The reason Nintendo won the Kong court case is because King Kong is actually public domain, as Universal found out and used as a driving point in a previous court case regarding to legality of Kong. John Kirby (the lawyer representing Nintendo) discovered that fact and used it against Universal, which is what allowed them to ultimately win the case.
And Nintendo named Kirby after him, yes. Universal's suit not only lost but lost them exclusive rights to King Kong. Huge self own. If Universal hadn't sued people would have assumed King Kong belonged to them until 2029 as you'd guess based on its release date. They'd still have him today! No modern Godzilla vs Kong movies.
Universal was claiming some kind of ownership of the King Kong IP in that lawsuit against Nintendo when they themselves argued in court in the 70s that King Kong was public domain.
@@chiquita683 Its hard to fully tell. Mario Pauline and DK being based on Popeye characters and the fact "Kong" isn't exclusive to King Kong-Son Wukong(The monkey king from Chinese myth who's story is incredibly well known in Asia) comes to mind as a basic example of the contrary.
Fun Fact: John Kirby, Nintendo’s lawyer for that case, argued that Universal themselves stated King Kong was public domain in a previous lawsuit and won, and that’s how your favorite pink boi got his name.
Hey Diddy Kong! It’s me man! Bill Nye the uh… Science Kong man! I got a little song about life and death that I think might end your worries man! Listen!
Researching in Japanese a bit, apparently early days people misunderstood "kong" as being the generic English word for "ape" and that's how it ended up in Japanese slang without being perceived as necessarily linked to King King.
It looks like the novel version of King Kong was public domain, but it also sounds like that was the first released version, despite being intended as something to go along with the film. That’s a crazy and sticky situation, and it would certainly point to why Nintendo has learned to batten down the hatches. ALL of the hatches.
I'm thinking a lot of those names were more thought about as a title rather than a true name for him. Custom Kong, Kong Holiday, Kong Chase-- those feel like game titles. Also, regarding the name Kong. I don't think it's necessarily related to DK's name at all, but there's the Chinese Sun Wukong, who was not named after King Kong, but also has Kong in his name. DK was obviously named after King Kong, but the name association behind "Kong" may stem from stuff like that.
So here's the really, really interesting thing about that lawsuit and why Nintendo won, or what I've heard. When ruled in favor of Nintendo, while it was ruled they weren't in violation of Universal's copyright, they reason they weren't violating it was because the Judge ruled Universal DIDN'T ACTUALLY HAVE A COPYRIGHT TO KING KONG. I forget the details, but not only did Universal lose that lawsuit, they lost their exclusive copyright to King Kong. And this traumatized Nintendo as a company. Nintendo, a comparatively small nobody toy company from Japan, won a lawsuit against Universal, one of the biggest media companies in the world, and also lost their exclusive copyright of one of the biggest IP's at the time. So consider that, and the fact that Nintendo owns Pokemon, the most profitable IP in the world, and you might just understand why they're so harsh on enforcing their Copyright.
@@OswaldOrtensia4ever This is correct. The lawsuit cost Universal King Kong because it turned out it was never theirs to begin with. If they hadn't had people look into it due to the lawsuit, people would assume they owned King Kong until 2029. Because they sued and lost, they lost King Kong in 1983, nearly half a century early.
Just because it is a ripoff doesn't warrant a trademark violation (and it cannot be a copyright violation, because they didn't use the movie assets). On Wikipedia it says Universal Studio didn't buy the trademark for King Kong from the original author, so they had no right to sue over the name. The rights of the King Kong IP was so ripped apart that no one could claim clear ownership anymore. This is why Nintendo is so alerted over all the trademark pitfalls. Like when a name becomes too common it also loses it trademark rights, this is why Nintendo claimed Kong is a common slang for ape in Japan.
I was listening to this while at work. (I work at a Walmart) As arlo started to talk about the name kong dong, I had to try very very hard to not burst out laughing, to the point that tears were forming. Several customers and coworkers stopped me and asked if I was ok.
Some of these seemed to more aimed at the being the title of the game and not necessarily name of the gorilla himself. "Big Kong" is probably the safest choice, "Funky Kong" would probably be closest to the feel of "Donkey Kong" while not sounding as weird.
