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SALT LAKE CITY — Mike Mika knows children sometimes ask impossible things of their parents. But when his 3-year-old daughter asked him if she could play Donkey Kong as a female hero, he realized all it would take was a little effort to make it happen.
In the traditional version of Donkey Kong, the ape kidnaps Pauline. The player, in the form of Mario, is tasked with rescuing the helpless damsel in distress by navigating a series of obstacles that eventually lead to Pauline.
Mika's daughter, a burgeoning gamer, didn't see why Mario shouldn't be the one in distress. She had played the part of Princess Toadstool in Super Mario Bros. 2 just the other day, after all, and wanted Pauline to play the part of the hero.
"I explained to her that Donkey Kong, while similar, is not the same game. On this occasion, I really could tell that she was disappointed," Mika wrote for Wired. "She really liked Donkey Kong, and really liked playing as Princess Toadstool. We left it at that and moved on."
Mike could not get her question out of his mind, though. As a developer, he had the tools and skill necessary to give her what she wanted. He only had to be willing to spend the time necessary to make it happen.
He made a plan, and two days later, he got to work. He started replacing the sprites and palettes that make up Mario with those that make up Pauline. He said he had to take some artistic liberty with Pauline since she is taller than Mario, though.
For all she knew, I just figured out how to get Pauline to work. And that was fine. I wasn't expecting it to change her life.
–Mike Mika
He also replaced other areas of shared color with Mario — the ladders and pop-up scores — with Pauline's colors, and replace the "M" by the bonus indicator with a "P." He had posted updates on his Facebook page throughout the project, and used them, along with images from the game, to make a YouTube video showcasing what he had done.
When his daughter woke up that morning, she asked if they could play Donkey Kong, and Mike told her she could play as Pauline. She was excited, he said.
"For all she knew, I just figured out how to get Pauline to work. And that was fine," he said. "I wasn't expecting it to change her life."
As the video began to spread throughout the Internet, the vitriol of some commenters was disturbing to Mika. One even wished his daughter dead, because "it would do the world a favor and be one less feminist in our future."
"If this experience has taught me anything, it's that the world could be just a bit more accommodating," Mika said. "And that if something as innocuous as having Mario be saved by Pauline brings out the crazy, maybe we aren't as mature in our view of gender roles as we should be."
Despite the reaction, he didn't take on the project for the attention, he said.
"I didn't set out to push a feminist agenda, or try to make a statement," he said. "I just wanted to keep that little grin lit up on my daughter's face every time we sit down to play games together."
Mika's experience is similar to that of Mike Hoye, who in November hacked the Legend of Zelda for his own daughter to make the hero a heroine.
