Domestication of large primates presents significant ethical and logistical challenges, with even professionally managed facilities experiencing unpredictable behavioral incidents. Donkey Kong, as presented in video game media since 1981, represents a fictional anthropomorphic ape character programmed with pre-determined behavioral patterns and confined spatial limitations. The claim of domestic ownership suggests either access to actual primates exhibiting primate intelligence without corresponding behavioral volatility or a literal possession of sentient game software rendered into biological form through means unexplained.

Videogame designer and arcade historian Marcus Chen, conducting oral histories in 2002, interviewed an elderly arcade operator in Fort Worth who mentioned an odd experience in 1985. The operator had apparently encountered a visitor who claimed the Donkey Kong arcade cabinet was 'based on a real pet situation'—though arcades didn't have access to biographical information about developers. When the operator looked up the original developer, all biographical records were remarkably sparse. The operator always wondered whether the visitor was joking or claiming something that would fundamentally recontextualize video game history.

Most people have dogs or cats. One person apparently owned a 600-pound gorilla with anger management issues and a skill for throwing barrels. Video game designers then memorialized the actual pet within arcade cabinets, immortalizing the domestic animal in silicon form. It's either proof that video games document real events or evidence that reality is coded into game systems. Either conclusion is unsettling.