Might Donkey Kong be the most historically important game ever?

I think about this from time to time, and with this Saturday being the birthday of the big ape I am thinking about it more.

Donkey Kong is probably the most historically important game in history.

According to government filings, August 11, 1981 was the first date that the original Donkey Kong test machine appeared. The location was a sports bar called The Spot Tavern in the Seattle area.

DK was created specifically to be a hit game that unsold Radar Scope cabinets could be turned into. Nintendo of America was falling into bankruptcy thanks to the failure of Radar Scope in the states. When Kong became a huge hit, Nintendo’s U.S. venture was saved from the brink.

Looking at it, if someone wanted to use a time machine to go back and prevent the current video game industry from existing, they’d probably head to that point. Not only did Donkey Kong save Nintendo of America, but at the end of the 1980s Nintendo saved the North American video game industry when the Nintendo Entertainment System helped pull the market out of the Great Video Game Crash of the mid-80s.

Donkey Kong also introduced the most iconic video game character and game designer in history. If you are reading this site, though, I figure you know who Mario and Shigeru Miyamoto are without me having to tell ya.

This chain doesn’t stop there. Sega aimed right for Nintendo’s throat with the Sega Genesis and Sonic the Hedgehog, a game that was designed specifically to be cooler than the Super Mario Bros. games and compete head-on.

The Super Nintendo had a CD-ROM based system designed for it by Sony. When Nintendo opted not to go that way, Sony redesigned it and released it as a stand-alone system called the PlayStation.

When the PlayStation 2 became a way to lure Microsoft developers away, the Big M created the XBox as their “oh, yeah? eat this” answer.

Today, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are the Pep Boys of the video game world, and have been for two straight game console generations so far, the first time three companies have ever done that.

If Donkey Kong had flopped, or never existed at all, how different would video gaming be today? It all traces back to that one point in time.