Timeline | 1982: Donkey Kong for Atari 2600

Another popular Arcade hit of the time was Nintendo's Donkey Kong, the Atari 2600 wasn't so great...

Nintendo would become a name that to most people would be synonymous with video gaming by the end of the decade, but in 1982 they were relatively little-known. Donkey Kong was one of their first big Arcade hits and the first game produced by Shigeru Miyamoto the man who would go on to make Mario, Zelda and many more classic Nintendo characters - in fact Mario makes his first appearance in Donkey Kong. Originally named Jumpman, Nintendo changed the character's name to Mario (as well as changing the girl's name from 'Lady' to Pauline) in promotional ads and the like.

The gameplay in Donkey Kong was relatively simple, as an early platforming game Mario could move left or right, he could climb ladders and he could jump. Using these controls in combonation the player attempted to avoid falling and rolling barrels thrown at them by Donkey Kong and eventually rescue Pauline from the gorilla's clutches.

Donkey Kong was notable for being one of the earliest examples of a video game having a narrative that played out in the storyline, and also one of the first games to include cut scenes to advance that story.

The Atari 2600 version of Donkey Kong had graphical limitations, only 2 levels and was all around not very well executed.

Nintendo licensed Coleco to release their game for home consoles in the US. While Coleco did a relatively good job on the port for their own ColecoVision home console, they did relatively poorly on the Atari 2600 version (they had very little incentive to put much effort into it) and it is included here only because of its importance and legacy - to be clear: the original Donkey Kong is a great game but the Atari 2600 version does it little justice and another version (likely the NES version) would be the best to play if you are looking to experience this classic.

Donkey Kong would spawn two direct sequels: Donkey Kong Jr. and Donkey Kong 3. DK Jr. reversed the roles in the first game with Mario now the villian having captured Donkey Kong and the player acting as DK Jr. has to save his father. In Donkey Kong 3 the gameplay is completely different where you are an exterminator in a shooter game and Donkey Kong is basically King of a bug nest and you have to shoot all the bugs and force Donkey Kong to flee (yeah sounds crazy, it is!).

Donkey Kong would also spawn a spin off called Mario Bros that would later get a sequel called Super Mario Bros. and take the world by storm - but that is for another time...

Further Reading:

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey_Kong_(video_game)