ladders to defeat »Donkey Kong« and rescue »Daisy«. He will later get one of the most famous characters of the videogames culture and beyond: »Super Mario«.

Shigeru Miyamoto is still one of the most creative heads in the videogame industry. A little sidenote: He received in 2006 the »Orde des Arts et Lettres«. The french Minister for Culture and Communication Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres knighted the japanese game designer for his work.

The arcade cabinet in the ZKM is a friendly loan of the Retrogames e.V. in Karlsruhe.