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(Redirected from Donkey Kong Land (series)) Video game franchise

This article is about the video game franchise. For the original game, see Donkey Kong (1981 video game). For the character, see Donkey Kong (character). For other uses, see Donkey Kong (disambiguation).

Donkey Kong
The words "Donkey Kong" in all caps in bold red letters with yellow borders; the "O"s have stars in the middle.Logo since 2024
Created byShigeru Miyamoto
Original workDonkey Kong (1981)
OwnerNintendo
Years1981–present
Films and television
Film(s)The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
Animated series
Games
Video game(s)List of video games
Audio
Original music"Aquatic Ambience"
"DK Rap"
Miscellaneous
Toy(s)Lego Super Mario
Theme park attraction(s)Super Nintendo World
Related franchise(s)

Donkey Kong is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo. It follows the adventures of Donkey Kong, a large, powerful gorilla, and other members of the Kong family of apes. Donkey Kong games include the original arcade game trilogy by Nintendo R&D1; the Donkey Kong Country series by Rare and Retro Studios; and the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series by Nintendo Software Technology. Various studios have developed spin-offs in genres such as edutainment, puzzle, racing, and rhythm. The franchise also incorporates animation, printed media, theme parks, and merchandise.

Miyamoto designed the original 1981 Donkey Kong to repurpose unsold arcade cabinets following the failure of Radar Scope (1980). It was a major success and was followed by the sequels Donkey Kong Jr. (1982) and Donkey Kong 3 (1983). The franchise went on a hiatus as Nintendo shifted its focus to the spin-off Mario franchise. Rare's 1994 reboot, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) game Donkey Kong Country, reestablished Donkey Kong as a major Nintendo franchise. Rare developed Donkey Kong games for the SNES, Game Boy, and Nintendo 64 until they were acquired by Microsoft in 2002; subsequent games have been developed by Nintendo, Retro Studios, Namco and Paon. The most recent major game was Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze in 2014.

The main Donkey Kong games are platformers in which the player must reach the end of a level. Donkey Kong's role shifts between the antagonist as in the arcade games and the protagonist as in the Country games. The original games featured a small cast of characters, including Donkey Kong, Mario, and Pauline. Rare's games expanded the cast with friendly Kongs alongside the Kremlings, an army of antagonistic crocodiles led by Donkey Kong's nemesis King K. Rool. Mario, the protagonist of the 1981 game, became Nintendo's mascot and the star of the Mario franchise, and Donkey Kong characters appear in Mario games such as Mario Kart, Mario Party, and Mario Tennis. Donkey Kong has also crossed over with other franchises in games such as Mario & Sonic and Super Smash Bros.

Outside of video games, the franchise includes the animated series Donkey Kong Country (1997–2000), a themed area in Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios, soundtrack albums, and Lego construction toys. Donkey Kong is one of Nintendo's bestselling franchises, with more than 65 million copies sold by 2021. The original game was Nintendo's first major international success, rescued Nintendo of America from a financial crisis, and established it as a prominent force in the video game industry. The franchise has pioneered or popularized concepts such as in-game storytelling and pre-rendered graphics, inspired other games (including clones), and influenced popular culture.

History

See also: List of Donkey Kong video games

1981–1982: Conception and first game

Shigeru Miyamoto, a Japanese man wearing a black coat and white shirt with red, yellow, and blue Pikmin characters
Donkey Kong creator Shigeru Miyamoto in 2013

In the late 1970s, the Japanese company Nintendo shifted its focus from producing toys and playing cards to arcade games. This followed the 1973 oil crisis, which increased the cost of manufacturing toys, and the success of Taito's arcade game Space Invaders (1978). In 1980, Nintendo released Radar Scope, a Space Invaders-style shoot 'em up. It was a commercial failure and put the newly established subsidiary Nintendo of America in a financial crisis. Its founder, Minoru Arakawa, asked his father in-law, Nintendo CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi, to provide a new game that could repurpose the unsold Radar Scope cabinets. Most of Nintendo's top developers were preoccupied, so the task went to Shigeru Miyamoto, a first-time game designer.

Supervised by Gunpei Yokoi, Miyamoto settled on a love triangle with the characters Bluto, Popeye, and Olive Oyl from the Popeye franchise, but a licensing deal between Nintendo and King Features fell through. Bluto evolved into a gorilla, an animal Miyamoto said was "nothing too evil or repulsive". He named him Donkey Kong—donkey to convey stubborn and kong to imply gorilla. Popeye became Mario, the new protagonist, while Olive Oyl became Pauline, the damsel in distress. Miyamoto cited the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" and the 1933 film King Kong as influences.

Donkey Kong was one of the earliest platform games, with players controlling Mario as he ascends a construction site to rescue Pauline from Donkey Kong. Whereas previous platform games focused on climbing, Miyamoto placed an emphasis on jumping to avoid obstacles and cross gaps. He envisioned something akin to a playable comic strip that unfolded across multiple levels with unique scenarios. This was uncommon in contemporary arcade games, which typically featured a single scenario that repeated. As he lacked programming expertise, Miyamoto consulted technicians on whether his ideas were possible. Four programmers from Ikegami Tsushinki spent three months turning Miyamoto's design into a finished game.

