Nintendo Missed The Chance To Give Donkey Kong A Much Funnier Name

In the ’80s, some of the classic arcade characters weren’t always called by the names that we know them by today. Pac-Man was originally Puck Man, which was changed in America because of how easily that name could have been defaced into an expletive. Even Mario was internally called Mr. Video and Jumpman before Nintendo settled on his famous name. Now, several of Donkey Kong’s potential names have resurfaced, and one of the possibilities was Kong Dong.

Via Eurogamer, that very amusing alternate name for Donkey Kong emerged in legal documents from Universal Pictures’ lawsuit against Nintendo, which were scanned by gaming historian Norman Caruso. Some of the other potential names Nintendo considered for Donkey Kong were Kong Man, Mr. Kong, Big Kong, Giant Kong, Kong Boy, Funny Kong, and Kong the Kong. The final Donkey Kong name was chosen as a rough translation of “Dumb Ape.”

In retrospect, Nintendo made the right call by going with Donkey Kong for the original 1981 video game that also introduced Mario to the world. However, Universal’s 1982 lawsuit contended that Nintendo had infringed upon the studio’s King Kong and sued the video game company for a share of the game’s profits. Nintendo emerged triumphant in court when the company’s attorney, John Kirby, successfully cited an earlier court case in which Universal argued that King Kong and all of its associated characters were in the public domain.

Universal and Nintendo eventually buried the hatchet, which led to Nintendo themed lands in Universal Studios locations around the world and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which featured Seth Rogen as the voice of Donkey Kong. Of course, the Donkey Kong video game franchise lives on with a port of Donkey Kong Returns heading to Nintendo Switch in early 2025.