If you watch the Gaming Historian video Universal lost because King Kong was owned by RKO. Universal wanted to make a remake in the 1970's. They went to court and argued that King Kong was in the public domain. Universal won and King Kong was entered into the public domain. So the only thing Universal owned was their version of King Kong that was not in the original 1933 film.
I'm sure a lot of these potential names sounded a lot better in Japanese. Granted, I know enough Japanese to order off a menu and enough to loosely follow anime, so I might be not totally accurate. Steel Kong, maybe Tetsu Kongu (Tetsu is kind of a catchall term for "metal"; it depends on the context). Giant Kong = Gigante Kongu (Gigante, I've seen in various anime be a word used for giant or gigantic). Kong Boy = Kong-San or Boku-Kongu (Japanese as a language has a lot of pronouns to address people as depending on status and manners). Kong Man = Kongo-Hito (Hito means like "guy"; it could also be a pun for "hit", like to "hit something") or Kong-Sama (Sama means like "boss" or someone you would address as a superior). Kong Dong = maybe Kong Don or Kon Don, like a mafia don. Mr. Kong could've been Kong-Sama as well.
Oh great so not only would we have had to deal with Universal (or whoever had Kong rights at the time. Seriously look it up. The poor monkey has got so many names attached to him.) but also BURGER KING for near lawsuits?!?
Such a weird thing to be dug up. Can’t believe these kinds of things can go years without people hearing about it. Thanks for always bringing us such interesting gaming topics Arlo. I really like to put these on in the background while I’m eating/cleaning/cooking or whatever. They are always fun to listen to so I guess I just want to say we appreciate you making good enjoyable content for everyone! Keep it up man. I hope God blesses you and your loved ones! Thank you!
I'd personally say Donkey Kong is just such a natural thing to say, because it has medium, short, long syllable as well as a good balance of sharp and soft sounds all at the the start of the syllable. It just works while also being amusing because it's demeaning to be called a donkey
Edit: 9:06 the cartoon Arlo is thinking of is the "Saturday Supercade", Donkey Kong, along with Mario and Pauline, was one of the segments on that show, which also featured Frogger, Donkey Kong Jr., Q*bert, and Harry Pitfall. Original comment: Maybe it's just the fact that I've lived with the name for almost all of my life, but there's something about the name "Donkey Kong" that just has a good ring to it. Like, even though Miyamoto picked it because he basically wanted to name the ape in his arcade game "stubborn monkey" and because he had a poor grasp of English at the time he wound up with "Donkey Kong", but there's just something about the name that has a good ring to it. As goofy and fun to read about as these early names are, I kind of doubt that "Funny Kong", "Kong the Kong", "Jack Kong", "Bill Kong", "Steel Kong", "Giant Kong", "Big Kong", "Kong Down", "Mr. Kong", "Custom Kong", "Kong Chase", "Kong Boy", "Kong Man", "Kong Fighter", "Wild Kong", "Rookie Kong", or "Kong Holiday" would have had the same lasting effect... Though "Kong Dong" may have had lasting appeal, though probably for more inappropriate reasons. And hey, they eventually did use "Funky Kong", or at least Rare did when they made the character.
10:19 "Kong Holiday - I like it! It makes me think of some of the characters from--" "Deltarune?" "--a lot of people already know what I'm gonna say..." "DELTARUNE???" "The Great Muppet Caper" "oh"
Kong meaning "monkey" in Japan sounded like a big lie to me. Until I remembered Wùkōng from Jorney to the West, a 16th century chinese story that Dragon Ball is based on. It does not means monkey in chinese, but may be Wùkōng may be related to monkeys by japanese people.
I think the reason the name Donkey Kong works, though odd when you think about it, is the rhythmic and rhyming vowel sounds combined with the harsh consonants. It's got a nice cadence to it: DON-KEE-KONG
Fighter & Holiday Kong are my personal favorite TBH. I think it's moments like this explains how they manage to expand on the Kong Family (or hostiles in the case for jungle beat🐒🦍)
Donkey Kong is benevolent in modern era and King Kong has always been huge. Donkey Kong was only marginally larger than humans back on the arcade. I actually included this example in a paper I wrote at business school years ago.
