title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: The ram air ducts at the front of the drooping, rounded nose squeezed the frontal area away from the headlight, and this, along with the need for a narrow frontal area, necessitated a stacked headlight and high beam behind a single lens. Moreover, the need to reduce the extreme drag encountered at high speeds determined the Hayabusa's entire bulbous, and much-criticized, bodywork design. Koblenz remarked, "non-traditional styling generates the main controversy of the Hayabusa." When viewed through the eyes of those who judged its beauty on the basis of its functionality, or given a little time to get used to it, the bike's looks did find admirers. The striking two-tone brown/silver paint scheme was similarly loved by some and hated by others but was successful if the intent of an all-new, flagship product is to make a bold statement. So while it was called ugly by some in the press, this aerodynamic shape was key to the Hayabusa's ability to reach record-setting speeds.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Reflecting in 2009 on the initial design, the creator of the Hayabusa's look, Suzuki's Koji Yoshirua, said that the intent in 1999 was, "to create a somewhat grotesque design and create a strong initial impact... The mission was to create a total new styling that will not be out of date within few years, and a styling that will be the 'Face' of Suzuki." Yoshirua also said that the goal was not to achieve the status of the fastest production motorcycle, which in early stages was slated to be only , but that, "as a consequence of, pursuing the best handling, acceleration, safety, power, riding ability, original styling, etc., for the good of the customers, it became the 'Fastest production motorcycle' … By doing this, once the model was out in the market and the performance of it been proven, I thought that people will start to show interest to the weird design, and then the design would be caked in peoples mind."


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: The engine used a gear-driven counterbalancer to reduce vibration to the point that the engine could be solidly mounted to the frame, for the purpose of increasing chassis rigidity. Employing a conventional twin beam frame, fully adjustable upside down forks, using specially developed Bridgestone tires, and being relatively light at dry, the Hayabusa's handling was considered excellent for a machine of this class. One reviewer, Koblenz, noted a hesitation perhaps related to poor low-rpm mapping at low speeds, noticeable as a "pause and slight lurch" when rolling on and back off the throttle.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: With rumors and then pre-release announcements of much greater power in Kawasaki's Ninja ZX-12R in 2000, clearly attempting to unseat Suzuki and regain lucrative bragging rights, the speed war appeared to be escalating. There were growing fears of carnage and mayhem from motorcycles getting outrageously faster every year, and there was talk of regulating hyper sport motorcycles, or banning their import to Europe.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: The response was a so-called gentlemen's agreement between the Japanese and European manufacturers to electronically limit the speed of their motorcycles to 300 km/h (186 mph). The informal agreement went fully into effect for the 2001 model year. So for 2001 models, and those since, the question of which bike was fastest could only be answered by tampering with the speed limiting system, meaning that it was no longer a contest between stock, production motorcycles, absolving the manufacturer of blame and letting those not quite as fast avoid losing face. Both Kawasaki and Suzuki would claim, at least technically, to have the world's fastest production motorcycle.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: After the inclusion of the speed limiting system in 2001, the Hayabusa remained substantially the same through the 2007 model year. An exception was a response to the problem of the aluminum rear subframe on 1999 and 2000 models breaking when the bike may have been overloaded with a passenger and luggage, and/or stressed by an aftermarket exhaust modification, so 2001 and later Hayabusas had a steel instead of aluminum rear subframe, adding to the 1999 and 2000 models' approximately wet weight.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Suzuki lightly revised the GSX1300R for the 2008 model year, with a minor restyling of the bodywork, and fine-tuning of the engine's head, pistons and exhaust. Though the engine changes were relatively limited, they still yielded a large horsepower increase, and brought the bike into compliance with new noise and emissions requirements.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: In 2004, market researchers from the US and Japan began working to identify which elements of the Hayabusa design had attracted so many buyers, discovering that, in spite of having its looks sometimes disparaged in print, customers were much enamored with the old Hayabusa. A redesign meant to strengthen the bike's appearance without departing much from the original found approval with dealers and focus groups. Underneath the skin, Suzuki decided to save considerable development cost by keeping major portions of the frame and engine unchanged. This was because engineers had determined greater power was possible without a significant redesign of the old engine, even faced with the need to comply with more stringent noise and air pollution rules. The target was to produce more than at the crankshaft, and they delivered , an 11 or 12 percent increase over the previous output. When the new Hayabusa was released, independent tests bore this out, with @ 10,100 rpm measured at the rear wheel.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Suzuki's Koji Yoshiura designed the look of the new Hayabusa. He had previously styled the first generation Hayabusa, as well as the Suzuki Bandit 400, RF600R, TL1000S and the SV650. For research, Yoshiura traveled around the United States to bike nights and clubs for a first-hand look at the styling aesthetic of the Hayabusa custom scene and was inspired as much by the look and build of the Hayabusa rider as their custom bikes. While the second generation is very close to the first in overall shape and is largely dictated by wind tunnel tests, the raised lines and curves are meant to suggest a muscular build. Said Yoshiura, "I wanted to create a masculine form that complements a rider's muscular structure with hints of developed bicep, forearm, and calves."


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Engine changes consisted of an increase in stroke by 2 mm, enlarging displacement to . The compression ratio was boosted from 11:1 to 12.5:1 and the cylinder head was made more compact and was given lighter titanium valves, saving and on each intake and exhaust valve, respectively. The valves were driven by a chain with a new hydraulic tensioner. The pistons were made lighter by and used ion-coated rings and shot peened connecting rods. The crankcase breather system had reed valves added to control pressure waves in the intake airbox, a way of avoiding power loss.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Fuel injectors from the GSX-R1000 were used, with smaller throttle bodies, called the Suzuki Dual Throttle Valve (SDTV) system. It has three selectable options of power delivery for a range of touring to wide open high performance. The exhaust system was overhauled, using a 4-2-1-2 system, meaning four exhaust outlets merging into two pipes, and then joining into a single pipe before splitting into two enlarged, quieter mufflers, which added a few pounds of weight compared to the first generation Hayabusa. The exhaust also included a catalytic converter and an oxygen sensor in order to meet Euro 3 emissions requirements.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: The suspension was upgraded with a 43 mm Kayaba inverted fork with sliders having a diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating. The rear shock is also a Kayaba, and the overall suspension is firmer than the previous model. The swingarm is similar in design to the old one but was strengthened. The front and rear remain fully adjustable. The transmission was given a heavier-duty, slipper clutch. The final drive ratio was slightly lower, and gears 5-6 were spaced farther apart, and gear ratios 1-2 moved closer together.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Ergonomic and cosmetic changes for the 2008 model include a higher windscreen, and interlocking gauge faces with a digital speedometer, as well as a new gear indicator and adjustable shift light. The fairing fasteners were hidden to uncomplicate custom paint work. The twin-spar aluminum frame was carried over from the previous version, and wheelbase, rake/trail, and seat height were the same, while overall length grew by two inches, and the taller windscreen added about ½ inch. Weight was saved by omitting the centerstand.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Technical improvements in the chassis include Tokico radial brake calipers, allowing smaller discs and therefore lower unsprung weight, translating into superior handling. Increased front braking power necessitated a sturdier lower triple clamp. The rear brake caliper was moved to the top of the disc, giving a cleaner visual appearance. New 17 inch wheels were designed, using Bridgestone BT-015 radials taken almost directly from the GSX-R1000.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Other changes were a steering damper with a reservoir and dual cooling fans with a larger, curved radiator. Because of increased vibration from the longer stroke, the fuel tank was put on floating mounts. All told, the changes for 2008 resulted in a dry weight of , heavier than the prior generation.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Suzuki has dropped the GSX1300R designation in some countries and simply called the motorcycle the Hayabusa.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: In October 2009, the company celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Hayabusa in Santa Pod raceway where more than 500 owners of Hayabusas converged. Many events were organized and prizes were distributed to people who visited the event.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Alongside the second generation Hayabusa, Suzuki developed the new B-King, a naked bike in the streetfighter mold, using the same engine but with a different intake and exhaust.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: The third-generation Hayabusa was announced on February 5, 2021. "Cycle World" and "Motorcyclist" magazines referred to the third generation 2022 model year Hayabusa as GSX1300RR rather than GSX1300R, with no mention of what that might signify.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Typically, a new sportbike model sells well in its first year, and then sees its numbers decline every year as it grows older. The Hayabusa reversed this pattern, selling in greater numbers every year from the 1999 launch through the 2008 revision. From its debut in 1999 to June 2007 over 100,000 Hayabusas were sold worldwide. In the United States in each of the years 2005 and 2006, over 10,000 units were sold.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: It was predicted that the gentlemen's agreement speed cap would hurt sales, because buyers would not want a bike that was hobbled with a speed limiter, even riders who would never approach the hypothetical maximum. However, sales in the United States increased year after year between its release in 1999 and 2006, rising from just a few thousand units in 1999 to over 10,000 in 2006.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Many riders have found that the Hayabusa lends itself well to any number of functional purposes, including competitive motorsports.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: The Hayabusa has been used in sanctioned closed course road racing, drag racing, and top speed competition.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Top speeds of over 270 mph, engine outputs of over 700 horsepower, and performances in the standing quarter mile as quick as 6.9 seconds and as fast as 209.14 mph have been recorded by street registered Hayabusa motorcycles using standard-width (190mm) DOT-approved street-legal rear tires.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: On July 17, 2011, riding a highly modified turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa, Bill Warner set a new world motorcycle land speed record of from a standing start to 1.5 miles at the Loring Timing Association's Land Speed Race, held at the Loring Commerce Centre (the former Loring Air Force Base) in Limestone, Maine.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: The Hayabusa has been one of the top choices for streetbike customization, perhaps even the most popular customized sportbike. One reason may be the unique, instantly recognizable bodywork. The easy tunability of the engine, the wide selection of aftermarket parts, possibly more than any other Japanese motorcycle, and the interchangeability between models of Suzuki parts have also played a role. It was the vibrancy of this custom scene that prompted Suzuki to send Koji Yoshirua to the US for feedback and inspiration for the second generation design.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Bikes are typically built to impress with being the most extreme, and most innovative. For professional custom shops, the status as the first builder to introduce a new style or customization — a 300 mm-series rear tire width, for example — is often hotly contested, and can pay dividends in media attention and in sales. Celebrity customers, such as rappers or NBA stars, also serve to build the credibility of a custom shop. The bikes themselves, at shows, racetracks, dragstrips, and at build competitions, also serve as "rolling billboards" for their makers.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Bikes are usually built around a theme, such as a NASCAR-inspired bike with retro-70s chrome wheels, racing numbers, flames, and sponsor insignia reminiscent of a stock car, or a bike that takes its cues from popular films, such as Freddy Krueger of "A Nightmare on Elm Street". Other common motifs in custom artwork are sexy women, skulls, bones and other gruesome figures, and money and bling, such as "Ben Franklins," $100 bills.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Horsepower enhancements like nitrous injection, which can add , and turbocharging, which can raise power to more than , are common.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: In 2006 the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) converted a seized Hayabusa into a pursuit vehicle, setting up the bike with equipment including a radar unit, police lights, and siren, and painting it in official colors and insignia. Impressed with the positive response from the public and the motorcycling community, the OHP purchased two more Hayabusas, to supplement their main fleet of Harley-Davidson police motorcycles. While they are used for patrol, the primary function of the Hayabusas is public relations and community outreach, due to the kind of attention the exotic bikes attract. According to the OHP, "There are clear lines dividing sportbike and cruiser motorcycle riders. We feel the sportbike community has not been given the proper amount of attention and focus in the area of community involvement and rider safety education."