Although Miyamoto's team was told it would be a failure, Donkey Kong became Nintendo's first major international success upon its release in July 1981. The $280 million windfall gain rescued Nintendo of America from its financial crisis and established it as a prominent brand in America. Donkey Kong achieved further success in 1982, when Nintendo released a Game & Watch adaptation and licensed it to Coleco for ports to home consoles. It grossed $4.4 billion across various platforms, making it one of the highest-grossing games of all time. In 1982, Universal City Studios filed a lawsuit alleging Donkey Kong violated its trademark of King Kong. The lawsuit failed when Nintendo's lawyer, Howard Lincoln, discovered that Universal had won a lawsuit in 1976 by declaring that King Kong was actually in the public domain.

1982–1994: Sequels and first hiatus

Miyamoto and his team used game mechanics and levels that could not be included in Donkey Kong as the basis for a sequel. Miyamoto wanted to make Donkey Kong the protagonist, but the sprite graphic was too big to easily maneuver, so he created a new character, Donkey Kong Jr. The team still wanted Donkey Kong on top of the screen, so they conceived a plot in which Mario had caged him and Donkey Kong Jr. had to save him. To develop Donkey Kong Jr. (1982), Nintendo reverse-engineered Ikegami's Donkey Kong code, making it the first game that Nintendo developed without outside help. Following Donkey Kong Jr.'s release, Ikegami sued Nintendo for copyright infringement. In 1990, the Tokyo High Court ruled in favor of Ikegami, and the companies reached a settlement.

Donkey Kong 3, released in 1983, features shooter gameplay that departs from its predecessors. Instead of Mario, the player controls Stanley, an exterminator from the Game & Watch game Green House (1982), who must fend off Donkey Kong and a swarm of bees. Donkey Kong 3 was unsuccessful, as was Donkey Kong Jr. Math (1983), an edutainment game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Sega obtained the license to develop a game featuring a playable Donkey Kong as a parking attendant, but it was canceled after Sega's David Rosen and Hayao Nakayama arranged a management buyout from Gulf and Western Industries in 1984.

The franchise went on an extended hiatus, while the spin-off Mario franchise found success on the NES, cementing Mario as Nintendo's mascot. Donkey Kong's appearances in the years following Donkey Kong 3 were limited to cameos in unrelated games. The 1987 Official Nintendo Player's Guide advertised a Donkey Kong revival for the NES, Return of Donkey Kong, which was never released. In the early 1990s, Philips obtained the license to use five Nintendo characters, including Donkey Kong, in games for their CD-i format. Philips contracted Riedel Software Productions to make a CD-i Donkey Kong game; it was developed between 1992 and 1993, but canceled.

Nintendo staff began discussing a Donkey Kong revival as the original game's tenth anniversary approached in 1991. They were unable to start a new game at the time, so they included Donkey Kong Jr. as a playable character in Super Mario Kart (1992). However, the discussions led to the production of the Game Boy game Donkey Kong (1994), the first original Donkey Kong game in ten years. It features Mario as the player character and begins as a remake of the 1981 game before introducing over 100 puzzle-platforming levels that incorporate elements from Donkey Kong Jr. and Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988).

1994–1996: Rare and Donkey Kong Country

Tim (right) and Chris (left) Stamper; the middle-aged men both wear black polos with red logos on the right of the buttons. Tim has a beard, while Chris is balding.
Rare founders Tim and Chris Stamper (pictured in 2015) led the development of Donkey Kong Country (1994), which reestablished Donkey Kong as a major franchise.

Around 1992, Rare, a British developer founded by the brothers Tim and Chris Stamper, purchased Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) Challenge workstations with Alias rendering software to render 3D models. The move made Rare the most technologically advanced UK developer and situated them high in the international market. Rare began experimenting with using the technology in a boxing game. At the time, Nintendo was embroiled in a console war with Sega, whose Genesis competed with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). Nintendo wanted a game to compete with Sega's Aladdin (1993), which featured graphics by Disney animators. Lincoln, who became a Nintendo of America executive following the Universal lawsuit, learned of Rare's SGI experiments during a trip to Europe.

After impressing Nintendo with a demonstration, Tim Stamper suggested developing a platform game that used pre-rendered 3D graphics. Nintendo granted the Stampers permission to use the Donkey Kong intellectual property; some sources indicate that the Stampers obtained the license after Nintendo offered them its catalog of characters and they chose Donkey Kong, though the designer Gregg Mayles recalled that it was Nintendo that requested a Donkey Kong game. Nintendo figured licensing Donkey Kong posed minimal risk due to the franchise's dormancy. Rare's reboot, Donkey Kong Country, featured side-scrolling gameplay that Mayles based on the Super Mario series. It was the first Donkey Kong game neither directed nor produced by Miyamoto, though he provided support and contributed design ideas.

Donkey Kong Country was one of the first games for a mainstream home video game console to use pre-rendered graphics, achieved through a compression technique that allowed Rare to convert 3D models into SNES sprites with little loss of detail. Because Donkey Kong did not have much of an established universe, Rare was free to expand it, introducing Donkey Kong's sidekick Diddy Kong (who replaced Donkey Kong Jr.) and the antagonistic Kremlings. After 18 months of development, Donkey Kong Country was released in November 1994 to acclaim, with critics hailing its visuals as groundbreaking. It was a major success, selling 9.3 million copies and becoming the third-bestselling SNES game. It reestablished Donkey Kong as a major Nintendo franchise and heralded Donkey Kong's transition from villain to hero. Following the success, Nintendo purchased a large minority stake in Rare.

