re: Mario/Donkey Kong/Bowser

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I almost put that in here, but he even becomes friends with DK in later games...I just don't understand why they thought Bowser was a better villain, and if they did, why put DK in the original

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Well, I think Donkey Kong was originally supposed to be a game very similar to the Popeye arcade game that was popular at the time. Miyamoto didn't want the player fighting another human (like Bluto), though, so he changed it to an ape, drawing inspiration from King Kong.

Mario was in the Mushroom Kingdom for Super Mario Brothers, so Miyamoto probably wanted a new damsel and new antagonist for this more whimsical environment. I'm just guessing, though.