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: In 2009, Humberside Police in the United Kingdom put an undercover Hayabusa on the road, equipped with speed detection equipment and a video camera, as part of "Operation Achilles", which aimed to catch speeding motorists and motorcyclists.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: In the town of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico Police operates a "superbike unit" composed entirely of seized Hayabusas that have been outfitted with lights, sirens, police livery and radar equipment for speed enforcement duty in the northern region of Puerto Rico.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: In late 2021, the Arecibo municipal government announced the acquisition of seized vehicles for the Arecibo Municipal Police in conjunction with the Puerto Rico Department of Justice, among them a Hayabusa. Like the Hayabusas owned by the PRPD, this Hayabusa has been outfitted with lights, sirens and police livery to be used as a patrol vehicle in Villas del Capitán Correa, located at the northern part of the town.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: The high-powered lightweight engine in the Hayabusa lends itself to non-motorcycle applications. The Westfield Megabusa is an English sports car, based on the Lotus Seven, which uses the Hayabusa engine. Suzuki was the first to put the motorcycle's engine in a car, with two concept cars in 2001, the Suzuki GSX-R/4 roadster and the Formula Hayabusa, an open wheel race car "designed for a new Japanese one-make competition series."


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Mike Akatiff's 2004 land speed record attempt TOP 1 Ack Attack streamliner used twin Hayabusa engines in an attempt to exceed at Bonneville Salt Flats. In 2006 and again in 2008 Akatiff's Ack Attack, ridden by Rocky Robinson, succeeded, first going in 2006, only to be surpassed two days later, then returning in 2008 to set another new record of . That record stood until 24 September 2009, when it was broken by Chris Carr with a speed of .


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Radical Sportscars use the Hayabusa engine in stock form in their SR1 entry level race car and in a modified form up to 1.6L in their SR3 and PR6 cars. They also designed a V8 engine based on the inline-four Hayabusa engine using dual Hayabusa cylinder heads mated to a custom bottom end, known as the Powertec RPA V8 engine to power their SR8 car. The sports car set the record for the fastest production car at Nürburgring.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: John Hartley, president of a custom printing machine manufacturer, created a 75° V8 engine producing and torque that weighs , based on the Hayabusa engine, initially intended to power his Caterham Seven sports car. One of Hartley's engines has also been put in an Ariel Atom open wheel roadster.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: A project to build a modern replica of the 1939 Bugatti Model 100 air racer used twin Suzuki Hayabusa engines in place of the original design's pair of supercharged straight-eight engine.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Hayabusa engines have been used in sandrails, lightweight space frame off-road vehicles for sand dune racing and recreation. While many sandrails used in events like the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge have relied on car V8 engines, lighter motorcycle engine like the Hayabusa 1300 gives the sand car advantages in acceleration and maneuverability.


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: Introducing the Suzuki Vision Gran Turismo: the 'Hayabusa' Engine and Electrification Technology in an AWD Super Sport The base chassis is a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout with a front mid-mounted engine, but adds electrification technology to combine the engine with electric motors, to complete the all-wheel drive system. The front mid-mounted engine is a 1340 cc inline 4 cylinder used on Suzuki’s ‘Hayabusa’ flagship sports bike. Furthermore, a total of three motors, two for the front drive and one for the rear drive, have been added. The combined total output of the system is 318 kW (432 PS) / 9700 rpm, with a maximum torque of 610 Nm (62 kgfm).


title: Suzuki Hayabusa

text: The Hayabusa engine has also proven a popular choice for use in single seaters within the British Hillclimb Championship, due to the integrated gearbox and light weight packaging. They are used in various configurations, ranging from stock sized engines, enlarged naturally aspirated engines, supercharged and turbocharger conversions. It is also not uncommon to see these engines run on methanol fuel, since it allows the naturally aspirated engines to run higher compression ratios and the force induction engines to not use an intercooler, thus further saving weight in the car. One of the more successful Hayabusa powered single seaters is the GWR Raptor, designed by Graeme Wight Jr. These cars have produced up to 480hp while weighing less than 400 kg with a driver aboard and prove competitive against the larger, heavier and more powerful V8 cars.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: "Donkey Kong" is the product of Nintendo's efforts to develop a hit to rival "Pac-Man" (1980) and break into the North American market. Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo's president at the time, assigned the project to first-time video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Drawing from a wide range of inspirations including "Popeye", "Beauty and the Beast", and King Kong, Miyamoto developed the scenario and designed the game alongside chief engineer Gunpei Yokoi. They broke new ground by using graphics as a means of characterization, including cutscenes to advance the game's plot and integrating multiple stages into the gameplay.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Although Nintendo's American staff was initially apprehensive, "Donkey Kong" succeeded commercially and critically in Japan and North America, where it became the highest-grossing 1981 and 1982, respectively. It was ported to the Game & Watch, selling units, while Nintendo licensed the game to Coleco, a developer of arcade conversions for home consoles, selling cartridges; the game's various ports sold more than units worldwide. Other companies cloned the game and avoided royalties altogether. Miyamoto's characters were mass marketed in multitudes of products, including breakfast cereal, toys, and television cartoons. Universal City Studios filed a lawsuit alleging "Donkey Kong" violated its trademark of King Kong, ultimately failing.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: The success of "Donkey Kong" positioned the company for market dominance from 1981 through the late 1990s. The game debuts Mario, who became Nintendo's mascot and one of the world's most recognizable characters. "Donkey Kong" pioneered the platform game genre before the term existed, is one of the most important games from the golden age of arcade video games, and one of the most popular arcade games of all time.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Following 1980's "Space Panic", "Donkey Kong" is one of the earliest examples of the platform game genre, even prior to the term being coined; the U.S. gaming press used 'climbing game' for games with platforms and ladders. As the first platform game to feature jumping, "Donkey Kong" requires the player to jump between gaps and over obstacles or approaching enemies, setting the template for the future of the genre. With its four unique stages, "Donkey Kong" is the most complex arcade game of the time, and one of the first arcade games with multiple stages, following games such as 1980's "Phoenix" and 1981's "Gorf" and "Scramble".