Rare began developing concepts for a Donkey Kong Country sequel during production, and Nintendo green-lit the project immediately after the success. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, released in 1995, features Diddy rescuing a kidnapped Donkey Kong and introduces Diddy's girlfriend Dixie Kong. Diddy's Kong Quest was designed to be less linear and more challenging, with a theme reflecting Mayles' fascination with pirates. Like its predecessor, Diddy's Kong Quest was a major critical and commercial success, and is the sixth-bestselling SNES game. Following Diddy's Kong Quest, the Donkey Kong Country team split in two, with one half working on Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (1996). Featuring Dixie and a new character, Kiddy Kong, as protagonists, the Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! team sought to incorporate 3D-esque gameplay and Zelda-inspired role-playing elements. Although it was released late in the SNES's lifespan and after the launch of the Nintendo 64, Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! sold well.

1995–2002: Franchise expansion

Separate Rare teams developed the Game Boy games Donkey Kong Land (1995), Donkey Kong Land 2 (1996), and Donkey Kong Land III (1997), which condensed the Country series' gameplay for the handheld game console. Rare's Game Boy programmer, Paul Machacek, convinced Tim Stamper that developing Land as an original game rather than a port would be a better use of resources. A port of Country was eventually released for the Game Boy Color in 2000. Rare also developed a tech demo for a Virtual Boy Donkey Kong game, which was canceled after the system's commercial failure.

Rare developed further Donkey Kong games for the Game Boy (left) and Nintendo 64 (right) throughout the late 1990s.

The first Donkey Kong game for the Nintendo 64, Diddy Kong Racing, a kart racing game, was released as Nintendo's major 1997 Christmas shopping season product. Rare originally developed it as a sequel to its NES game R.C. Pro-Am (1988), but added Diddy Kong to increase its marketability. It received favorable reviews and sold 4.5 million copies. Two playable characters, Banjo the Bear and Conker the Squirrel, later starred in the Banjo-Kazooie and Conker franchises.

Rare began working on Donkey Kong 64, the first Donkey Kong platform game to feature 3D gameplay, in 1997. They conceived it as a linear game similar to the Country series, but switched to a more open-ended design using the game engine from their 1998 game Banjo-Kazooie after 18 months. Transitioning Donkey Kong to 3D proved challenging since the technology was still new. The designers could not replicate the detail of Country's pre-rendering on the Nintendo 64, which rendered graphics in real time. Donkey Kong 64 was released in November 1999, accompanied by a US$22 million marketing campaign. It was Nintendo's bestselling game during the 1999 Christmas season and received positive reviews, though critics felt it did not match the revolutionary impact of Donkey Kong Country.

At E3 2001, Nintendo and Rare announced three Donkey Kong projects: the GameCube game Donkey Kong Racing and the Game Boy Advance (GBA) games Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers and Diddy Kong Pilot. However, development costs were increasing, the Nintendo 64 did not perform as well as Nintendo's previous consoles, and the GameCube was also expected to be a sales disappointment. Rare began looking to be acquired, but Nintendo did not see Rare remaining valuable in the long term and opted against acquiring them. In September 2002, Microsoft acquired Rare for $375 million, making Rare a first-party developer for Xbox. Nintendo retained the rights to Donkey Kong under the terms of the acquisition. Donkey Kong Racing was canceled, and Rare reworked Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers and Diddy Kong Pilot into It's Mr. Pants (2004) and Banjo-Pilot (2005).

2002–2010: After Rare

After Microsoft acquired Rare, Nintendo relegated Donkey Kong to spin-offs and guest appearances in its other franchises, such as Mario Kart, Mario Party, and Super Smash Bros. In 2003, Nintendo and Namco released Donkey Konga (2003), a spin-off rhythm game. It was designed for the DK Bongos, a GameCube peripheral that resembles bongo drums. Nintendo of America executive Reggie Fils-Aimé opposed releasing Donkey Konga, concerned it would damage the Donkey Kong brand, but it sold well and received positive reviews. It was followed by Donkey Konga 2 (2004) and the Japan exclusive Donkey Konga 3 (2005).

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, the first main Donkey Kong game since Donkey Kong 64, was released for the GameCube in 2004. It returned to the Donkey Kong Country style of platforming, controlled using the DK Bongos. It was directed by Yoshiaki Koizumi as the debut project of Nintendo EAD Tokyo. Koizumi sought to create an accessible game with a simple control scheme to contrast with more complex contemporary games. It received positive reviews, but was a commercial disappointment. A Wii version, featuring revised Wii Remote and Nunchuk controls, was released in 2008 as part of the New Play Control! line. A racing game that used the DK Bongos, Donkey Kong Barrel Blast, was developed by Paon for the GameCube, but was moved to the Wii with no support for the peripheral. It was released in 2007 to negative reviews, with criticism for its controls.

Despite the acquisition, Rare continued to develop games for Nintendo's handheld consoles since Microsoft did not have a competing handheld. It developed ports of the Country games for the GBA and Diddy Kong Racing for the Nintendo DS with additional content, released between 2003 and 2007. Meanwhile, Paon also developed DK: King of Swing (2005) for the GBA and DK: Jungle Climber (2007) for the DS, which blend Country elements with puzzle gameplay inspired by Clu Clu Land (1984). Mario vs. Donkey Kong, a spin-off series that acts as a spiritual successor to the Game Boy Donkey Kong, was developed by Nintendo Software Technology. It began with a 2004 GBA game and continued with the DS sequels March of the Minis (2006), Minis March Again! (2009), and Mini-Land Mayhem! (2010). In contrast to other post-Country games, Mario vs. Donkey Kong restored Donkey Kong's villainous role.