I wanna see some of these turned into game titles. Kong Holiday could be a "cozy" game, like Animal Crossing or something, the idea is to give DK and fam a nice relaxing holiday. Edit: Bill Kong would be an accounting program.
the normal names like "Bill Kong" and "Mr Kong" make me think about his design totally differently. like yeah he is wearing a tie i guess he's like an office gorilla idk. do we ever even think about that
I come from the universe where they named him kong holiday and arlo was laighing at the idea of him possibly being donkey kong. Was wondering when this was gonna happen on this timeline
When I was in like middle school my friend told me the name was originally meant to be Monkey Kong, but there was some bad reception over a phone call and they misheard Donkey Kong instead. These court documents kind of totally disprove that, I guess.
I actually read about this in a book called The Ultimate History of Video Games. Turns out Universal lost the suit simply they were stupid. They actually made their ‘76 film without full permission from RKO, the original creators of King Kong, and so they themselves won a lawsuit by arguing that NO ONE owned King Kong, as he was public domain. So it’s insane that they turned right around and tried to sue Nintendo for ripping off something that they said they didn’t even own. As for the name Donkey Kong, the book claims that Miyamoto was told to give the character an English name, and since he didn’t speak any English, he grabbed a Japanese to English dictionary and an English thesaurus and looked up synonyms for “stubborn gorilla” which gave him “Donkey Kong.” I am skeptical of this though, as I’ve checked some thesaurauses and none of them list Kong as a synonym for gorilla.
Late to the party but regarding the name thing, Wukong has been around for centuries and has been influential in Japan, Nintendo could have argued that could be the ultimate source of Kong as slang for an ape (probably isn't the case but it could be argued)
My copyright law is a little fuzzy as it’s not my field of law but if I recall correctly from law school because the two characters are distinct from each other no violation occurred. Another example I could think of is Cinderella or any fairytale as they are in the public domain but Disney more or less has the most popular version of the character. They don’t own those stories and as long as any look alike characters are clearly unique they should be ok. However there are always exceptions.
"Kong" in reference to monkeys is probably from Sun Wu Kong, the monkey king from _Journey to the West_ And that's beside the whole public domain thing. (JttW is *exceptionally* in the PD)
![FNAF Into the Pit has A LOT of Unused Graphics | LOST BITS [TetraBitGaming]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/6YhZCRdipl4/mqdefault.jpg)
![FNAF Into the Pit has A LOT of Unused Graphics | LOST BITS [TetraBitGaming]](/img/1.gif)
The reason Nintendo won the Kong court case is because King Kong is actually public domain, as Universal found out and used as a driving point in a previous court case regarding to legality of Kong. John Kirby (the lawyer representing Nintendo) discovered that fact and used it against Universal, which is what allowed them to ultimately win the case.
And Nintendo named Kirby after him, yes.
Universal's suit not only lost but lost them exclusive rights to King Kong. Huge self own.
If Universal hadn't sued people would have assumed King Kong belonged to them until 2029 as you'd guess based on its release date. They'd still have him today! No modern Godzilla vs Kong movies.
That’s how Kirby got his name.
That's a better explanation than whatever tripe Nintendo apparently cooked up for their first defense.
Is that why Kirby takes enemies powers?
@@NeilHaskinsThat’d be funny, but no.
Mr. Kong is my father. You can call me Bill.
But my friends call me Funny.
Oddly enough Mr.Kong more like it's already been done after Cream gets the right moment to meet him for the first time if you know what I mean😁
'Mr. Kong' would have made the community speculate for years about his first name
my anxiety as Arlo got around to Kong Dong
It was staged, fake as wrestling
@@Tacom4ster*watches scripted content*
oh nO itS stAGeD!!
@@TSiber I was talking about "shooting" actually
@@Tacom4ster
Shooting? Are you in the wrong video's comments?
Universal was claiming some kind of ownership of the King Kong IP in that lawsuit against Nintendo when they themselves argued in court in the 70s that King Kong was public domain.
No other company that used the same name was popular enough for universal to take notice
Nintendo clearly ripped off King Kong and should have been sued
They were sued. But King Kong was public domain, so they were in the right
@@chiquita683 Its hard to fully tell. Mario Pauline and DK being based on Popeye characters and the fact "Kong" isn't exclusive to King Kong-Son Wukong(The monkey king from Chinese myth who's story is incredibly well known in Asia) comes to mind as a basic example of the contrary.