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: In addition to the goal of saving Pauline, the player has a score. Points are awarded for the following: leaping over obstacles; destroying objects with a hammer power-up; collecting items such as hats, parasols, and purses; removing rivets from platforms; and completing each stage according to a steadily decreasing bonus counter. The player starts with three lives with a bonus life awarded at 7,000 points. A life is lost when Mario touches Donkey Kong or any enemy object, falls too far, or lets the bonus counter reach zero. The game ends when all lives are lost.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Each of the four single-screen stages represents 25 meters of the structure Donkey Kong has climbed: 25, 50, 75, and 100 meters. Stage one involves Mario scaling a construction site made of crooked girders and ladders while jumping over or hammering barrels and oil drums tossed by Donkey Kong. Stage two involves climbing a five-story structure of conveyor belts, each of which transport cement pans. The third stage involves the player riding elevators while avoiding bouncing springs. The final stage requires Mario to remove eight rivets from the platforms supporting Donkey Kong; this causes Donkey Kong to fall and the hero to be reunited with Pauline. These four stages combine to form one level.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: After each level, the stages repeat with increased difficulty. For example, Donkey Kong begins to hurl barrels faster and sometimes diagonally, and fireballs speed up. The victory music alternates between levels 1 and 2. The fourth level consists of 5 stages with the final stage at 125 meters. The 22nd level is colloquially known as the kill screen, due to a programming error that kills Mario after a few seconds, effectively ending the game. However, in the Japanese Version 1, the player can complete all the stages up to 100 meters. 100 meters in level 22 is the true kill screen of this version.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: "Donkey Kong" is considered to be the earliest video game with a storyline that visually unfolds on screen. The eponymous Donkey Kong character is the game's "de facto" villain. The hero is a carpenter originally unnamed in the Japanese arcade release, later named Jumpman, and then Mario. Donkey Kong kidnaps Mario's girlfriend, originally known as Lady and later renamed Pauline. The player must take the role of Mario and rescue her. This is the first occurrence of the damsel in distress scenario that provided the template for countless video games released after.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: The game uses graphics and animation for characterization. Donkey Kong smirks upon Mario's demise. Pauline has a pink dress and long hair, and a speech balloon crying "HELP!". Mario, depicted in red overalls and a red cap, is an everyman character, a type common in Japan. Graphical limitations and the low pixel resolution of the small sprites prompted his design. A mustache implies a mouth, a cap obviates the animation of hair, and colored overalls distinguish his arm movements. The artwork of the cabinets and promotional materials make these cartoon-like character designs even more explicit. Pauline, for example, is depicted as disheveled like "King Kong"s Fay Wray in a torn dress and stiletto heels.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Like "Pac-Man" (1980), "Donkey Kong" has cutscenes, but innovates by advancing a complete plot. The game opens with the gorilla climbing a pair of ladders to the top of a construction site, accompanied by a variation on the musical theme from "Dragnet". He drops Pauline and stomps his feet, warping the steel beams. He moves to his final perch and sneers. A melody plays, and the level starts. This brief animation sets the scene and adds background to the gameplay, a first for video games. At the stage, a heart appears between Mario and Pauline, but Donkey Kong grabs her and climbs higher, causing the heart to break. The narrative concludes when Mario reaches the end of the rivet stage. He and Pauline are reunited, and a short intermission plays.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Nintendo of America was founded in 1980 with minor success at importing its parent's arcade cabinets from Japan. In early 1981, its president Minoru Arakawa bet the small startup company on a major order of 3,000 "Radar Scope". Its poor reception in America filled a warehouse with 2,000 unsold "Radar Scope" machines, so Arakawa requested that the parent company president Hiroshi Yamauchi send a conversion kit of new game software. Yamauchi polled the company's entire talent pool for fresh game design concepts to save the distressed startup. This yielded Shigeru Miyamoto's debut as lead game designer of his "Donkey Kong" concept, and Yamauchi appointed head engineer Gunpei Yokoi as project supervisor with a budget of according to Miyamoto.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Ikegami Tsushinki was subcontracted for some of the development, with no role in the game's creation or concept, but to provide "mechanical programming assistance to fix the software created by Nintendo". Nintendo instructed Ikegami to produce a program according to its instructions and put it onto read-only memory (ROM) chips on printed circuit boards (PC boards). This later led to mutual lawsuits in 1983, as Ikegami asserted ownership over "Donkey Kong" which Nintendo denied as Ikegami was a subcontractor who had already been paid. "" called it "simply a nuisance tactic" on the part of Ikegami.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: At the time, Nintendo was also pursuing a license to make a game based on the "Popeye" comic strip. When this license attempt failed, Nintendo took the opportunity to create new characters that could be marketed and used in later games. Miyamoto came up with many characters and plot concepts, but he settled on a love triangle between a gorilla, a plumber with a large hammer, and a girlfriend that mirrors the rivalry between Bluto and Popeye for Olive Oyl. Bluto became an ape, which Miyamoto said was "nothing too evil or repulsive". He would be the pet of the main character, "a funny, hang-loose kind of guy". Miyamoto has named "Beauty and the Beast" and the 1933 film "King Kong" as influences. Although its origin as a comic strip license played a major part, "Donkey Kong" marked the first time that the storyline for a video game preceded the game's programming rather than simply being appended as an afterthought. An unrelated game was released by Nintendo for the Game & Watch the following month, as well as a game called "Popeye" for arcades in 1982.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Yamauchi wanted primarily to target the North American market, so he mandated that the game be given an English title, as with many previous Nintendo games. Miyamoto decided to name the game for the ape, who he said was the strongest character. The story of how Miyamoto came up with the name "Donkey Kong" varies. A false urban myth says that the name was originally meant to be "Monkey Kong", but was misspelled or misinterpreted due to a blurred fax or bad telephone connection. Another, more credible story claims Miyamoto looked in a Japanese-English dictionary for something that would mean "stubborn gorilla", or that "Donkey" was meant to convey "silly" or "stubborn"; "Kong" was common Japanese slang for "gorilla". A rival claim is that he worked with Nintendo's export manager to come up with the title, and that "Donkey" was meant to represent "stupid and goofy". In 2001, Miyamoto stated that he thought the name would convey the thought of a "stupid ape".


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Miyamoto had high hopes for his new project. He was not a programmer, so instead consulted technicians for concept feasibility. He wanted to make the characters different sizes, and have different movements and reactions. Yokoi thought Miyamoto's original design was too complex, though he had some difficult suggestions, such as using see-saws to catapult the hero across the screen which was eventually found too hard to program, though a similar concept came later in the "Popeye" arcade game. 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 implement the game repeatedly. Nevertheless, they followed Miyamoto's design, creating a total of approximately 20 kilobytes of content. Yukio Kaneoka composed a soundtrack to serve as background music for the levels and story events.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: The circuit board of "Radar Scope" was restructured for "Donkey Kong". The "Radar Scope" hardware, originally inspired by the Namco "Galaxian" hardware, was designed for a large number of enemies moving around at high speeds, which "Donkey Kong" does not require, so the development team removed unnecessary functions and reduced the scale of the circuit board. The gameplay and graphics were reworked for updated ROM chips, and the existing CPU, sound hardware, and monitor were left intact. The character set, scoreboard, upper HUD display, and font are almost identical to "Radar Scope", with palette differences. The "Donkey Kong" hardware has the memory capacity for displaying 128 foreground sprites at 16x16 pixels each and 256 background tiles at 8x8 pixels each. Mario and all moving objects use single sprites, the taller Pauline uses two sprites, and the larger Donkey Kong uses six sprites.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Hiroshi Yamauchi thought the game was going to sell well and phoned to inform Arakawa. Nintendo of America's distributors, Ron Judy and Al Stone, brought Arakawa to a lawyer named Howard Lincoln to secure a trademark.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: The game was sent to Nintendo of America for testing. The sales manager disliked it for being too different from the maze and shooter games common at the time, and Judy and Lincoln expressed reservations over the strange title. Still, Arakawa adamantly believed that it would be a hit. American staff began translating the storyline for the cabinet art and naming the characters. They chose "Pauline" for the Lady, after Polly James, wife of Nintendo's warehouse manager Don James. Arakawa suggested that the name of "Jumpman", a name originally chosen for its similarity to the popular brands Walkman and "Pac-Man", be changed to "Mario" in likeness of Mario Segale, the landlord of the original office space of Nintendo of America. These character names were printed on the American cabinet art and used in promotional materials. "Donkey Kong" was ready for release.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Stone and Judy convinced the managers of two bars in Seattle, Washington, to set up "Donkey Kong" machines. The managers initially showed reluctance, but when they saw sales of $30 a day—or 120 plays—for a solid week, they requested more units. In their Redmond headquarters, a skeleton crew composed of Arakawa, his wife Yoko, James, Judy, Phillips, and Stone gutted 2,000 surplus "Radar Scope" machines and applied the "Donkey Kong" conversion kits imported from Japan, consisting of motherboards, power supplies, and marquee graphics. The game officially went on sale in July 1981.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Makers of video game consoles were interested. Taito offered a considerable fee for all rights to "Donkey Kong", but Nintendo declined after three days of internal discussion. Rivals Coleco and Atari approached Nintendo in Japan and the United States respectively. In the end, Yamauchi granted Coleco exclusive console and tabletop rights to "Donkey Kong" because he believed that "it [was] the hungriest company". In addition, Arakawa believed that as a more established company in the U.S., Coleco could better handle marketing. In return, Nintendo received an undisclosed lump sum plus $1.40 per game cartridge sold and $1 per tabletop unit. On December 24, 1981, Howard Lincoln drafted the contract. He included language that Coleco would be held liable for anything on the game cartridge, an unusual clause for a licensing agreement. Arakawa signed the document the next day, and, on February 1, 1982, Yamauchi persuaded the Coleco representative in Japan to sign without review by the company's lawyers.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Coleco did not offer the game cartridge stand-alone; instead, it was bundled with the ColecoVision console, which went on sale in August 1982. Coleco offered Atari 2600 and Intellivision versions as well. Coleco's Atari 2600 port was programmed by Garry Kitchen. Coleco's sales doubled to $500 million and its earnings quadrupled to $40 million. Coleco also released stand-alone Mini-Arcade tabletop versions of "Donkey Kong", along with "Pac-Man", "Galaxian", and "Frogger" in 1982. Coleco also bundled a copy of "Donkey Kong" with its Atari VCS clone, the Coleco Gemini, in 1983.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Atari obtained the license for home computer versions of "Donkey Kong" and released it for the Atari 8-bit family. When Coleco unveiled the Adam Computer, running a port of "Donkey Kong" at the 1983 Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, Illinois, Atari protested that it was in violation of the licensing agreement. Yamauchi demanded that Arnold Greenberg, Coleco's president, withdraw his Adam port. Greenberg complied, and the game was not published.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: The game was ported by Nintendo Research & Development 2 to Nintendo's Family Computer (Famicom) console and released in Japan on July 15, 1983, as one of the system's three launch games. Masayuki Uemura, the Famicom's lead architect, designed the console specifically to faithfully recreate "Donkey Kong". It is an early Nintendo Entertainment System game in the "Arcade Classics Series", released on June 1, 1986, in North America and October 15 in Europe. Omitted are the cement factory stage and most of the cutscenes, because early ROM cartridges do not have enough memory. It includes a new song composed by Yukio Kaneoka for the title screen. Both "Donkey Kong" and its sequel, "Donkey Kong Jr.", are included in the 1988 NES compilation "Donkey Kong Classics".


