Sweeping Roads

A strange little side quest

Before the next round of Sweeping Roads, here is a piece of the bigger picture. Donkey Kong arrived in 1981 with a character called Jumpman, who would later become one of gaming's most recognizable figures: Mario. The timeline takes another interesting turn: A major archery competition held at Finsbury in England in 1583 drew about 3,000 participants. That long chain of experiments is part of why platform games still feels fresh when a game finds the right twist.