Speaking with Wired, legendary video game creator Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed that the original idea for Donkey Kong came to him while he was taking a bath.
According to Miyamoto, Nintendo of America was opposed to naming the characte Donkey Kong, but Miyamoto pointed to the dictionary which listed ‘donkey’ as a synonym for ‘idiot’ and he was keen to have players see Donkey Kong as stupid.
There was a water boiler that was used to make the hanafuda (traditional Japanese playing cards that Nintendo manufactures), and the water from this boiler was also used for a bathtub… at night when nobody was around, you could hang out there for a long time. It totally saved me. It was really effective at letting me put my ideas in order.
Looks like even the best of us have ‘shower thoughts.’