2010–present: Retro Studios and second hiatus

Kensuke Tanabe, a Japanese man wearing glasses, a brown shirt, and red tie
Kensuke Tanabe (pictured in 2013) produced the Retro Studios Donkey Kong games.

In 2008, Miyamoto expressed interest in a Donkey Kong Country revival. Producer Kensuke Tanabe suggested that Retro Studios, which had developed the Metroid Prime series, would be suitable. With Donkey Kong Country Returns, Retro sought to refine classic Country elements and introduce mechanics such as surface-clinging and simultaneous multiplayer. Returns, the first original Country game since Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, was released for the Wii in 2010. It sold 4.21 million copies in under a month and received positive reviews, with critics considering it a return to form for the franchise. Monster Games developed a Nintendo 3DS version in 2013, while a high-definition remaster is scheduled for the Nintendo Switch in 2025.

Retro developed a sequel, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, for the Wii U. The Wii U's greater processing power allowed for visual elements that the team had been unable to accomplish on the Wii, such as lighting and translucency effects and dynamic camera movement. Tropical Freeze was released in 2014 to favorable reviews, but it sold poorly in comparison to Returns; Nintendo Life attributed this to the Wii U's commercial failure. It achieved greater success when it was ported to the Switch in 2018, outselling the Wii U version within a week of release. Meanwhile, the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series continued with Tipping Stars (2015) and Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo Challenge (2016) for the Wii U and 3DS, and a remake of the first Mario vs. Donkey Kong (2024) with new levels and cooperative gameplay for the Switch.

As of 2024, Tropical Freeze remains the Donkey Kong franchise's most recent major game. Nintendo and Vicarious Visions, with consultation from Miyamoto, worked on a Donkey Kong game for the Switch for six months. Codenamed Freedom, the project was an open-world 3D platformer that emphasized traversal, with grinding on vines as a core mechanic. It was canceled in 2016 after Activision Blizzard, Vicarious Visions' parent company, redirected its developers' focus to the Call of Duty franchise. Nintendo Life reported in 2021 that Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development was working on another Switch Donkey Kong game, separate from the canceled 3D platformer.

Story and characters

Main article: List of Donkey Kong characters See also: Characters of the Mario franchise
Two images depicting an assortment of cartoon characters led by a cartoon ape with a red tie
Artwork for Donkey Kong (1994) and Donkey Kong 64 (1999), depicting the casts created by Nintendo and Rare

The original Donkey Kong features three characters: Donkey Kong, a large, antagonistic gorilla; Mario, the overall-wearing protagonist; and Pauline, Mario's girlfriend. Donkey Kong follows Mario as he ascends a construction site to rescue Pauline from Donkey Kong, his escaped pet ape. In the sequel, Donkey Kong Jr., Mario imprisons Donkey Kong in a cage. The game introduces Donkey Kong's son, the diaper-wearing Donkey Kong Jr. Mario, Pauline, Donkey Kong, and Jr. return in the 1994 Game Boy Donkey Kong, in which Mario again must rescue Pauline from the Kongs. The Game Boy game was the first Donkey Kong game to depict Donkey Kong wearing a red necktie bearing his initials, "DK".

Beginning with Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong's role shifted from antagonist to protagonist. Rare's Kevin Bayliss redesigned him; alongside the red tie from the Game Boy game, he was given what GamesRadar+ described as "menacing, sunken eyes and beak-like muzzle", and Bayliss designed him as blocky and muscular to make animating him easier. The Donkey Kong in Rare's games is a separate character from the one in the arcade games, who appears as the elderly Cranky Kong. Cranky Kong provides scathing, fourth wall-breaking humor in which he unfavorably compares current games to older ones like the original Donkey Kong. Nintendo's stance on whether Cranky is Donkey Kong's father, making the modern Donkey Kong a grown-up Donkey Kong Jr., or grandfather has been inconsistent.

Rare's games moved the franchise's primary setting from a city to Donkey Kong Island, an idyllic isle. Because Donkey Kong did not have much of an established universe, Rare was free to expand it with new characters. Donkey Kong Country introduced Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong's sidekick and nephew. Diddy's design was based on a spider monkey; he was created as a redesign of Donkey Kong Jr. but retooled into a separate character at Nintendo's request. As a result, Donkey Kong Jr. has made few appearances since Country. Other supporting Kong characters that Rare introduced include Funky Kong, a surfer; Candy Kong, Donkey Kong's girlfriend; Dixie Kong, Diddy's girlfriend; Kiddy Kong, a large toddler; Chunky Kong, Kiddy's brother; Tiny Kong, Dixie's sister; and Lanky Kong, a buffoonish orangutan.