The whole King Kong ownership situation is a mess.
Arlo said “sexual” and “dong” in the same video
Expand Dong time 😏
DO NOT SOIL THE GOOD NAME OF ARLO, HE IS TOO PURE.
Like a bell *like. A. Bell*
... Also animalistic
@@happymaskedguy1943 Why are you covered in blood
Absolutely no one should cut out those voice samples and make utterly deranged Arlo memes, that would be terrible.
Donkey Kong is such a weird but brilliant name.
It's a name that only seemed weird once I started to think about it. Not to self: Don't think so much!
*D. K.*
*DONKEY KONG!*
@geminijinxies7258
Be gorilla, haha.
But I have to also say Donkey Kong's great as his name, I wouldn't change it even if Funny Kong is indeed funny
Something about it just works.
i thought it was just some mistranslation of "dumb kong"
Fun Fact: John Kirby, Nintendo’s lawyer for that case, argued that Universal themselves stated King Kong was public domain in a previous lawsuit and won, and that’s how your favorite pink boi got his name.
BILL BILL BILL BILL
BILL NYE THE SCIENCE KONG
B A N A N A S R U L E
Hey Diddy Kong! It’s me man! Bill Nye the uh… Science Kong man! I got a little song about life and death that I think might end your worries man! Listen!
BILL BILL BILL BILL
BILL BILL BILL BILL
@@judahbarracuda_ ~K. Rool isn't scary at all~
Would watch
This video made me laugh a lot of times. The phrase "non-sexual donkey kong" made me think the judge was trying to repress something.
KONG DONG goes hard
Kong Dong _feels_ hard.
@@RJS2003 how could you
Kong Dong? Did he expand?
Researching in Japanese a bit, apparently early days people misunderstood "kong" as being the generic English word for "ape" and that's how it ended up in Japanese slang without being perceived as necessarily linked to King King.
...Kong Holiday Country: Tropical Freeze.
King Kong was public domain, which they had previously admitted to in court prior to the Nintendo lawsuit. That’s ultimately why Nintendo won
It looks like the novel version of King Kong was public domain, but it also sounds like that was the first released version, despite being intended as something to go along with the film.
That’s a crazy and sticky situation, and it would certainly point to why Nintendo has learned to batten down the hatches. ALL of the hatches.
@@TMS-Oddbot
Yeah, the film's novelization came out months before the film. Some kind of schedule slip, perhaps? I dunno, it happens.
He was a Kong Boy until that whirlwind Summer when he became a Kong Man.
Bill "Kong" Trinen
Arlo's audible panic at kong dong
king kong -> stupid kong -> ass kong -> donkey kong -> dk, what an evolution
OMG imagine if the third one got used tho 😭
I'm thinking a lot of those names were more thought about as a title rather than a true name for him.
Custom Kong, Kong Holiday, Kong Chase-- those feel like game titles.
Also, regarding the name Kong. I don't think it's necessarily related to DK's name at all, but there's the Chinese Sun Wukong, who was not named after King Kong, but also has Kong in his name.
DK was obviously named after King Kong, but the name association behind "Kong" may stem from stuff like that.
Yes, the quote on screen says that these were suggestions for the name of the game, so not necessarily the character himself.
oh the Sun Wukong connection makes all of this make so much sense, you have opened my eyes to the truth with this one, thank you
kong holiday reminds me of doc holliday
So here's the really, really interesting thing about that lawsuit and why Nintendo won, or what I've heard.
When ruled in favor of Nintendo, while it was ruled they weren't in violation of Universal's copyright, they reason they weren't violating it was because the Judge ruled Universal DIDN'T ACTUALLY HAVE A COPYRIGHT TO KING KONG. I forget the details, but not only did Universal lose that lawsuit, they lost their exclusive copyright to King Kong.
And this traumatized Nintendo as a company. Nintendo, a comparatively small nobody toy company from Japan, won a lawsuit against Universal, one of the biggest media companies in the world, and also lost their exclusive copyright of one of the biggest IP's at the time.
