Miyamoto didn't code Donkey Kong

[TL]

It's recently been revealed that Miyamoto didn't in fact code Donkey Kong:

http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/funny-occasionally-dirty-hidden-messages-favorite-games-192013980.html

When Nintendo first got into creating arcade video games, it didn't yet have the capability to program them itself. This hidden message in the code of Donkey Kong shows that development of Nintendo's breakout hit was at least partially outsourced to a company called Ikegami Tsushinki:

CONGRATULATION !IF YOU ANALYSE DIFFICULT THIS PROGRAM,WE WOULD TEACH YOU.*****TEL.TOKYO-JAPAN 044(244)2151 EXTENTION 304 SYSTEM DESIGN IKEGAMI CO. LIM.

The message, among several other bits of code, helps prove Ikegami's otherwise-hidden role in the game's development. Ikegami would later sue Nintendo for illegally producing extra Donkey Kong games without its consent, as it was also the contracted manufacturer, as well as reverse-engineering Ikegami's code to create Donkey

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[Rogue Trooper]

It's recently been revealed that Miyamoto didn't in fact code Donkey Kong:

http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/funny-occasionally-dirty-hidden-messages-favorite-games-192013980.html

When Nintendo first got into creating arcade video games, it didn't yet have the capability to program them itself. This hidden message in the code of Donkey Kong shows that development of Nintendo's breakout hit was at least partially outsourced to a company called Ikegami Tsushinki:

CONGRATULATION !IF YOU ANALYSE DIFFICULT THIS PROGRAM,WE WOULD TEACH YOU.*****TEL.TOKYO-JAPAN 044(244)2151 EXTENTION 304 SYSTEM DESIGN IKEGAMI CO. LIM.

The message, among several other bits of code, helps prove Ikegami's otherwise-hidden role in the game's development. Ikegami would later sue Nintendo for illegally producing extra Donkey Kong games without its consent, as it was also the contracted manufacturer, as well as reverse-engineering Ikegami's code to create Donkey

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:-) next you'll be telling me NES never saved the industry and UK games market!.

[tomwaits]

I read an article about this a couple years ago:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/134790/the_secret_history_of_donkey_kong.php

[TrekMD]

Fascinating!  Clever to hide it in the code. 

[zapiy]

Brilliant stuff and a fantastic read.. Thanks all..

[DreamcastRIP]

I posted elsewhere a few weeks ago the following in relation to this story:

The Wikipedia entry for the games states,

He (Hiroshi Tamauchi) approached a young industrial designer named Shigeru Miyamoto, who had been working for Nintendo since 1977, to see if Miyamoto thought he could design an arcade game. Miyamoto said he could. Yamauchi appointed Nintendo's head engineer, Gunpei Yokoi, to supervise the project.  Nintendo's budget for the development of the game was $100,000. Some sources also claim that Ikegami Tsushinki was involved in some of the development. They played no role in the game's creation or concept, but were hired by Nintendo to provide "mechanical programming assistance to fix the software created by Nintendo."

Miyamoto had high hopes for his new project. He lacked the technical skills to program it himself, so instead came up with concepts and consulted technicians to see if they were possible. He wanted to make the characters different sizes, move in different manners and react in various ways. Yokoi thought Miyamoto's original design was too complex. Another idea Yokoi suggested was to use see-saws to catapult the hero across the screen; this was too difficult to program. Miyamoto then thought of using sloped platforms, barrels and ladders. When he specified that the game would have multiple stages, the four-man programming team complained that he was essentially asking them to make the game repeatedly. Nevertheless, they followed Miyamoto's design, creating about 20,000 lines of code.

So while Miyamoto is commonly seen as being the creator of Donkey Kong it very much seems that he, along with the late Gunpei Yokoi, designed it in tandem with Yokoi being his supervisor on the project. Some of their ideas revealed their lack of technical knowledge which the hired programmers set them straight on. So while Miyamoto co-created the game as Yokoi's subordinate he seemingly didn't code a single line of it.