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: A complete remake of the original arcade game on the Game Boy, titled "Donkey Kong" (referred to as "Donkey Kong '94" during development) contains levels from both the original "Donkey Kong" and "Donkey Kong Jr." arcades. It starts with the same gameplay and four locations as the arcade game and then progresses to 97 additional puzzle-based levels. It is the first game to have built-in enhancement for the Super Game Boy system.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: The Atari 8-bit computer conversion of "Donkey Kong" contains one of the longest-undiscovered "Easter eggs" in a video game. Programmer Landon Dyer's initials appear if the player dies under certain conditions and returns to the title screen. This remained undiscovered for 26 years until Dyer revealed it on his blog, stating that "there's an Easter egg, but it's totally not worth it, and I don't remember how to bring it up anyway". The steps required to trigger it were later discovered by Don Hodges, who used an emulator and a debugger to trace through the game's code.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Upon release in arcades, "Computer and Video Games" compared it favorably with "King Kong" and predicted that it would likely become a success. In his 1982 book "Video Invaders", Steve Bloom described "Donkey Kong" as "another bizarre cartoon game, courtesy of Japan" and said it was one of the "most exciting variations" on "Pac-Man"s maze theme along with Sega's "Frogger" due to how players need to "scale from the bottom of the screen to the top" which make them "more like obstacle courses than mazes" since "you always know where you're going — up". In January 1983, the 1982 Arcade Awards gave it the award for the best single-player video game and the Certificate of Merit as runner-up for Coin-Op Game of the Year.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: In September 1982, "Arcade Express" reviewed the ColecoVision port and scored it 9 out of 10. "Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games" in 1983 stated that "Coleco did a fabulous job" with "Donkey Kong", the best of the console's first five games and "the most faithful adaptation of the original video game I have seen". The magazine's Danny Goodman stated that of Coleco's three console versions, the one for the ColecoVision was the best, followed by Atari and Intellivision. "Computer and Video Games" reviewed the ColecoVision port in its September 1984 issue and scored it 4 out of 4 in all four categories of Action, Graphics, Addiction and Theme. Ed Driscoll reviewed the Atari VCS version of "Donkey Kong" in "The Space Gamer" No. 59. Edwards commented that a game is near perfect and that anyone can be caught in "Donkey Kong" "fever".


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: "Donkey Kong" was popular worldwide, garnering a positive reaction from consumers, and was a significant commercial success for Nintendo, pulling them out of financial troubles. After the game's initial 2,000 arcade cabinets sold out, more orders were made. Arakawa began manufacturing the electronic components in Redmond because waiting for shipments from Japan was taking too long. The game's success led to Arakawa expanding Nintendo of America. By October, "Donkey Kong" was selling 4,000 units a month, and by June 1982, Nintendo had sold 60,000 "Donkey Kong" machines in the United States, earning $180 million. Judy and Stone, who worked on straight commission, became millionaires. Arakawa used Nintendo's profits to buy of land in Redmond in July 1982. Nintendo earned another $100 million on the game in its second year of release in America, totaling $280 million in US cabinet sales by 1982 ().


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: In Japan, the annual "" charts listed "Donkey Kong" as the highest-grossing arcade game of 1981, and then the sixth highest-grossing arcade game of 1982, with "Game Machine" later listing the game in its October 1, 1983 issue as the twentieth most successful table arcade cabinet of the month. In the United States, "Donkey Kong" topped the "Play Meter" arcade charts in October 1981, setting a weekly earnings record, and it was later listed by "RePlay" as the highest-grossing arcade game of 1982. It was also among the thirteen highest-grossing arcade games of 1983 in the United States. According to "Electronic Games" in June 1983, the home versions contributed to the arcade version's extended popularity, compared to the four to six months that the average game lasted. It remained Nintendo's top seller into mid-1983, with steady sales in Japan. A total of 65,000 arcade units were sold in Japan, and 67,000 arcade units in the United States, for a total of arcade units sold in Japan and the United States.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Nintendo's Game & Watch handheld version of "Donkey Kong" released in 1982 sold units. Coleco had sold "Donkey Kong" cartridges for home consoles, grossing more than and earning Nintendo more than in royalties; the bundled ColecoVision version sold units, while the Atari 2600 version sold units in 1982 for , making it one of the best-selling Atari 2600 games. It was also one of the earliest cartridges available for video game rental at certain stores in 1982. Atari's 1987 re-release for the Atari 2600 sold a further units for by 1990. Coleco's Mini-Arcade tabletop versions of "Donkey Kong", along with "Pac-Man", "Galaxian", and "Frogger", had combined sales of three million units. In Japan, 840,000 units of the Famicom version were sold; the "Famicom Mini" version for the Game Boy Advance later had a further 160,000 units sold, for a total of units sold in Japan. The Atari 8-bit computer version sold units in 1986 and 1990. This totals units sold worldwide for the Game & Watch, ColecoVision, Atari and Famicom ports. , all versions of the original "Donkey Kong" are estimated to have grossed in revenue.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: In April 1982, Sid Sheinberg, a seasoned lawyer and president of MCA and Universal City Studios, learned of the game's success and suspected it might be a trademark infringement of Universal's own "King Kong". On April 27, he met with Arnold Greenberg of Coleco and threatened to sue over Coleco's home version of "Donkey Kong". Coleco agreed on May 3 to pay royalties to Universal of 3% of their "Donkey Kong"s net sale price, worth about $4.6 million. Meanwhile, Sheinberg revoked Tiger's license to make its "King Kong" game, but O. R. Rissman refused to acknowledge Universal's claim to the trademark. When Universal threatened Nintendo, Howard Lincoln and Nintendo refused to cave. In preparation for the court battle ahead, Universal agreed to allow Tiger to continue producing its "King Kong" game as long as they distinguished it from "Donkey Kong".


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Universal sued Nintendo on June 29, and announced its license with Coleco. The company sent cease and desist letters to Nintendo's licensees, all of which agreed to pay royalties to Universal except Milton Bradley and Ralston Purina. "Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo, Co., Ltd." was heard in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by Judge Robert W. Sweet. Over seven days, Universal's counsel, the New York firm Townley & Updike, argued that the names "King Kong" and "Donkey Kong" were easily confused and that the plot of the game was an infringement on that of the films. Nintendo's counsel, John Kirby, countered that Universal had themselves argued in a previous case that "King Kong"s scenario and characters were in the public domain. Judge Sweet ruled in Nintendo's favor, awarding the company Universal's profits from Tiger's game ($56,689.41), damages and attorney's fees.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Universal appealed, trying to prove consumer confusion by presenting the results of a telephone survey and examples from print media where people had allegedly assumed a connection between the two Kongs. On October 4, 1984, however, the court upheld the previous verdict.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Nintendo and its licensees filed counterclaims against Universal. On May 20, 1985, Judge Sweet awarded Nintendo $1.8 million for legal fees, lost revenues, and other expenses, but he denied Nintendo's claim of damages from those licensees who had paid royalties to both Nintendo and Universal. Both parties appealed this judgment, but the verdict was upheld on July 15, 1986.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Nintendo thanked John Kirby with the gift of a $30,000 sailboat named "Donkey Kong" and "exclusive worldwide rights to use the name for sailboats". Kirby, the titular protagonist of the Kirby series, was named in John Kirby's honor. The court battle also taught Nintendo they could compete with larger entertainment industry companies.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: After the release of "Donkey Kong Jr.", the arcade successor to "Donkey Kong", Ikegami sued Nintendo for the unauthorized duplication of the "Donkey Kong" program code. Nintendo managed to settle the dispute out of court after the two companies came to an agreement. At the time of the suit, computer programs were not considered copyrightable material. The Tokyo High Court gave a verdict in 1989 that acknowledged the originality of program code. Ikegami and Nintendo reached a settlement the following year; the terms of it were never disclosed.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: In 1996 "Next Generation" listed the arcade, Atari 7800, and cancelled Coleco Adam versions as number 50 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", commenting that even ignoring its massive historical significance, "Donkey Kong" stands as a great game due to its demanding challenges and graphics which manage to elegantly delineate an entire scenario on a single screen. In February 2006, "Nintendo Power" rated it the 148th best game made on a Nintendo system. In 2017, The Strong National Museum of Play inducted "Donkey Kong" to its World Video Game Hall of Fame. Today, "Donkey Kong" is the fifth most popular arcade game among collectors.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: "Donkey Kong" spawned a number of other titles with a mix of running, jumping and vertical traversal, a novel genre that did not match the style of games that came before it. The genre was initially referred to as "Donkey Kong-type" or "Kong-style" games, before the genre eventually came to be known as platform games. The game was also a milestone in terms of video game storytelling and cutscenes. While there were earlier games that either told a story or used cutscenes, "Donkey Kong" combined both concepts together to introduce its own new concept: using cutscenes to visually advance a complete story. It also notably had multiple, distinct levels that progressed the storyline.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: "Donkey Kong" was also one of the first Japanese games brought to Western regions that introduced a surreal concept using cute artwork, a representation of typical Japanese fantasy but unusual to Western audiences. For that reason, "Donkey Kong" and similar games that followed were briefly called "novelty games" by Western gaming press. "Donkey Kong" and other such novelty games helped to acclimate Western audiences to Japanese approaches to game design, narrative, and abstraction that would become key elements in the decade that followed with the release of the Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: "Computer and Video Games" called "Donkey Kong" "the most momentous" release of 1981, as it "introduced three important names" to the global video game industry: Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Mario. These three figures went on to play a significant role in video game history. "Donkey Kong" paved the way for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), known as the Famicom in Japan. Following the success of "Donkey Kong", Nintendo began developing the Famicom, the hardware of which was largely based on the "Donkey Kong" arcade hardware, with the goal of matching the system's powerful sprite capabilities in a home system. Nintendo wanted the Famicom to match the "Donkey Kong" arcade hardware, so they took a "Donkey Kong" arcade cabinet to semiconductor chip manufacturer Ricoh for analysis, which led to Ricoh producing the Picture Processing Unit (PPU) chip for the NES.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: The NES version was re-released as an unlockable game in "Animal Crossing" for the GameCube. It was also published on Virtual Console for the Wii, Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS. The Wii U version is also the last game that was released to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of the Japanese version of the NES, the Famicom. The original arcade version of the game appears in the Nintendo 64 game "Donkey Kong 64", and must be beaten to finish the game. Nintendo released the NES version on the e-Reader and for the Game Boy Advance "Classic NES Series" in 2002 and 2004, respectively. In 2004, Namco released an arcade cabinet which contains "Donkey Kong", "Donkey Kong Jr.", and "Mario Bros."


