Donkey Kong

In 1981 Nintendo's American arcade business was in trouble, sitting on thousands of unsold Radar Scope cabinets. The rescue job went to a young designer named Shigeru Miyamoto, who filled those cabinets with something entirely new: a giant ape, a kidnapped woman named Pauline, and a small jumping hero the American staff nicknamed after their landlord — Mario.

Donkey Kong is often called the first true platform game, and its opening screen remains one of the most famous images in the medium: slanted girders, rolling barrels, and a climb that looks simple until you try it. Four screens — girders, cement factory, elevators, rivets — cycle with rising speed, demanding timing that borders on choreography.

It was also one of the first games to tell a story on screen, complete with an intro, cutscenes and a finale where the ape finally falls. The cabinet saved Nintendo's arcade business, triggered a famous lawsuit from Universal (which Nintendo won), and launched the most successful character franchise in video game history. Not bad for a repurposed cabinet.

The browser version linked below is a third-party remake at freekong.org, made for web browsers on desktop computers — girders, barrels and all, one click away. It needs a keyboard, so it cannot be played on phones or tablets.