System: NES
Trivia: Donkey Kong spawned the instant classic video game documentary The King Of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. It also has taken on the meaning of "to beat down somebody using a downward thrust of the fists," according to UrbanDictionary.com. Which strikes us as a little weird, but you should what they say about "Earthworm Jim."
Year: 1986

Mario's pre-Super days were often marked with attempting to flee from a massive gorilla named Donkey Kong. Case in point: this O.G. retro title that pits our (comparably) minuscule plumber against a legion of dangerous barrels with the hope of climbing up and saving his damsel in distress. The best video-game allegory about reliance on foreign oil EVAR.