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: "Donkey Kong: Original Edition" is a port based on the NES version that reinstates the cement factory stage and includes some intermission animations absent from the original NES version, which has only ever been released on the Virtual Console. It was preinstalled on 25th Anniversary PAL region red Wii systems, which were first released in Europe on October 29, 2010. In Japan, a download code for the game for Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console was sent to users who purchased "New Super Mario Bros. 2" or "" from the Nintendo eShop from July 28 to September 2, 2012. In North America, a download code for the game for Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console was sent to users who purchased one of five select 3DS games on the Nintendo eShop and registered it on Club Nintendo from October 1, 2012, to January 6, 2013. In Europe and Australia, it was released for purchase on the Nintendo 3DS eShop in September 2014. The original arcade version was re-released as part of the "Arcade Archives" series for Nintendo Switch on June 14, 2018, and the NES version was re-released as one of the launch titles for Nintendo Switch Online on September 19.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: "Donkey Kong" was one of the most widely cloned video games in the early 1980s, along with "Space Invaders" (1978) and "Pac-Man" (1980). By 1983, "Donkey Kong" clones had become available on various different platforms. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers" lists 17 different "Donkey Kong" clones released for various home platforms.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: "Crazy Kong" was officially licensed from Nintendo and manufactured by Falcon for some non-US markets. Nevertheless, "Crazy Kong" machines found their way into some American arcades, often installed in cabinets marked as "Congorilla". Nintendo was quick to take legal action against those distributing the game in the US. Bootleg copies of "Donkey Kong" also appeared in both North America and France under the "Crazy Kong", "Konkey Kong" or "Donkey King" names. The 1982 "Logger" arcade game from Century Electronics is a direct clone of "Donkey Kong", with a large bird standing in for the ape and rolling logs instead of barrels.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: In 1981, O. R. Rissman, president of Tiger Electronics, obtained a license to use the name "King Kong" from Universal City Studios. Under this title, Tiger created a handheld LCD game with a scenario and gameplay based directly on Nintendo's creation.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Many home computer clones directly borrowed the gorilla theme: "Killer Gorilla" (BBC Micro, 1983), "Killer Kong" (ZX Spectrum, 1983), "Crazy Kong 64" (Commodore 64, 1983), "Kongo Kong" (Commodore 64, 1983), "Donkey King" (TRS-80 Color Computer, 1983), and "Kong" (TI-99/4A, 1983). One of the first releases from Electronic Arts was "Hard Hat Mack" (Apple II, 1983), a three-stage game without an ape, but using the construction site setting from "Donkey Kong". Other clones recast the game with different characters, such as "Cannonball Blitz" (Apple II, 1982), with a soldier and cannonballs replacing the ape and barrels, and the American Southwest-themed "Canyon Climber" (Atari 8-bit, 1982).


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Epyx's "Jumpman" (Atari 8-bit, 1983) reuses a prototypical name for the Mario character in "Donkey Kong". A magazine ad for the game has the tagline "If you liked "Donkey Kong", you'll love "JUMPMAN"!" "Jumpman", "Miner 2049er" (Atari 8-bit, 1982), and "Mr. Robot and His Robot Factory" (Atari 8-bit, 1984), focus on traversing all of the platforms in the level, or collecting scattered objects, instead of climbing to the top.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: There were so many games with multiple ladder and platforms stages by 1983 that "Electronic Games" described Nintendo's own "Popeye" game as "yet another variation of a theme that's become all too familiar since the success of "Donkey Kong"". That year Sega released a "Donkey Kong" clone called "Congo Bongo" in arcades. Although using isometric perspective, the structure and gameplay are similar.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Nintendo attempted to take legal action against unauthorized clones of "Donkey Kong", but estimated they lost in potential sales to these clones. By 1990, Nintendo had successfully won over thirty lawsuits related to "Donkey Kong". For example, Nintendo won a 1990 Japanese lawsuit against Falcon Company, which had sold 12,000 counterfeit arcade cabinets in the United States during the 1980s.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: "Donkey Kong" spawned the sequel "Donkey Kong Jr." (1982) with the player controlling Donkey Kong's son in an attempt to save his father from Mario.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: The 1983 spin-off "Mario Bros." introduced Mario's brother Luigi in a single-screen cooperative game, set in a sewer, and launched the "Mario" franchise.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Also in 1983, "Donkey Kong 3" appeared in the form of a fixed shooter, with an exterminator named Stanley ridding the ape—and insects—from a greenhouse.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: Nintendo revived the "Donkey Kong" franchise in the 1990s for a series of platform games and spin-offs developed by Rare, beginning with "Donkey Kong Country" in 1994.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: In 2004, Nintendo released "Mario vs. Donkey Kong", a sequel to the Game Boy's "Donkey Kong", in which Mario must chase Donkey Kong to get back the stolen Mini-Mario toys.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: In the follow-up "", Donkey Kong once again falls in love with Pauline and kidnaps her, and Mario uses the Mini-Mario toys to help him rescue her. "Donkey Kong Racing" for the GameCube was in development by Rare, but was canceled when Microsoft purchased the company. In 2004, Nintendo released the first of the "Donkey Konga" games, a rhythm-based game series that uses a special bongo controller. "Donkey Kong Jungle Beat" (2005) is a unique platform action game that uses the same bongo controller accessory.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: In 2007, "Donkey Kong Barrel Blast" was released for the Nintendo Wii. It was originally developed as a GameCube game and would have used the bongo controller, but it was delayed and released exclusively as a Wii game with no support for the bongo accessory. The "Donkey Kong Country" series was revived by Retro Studios in 2010 with the release of "Donkey Kong Country Returns", and its sequel, "", in 2014.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: "Donkey Kong" appears as a game in the Wii U game "NES Remix", which features multiple NES games and sometimes "remixes" them by presenting significantly modified versions of the games as challenges. One such challenge features Link from "The Legend of Zelda" traveling through the first screen to save Pauline. The difficulty is increased compared to the original "Donkey Kong" because Link cannot jump, as in "Zelda".


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" and "Super Smash Bros. for Wii U" include a demo of the NES version of "Donkey Kong", and a stage called "75m", a replica of its Donkey Kong namesake.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: By late June 1982, "Donkey Kong"s success had prompted more than 50 parties in the U.S. and Japan to license the game's characters. Mario and his simian nemesis appeared on cereal boxes, board games, pajamas, and manga. In 1983, the animation studio Ruby-Spears produced a "Donkey Kong" cartoon (as well as "Donkey Kong Jr.") for the "Saturday Supercade" program on CBS. In the show, mystery crime-solving plots in the mode of "Scooby-Doo" are framed around the premise of Mario and Pauline chasing Donkey Kong (voiced by Soupy Sales), who has escaped from the circus. The show lasted two seasons.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: In 1982, the songs "Do the Donkey Kong" by Buckner & Garcia and "Donkey Kong" by R. Cade and the Video Victims were released. Artists like DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince and Trace Adkins referenced the game in songs. Episodes of "The Simpsons", "Futurama", "Crank Yankers", and "The Fairly OddParents" have referenced the game. Sound effects from the Atari 2600 version serve as generic video game sounds in films and television series. The phrase "It's on like Donkey Kong" was coined by American rapper Ice Cube in 1992, and has been used in various works of popular culture. In November 2010, Nintendo applied for a trademark on the phrase with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: The 2007 documentary "" portrays Steve Wiebe's attempts to break the "Donkey Kong" world record, then considered to have been held by Billy Mitchell. In the early 2010s, Hank Chien set a record of 1,138,600 points. This was broken four years later by Robbie Lakeman. Lakeman's record was then broken by John McCurdy on January 11, 2021, with a score of 1,272,700. Lakeman would reclaim the world record only five months later on June 8, scoring 100 more points than McCurdy.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: In 2018, Mitchell was stripped of his records by Twin Galaxies and banned from submitting new scores after Twin Galaxies concluded that Mitchell had illicitly used emulators to achieve his scores. Twin Galaxies prohibits the use of emulators for high scores they publish because they allow undetectable cheating. However, in 2020 Guinness World Records reversed its decision and reinstated Billy Mitchell's previous world records, based on new evidence including eyewitness reports and expert testimonials.


title: Donkey Kong (video game)