Country introduced King K. Rool, an anthropomorphic crocodile who serves as the series' main antagonist. K. Rool leads the Kremlings, an army of crocodiles who seek to steal Donkey Kong's hoard of bananas. Their name is a play on the Moscow Kremlin and their theme music incorporates Soviet influences. Polygon summarized K. Rool as an archetypal game villain who "often wears disguises and invents strange gadgets for his elaborately evil schemes", such as dressing as a pirate captain in Donkey Kong Country 2. Other villains introduced in the Retro Studios Country games include the Tiki Tak Tribe, a race of floating masks who hypnotize animals into stealing the banana hoard, and the Snowmads, Viking invaders who summon a dragon to take over Donkey Kong Island.

Although the Mario and Donkey Kong franchises largely remain separate, they take place in the same fictional universe. Donkey Kong and other Donkey Kong characters frequently appear as playable characters in Mario spin-offs such as Mario Kart, Mario Party, and Mario Tennis.

Gameplay

Original series

An upright arcade cabinet with a joystick and three buttons, colored in red, blue, white, and black
A model of an original Donkey Kong (1981) arcade cabinet

Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. are early examples of the platform game genre. In both games, the player must guide the playable character (Mario in the first game, Donkey Kong Jr. in the second) to scale four levels while avoiding obstacles. The player jumps to dodge incoming obstacles (such as barrels) or cross gaps and climbs ladders or vines to reach the top of the level. In the first game, Mario can destroy obstacles by obtaining a hammer power-up, while in the second, Donkey Kong Jr. can do so by knocking pieces of fruit down from vines. Points are awarded for dodging or destroying obstacles, collecting items, and completing stages quickly. The player begins each game with three lives, which they lose if they touch an obstacle or fall.

Donkey Kong 3 departs from this gameplay: it is a shooter game in which the player controls Stanley, an exterminator who must prevent Donkey Kong from stirring up insects in his greenhouse. The player fires bug spray at Donkey Kong and enemy insects that attempt to steal Stanley's flowers. They complete levels by spraying Donkey Kong enough to force him to the top of the screen or by killing all the insects.

The 1994 Game Boy game begins with the four stages from the original Donkey Kong, but after completing the fourth, the player is presented with over 100 additional stages that introduce puzzle-platform gameplay in which Mario must scout each level within a time limit to locate a key. Mario can pick up and throw objects and enemies, similar to Super Mario Bros. 2, and perform acrobatics to reach otherwise inaccessible areas of the levels. This gameplay would serve as the basis for Mario vs. Donkey Kong, which introduces stages in which Mario must guide six Mini-Mario toys to a toy box while protecting them from hazards. Mario vs. Donkey Kong's sequels make guiding the Mini-Mario toys the focus, with each stage requiring the player to do so with touchscreen controls. This gameplay has been frequently compared to the strategy video game Lemmings (1991).

Donkey Kong Country

An example of gameplay from Donkey Kong Country Returns: Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong ride a minecart on rickety rails, with a barrel-shaped cannon, collectible bananas, and a token with the letter "G" floating in the air.
An example of gameplay from Donkey Kong Country Returns (2010), illustrating some of the core game mechanics of the Country series

The Donkey Kong Country series features platforming gameplay in which players complete side-scrolling levels to progress, reminiscent of Nintendo's Super Mario series. The player progresses through a world map that provides access to the themed worlds and their levels. They traverse the environment, jump between platforms, and avoid enemy and inanimate obstacles. Each world ends with a boss fight with a large enemy. The Country series is known for its high difficulty level and emphasis on momentum, requiring players to react to oncoming obstacles quickly to maintain flow.

Players control one of the various playable Kongs, depending on the game: Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Kiddy Kong, Cranky Kong, and Funky Kong. The Rare games each feature two protagonists, with one protagonist carrying over to the sequel while another is introduced. The Retro Studios games star Donkey Kong with other characters as his sidekicks. Players primarily control one Kong, with the second acting as a second hit point. In the Retro Studios games, other characters ride on Donkey Kong's back to provide special abilities; for instance, Diddy's jetpack allows him to temporarily hover.

Country's game mechanics include blasting out of barrel cannons, vehicle sequences with minecarts and barrel-themed rockets, levels in which the characters and foreground environments appear in silhouette, and swinging vines. Barrels return from the original series and can be used as weapons or broken to uncover power-ups. One barrel variant releases a partner Kong when thrown. Each level contains collectibles such as bananas, letters that spell out K–O–N–G, balloons, and puzzle pieces. These items can be found within the main level or by discovering hidden bonus stages, where they are earned via completing a challenge.

In certain levels, the player can free an animal that provides the Kongs with special abilities, similar to the Super Mario series' Yoshi. Recurring animal friends include Rambi, a rhino that can charge into enemies and find hidden entrances; Enguarde, a swordfish that can defeat enemies underwater; and Squawks, a parrot who carries the Kongs or assists in finding collectibles. Outside the main gameplay, the Rare games' world maps contain areas where players can converse with non-player characters, such as Cranky, who provide advice, collectibles, and save points. The Retro Studios games feature shops (run by Cranky in Returns and Funky in Tropical Freeze) where the player can purchase items like power-ups and lives.

Other games

The Donkey Kong Land trilogy condenses the SNES Country gameplay for the Game Boy, with different level design that accounts for the system's low-quality display. Donkey Kong 64 blends Country elements with adventure gameplay that emphasizes collecting items to proceed, reminiscent of Super Mario 64 (1996) and Banjo-Kazooie. The player explores worlds and solves puzzles tailored to the unique abilities of the five playable characters (Donkey Kong, Diddy, Chunky, Tiny, and Lanky). Jungle Beat's score attack emphasis challenges players to complete levels with as many points as possible. DK: King of Swing and DK: Jungle Climber feature settings and elements from the Country games, but require players to use the shoulder buttons to grab and climb pegboards to reach the end of a level.

