99: The Story of Donkey Kong (Part 1)

An Old Timey Podcast

True Crime, Comedy, History

4.9 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2026

⏱️ 80 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Nintendo was in trouble. It was 1980, and they’d just poured a ton of money into an arcade game they’d hoped would be a hit. They called it Radar Scope. It was a massive flop. In a panic, the company rushed to create a new game that they hoped would make good use out of all their unsold Radar Scope arcade cabinets. That game – Donkey Kong – took the world by storm.

Nintendo basked in the success of their new game. They had no idea that a massive lawsuit was headed their way.

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Norm pulled from:

Audureau, William. The History of Mario. Pix’n Love, 2014.

Internet Archive. “Universal v. Nintendo Court Documents.” 2026. https://archive.org/details/universal-v-nintendo-court-documents.

Sheff, David. Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children. Random House, Inc., 1993.

Are you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts!

Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you’ll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90’s style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin’s previous podcast, Let’s Go To Court.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	If you're fascinated by true crime, then join us in October 26 for CrimeCon
0:05.2	London. Meet the biggest names in True Crime TV, experience live forensic demonstrations
0:10.4	and dive deep into the criminal mind with your favourite authors, experts, podcasters and content creators.
0:17.4	To secure your place, go to crimecon.com.com. now and be part of the UK's biggest true crime community.
0:24.2	CrimeCon London, partnered by True Crime Channel, 3rd and 4th of October, 2026.
0:31.6	Hear ye, hear ye.
0:33.3	You are listening to an old-timey podcast.
0:36.1	I'm Norman Caruso.
0:37.3	And I'm Kristen Caruso. And on this episode, I'll be talking about the making of Donkey Kong. Are you qualified to talk about this? Ooh. I don't think you have the skills. I don't think you have the knowledge. I don't think you have the know-how, buddy. Hmm. Hmm. Hey there, history ho. Why not support our small, sexy,
0:56.3	independent podcast on Patreon?
0:58.6	For just $5 a month,
1:00.3	you'll get our beefy back catalog of bonus episodes
1:03.5	with video.
1:04.9	They're ad-free and amusing.
1:07.2	We've got a weirdly funny episode
1:09.1	about the man who inspired D.B. Cooper. We've got one about a man who
1:13.5	murdered Confederate pirates. Yarg! And ouch! And we've got an episode where my dad tells us about a
1:22.3	sexy kidnapper. It's too weird to miss. So support us on Patreon at patreon.com slash old-timey podcast.
1:31.3	That's patreon.com slash old-timey podcast. Thank you. Folks, I don't mean to give you a little
1:38.6	tease here, but here's a tease for you. At the end of each episode, we have a little segment called The Slop.
1:44.8	It's for our pig butter investors on Patreon.
1:47.5	It's a little exclusive thing.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from An Old Timey Podcast, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of An Old Timey Podcast and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.