On 9th July 2018, Nintendo’s Donkey Kong and Mario, two of the most popular games of the company went on sale in stores.
Nintendo initially wanted to acquire the license for Popeye to create a videogame, but when unable to do so, the company decided to create a game mirroring the characteristics and rivalry of Popeye and Bluto.
The game Donkey Kong named after the game’s villain, a pet gorilla gone rogue. The hero was originally called Jumpman, but was initially renamed to Mario once the game becomes popular and Nintendo decided to keep using the character in future games as well.
Universal Studios at that time sued Nintendo claiming Donkey Kong violated their trademark as Donkey Kong was similar to King Kong. However, with Kong being a common Japanese slang for gorilla the lawsuit was ruled in favor of Nintendo. The success of Donkey Kong led Nintendo to become one of the dominant companies in the video game market today.