So consider that, and the fact that Nintendo owns Pokemon, the most profitable IP in the world, and you might just understand why they're so harsh on enforcing their Copyright.
@@OswaldOrtensia4ever This is correct. The lawsuit cost Universal King Kong because it turned out it was never theirs to begin with. If they hadn't had people look into it due to the lawsuit, people would assume they owned King Kong until 2029. Because they sued and lost, they lost King Kong in 1983, nearly half a century early.
Arlo's desperate attempt to spin "Kong Dong" into something family-friendly had me rollin' 😂🤣
Just because it is a ripoff doesn't warrant a trademark violation (and it cannot be a copyright violation, because they didn't use the movie assets). On Wikipedia it says Universal Studio didn't buy the trademark for King Kong from the original author, so they had no right to sue over the name. The rights of the King Kong IP was so ripped apart that no one could claim clear ownership anymore. This is why Nintendo is so alerted over all the trademark pitfalls. Like when a name becomes too common it also loses it trademark rights, this is why Nintendo claimed Kong is a common slang for ape in Japan.
I was listening to this while at work. (I work at a Walmart) As arlo started to talk about the name kong dong, I had to try very very hard to not burst out laughing, to the point that tears were forming. Several customers and coworkers stopped me and asked if I was ok.
More DK content please! We DK fans need something to do while we wait for the next game.
i wanna be a DK fan ❤
@@pennybutnotthecoinBetween NSO and all the ports, all the DKC games are/will be on a Switch. So it's not a bad time to get caught up on the series.
I think the 9th one is meant to be read more along the lines of, "All right Miss, you need to Kong down, this is a family friendly restaurant."
Kong Man would be a great name for a sketchy shop npc.
Bet (:
King Dong, clearly
I imagine Mr Kong yelling "Kong Down!" whenever Kong Boy throws a tantrum.
This KONG Holiday Jack KONG returns to KONG the KONG, in KONG Down 2: Banana Ultimatum!!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Some of these seemed to more aimed at the being the title of the game and not necessarily name of the gorilla himself. "Big Kong" is probably the safest choice, "Funky Kong" would probably be closest to the feel of "Donkey Kong" while not sounding as weird.
If you watch the Gaming Historian video Universal lost because King Kong was owned by RKO. Universal wanted to make a remake in the 1970's. They went to court and argued that King Kong was in the public domain. Universal won and King Kong was entered into the public domain. So the only thing Universal owned was their version of King Kong that was not in the original 1933 film.
Kong Down = Calm Down, it’s a pun. Mario is trying to subdue DK & calm him down
8:05 I don't think Arlo realizes that "like a bell" makes it sound even worse lmao
"Kong Dong... Like a bell! Like a bell, everybody."
It's moments like this that remind me what separates Arlo from the rest of RUclips
You’re thinking of the Saturday Supercade. There where also episodes of that show that had DK Jr looking for his dad as well.
"Like a bell... everybody" 😂
Kong Holiday might be a play on Doc Holliday, a notable gunslinger from the Wild West
Loved to see the Gaming Historian shout-out. One of my "comfort watch" channels, and I'll rewatch episodes multiple times.
I was laughing so hard watching this, def needed it. Thanks
KONG DONG 😭😭😭😭
Bill bong
The science kong
@@stwbmc98 BILL BILL BILL
Billy the Kong
I'm sure a lot of these potential names sounded a lot better in Japanese. Granted, I know enough Japanese to order off a menu and enough to loosely follow anime, so I might be not totally accurate. Steel Kong, maybe Tetsu Kongu (Tetsu is kind of a catchall term for "metal"; it depends on the context). Giant Kong = Gigante Kongu (Gigante, I've seen in various anime be a word used for giant or gigantic). Kong Boy = Kong-San or Boku-Kongu (Japanese as a language has a lot of pronouns to address people as depending on status and manners). Kong Man = Kongo-Hito (Hito means like "guy"; it could also be a pun for "hit", like to "hit something") or Kong-Sama (Sama means like "boss" or someone you would address as a superior). Kong Dong = maybe Kong Don or Kon Don, like a mafia don. Mr. Kong could've been Kong-Sama as well.
The fact that nobody questions him being named Donkey Kong anymore shows how anything can be normalized if it goes on long enough.
