OK, there’s a guy who just broke a record number of points on one of the Donkey Kong games. A passing reference on some site mentioned that “it is roughly translated from Japanese meaning ‘stubborn monkey.’”
Well, how close is it to some Japanese words approximating “stubborn monkey?” If it’s a rough translation, what does it literally mean?
It has long been rumored that a mistranslation of KING KONG led to the name becoming “Donkey Kong”.
I have never heard the stubborn monkey spin (which Nintendo might push as an excuse).
I’d always heard that it meant something more like “stupid monkey,” with the word “donkey” having nothing to do with the English word; rather, it’s an English spelling of a Japanese word that sounds similar.
Here’s Snope’s take on it:
I also just read that story on CNN and was surprised by the translation.
One thought I had was that the donkey is considered to be a stubborn animal, and the King Kong reference could relate to “Ape” or “Monkey”. So maybe it’s not Japanese at all???
Well Game Spots’ in depth history of the game says the Japanese creator wanted to call Kong stubborn monkey…so a stubborn animal, a donkey, was chosen. Donkey Kong is a decent translation, but it’s almost unfair to call it a ‘translation’. Really, it’s a title that is meant to convey the creator’s idea of a stobborn monkey to American gamers.
Nevermind that he is not a monkey.
search at www.gamespot.com donkey kong history
I read an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto in Total! (old Brit Nintendo mag) and he was adamant that he’d meant for it to be called Monkey Kong, and NoA has mishead him.
So, Shigeru Miyamoto is claiming there was just the one exchange and the name of the game was set in stone…
Sounds unlikely.