Congo Bongo

Congo Bongo (コンゴボンゴ), originally known as Tip Top (ティップタップ), is a 1983 arcade platformer game developed by Sega. It is often considered an isometric equivalent to Nintendo’s Donkey Kong, as it stars a protagonist chasing after a large ape (in this game, called “Bongo”). However, unlike Donkey Kong, the game is set in a jungle, the graphics are more detailed and there are more enemies and traps. Congo Bongo runs on similar hardware to Zaxxon, known as the Sega Zaxxon hardware.

The game has come to be seen as Sega’s answer to the highly successful Donkey Kong game that was released two years prior. The player takes the role of a red-nosed safari hunter who tries to catch an ape named “Bongo”. The hunter seeks Bongo to exact revenge for an apparent practical joke in which Bongo set fire to the hunter’s tent, giving him a literal “hotfoot”. The game was named by Peter W. Gorrie who was the CFO of Sega at that time.