40th Anniversary of the Mario Series!

[David]

In July of 1981, the very first Mario game appeared!  Donkey Kong was released in arcades in the USA and Japan during July, and Mario has been barreling out ever since!  What's your favorite Mario title?

If you'd like to reminisce, might we suggest tuning in to WTMK ("All Mario, All the Time"), which is running a special 40th anniversary musical Mario-thon.  Tune in now!

Link: WTMK: All Mario Radio

[Mario500]

"This Week in History for May 29-June 4" (article)

The Week in History for May 29-June 4

Aberdeen News

Published 1:00 a.m. CT May 29, 2021

June 2

1941: Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig died at age 37 of a degenerative disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

1981: The Japanese video arcade game "Donkey Kong" made its U.S. debut.

1990: Groton had a golf course for the first time in 48 years.

1997: Timothy McVeigh was convicted of murder and conspiracy in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.

2012: Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison after a court convicted him on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that forced him from power.

[Deezer]

Interesting, I think this is the first time I've seen anyone claim June 2, 1981 is the Donkey Kong arcade US release date. I was trying to find their source, and it might be from this Time article published in 2015 (and who knows what their source was).

Usually the date is listed as July or August.

• The Universal City Studios v. Nintendo Co. judgment from 1983 says "In July 1981, the Donkey Kong game was introduced into the United States market."
• When 1UP.com talked to Don James, the NOA employee who installed the first DK machine in Spot Tavern, they wrote "Twenty-five years ago this August, the first-ever copy of the game that would become Nintendo's breakout hit product was installed in a Seattle tavern." And from page 3: "In August, just days after James joined the staff, Donkey Kong arrived."

[Mario500]

Quotation of a certain "The History of Mario 1981-1991: The rise of an icon, from myths to reality":

"The time of the first anonymous Donkey Kong cabinets placed in local bars in June 1981 was long gone."