Oh great so not only would we have had to deal with Universal (or whoever had Kong rights at the time. Seriously look it up. The poor monkey has got so many names attached to him.) but also BURGER KING for near lawsuits?!?
Maybe the names weren’t for Donkey Kong the character, but Donkey Kong the game, explaining “Kong Chase”, “Kong Holiday”, and “Kong Fighter”.
Custom Kong seems like something from Bored Kong Yacht Club.
I think with Kong Holiday they were thinking of an allusion to Doc Holiday, a famous outlaw.
Giant Kong was maybe referenced in Smash 64 with "Giant Donkey Kong"
Or Nintendo could have named Donkey Kong something like Mr. Kong and kept his first name a mystery.
Such a weird thing to be dug up. Can’t believe these kinds of things can go years without people hearing about it. Thanks for always bringing us such interesting gaming topics Arlo. I really like to put these on in the background while I’m eating/cleaning/cooking or whatever. They are always fun to listen to so I guess I just want to say we appreciate you making good enjoyable content for everyone! Keep it up man. I hope God blesses you and your loved ones! Thank you!
Kong Down was probably a play on words of "Calm Down"
Bill Kong made me think of Bill Kongsby and now I'm glad they didn't pick that one
Kong Holiday sounds like they were trying to include Doc Holiday
This would be a great list of names for anyone making DK characters to save.
Mr Bill "Billy Kong" Holiday would have been fun as his full name
I'd personally say Donkey Kong is just such a natural thing to say, because it has medium, short, long syllable as well as a good balance of sharp and soft sounds all at the the start of the syllable. It just works while also being amusing because it's demeaning to be called a donkey
Surreal being a guy named Bill and hearing Arlo describing "Bill" as being a top tier normal name.
Edit: 9:06 the cartoon Arlo is thinking of is the "Saturday Supercade", Donkey Kong, along with Mario and Pauline, was one of the segments on that show, which also featured Frogger, Donkey Kong Jr., Q*bert, and Harry Pitfall.
Original comment:
Maybe it's just the fact that I've lived with the name for almost all of my life, but there's something about the name "Donkey Kong" that just has a good ring to it. Like, even though Miyamoto picked it because he basically wanted to name the ape in his arcade game "stubborn monkey" and because he had a poor grasp of English at the time he wound up with "Donkey Kong", but there's just something about the name that has a good ring to it.
As goofy and fun to read about as these early names are, I kind of doubt that "Funny Kong", "Kong the Kong", "Jack Kong", "Bill Kong", "Steel Kong", "Giant Kong", "Big Kong", "Kong Down", "Mr. Kong", "Custom Kong", "Kong Chase", "Kong Boy", "Kong Man", "Kong Fighter", "Wild Kong", "Rookie Kong", or "Kong Holiday" would have had the same lasting effect... Though "Kong Dong" may have had lasting appeal, though probably for more inappropriate reasons. And hey, they eventually did use "Funky Kong", or at least Rare did when they made the character.
(Arlo reads list of previous possible Donkey Kong names)
Arlo: Kong Dong
Adult film producers: Write that down! WRITE THAT DOWN!
10:19 "Kong Holiday - I like it! It makes me think of some of the characters from--"
"Deltarune?"
"--a lot of people already know what I'm gonna say..."
"DELTARUNE???"
"The Great Muppet Caper"
"oh"
"Kong Holiday" sounds like a play on "Doc Holliday" but idk
Kong meaning "monkey" in Japan sounded like a big lie to me. Until I remembered Wùkōng from Jorney to the West, a 16th century chinese story that Dragon Ball is based on. It does not means monkey in chinese, but may be Wùkōng may be related to monkeys by japanese people.
"Kong Holiday" makes me think of Doc Holliday, of Tombstone fame.
I was waiting with bated breath to hear how Arlo was going to handle the name "Kong Dong". Y-yeah, sure, y'know, like a BELL!
I think the reason the name Donkey Kong works, though odd when you think about it, is the rhythmic and rhyming vowel sounds combined with the harsh consonants. It's got a nice cadence to it: DON-KEE-KONG
Fighter & Holiday Kong are my personal favorite TBH. I think it's moments like this explains how they manage to expand on the Kong Family (or hostiles in the case for jungle beat🐒🦍)
This video has Jaggy thermas aura all over it.
you have to kong down get it kong kong down like calm down ok i will stop
For years, I knew that Donkey Kong had many different names in development, but I thought they started with Ass Kong.
