Viewing Single Trivia
subdirectory_arrow_right Donkey Kong Junior (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
Green House
Donkey Kong 3
Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Junior
Donkey Kong 3
Donkey Kong Circus
Donkey Kong Plus
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong
Mario Bros.
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong: Original Edition
Donkey Kong: Coconut Crackers
Mario Bros.
Super Donkey
Donkey Kong no Ongaku Asobi
Crazy Kong
Tetris Attack
Mario Party
Skylanders: SuperChargers Racing
Mario Strikers Charged
Super Paper Mario
Pinball
Yoshi's Cookie
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Paper Mario: Sticker Star
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Puzzle & Dragons Z + Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition
Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix
Paper Mario: The Origami King
Mario Hoops 3-on-3
Mario's Super Picross
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
Game & Watch Gallery 2
Super Mario Maker
Yoshi Touch & Go
Super Mario RPG 2
Super Mario World
New Super Mario Bros. Mii
DK: King of Swing
Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World
Fortune Street
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
Mario Party 6
Super Mario Bros. 2
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
New Super Luigi U