text: There are other world record categories for "Donkey Kong" besides highest score. One of the most popular is the "No Hammer Challenge" where competitors try to get the highest score without using the hammer found in the game. The current world record in this category was set by Jeff Wolfe on July 8, 2008, with a score of 735,100. Some other categories include most points for different levels, and fewest points.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Jagmeet Singh Jimmy Dhaliwal ( ; born January 2, 1979) is a Canadian politician who has served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) since 2017. Singh has sat as the member of Parliament (MP) for Burnaby South since 2019. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 2011, representing Bramalea—Gore—Malton until his entry into federal politics. A practicing Sikh of Punjabi descent, Singh is an Indo-Canadian, making him the first person of a minority background to be elected to lead a major federal political party in Canada.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: After graduating from Osgoode Hall Law School, Singh became a criminal defence lawyer, starting a law firm with his brother Gurratan. His political career began in 2011 where he contested the 2011 federal election in the federal riding of Bramalea—Gore—Malton which resulted in a narrow victory for Conservative opponent Bal Gosal; he became a member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) in the overlapping provincial riding later that year. In 2015, he became deputy leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party, serving under leader Andrea Horwath until 2017. Singh announced his candidacy for the federal New Democratic Party leadership following a leadership review that resulted in a leadership election to replace Tom Mulcair. Singh was elected leader on October 1, 2017, with a first round vote of 53.8 per cent in a field of four. In the 2019 federal election, the New Democrats under Singh lost 15 seats and dropped from third party to fourth party status. In the 2021 federal election, the NDP gained one seat and remained the fourth party.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Upon his election, Singh became the first person of a visible minority group to lead a major Canadian federal political party on a permanent basis, and the second overall after the Bloc Québécois’s former interim leader Vivian Barbot. Singh is also the first turban-wearing Indian and Sikh to sit as a provincial legislator in Ontario. He has been widely recognized in Canadian media for his fashion and style sense. Ideologically, Singh identifies as both a progressive and a social democrat. He advocates raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, decriminalizing personal possession of all drugs, and supports eliminating several tax deductions available to the highest-income earners.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh was born on January 2, 1979, in Scarborough, Ontario, to Indian parents Harmeet Kaur and Jagtaran Singh. His mother is from Ghudani Khurd, Punjab, India, while his father is from Thikriwala, Punjab, India. His great-grandfather was Sewa Singh Thikriwala, a political activist who campaigned for the cause of Indian independence. Another great-grandfather, Hira Singh, served in World War I and World War II in the Sikh Regiment of the British Indian Army. After a year as a toddler living with his grandparents in India, Singh spent his early childhood in St. John's and Grand Falls-Windsor, both in Newfoundland and Labrador, before relocating with his family to Windsor, Ontario. Singh has publicly discussed suffering sexual abuse as a child from a martial arts coach, as well as having a father who struggled with alcoholism.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: From grades 6 to 12, Singh attended Detroit Country Day School in Beverly Hills, Michigan. He went on to obtain a B.Sc. degree in biology from the University of Western Ontario in 2001 and in 2005 graduated as a Bachelor of Laws from York University's Osgoode Hall Law School. He was called to the bar of Ontario in 2006.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh has two younger siblings, brother Gurratan and sister Manjot, who were both born during the family's time in Newfoundland. Gurratan Singh was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2018 Ontario election, representing the riding of Brampton East.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh worked as a criminal defence lawyer in the Greater Toronto Area before entering politics, first at the law firm Pinkofskys, then at his own practice, Singh Law, which he established with Gurratan. In a "Toronto Star" article published on January 9, 2012, Singh stated that his background in criminal defence contributed to his decision to enter politics, particularly his work advocating for the protection of rights entrenched in the "Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms".


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh provided "pro bono" consulting to an activist group that protested the visit to Canada of Kamal Nath, the Indian trade minister who had allegedly led armed mobs during the 1984 Delhi pogrom. After failing to get their views heard, Singh was inspired to run for office by the activist group so their concerns could be better represented.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh began his political career with his decision to run for member of Parliament in the 2011 federal election as the NDP candidate in the riding of Bramalea—Gore—Malton. During the election, Singh stopped using his surname, Dhaliwal (which is connected to caste), because he wanted to signal his rejection of the inequality inherent in the Indian caste system. Instead, he chose to use the more common Singh. Although he was defeated by Conservative candidate Bal Gosal by 539 votes, Singh finished ahead of incumbent Liberal MP Gurbax Singh Malhi.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh ran in the 2011 Ontario provincial election as the NDP candidate in the overlapping provincial riding, defeating Liberal incumbent Kuldip Kular by 2,277 votes. Singh became the first New Democrat elected to represent the Peel Region, as well as the first turban-wearing MPP. In the 40th Parliament of Ontario, Singh was appointed as the NDP critic for the attorney general and consumer services portfolios. He also served as his party's deputy house leader.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh called for greater police accountability and demanded the provincial government draft legislation to strengthen Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU). He criticized the attorney general in 2011 after the release of a report by the ombudsman, André Marin that found the province had undermined the SIU. Singh said, "The comprehensive failure of the ministry to address concerns about the SIU and give it a proper mandate is simply unacceptable, and I expect immediate action from the new Attorney General."


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In March 2012, Singh introduced a private member's bill, "An Act to Amend the Insurance Act", to address high auto insurance rates. This bill would have ended the industry practice of basing insurance rates on geographic location. The bill received numerous complaints that it would have raised rates in rural and Northern Ontario and failed to pass second reading.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In May 2012, Singh introduced a private member's bill called "An Act to amend the Consumer Protection Act, 2002" to address high fees on overseas money transfers. The bill died on the order paper when the legislature was prorogued in September 2012.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In March 2013, Singh introduced a motion calling on the Liberal government to reduce auto insurance premiums by 15 percent. Singh's motion was passed by the legislature, and the 15 percent reduction was to be included in the Liberal government's 2013 budget.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In December 2013, legislation introduced by Singh to have the month of April recognized as Sikh Heritage Month in the province of Ontario was passed by the legislature.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh ran for re-election in 2014. He won his riding with 43.6 per cent of the vote, beating Liberal challenger Kuldip Kular, whom Singh also ran against and unseated in 2011, and PC challenger Harjit Jaswal.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In November 2014, Singh voted against the government's legislation entitled "Fighting Fraud and Reducing Automobile Rates Act", after arguing there were major shortcomings in the legislation regarding the driver's right to sue auto insurance companies. Singh said, "removing more protections for people is not the right way to go, it's a significant loss of our rights, and this is not a good bill."


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In March 2015 during the Ontario sex education curriculum controversy Singh spoke out against changes to the curriculum which had not been updated since 1998 and proposal changes on teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity saying he disagreed with the "age appropriateness of some materials" and a "mistake on the Liberal government’s part" and "disrespectful to parents".


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In November 2015, Singh introduced a private member's bill to the legislature regarding Tarion. Tarion was created by the provincial government in 1976 to be the regulator of the province's homebuilding industry. Singh's proposed legislation would give the Ontario Ombudsman the jurisdiction to investigate the practices of the corporation, as well as force Tarion to produce a detailed track record of their builds, and include all of their employees who make over $100,000 on the sunshine list. The proposed legislation would also subject Tarion bylaws to the approval of the provincial government.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In October 2015, Singh introduced a motion calling on the government to instruct police services in Ontario to end arbitrary street checks, known as carding. On October 22, 2015, the legislature unanimously passed Singh's motion.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh sparked controversy when he introduced a private members bill to allow turban-wearing Sikhs to ride a motorcycle without a helmet. After the motion was denied, Singh released statement declaring "While the Wynne Liberals are happy to pay lip service to civil rights, when the rubber meets the road, this so-called activist premier is quick to deny the Sikh community rights recognized elsewhere". Wynne countered by stating that "Mortality rates have gone down 30 per cent and head injury rates down 75 per cent in jurisdictions with such (motorcycle helmet) laws".


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh was a critic of the province's handling of the Ornge Air Ambulance service and called for greater oversight of the agency. Ornge was the subject of an investigation that found the air ambulance service paid a $1.4 million salary to its president while failing to provide timely emergency services. Singh said, "No more flying blind at Ornge. The people of Ontario have been paying the bills at Ornge with scarce health dollars. They deserve the facts about what's happened. A key first step is making executive contracts immediately available to the public."


