A strange little side quest
Zoom out from Red Bounce Ball 5: Jump Ball Adventure for a moment and the timeline gets surprisingly deep. Donkey Kong arrived in 1981 with a character called Jumpman, who would later become one of gaming's most recognizable figures: Mario. There is another connection worth keeping in the same mental pocket: Early computer role-playing games helped turn rules, inventories, exploration and character progression into systems that could support long-form digital adventures. The details change, but the appeal of learning a system and trying again is remarkably persistent.