Diddy Kong Racing and Donkey Kong Barrel Blast are kart racing games that play similarly to the Mario Kart series, though Diddy Kong Racing features an adventure mode with boss fights and Barrel Blast has the player shake the Wii Remote and Nunchuk alternatively to accelerate. The Donkey Konga trilogy was developed by the Taiko no Tatsujin developers and features the same gameplay: they are rhythm games in which the player must hit scrolling notes to the beat of the music with accurate timing, with stylized notes corresponding to different buttons. Players build combos by hitting two or more notes; the combo ends when they miss a beat.

Music

See also: Aquatic Ambience and DK Rap

The music for Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. was composed by Yukio Kaneoka, one of Nintendo's earliest audio engineers. Kaneoka wanted to take players on an adventure with a "pretty melody", which he compared to those in Disney films. He faced resistance from the designers, who wanted comical music to reflect the games' tone. Hirokazu Tanaka, a sound engineer who later garnered recognition for his work on Nintendo's Metroid and Pokémon franchises, also contributed, while Miyamoto wrote Donkey Kong's opening and closing music.

David Wise, a British man wearing a red cap and black shirt, plays a saxophone
David Wise, the Donkey Kong Country series' primary composer

The Donkey Kong Country series features atmospheric music that mixes natural environmental sounds with melodic and percussive accompaniments. It was primarily composed by David Wise, who worked at Rare from 1985 to 2009. Wise drew inspiration from Koji Kondo's Super Mario and Legend of Zelda music, Tim and Geoff Follin's Plok! (1993) soundtrack, and 1980s synthesizer-heavy rock music, dance music and film soundtracks. He aimed to imitate the sound of the Korg Wavestation synthesizer. After Wise moved with a portion of the Diddy's Kong Quest team to work on Project Dream, Eveline Fischer—who composed a portion of the first Country—handled the majority of Dixie Kong's Double Trouble. Fischer attempted to give levels a sense of purpose and drew inspiration from film composers such as Alan Silvestri and Klaus Doldinger. Wise composed a replacement soundtrack for the 2005 GBA port of Dixie Kong's Double Trouble after Rare had problems converting Fischer's score.

Graeme Norgate and Grant Kirkhope adapted Wise's Country soundtracks for the first two Donkey Kong Land games, while Fischer adapted the Dixie Kong's Double Trouble soundtrack for Donkey Kong Land III. Fischer was set to compose music for Donkey Kong 64, but shifted to working on sound effects. She was replaced by Kirkhope, who composed alongside the Banjo-Kazooie games and Perfect Dark (2000). Nintendo Life described Kirkhope's Donkey Kong 64 score as closer in spirit to his work on Banjo-Kazooie than to Wise's Country music. Donkey Kong 64's introduction features the "DK Rap", a comedy rap song which introduces the Kong characters. It was written by Donkey Kong 64's director, George Andreas, scored and recorded by Kirkhope, and performed by Andreas and Chris Sutherland, with other Rare staff joining on the chorus.

Wise was unavailable during the development of Donkey Kong Country Returns, so Kenji Yamamoto took over. At the request of Miyamoto and Iwata, the Returns soundtrack mostly comprises rearrangements of tracks from the original Donkey Kong Country, plus some new material by Yamamoto. He focused on what Tanabe felt made Donkey Kong Country's music iconic, such as piano arrangements and the bassline. Wise left Rare during Returns' development and collaborated with Yamamoto on the Tropical Freeze soundtrack. Technological advances allowed Wise to achieve a "1940s big band jazz" sound that he had been unable to produce on the SNES. Beyond the Country series, Wise composed the Diddy Kong Racing soundtrack. Other composers who have contributed to Donkey Kong games include Mahito Yokota, who composed for Jungle Beat, and Lawrence Schwedler, who composed for Mario vs. Donkey Kong.

Other media

Crossovers

Donkey Kong is represented in every game in Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series of crossover fighting games. Donkey Kong debuted in the original Super Smash Bros. (1999) as the only heavyweight fighter, with slow but powerful attacks. Diddy Kong was added as a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008), while King K. Rool was added in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018). Smash games also feature Donkey Kong stages and music.

Donkey Kong appears in Mario & Sonic, an Olympic Games-themed crossover between Mario and Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, as a playable character; in the Wii version of Punch-Out!! (2009) as the final boss; and in Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (2017), a crossover between Mario and Ubisoft's Raving Rabbids franchise, as the protagonist of an expansion pack. Activision's toys-to-life game Skylanders: SuperChargers (2015) includes Donkey Kong as a playable character in the versions released on Nintendo platforms.

Animated series

Further information: Saturday Supercade, Captain N: The Game Master, and Donkey Kong Country (TV series)

A Donkey Kong cartoon produced by Ruby-Spears aired as part of CBS's hour-long Saturday Supercade programming block in 1983. The cartoon follows Mario and Pauline as they attempt to capture Donkey Kong after he escapes from a circus. Game Informer described the series as "abysmal... filled with bad puns and ridiculous situations". Soupy Sales voiced Donkey Kong, while Peter Cullen and Frank Welker (who later garnered recognition for voicing Optimus Prime and Megatron in the Transformers franchise) voiced Mario and Donkey Kong Jr. Donkey Kong is also a recurring character in Captain N: The Game Master, a DIC Entertainment series that ran on NBC for 34 episodes between 1989 and 1991.