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In June 2015, Singh was chastised by the integrity commissioner for the improper use of legislative resources meant for his constituency office for partisan purposes. The integrity commissioner's report found that in March 2015, Singh had improperly allowed his constituency office in Brampton to organize bus trips to take supporters to a partisan federal NDP rally in Toronto and that Singh's inclusion of a donation link on his constituency website contravened parliamentary convention. Because Singh did not intentionally break the ethics policy and had proactively acted to fix the breaches when alerted, he was not fined or otherwise punished, and the integrity commissioner only recommended that Singh's staff undergo additional training.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In December 2016, Singh spoke out against the motion introduced by Progressive Conservative MPP Gila Martow, which called for the legislature to denounce the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: During the Alberta general election in May 2015, Singh campaigned for the Alberta New Democratic Party, reaching out to voters on behalf of Irfan Sabir, who was running in Calgary-McCall. Sabir was later elected, and was appointed to Premier Rachel Notley's Cabinet as Minister of Social Services. Singh also campaigned for the British Columbia NDP and Nova Scotia NDP in those provinces' 2017 elections.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Following the death of communist dictator Fidel Castro in October 2017, Singh tweeted "He saw a country wracked by poverty, illiteracy & disease. So he led a revolution that uplifted the lives of millions. RIP #FidelCastro". When challenged about this subsequently, he doubled down on his praise of Castro.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: After Tom Mulcair lost a leadership review vote at the 2016 federal NDP convention, Singh was considered a potential leadership candidate, winning the support of 11 per cent of NDP members in a Mainstreet Research poll conducted in April 2016, and was statistically tied for second place. Singh was considered a leading candidate to replace Horwath as NDP leader if she lost the 42nd Ontario general election. He announced his intention to run for the leadership of the New Democratic Party of Canada at a campaign launch on May 15, 2017, in Brampton.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In August, Singh created controversy when he claimed that his candidacy had led to 47,000 sign-ups for the party. Several rival campaigns, most notably Charlie Angus's, accused Singh of inflating party membership sign-ups. A poll by Mainstreet Research was released in September, showing Singh overtaking Charlie Angus to lead the race for the first time with 27.3 per cent of the vote. Several days before the leadership vote, a video of Singh confronting a heckler, who accused him of plotting to subject Canada to sharia law, went viral leading to Singh getting praise for his handling of the situation and helping him win the NDP leadership.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh was elected leader of the federal NDP in the leadership election on October 1, 2017, having won on the first ballot with 53.8 per cent of the vote. Soon after his election as leader, Singh named leadership rival Guy Caron as parliamentary leader of the NDP.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh initially opted to lead the NDP from outside of Parliament. He indicated that he preferred to run in a seat where he feels a "genuine connection" rather than any "safe" seat. Singh had stated that he would most likely run in Brampton East, which includes the bulk of his old provincial riding, in the 2019 election. Soon after his election as leader, Singh named leadership rival Guy Caron as parliamentary leader of the NDP.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In his first interview following winning the party leadership, Singh expressed doubts on the findings of the 18-month long inquiry led by former Supreme Court justice John Major into the bombing of Air India Flight 182 which left 329 people dead — 268 of them Canadians. The inquiry pointed to Talwinder Singh Parmar as the chief terrorist behind the bombing. In the same interview and many subsequent ones, Singh was unwilling to denounce extremists within Canadian Sikhs who pay homage to Parmar as a martyr. On March 18, 2018, a day after video of Singh speaking a 2015 rally in San Francisco where Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, often labelled as a terrorist, was honoured as a martyr in a massive poster on the main stage, Singh reversed his position.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In October 2017, CBC journalist Susan Bonner was criticized for appearing to mistakenly identify Navdeep Bains, a Liberal Cabinet minister, as Singh on Twitter. Singh and Bains are both turban-wearing, bearded Sikh men of South Asian descent. Bonner later apologized for the misunderstanding and deleted the tweet.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In a December 2017 interview with Bloomberg, Singh explained that he would not rule out working with the Conservatives to topple a federal government led by Trudeau if the NDP held the balance of power in a minority parliament.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In February 2018, Singh suspended Saskatchewan MP Erin Weir from the NDP caucus although no direct complaints had been made against him. Singh had 220 emails sent out to women connected with the NDP, as well as appearing on television soliciting complaints against Weir, which ended up receiving 15 complaints of which 11 were dismissed as trivial. Weir was formally expelled from caucus on May 3, 2018, based upon the outcome of the sexual harassment investigation which stated Weir's conduct was described by an investigator as “on the low-end of the scale,” and which would not normally be understood as “sexual harassment.” It was alleged he argued excessively over carbon levies with a staffer of then party leader Tom Mulcair's during a NDP convention and also he stood too close when speaking to people. In May 2018, a group of 67 former NDP MPs and MLAs from Saskatchewan sent Singh a letter in support of Weir and calling for his reinstatement as an NDP MP. On September 6, 2018, Singh rejected Weir's request to rejoin the NDP during a meeting in June, despite Weir stating that he had worked with a personal trainer to understand the issues of the complaint.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: After the May 2019 by-election defeat in Kitimat, Singh flip-flopped the NDP's position on environmental and energy policy.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: On August 8, 2018, Singh announced he would be running in a by-election to replace Kennedy Stewart as the Member of Parliament for Burnaby South. Stewart had resigned in order to make an ultimately successful bid for Mayor of Vancouver. Singh relocated to Burnaby for the election and won on February 25, 2019, with 38.9 per cent of the vote.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: On October 21, 2019, Singh was re-elected to the Burnaby South riding. The NDP won 24 seats, down from 44 seats at the 2015 election. However, the incumbent Trudeau Liberal government failed to retain its majority, allowing the NDP to share the balance of power in Parliament. It was the lowest seat count for the NDP since 2004, and the party was passed by the Bloc Québécois as the third-largest parliamentary party. The NDP lost all but one of its seats in Quebec, where it was suggested that Singh's Sikhism may have been negatively received by voters in the context of the Quebec ban on religious symbols.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: On June 17, 2020, Singh was removed from the House of Commons for the rest of the day after he called Bloc Québécois MP Alain Therrien a "racist" and refused to apologize when Therrien was the sole member to prevent unanimous consent on the second motion concluding systemic racism and discrimination in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) prior to the completion of the public inquiry from Singh's first motion.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In the 2021 federal campaign Singh was proud to announce that he was the only leader with plan to enforce mandatory Covid-19 vaccination for employees that work under a collective bargaining contract. Singh made it a campaign promise that "All collective agreements include a process for progressive discipline - up to and including termination. Discipline should always be a last resort, but may be necessary in rare cases to protect the health and safety of Canadians." On 5 September he returned to the subject in a press conference with the NDP candidate for the riding of Ottawa-Centre. Here he laid out his promise to "[supply] $1 billion in targeted vaccination programs," as well as to create "a national vaccine passport system", to extend pandemic supports, and to strengthen "laws to protect health care workers and those seeking care from harassment and attacks." He attracted support from other party leaders including Justin Trudeau and Erin O'toole.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh was re-elected with a comfortable majority of slightly more that 4,000 votes to serve in Burnaby-South. The 44th Canadian Parliament made very few changes to its predecessor, and the NDP emerged with its total number of seats unchanged at 25.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: On 22 March 2022 the NDP struck a confidence-and-supply agreement with the governing Liberal Party of Canada over certain priorities: the government would “by the end of 2023” implement pharmacare and a "dental care program for low-income Canadians" would be a government priority to be enacted by 2025. The pact was influenced when the Freedom Convoy caused Trudeau to invoke and revoke the Emergencies Act over the vaccine mandate policy then in effect and also by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: On the occasion of the launch of his leadership bid in 2017 Singh branded himself a progressive and a social democrat.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh supports decriminalizing the purchase, possession and consumption of psychoactive drugs for personal use as Portugal had done in 2001.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh's economic policy states that "millions of Canadians are living in poverty". Singh supports a progressive tax system and supports eliminating several tax deductions available to the highest-income earners and redirect the money to low-income seniors, workers and disabled Canadians. Singh's tax agenda during the 2017 New Democratic Party leadership election included creating new tax brackets for the highest-income earners and raising corporate tax.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh supports a $15/hour minimum wage, the imposition of Canadian sales taxes on paid on-demand internet video providers (also referred to as a "Netflix tax"), and a universal pharmacare system, stating "universal healthcare is essential when we talk about equality for all Canadians". The NDP have stated that closing tax loopholes on the ultra rich would fund a universal pharmacare program. After the 2018 federal budget was released, Singh criticized the Liberals' plan for research into pharmacare with no funding behind it, calling it "not a plan but a fantasy".


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In January 2019 Singh promised to incentivize the building of 500,000 units of affordable housing by removing the federal tax burden on new affordable housing projects.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh favours reducing Canada's carbon emissions to 30 percent of 2005 levels by 2025. This would be done by assisting provinces with the 2030 "coal phaseout", implementing a zero emissions vehicle agenda, "greening" the tax system by adding subsidies to companies supporting ecology and building renewable energy supergrid. Singh also supports creating more accountability in climate change policy by creating an independent officer of parliament mandated to report on interim progress on emission reductions (Climate Change Action Officer or CCAO), tasking the Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD) to the Auditor General with gathering data from each province and territory and appointing an advisory group composed of regional and topic-specific experts who will support the CCAO in interpreting data presented by the CESD and assessing implications for climate, energy, and economic policies and regulations. Singh's opposition to the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project was repeatedly condemned by Alberta NDP leader and former Premier of Alberta Rachel Notley.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: On 31 May 2019 Singh promised that the NDP would build charging stations for electric vehicles at federal buildings and Canada Post locations and offer residents a $600 grant to help pay for home charging stations.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh initially supported Kitimat's LNG Canada facility supplied by the Coastal GasLink Pipeline in British Columbia that would impact native burial grounds and override unceded lands such as the Wetʼsuwetʼen. After the NDP lost Nanaimo in a May 2019 by-election to the Green Party, it took Singh only a week to change his position and then he started opposing the LNG natural gas facility.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: During the Lac-St. Jean by-election campaign which concluded in October 2017, he said he supports Quebec's right of self-determination and agrees with the NDP's 2005 Sherbrooke Declaration, which states, in opposition to the Clarity Act, that Canada should recognize any independence referendum won by Quebec sovereigntists.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: During the 2019 federal election campaign it was noted that Singh opposed Bill 21 on religious symbols, but also said, "I don't know exactly" if Bill 21 was racist, and that there should be no political interference in the existing court challenges of the law.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh has argued Canada should be a republic and that he doesn't see the relevance of the monarchy in the 21st century.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Recounting a personal experience where he was the subject of racial profiling, Singh has strongly supported legislation for a federal ban on carding, calling the practice a form of systemic racism.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: When asked at NDP leadership debate in Saskatoon if he would bring back the long-gun registry Singh responded: "It's a difficult question, absolutely. I know that's why it is asked... I also think it's important that we acknowledge regional differences, the fact that there is a different culture between the way things are treated in different regions." Singh has urged Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party to allow cities to ban handguns.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In March 2015, during the Ontario sex education curriculum controversy, Singh spoke out against changes to the curriculum which included proposed updating on teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity. Singh believes in training the RCMP in "LGBTQI2S+ competency training" to ensure interactions with law enforcement are not stigmatizing or traumatizing. Singh also supports bringing a form of affirmative action for hiring of LGBTQ people and supports more inclusive shelter and transitional housing spaces in service of LGBTQ youth.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh advocates for Health Canada conducting research on the health care needs and experiences of LGBTQ patients and advocates for policy changes allowing people to self-declare their gender. Singh also supports immediately repealing the de facto ban on blood, tissue and organ donation by men who have sex with men and trans women who have sex with men.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: Singh was recognized by the World Sikh Organization of Canada in their 2012 list of honourees for being the first turbaned Sikh MPP in Ontario.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In 2013, Singh was denied a visa to India for raising the issue of the 1984 Sikh massacre. He became the first Western legislator ever to be denied entry to India.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In a November 2017 episode of the TVOntario series "Political Blind Date", Singh was paired with former Toronto City Councillor and future Premier of Ontario Doug Ford. The pair explored different forms of transportation, with Singh taking Ford on a downtown Toronto bicycle ride while Ford drove Singh along the dedicated streetcar right-of-way on St. Clair Avenue. Ford said of the experience that the two became friends, and Singh said Ford was "very warm and friendly". Jagmeet Singh is an avid cyclist and owns six designer bicycles.


title: Jagmeet Singh

text: In January 2018, Singh became engaged to Gurkiran Kaur Sidhu, a fashion designer and co-founder of jangiiro, a Punjabi clothing line. He proposed to her at the vegetarian restaurant where they had their first date, in front of friends, family, and members of the media that Singh had invited. The pair married on February 22, 2018. In August 2021 he announced that he was expecting a child with his spouse, their daughter was born in January 2022.


