In the early 1980s, Japanese video game company Nintendo set up its American operation in a small warehouse in Washington state. At one point during the development of the groundbreaking "Donkey Kong" video game, the owner of the warehouse, a man named Mario Segale, came to collect some overdue rent.

The mustachioed Italian-American was not too pleased with his tenants during the visit and, according to a now famous story, berated Minoru Arakawa, the head Nintendo of America, in front of the others. The visit inadvertently provided a moment of profound inspiration. The "Donkey Kong" creators were still looking for a name for their hero character: a recognizably human figure with a remarkable capacity for jumping.