Donkey Kong Country, a television series produced by the French-Canadian company Medialab Technology, ran for 40 episodes between 1997 and 2000, bridging the gap between Dixie Kong's Double Trouble and Donkey Kong 64. Reflecting the games' pre-rendered 3D graphics, Donkey Kong Country was produced using computer animation, accomplished with motion capture technology. The series adopts a sitcom approach and follows Donkey Kong as he attempts to protect a magical artifact, the Crystal Coconut, from King K. Rool. The creative direction was largely dictated by the limitations of early motion capture technology; Simon Racioppa, one of the writers, noted restrictions including characters being unable to pick up objects and introducing new locations and characters being discouraged. Donkey Kong Country was produced with little input from Nintendo, and was the final Western series that Nintendo licensed before it shifted to producing and distributing anime. The series was popular in France and Japan, though less so in the United States. Retrospectively, Hardcore Gaming 101 criticized the series for lacking the adventure of the Country games, while GameSpot called its aged animation "nightmare fuel" and "visually disturbing".

Printed media

The first issue of Blip, a short-lived American comic book published by Marvel Comics in 1983, features a story in which a foolish news reporter attempts to interview Mario during the events of the original Donkey Kong. The story characterizes Donkey Kong as the result of a failed experiment to breed construction-worker gorillas. Blip marked Mario's first appearance in a comic book, years before Valiant Comics' Nintendo Comics System series in the 1990s. The British comics publisher Fleetway Publications published a promotional Donkey Kong Country comic in the UK in 1995, while Michael Teitelbaum wrote children's book adaptations of Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Land and Donkey Kong Country 2.

Film

Main article: The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Seth Rogen, a white man with glasses, a beard, and a purple suit
Seth Rogen voices Donkey Kong in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023).

Elements from the Donkey Kong franchise feature prominently in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), an animated film produced by Nintendo, Illumination, and Universal Pictures. Mario (Chris Pratt) and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) seek the Kongs' help to stop Bowser (Jack Black) from invading the Mushroom Kingdom. Seth Rogen and Fred Armisen voice Donkey Kong and Cranky Kong, while other Kongs make cameo appearances and the "DK Rap" plays during Donkey Kong's introduction. Donkey Kong was redesigned for the first time since Donkey Kong Country, combining elements of Rare's design and his original arcade-era design. The Super Mario Bros. Movie received mixed reviews, and Rogen received criticism for voicing Donkey Kong in his regular speaking voice. The film earned over $1 billion, making it the highest-grossing film based on a video game. In November 2021, prior to The Super Mario Bros. Movie's release, reports emerged that Illumination was developing a Donkey Kong film with Rogen set to reprise his role.

Theme parks

Main article: Super Nintendo World

In September 2021, Nintendo and Universal Destinations & Experiences announced a Donkey Kong-themed expansion of the Super Nintendo World themed area at Universal Studios Japan and Universal Epic Universe. The area, Donkey Kong Country, is set to open at Universal Studios Japan in 2024 and at Universal Epic Universe in 2025, and will expand the size of Super Nintendo World by 70%. It was designed with consultation from Miyamoto and will include a roller coaster, Donkey Kong's Crazy Cart, based on the Tiki Tong boss fight from Donkey Kong Country Returns. The area will also feature a K–O–N–G letter collection game and offer Donkey Kong-themed food and merchandise.

Merchandise

See also: Lego Super Mario

Donkey Kong merchandise includes clothing, toys such as plushes and Amiibo figures, trading cards, breakfast cereal, and soundtrack albums. The Lego Group began producing Donkey Kong Lego construction toys in 2023 as a subseries within its Lego Super Mario product line. The initial four sets, based on the Donkey Kong Country games, were released in August 2023.

Legacy

Sales

Donkey Kong is one of Nintendo's bestselling franchises, with sales reaching 65 million units by March 2021. Five Donkey Kong games (Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Land, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, Donkey Kong 64, and Donkey Kong Country Returns) have shipped over a million copies in Japan alone, and several have been added to Nintendo's Player's Choice and Nintendo Selects bestseller lines. Excluding rereleases and arcade games, as of 2022 the SNES version of Donkey Kong Country is the franchise's bestselling game, with 9.3 million copies sold worldwide, while DK: King of Swing is the worst-selling, with 280,000 copies sold worldwide.