title: The Invitation (2015 film)

text: The Invitation is a 2015 American horror film directed by Karyn Kusama and written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi. The film stars Logan Marshall-Green, Tammy Blanchard, Michiel Huisman, and Emayatzy Corinealdi. "The Invitation" premiered March 13, 2015, at the SXSW film festival, and began a limited release on April 8, 2016, and through video on demand, by Drafthouse Films.


title: The Invitation (2015 film)

text: Will drives his girlfriend Kira to the Hollywood Hills home of his ex-wife Eden, who is hosting a dinner party with her new husband David. Will and Eden divorced after the accidental death of their young son Ty; Eden met David at a grief support group in Mexico. Their other dinner guests are Tommy, Tommy's boyfriend Miguel, and friends Ben, Claire, and Gina. It’s the first time this group has been together in over two years. Gina mentions that her boyfriend Choi is running late. Eden introduces Sadie, a girl she and David met in Mexico who is now staying with them.


title: The Invitation (2015 film)

text: Throughout the evening, Will wanders through his former home and relives memories, including Eden's attempted suicide. In the kitchen, Will witnesses Eden slap Ben when he makes a joke about her ideas on expelling pain. Eden and David's friend Pruitt arrives. David locks the front door, explaining that there was a home invasion in the neighborhood. Will goes outside for firewood and, through Eden's bedroom window, sees Eden hiding a pill bottle that he later learns contains the barbiturate phenobarbital.


title: The Invitation (2015 film)

text: David and Eden tell their guests about a cult-like group they joined, along with Pruitt and Sadie, called "The Invitation", which helps people work through their grief. David shows everyone a video in which the group's leader Dr. Joseph comforts a dying woman as she takes her last breaths. The guests then play a game of "I Want" in which Sadie kisses Gina, Eden kisses Ben, and Pruitt confesses to killing his wife and doing time in prison. David tries to convince an unsettled Claire not to leave, but Will challenges him. Claire leaves, accompanied by Pruitt, whose car is blocking Claire's. Will watches Pruitt take Claire out of sight to talk to her, and David confronts Will about being too suspicious.


title: The Invitation (2015 film)

text: After dinner, Will peers through a cracked door and sees Sadie make odd faces into a mirror. She makes eye contact with him, follows him outside, and startles him with an indecent proposal, which he rejects. Will talks with Tommy about the weird, unsafe atmosphere he feels at the party, but Tommy reassures him that it is natural to feel strange about visiting the house and that Will is brave for showing up. He returns to the party while Will stays outside. Will finally gets a cell phone signal and finds a voice mail from Choi indicating that he was at Eden and David's doorstep before the other guests. Presuming that David and Eden must have done something to Choi, Will angrily confronts the couple about their strange behavior and links to the cult. Choi arrives unexpectedly, explaining that he was called away by work. Will is embarrassed, but the others assume his residual grief over Ty's death is causing him to behave irrationally.


title: The Invitation (2015 film)

text: David lights a red lantern in the garden. Will finds a laptop with a foreboding message from Dr. Joseph. David and Eden pour drinks for the guests to toast, but Will smashes the glasses, fearing they are poisoned. Sadie attacks Will, who inadvertently knocks her unconscious in the scuffle. Gina, who had sipped her drink before Will's intervention, collapses and dies. David, Pruitt, and a recovered Sadie attack the guests, killing Miguel, Choi, and Ben. Will, Kira, and Tommy flee and hide in the house. Will overhears David tell Eden that they have been chosen and that finishing what they started is the only way they can leave the Earth and be free of their pain.


title: The Invitation (2015 film)

text: Tommy fatally wounds Sadie with a fireplace poker. Pruitt finds and attacks Will and Kira, who beats him to death with a wine bottle. Eden shoots Will, wounding him, then remorsefully shoots herself in the stomach. David stalks the survivors with a knife, but Tommy disarms and stabs him to death. Eden apologizes to Will and asks him to take her outside. Will, Kira, and Tommy carry the dying Eden into the garden, where they hear sirens and screams and helicopters overhead. They see more than a dozen nearby homes with red lanterns and realize that Los Angeles is erupting in chaos as other cult members carry out similar plans.


title: The Invitation (2015 film)

text: In May 2012, it was announced that Luke Wilson, Zachary Quinto, Topher Grace and Johnny Galecki had initially been scheduled to star in the film, with Karyn Kusama directing from a screenplay written by Phill Hay and Matt Manfredi, and XYZ Films producing the film alongside Martha Griffin, Manfredi and Hay. In July 2014, it was revealed that production on the film had concluded, with Logan Marshall-Green, Michiel Huisman, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Lindsay Burdge, and John Carroll Lynch starring. "The Invitation" is the second feature to be financed by Gamechanger Films. Kusama was influenced by the slow reveal of "Let the Right One In" and the unraveling family reunion in "Festen". She cited the film's theme as "a metaphor for what the nightmare of anxiety really is, which is this irrational sense that people are trying to hurt you somehow".


title: The Invitation (2015 film)

text: The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 13, 2015. Shortly after, it was announced Drafthouse Films had acquired distribution rights to the film. The film went on to screen at the London Film Festival on October 9, 2015, and was released on April 8, 2016, in a limited release and through video on demand.


title: The Invitation (2015 film)

text: "The Invitation" holds an 89% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 109 reviews, and has an average rating of 7.6/10. The critical consensus reads: ""The Invitation" makes brilliant use of its tension-rich premise to deliver a uniquely effective – and surprisingly clever – slow-building thriller." On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 74 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "Generally favorable reviews".


title: The Invitation (2015 film)

text: Justin Chang of "Variety" wrote, "This teasingly effective thriller represents director Karyn Kusama's strongest work in years." Josh Kupecki of "The Austin Chronicle" said, "There are some very interesting ideas about grief, depression, and how we cope with life-changing events in this modern world, but ultimately, the film doesn't offer anything new to the 'dinner party from hell' subgenre." Dominick Suzanne-Mayer of "Consequence of Sound" rated it A− and wrote, "In so many words, The Invitation is supremely well-crafted," while Samuel Zimmerman of Shock Till You Drop said, "The Invitation is a startlingly adult thriller that, unlike Eden and her guests, is willing stare down the weight our lives can bear." Peter Martin of Twitch Film intoned, "The sincerity and craft on display notwithstanding, the movie achieves a limited, unsettling level, and then stops right there," while Drew Tinnin of Dread Central rated the film 4/5 stars and wrote, ""The Invitation" works so well because it taps into our general distrust of the world around us and how our survival instinct has been muted and ignored in order to maintain the appearance of being polite." Matt Donato of We Got This Covered rated the film 2.5/5 stars, writing, ""The Invitation" is a slow, SLOW burn that fails to find the winning ingredient that makes for a perfect dinner party thriller." Heather Wixson of Daily Dead rated it 4.5/5 stars and called it "some of the most assuredly confident and nuanced work from [Kusama] to date and one of the most devastating horror films I’ve seen in years."


title: Cooking banana

text: Cooking bananas are banana cultivars in the genus "Musa" whose fruits are generally used in cooking. They may be eaten ripe or unripe and are generally starchy. Many cooking bananas are referred to as plantains (/ˈplæntɪn/, /plænˈteɪn/, /ˈplɑːntɪn/) or green bananas. In botanical usage, the term "plantain" is used only for true plantains, while other starchy cultivars used for cooking are called "cooking bananas". True plantains are cultivars belonging to the AAB group, while cooking bananas are any cultivars belonging to AAB, AAA, ABB, or BBB groups. The currently accepted scientific name for all such cultivars in these groups is "Musa" × "paradisiaca". Fe'i bananas ("Musa" × "troglodytarum") from the Pacific Islands are often eaten roasted or boiled, and are thus informally referred to as "mountain plantains," but they do not belong to any of the species from which all modern banana cultivars are descended.


title: Cooking banana

text: Cooking bananas are a major food staple in West and Central Africa, the Caribbean islands, Central America, and northern South America. Members of the genus "Musa" are indigenous to the tropical regions of Southeast Asia and Oceania. Bananas fruit all year round, making them a reliable all-season staple food.


title: Cooking banana

text: Cooking bananas are treated as a starchy fruit with a relatively neutral flavor and soft texture when cooked. Cooking bananas may be eaten raw; however, they are most commonly prepared either fried, boiled, or processed into flour or dough.


title: Cooking banana

text: Plantains contain more starch and less sugar than dessert bananas, so they are usually cooked or otherwise processed before being eaten. They are typically boiled or fried when eaten green, and when processed, they can be made into flour and turned into baked products such as cakes, bread and pancakes. Green plantains can also be boiled and pureed and then used as thickeners for soups. The pulp of green plantain is typically hard, with the peel often so stiff that it must be cut with a knife to be removed.


title: Cooking banana

text: Mature, yellow plantains can be peeled like typical dessert bananas; the pulp is softer than in immature, green fruit and some of the starch has been converted to sugar. They can be eaten raw, but are not as flavourful as dessert bananas, so are usually cooked. When yellow plantains are fried, they tend to caramelize, turning a golden-brown color. They can also be boiled, baked, microwaved, or grilled over charcoal, either peeled or unpeeled.


title: Cooking banana

text: Plantains are a staple food in the tropical regions of the world, ranking as the tenth most important staple food in the world. As a staple, plantains are treated in much the same way as potatoes, with a similar neutral flavour and texture when the unripe fruit is cooked by steaming, boiling, or frying.


title: Cooking banana

text: Since they fruit all year, plantains are a reliable staple food, particularly in developing countries with inadequate food storage, preservation, and transportation technologies. In Africa, plantains and bananas provide more than 25 percent of the caloric requirements for over 70 million people. Plantain plantations are vulnerable to destruction by hurricanes, because "Musa" spp. do not withstand high winds well.


title: Cooking banana

text: An average plantain provides about of food energy and is a good source of potassium and dietary fiber. The sap from the fruit peel, as well as the entire plant, can stain clothing and hands, and can be difficult to remove.