Author Topic: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?  (Read 7669 times)

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Offline Sandwich

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Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
Did I miss the donkeys?  :confused:
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Offline Flipside

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Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
IIRC It was called 'Monkey King', but there were copyright problems because of 'King Kong', and the outcome, for some unfathomable reason, was 'Donkey Kong'.

Something like that anyway...

 

Offline Galemp

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Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
In the original Japanese they use a word that connotes great strength and fortitude. That was translated as 'donkey' as in a very strong animal .
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Offline Colonol Dekker

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Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/donkeykong.asp

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/186158


My take on it is...............Because japanese happy funny time translation is good !

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Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
Mr. Miyamoto was looking through a thesaurus for synonyms for "Stubborn Gorilla". He came up with "Donkey Kong".

And in fact there was a legal battle with Universal Studios: they sued Nintendo because they were at the time making a King Kong movie (this was after the game Donkey Kong was released). Nintendo won, though.
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Offline Colonol Dekker

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Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
Stubborn as a mule, mule->donkey (semantics i know) add a Kong to it. plus it's got a ring to it :D


What would you guys call Monkey character?

Little tit-bit of info for ya, the only reason mario wears a hat, is because 8-bit an dpre 8-bit systems didn't have the resolution to produce hair to Miyamotos standard.
Campaigns I've added my distinctiveness to-
- Blue Planet: Battle Captains
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-Sol: A History
-TBP EACW teaser
-Earth Brakiri war
-TBP Fortune Hunters (I think?)
-TBP Relic
-Trancsend (Possibly?)
-Uncharted Territory
-Vassagos Dirge
-War Machine
(Others lost to the mists of time and no discernible audit trail)

Your friendly Orestes tactical controller.

Secret bomb God.
That one time I got permabanned and got to read who was being bitxhy about me :p....
GO GO DEKKER RANGERSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Offline BloodEagle

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Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
"ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!"  ;7

 

Offline Sandwich

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Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
Little tit-bit of info...

"Tid-bit", you mean? ;)
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"...The quintessential quality of our age is that of dreams coming true. Just think of it. For centuries we have dreamt of flying; recently we made that come true: we have always hankered for speed; now we have speeds greater than we can stand: we wanted to speak to far parts of the Earth; we can: we wanted to explore the sea bottom; we have: and so  on, and so on: and, too, we wanted the power to smash our enemies utterly; we have it. If we had truly wanted peace, we should have had that as well. But true peace has never been one of the genuine dreams - we have got little further than preaching against war in order to appease our consciences. The truly wishful dreams, the many-minded dreams are now irresistible - they become facts." - 'The Outward Urge' by John Wyndham

"The very essence of tolerance rests on the fact that we have to be intolerant of intolerance. Stretching right back to Kant, through the Frankfurt School and up to today, liberalism means that we can do anything we like as long as we don't hurt others. This means that if we are tolerant of others' intolerance - especially when that intolerance is a call for genocide - then all we are doing is allowing that intolerance to flourish, and allowing the violence that will spring from that intolerance to continue unabated." - Bren Carlill

 

Offline Flipside

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Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
When Deckers concerned, assume nothing ;)

 

Offline Silent Warrior

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Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
 :lol: :lol: :lol:

'Nuff said. (If you're out looking for more engrish, shall we say, mishaps, don't overlook the Shining Force-series. It's common knowledge that Final Fantasy 7 went really very funny on occasion, but SF has a few surprises in store.)
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Offline Colonol Dekker

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Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
Little tit-bit of info...

"Tid-bit", you mean? ;)

I dunno what Tids are :p

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Campaigns I've added my distinctiveness to-
- Blue Planet: Battle Captains
-Battle of Neptune
-Between the Ashes 2
-Blue planet: Age of Aquarius
-FOTG?
-Inferno R1
-Ribos: The aftermath / -Retreat from Deneb
-Sol: A History
-TBP EACW teaser
-Earth Brakiri war
-TBP Fortune Hunters (I think?)
-TBP Relic
-Trancsend (Possibly?)
-Uncharted Territory
-Vassagos Dirge
-War Machine
(Others lost to the mists of time and no discernible audit trail)

Your friendly Orestes tactical controller.

Secret bomb God.
That one time I got permabanned and got to read who was being bitxhy about me :p....
GO GO DEKKER RANGERSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
President of the Scooby Doo Model Appreciation Society
The only good Zod is a dead Zod
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Offline Mobius

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Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
Why are Mario and Luigi called Mario and Luigi?

I mean why would Japanese game developers base one of the most successful series ever on two Italians? Wasn't Pac Man enough(it was inspired by a pizza)? :wtf:
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Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
Well, Mario was named after Nintendo of America's first landlord (before that he was "Jumpman").

Luigi is just an Italian name to go along with Mario.
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Offline Mobius

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Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
Meh...they could have chosen two Japanese names... :doubt:
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Offline Mongoose

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Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
Yes, because an Italian plumber with a Japanese name makes perfect sense.

 
Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
I think what happened is they designed his appearance before deciding on a name, so they had to choose a name that fit his appearance.

His appearance was dictated by graphical limitations. Overalls because it made it easier to animate arms moving. A hat because hair is tricky on 8-bit systems. A moustache because a mouth is also difficult. All this adds up to a carpenter, which was changed to plumber when Mario Bros. came out in arcades (which took place in the sewers, rather than a construction site), and I guess the moustache in particular they thought an Italian look; therefore, Italian name.

Also, another naming oddity: they are referred to as the "Mario Bros.", which implies that it is their last name that is Mario... and indeed, their official full names are "Mario Mario" and "Luigi Mario".
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Offline Mobius

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Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
Yes, because an Italian plumber with a Japanese name makes perfect sense.

Use a Japanese plumber?

Also, another naming oddity: they are referred to as the "Mario Bros.", which implies that it is their last name that is Mario... and indeed, their official full names are "Mario Mario" and "Luigi Mario".

Yeah, I know it...it's so odd :wtf:
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Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
Yes, because an Italian plumber with a Japanese name makes perfect sense.

Use a Japanese plumber?

Also, another naming oddity: they are referred to as the "Mario Bros.", which implies that it is their last name that is Mario... and indeed, their official full names are "Mario Mario" and "Luigi Mario".

Yeah, I know it...it's so odd :wtf:

It depends really... it's not uncommon for Italian people to have identical First and Last names. Very few ones, but there are some :)
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Offline Inquisitor

Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
I worked with a William Williams.
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Offline Mobius

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Re: Why is Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong?
It depends really... it's not uncommon for Italian people to have identical First and Last names. Very few ones, but there are some :)

Similar, yeah...but identical? I recall a Guido Guidi, just to give an example, but Mario Mario is exaggerately odd...
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