Conina said:
I'm pretty sure, they would exist without Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong wasn't even the first platformer game. Space Panic (which was released 8 month earlier) already had a lot of Donkey Kong's game elements. The character of Space Panic couldn't jump... but do you really think, that no game designer in the whole world would have added that jumping feature soon? Already five months after the Donkey Kong release, Jump Bug gave its debut... with jumping on and over objects and with smooth side-scrolling (four years earlier than Super Mario Bros.).
Pitfall (released 9 months after Donkey Kong) is another platformer, which probably would have been developed without Donkey Kong's existence... at least David Crane claims, that his Pitfall idea is from 1979. |
I certainly wouldn't say that platformers would not exist without DK, but there's no denying that that particular platformer changed-up the industry.
First off, I wouldn't call Space Panic a platformer. Second, there's a difference between just making a character jump and repeated code iteration to get impressive physics. e.g. Pac-Land (1984) preceded Super Mario Bros but the difference in programming finesse is huge.
Also, Crane claiming his idea preceded DK is just that - a claim. I pictured gaming eventually going into 3D (z-axis) when I was just a kid but I still wouldn't expect credit for the idea before anyone else unless I brought it to life first.
Last edited by archbrix - on 19 April 2026
