Video: Mister Rogers Plays Donkey Kong

Sure, Mister Rogers keeps calling Mario a "carpenter," but let that slide. It's just nice to know that perhaps the nicest man to ever grace our televisions didn't treat videogames like some sort of befouling devil media, but just another neat thing in our lives.

Don't miss special guest appearance from actor Keith David, known among other roles as the voice of the Arbiter in Halo, as a friendly quarter collector.

[#1 posted by HunterZ , December 11, 2007 10:15 AM]

Mario was actually a carpenter in Donkey Kong, look it up :p

I know Keith David mostly from the Pitch Black movies and John Carpenter's The Thing, but apparently his voice talent was also used in the PC games Planescape Torment and Fallout 1 :)

[#2 posted by Skwid , December 11, 2007 11:48 AM]

Not only was Mario a carpenter, he wasn't "Mario." He was just Jumpman.

[#3 posted by Anonymous , December 11, 2007 1:27 PM]

I've no attribution on this, so delete it if you can't find a source:

Not only was he a carpenter, but the entire Donkey Kong game was a (twisted) allegory for Christianity. This was the justification for giving him 3 lives (the trinity), and the basis for the game (ie. fighting "the beast").

[#4 posted by Res Cogitans , December 11, 2007 1:36 PM]

Oh excellent, even a shot of the classic "HOW HIGH CAN YOU GET?" message!

[#5 posted by Anonymous , December 11, 2007 3:10 PM]

pwned by Mr. Rogers Joel.. pwned!
:)

[#6 posted by jonjonz , December 11, 2007 4:32 PM]

I thought it was very telling that Fred Rogers went straight to the heart of the matter, which was that kids like video games because they are FUN!

I have always been a major fan of Mr. Rogers and was glad to see his positive treatment of the topic.

[#7 posted by hemidemisemiquaver , December 11, 2007 4:46 PM]

Youtube recommended the 'mr rogers goodbye message', and I have to admit, it made me cry a little.

[#8 posted by Crash , December 11, 2007 5:16 PM]

It is also nice to remember the days when most video games had subject matter suitable for Mr. Rogers' show.

[#9 posted by kristofer , December 11, 2007 6:13 PM]

Makes me want to find a Donkey Game and play it... I had lots of fun with that game, one of my favorites.. I rememebr I had the small version that looked like a miniture arcade machine that sat on your table to play.. very cool!

[#10 posted by Anonymous , December 11, 2007 7:06 PM]

Keith David also played a drug dealer in the movie "requiem for a dream" ... his character traded drugs for sex with jennifer conley's character.. a classic line of his in that movie was "i know it's pretty, but i didn't take it out for air." ... it's kinda funny to think about the contrast between this clip and requiem for a dream...

[#11 posted by swimineyes , December 11, 2007 9:07 PM]

i was crackin up when the kid burst out, "down's not really used in this game."

[#12 posted by License Farm , December 12, 2007 5:58 AM]

@ Kristofer: I have that, along with a mini Pac-Man machine.

Keith David has one of the most distinctive voices around; he portrayed both Goliath from Disney's Gargoyles and Spawn. Having just watched it the other night on TV, I should note that he gets to be in the longest, most pointless street fight ever committed to film with "Rowdy" Roddy Piper in John Carpenter's They Live:

"Put on the sunglasses!"
"Why you dirty motherfucker."

[#13 posted by charliekkendo , December 12, 2007 9:28 AM]

This pleases me on so many levels. I may have to watch that Goodbye clip for a good cry.

One of my favorite internet myths was that Fred Rogers always wore long sleeves to hide his tats, that he was this stone-cold ex Navy SEAL killer. I wanted that to be true.

[#14 posted by Cpt. Tim , December 12, 2007 11:56 AM]

I've no attribution on this, so delete it if you can't find a source:

Donkey Kong was actually a viral video game that reprogrammed the brains of a generation of children. Once the programming kicks in in 2012, everyone who played will become slaves to the reptilian humanoids who live under the denver international airport. Included in their ranks, Reptilian Jesus and the Space Pope.

(wow, i like what you can get away with when you don't have to source outlandish comments!)

[#15 posted by dculberson , December 12, 2007 1:20 PM]

Tim, I thought Donkey Kong was a sophisticated recruitment device planted by an advanced race of aliens in order to find a plucky Italian carpenter/plumber that will help them defeat the evil gorilla that's terrorizing their scaffolding-and-ladder planet. I guess you learn something new every day.

[#16 posted by charliekkendo , December 13, 2007 6:22 AM]

I've no attribution on this, so delete it if you can't find a source:

Mr. Rogers Neighborhood was the original inspiration for Donkey Kong. Mario and Kong were based on puppets Rogers made but ultimately rejected for his show. While screwing around between takes Rogers created a story of a Czech janitor trying to scale a series of ladders to....

Nah, you guys are better at this than me!

[#17 posted by hanzo , December 16, 2007 9:29 AM]

I met Fred Rogers twice at Hidden Valley (Somerset, PA). Both times I was delivering a pizza to his home, and both times the guy was a raging jerk. And not just in the sense of "that guy stiffed me" (which he did, twice), but more in the "wow, that guy was just down-right rude and hateful".

I blew the first meeting off as a bad night (everyone has them), after my second run-in I decided that he was just an ass who played a positive character on-screen.

[#18 posted by Jericho , December 17, 2007 12:59 PM]

Isn't Keith David also the voice of the Arbiter in Halo 2? Man, I loved him in "Men At Work." also "There's Something About Mary."