Donkey Kong arcade cabinet

genre and indeed it was certainly one of the forerunners of the platform game. It pre-dates Donkey Kong but the latter also added to the genre. It seems a small thing now but Donkey Kong gave us the ‘jump’, something unknown in arcade gaming until then.

Donkey Kong was an early development project by Nintendo and it’s chief designer was Shigeru Miyamoto.  Disappointed by audience reactions to Radar Scope, Miyamoto was hired to turn the project into something that would appeal to the U.S. market.  There seems to be something stereotypically Japanese about the background story – a love triangle between a gorilla, a carpenter and a girl.  The story does seem to ‘borrow’ some elements from the King Kong story, but a famous court case involving Nintendo and Universal Studios established that they (Nintendo) had not stolen the idea.

Miyamoto was not, in fact, responsible for the programming of the game – he was more of an idea’s man, suggesting game elements to his development team and receiving replies as to whether these were possible.  Donkey Kong was therefore responsible for introducing elements into arcade machines such as the familiar rolling barrels, ladders and in particular, making the game multi-stage, meaning four different levels with different designs.  It was also the first game with an in-built story-line.

The multi-level element was a real step forward although the development team originally regarded it as merely repeating the same level.  After persuading them that it was the way to go, the game was eventually finished and tested.  The main character, who was originally known as Jumpman, become known as Mario following the introduction of the game into the United States.  Mario, of course, became the hero of the various Nintendo games featuring that character, beginning with Mario Bros.

Donkey Kong was a commercial success following its release in 1981 and led to a series of franchises which is still in development today.  Most recently, Donkey Kong Country Returns was developed in 2010 for the Nintendo Wii.

The original plan for the game was to develop it as a side-scrolling shooter, then as an on-rails shooter (the character has a preset course and can’t wander) but finally the decision was made to develop a 3D shooter, more commonly known now as a First Person Shooter (FPS).  It certainly was not the first of its kind, Doom had been produced four years before and even that was preceded by Wolfenstein 3D, but it did take the genre to a whole new level of quality, innovation and sophistication.

GoldenEye introduced several new features to the genre; a zoom-able sniper rifle had its first outing here, adding a new level of strategy and gunplay.  Stealth missions were also part of the gameplay, meaning that this wasn’t just a gigantic gunfight.  GoldenEye also introduced superb graphics for the multiplayer version.  While the game was not a free-roaming affair, the addition of extra rooms and areas (with no purpose) and several routes through levels meant that GoldenEye was nowhere near as linear than many of its predecessors.

The game was of course developed as a tie-in with the 007 film GoldenEye and the plot of the game follows the plot of the movie with a couple of exceptions (no casino).  The game was not received particularly well at the 1997 E3 but that mattered little when the game hit the shops.  With 8 million units sold it was the best selling N64 game of all time and regularly features in lists of the best console games.  Check it out:

The fifth generation of video games consoles established the dominant companies in the 1990s.  Those were companies were Sony and Nintendo, although between these two, Sony was the major player.  Sega had one last attempt at breaking into the console

Sega Dreamcast

market in 1999 with the Dreamcast – the first sixth generation console – and despite a high profile advertising campaign (notably sponsoring English Premier League team Arsenal), the console was discontinued by 2001 following mediocre sales.  The Dreamcast contained a modem – the first console to do so with the ability to play online games.

Sony released it’s own sixth generation console – the PlayStation 2 – in 2000 and it was a spectacular success.  It’s powerful hardware and ability to play DVDs ensured it sold in huge quantities;  it has since become the best

Sony PlayStation 2

selling console of all time.  In the decade that followed it’s release, the quality of games improved immeasurably as developers got to grips with the challenging programming environment.  Grand Theft Auto and God of War are two examples of games which introduced jaw dropping graphics and (in the case of GTA) a truly open, explorable environment.  The PS2 also included backwards compatibility – the ability to play PS1 games – and this helped uptake massively.

2001 saw the introduction into the market of Microsoft’s Xbox, an impressive piece of

Microsoft Xbox

hardware which included a built-in hard drive and an ethernet connection for online gaming.  It lacked the PlayStation’s DVD player but what helped it gain a foothold was Halo – the first person shooter which has since become a successful franchise.

Nintendo was still trying to sustain a foothold in the console market and in 2001 released the GameCube which, although completely overshadowed by its competitors, managed to retain loyal Nintendo supporters, of which there were no small number.  The GameCube just about counted as a success, although Nintendo never really managed to compete for the more mature gamer, as the PS2 and Xbox did.

The PS2 completely dominated the era and was still being manufactured in 2010, five years after the launch of the PlayStation 3.  The Xbox was discontinued in 2005 and the GameCube in 2007.

Although of course a Nintendo development, the game was ported to a number of other consoles including the Apple II, the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair Spectrum.  In general these were well received by the games buying public at the time.  Over the decades the popularity of Mario Bros has ensured the original version has been consistently ported onto newer and newer consoles.  It’s also possible to locate free versions online if you feel the inclination.

Super Mario Bros

In 1985, two years after Mario Bros hit the shelves, Nintendo released Super Mario Bros, a release that would remain the best selling console game for two decades.  While Mario Bros was a single screen platformer, the new game was a side scrolling effort which brought unrivaled playability to the console arena.  To date an astonishing 40 million copies of Super Mario Bros have been sold and Nintendo still support it today, a version being available for download on the Wii’s Virtual Console.

The game did take one or two features from its predecessor, most notably Mario’s ability to jump up and break overhead blocks.  He also gained the ability to squash enemies by jumping on top of them.  Luigi still featured as part of the two player version.  A number of influential websites have variously named Super Mario Bros as the best video game of all time and it spawned a number of sequels in the subsequent years.  Check it out: