Shigeru Miyamoto
Miyamoto thought of many characters and story ideas, but eventually decided on a love triangle between a gorilla, a carpenter, and a girl. He wanted to create something like what was with comic characters Bluto and Popeye for the woman Olive Oyl. Although, Nintendo tried to get the rights to Popeye, but they failed. Bluto became an ape, a form Miyamoto said was "nothing too evil or disgusting". This ape would be the pet of the main character, "a funny, hang-loose kind of guy." Miyamoto also said "Beauty and the Beast" and the 1933 film King Kong influenced him. Donkey Kong was the first time that the creation of a video game's story came before the actual programming. Usually, the story was added without much care. Miyamoto had high hopes for his new project. However, he did not actually know how to program it himself; instead, he thought of the game's concepts, then asked technicians on whether they were possible. He wanted to make the characters different sizes, move in different ways, and react in various ways. However, Yokoi thought Miyamoto's original design was too difficult. Yokoi suggested using see-saws to catapult the character across the screen; however, this was also too difficult to do. Miyamoto next thought of using sloped platforms and ladders to move the character. He thought of using barrels for obstacles. When he asked that the game have multiple stages, the four-man programming team complained that he was basically asking them to make the game repeat, but the team eventually programmed the game. When the game was sent to Nintendo of America for testing, the sales manager did not like how it was different from the maze and shooter games common at the time. When American staffers started naming the characters, they decided on "Pauline" for the woman. She was named after Polly James, wife of Nintendo's Redmond, Washington, warehouse manager, Don James. The playable character was first called "Jumpman". They changed the name to Mario. He was named after Mario Segale, the warehouse landlord. These character names were written on the American cabinet art and used in advertising. The staff also got an English name for the game. The title was Donkey Kong.