Donkey Kong (1981) made Nintendo what it is today

Theme park rides. Fruit snacks. T-shirts. Bibs. These days, if there’s a surface available, Mario and other familiar Nintendo mascots are probably on it. But for much of the company’s existence, Nintendo occupied a much smaller footprint in the public eye. Its biggest moments didn’t come about overnight. They required years to build, and without one amazing arcade game, they might never have happened at all.