Whoever or whatever was playing DKC in this video is pretty good.
Anyone else head banging to the OG Donkey Kong Country tunes in the background??
Custom Kong is probably a just a stand-in for a name the player would input plus the suffix Kong
Oops I dropped magnum Kong Dong, for my Mister Kong
"Kong Holiday" sounds inspired by Doc Holiday.
Arlo, just wanted to say thanks for all the Pikmin content. Good to see someone else loving the series as much as I do!
I want to be in the universe where his name is Kong Dong
I want to live in the Kong Dong timeline… 😭
Donkey Kong is benevolent in modern era and King Kong has always been huge. Donkey Kong was only marginally larger than humans back on the arcade. I actually included this example in a paper I wrote at business school years ago.
BK. Billy Kong. BK. Billy Kong is here.
"Hello, I'm Bill Kong. I'll be your accountant. If you need you need anything, you can contact my assistant Bullet Bill."
Like a bell indeed. Fun fact, I think that the strongest and clearest ringing comes from the very rim of the bell. The bell's end, if you will.
According to an indie game known as Donut County, his name is "Bonky Kong".
I wanna see some of these turned into game titles. Kong Holiday could be a "cozy" game, like Animal Crossing or something, the idea is to give DK and fam a nice relaxing holiday.
Edit: Bill Kong would be an accounting program.
3:53 It's the KUMA KONG! 😆
I really like the sound of Funky Kong, but feels more like for a side character at this point.
Maybe they were referencing Doc Holiday?
Yeah that’s what I was thinking. Didn’t sound classy to me, sounded like a Western gunslinger name.
the normal names like "Bill Kong" and "Mr Kong" make me think about his design totally differently. like yeah he is wearing a tie i guess he's like an office gorilla idk. do we ever even think about that
If they named him Big Kong, his initials would be BK.
I come from the universe where they named him kong holiday and arlo was laighing at the idea of him possibly being donkey kong. Was wondering when this was gonna happen on this timeline
The document says these are name ideas for the game, not necessarily just for the character
When I was in like middle school my friend told me the name was originally meant to be Monkey Kong, but there was some bad reception over a phone call and they misheard Donkey Kong instead. These court documents kind of totally disprove that, I guess.
I actually read about this in a book called The Ultimate History of Video Games. Turns out Universal lost the suit simply they were stupid. They actually made their ‘76 film without full permission from RKO, the original creators of King Kong, and so they themselves won a lawsuit by arguing that NO ONE owned King Kong, as he was public domain. So it’s insane that they turned right around and tried to sue Nintendo for ripping off something that they said they didn’t even own.
As for the name Donkey Kong, the book claims that Miyamoto was told to give the character an English name, and since he didn’t speak any English, he grabbed a Japanese to English dictionary and an English thesaurus and looked up synonyms for “stubborn gorilla” which gave him “Donkey Kong.”
I am skeptical of this though, as I’ve checked some thesaurauses and none of them list Kong as a synonym for gorilla.
Late to the party but regarding the name thing, Wukong has been around for centuries and has been influential in Japan, Nintendo could have argued that could be the ultimate source of Kong as slang for an ape (probably isn't the case but it could be argued)
My man was almost Expand Dong
I can't believe they shot down Steel Kong.
Bill kong country tropical freeze: New mike mode
Just watched the shrek 2 retold trailer, super excited to spot you in it Arlo!
My copyright law is a little fuzzy as it’s not my field of law but if I recall correctly from law school because the two characters are distinct from each other no violation occurred. Another example I could think of is Cinderella or any fairytale as they are in the public domain but Disney more or less has the most popular version of the character. They don’t own those stories and as long as any look alike characters are clearly unique they should be ok. However there are always exceptions.
Mister Kong woulda been good. That would explain the tie. Like some sort of human monkey hybrid.
"Kong" in reference to monkeys is probably from Sun Wu Kong, the monkey king from _Journey to the West_ And that's beside the whole public domain thing. (JttW is *exceptionally* in the PD)