Year Game Platform(s) Sales
1981 Donkey Kong Arcade, ColecoVision, Game & Watch, Nintendo Entertainment System 15.73 million
1982 Donkey Kong Jr. Arcade, Nintendo Entertainment System 1.14 million
1983 Donkey Kong 3 Arcade 5,000
1988 Donkey Kong Classics Nintendo Entertainment System 1.56 million
1994 Donkey Kong Country Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance 13.31 million
1995 Donkey Kong Land Game Boy 3.91 million
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest Super Nintendo Entertainment System 5.15 million
1996 Donkey Kong Land 2 Game Boy 2.35 million
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! Super Nintendo Entertainment System 3.51 million
1997 Donkey Kong Land III Game Boy, Game Boy Color 1.03 million
Diddy Kong Racing Nintendo 64, Nintendo DS 6.47 million
1999 Donkey Kong 64 Nintendo 64 5.27 million
2003 Donkey Konga GameCube 1.18 million
2004 Mario vs. Donkey Kong Game Boy Advance, Nintendo Switch 2.49 million
2005 DK: King of Swing Game Boy Advance 280,000
2006 Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis Nintendo DS 1.52 million
2010 Donkey Kong Country Returns Wii, Nintendo 3DS 9.44 million
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! Nintendo DS 2.98 million
2014 Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Wii U, Nintendo Switch 4.1 million

Effect on the industry

If you can't imagine a world without Super Mario Brothers, without the NES, and maybe even without Nintendo at all, then you can't imagine a world without Donkey Kong. Both as a remarkable piece of game design and a commercial breakthrough for the single most important gaming company in Japan, Donkey Kong changed the world, and 30 years later we're still feeling its effects.

Game Developer

The original Donkey Kong is regarded as one of the most important video games of all time. Its success established Nintendo as one of the video game industry's leaders. Computer and Video Games called Donkey Kong "the most momentous" game of 1981, as it "introduced three important names" to the industry: Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Mario. Donkey Kong also paved the way for the NES, which rejuvenated the crashed Western game industry and shifted the home console market's dominance from the US to Japan. The NES was largely based on the Donkey Kong arcade hardware; Nintendo took a Donkey Kong arcade cabinet to the semiconductor chip manufacturer Ricoh for analysis, which led to Ricoh producing the NES's Picture Processing Unit.

Donkey Kong inspired many games, including clones such as Crazy Kong (1981) and Hard Hat Mack (1983), that featured a mix of running, jumping, and vertical traversal. These were initially referred to as "Donkey Kong-type" or "Kong-style" games, but eventually came to be known as platformers. While Donkey Kong was not the first platform game, VG247 wrote "it was the first to matter" by establishing the genre's template. Furthermore, Donkey Kong's spirited graphics, humor, and contextualization of the gameplay with a story distinguished it from contemporary arcade games. Donkey Kong is regarded as the first game to use graphics to tell a story, which GamesRadar+ said provided an unprecedented level of narrative depth.

Donkey Kong Country's pre-rendered graphics featured a level of detail unprecedented in console games at the time, and inspired many imitators. It inspired games such as BlueSky Software's Vectorman (1995), Naughty Dog's Crash Bandicoot (1996), HAL Laboratory's Kirby Super Star (1996), and Traveller's Tales and Sonic Team's Sonic 3D Blast (1996). Country's influence has carried into more modern games such as Mekazoo (2016) and Kaze and the Wild Masks (2021); the Australian Broadcasting Corporation credited it for demonstrating 2D games could remain relevant after the introduction of 3D. Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (2019)—developed by Playtonic Games, whose staff includes Rare alumni that worked on Country—was noted for its gameplay similarities to Country.

The Country games established Rare as a leading video game developer and set the standard for its work. Country originated conventions characteristic of Rare's later output, including an emphasis on collecting items, irreverent humor, visual appeal, and tech demo-like design. Conversely, Donkey Kong 64 has been blamed for precipitating 3D platforming's decline in popularity for its excessive emphasis on collecting items. Electronic Gaming Monthly wrote that whereas Super Mario 64 had "breathed life into the 3D platforming genre", Donkey Kong 64 had "sucked it all out". Jonas Kaerlev, who developed the 3D platformer A Hat in Time (2017), said Donkey Kong 64 gave the genre a reputation for tedium that contributed to a decline in interest.

Cultural impact

See also: Donkey Kong high score competition

Donkey Kong is one of the most iconic video game characters, and he has been described as a mascot for both Nintendo and the video game industry. In 2007, the Monster Jam racing series obtained the license to use Donkey Kong's appearance for a monster truck. The truck debuted in a December 2007 show in Minneapolis and toured with Monster Jam throughout 2008. Donkey Kong appears as an antagonist in the film Pixels (2015), which pays homage to classic arcade games, while the film War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) features treacherous apes nicknamed "donkeys", which director Matt Reeves confirmed was a reference to Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong high score competitors Steve Wiebe (left) and Billy Mitchell (right) feature in the documentary The King of Kong (2007).

The original Donkey Kong is a popular competitive video game. The Daily Telegraph called it "the most fiercely contested video game of all time", while Polygon wrote that achieving the highest score "is probably the most coveted arcade game world record". The King of Kong (2007), a documentary film directed by Seth Gordon, brought Donkey Kong's competitive culture to prominence. It follows two players, Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell, in their respective attempts to obtain and maintain the world record. The Telegraph described Donkey Kong competition as bitter and said the heated rivalries between players contribute to the game's lasting appeal. The Donkey Kong Country games are also popular in the video game speedrunning community.

IGN said that Donkey Kong Country's soundtrack contributed to an increased appreciation for video game music as an art form, and The New York Times called Country and Diddy's Kong Quest's soundtracks the video game equivalents to the Beatles' Revolver (1966) and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). Musicians such as Trent Reznor and Donald Glover have praised the Donkey Kong Country track "Aquatic Ambience". Glover sampled it in his 2012 song "Eat Your Vegetables", to which David Wise expressed approval. OverClocked ReMix has released Donkey Kong remix albums including contributions from Wise, Beanland, and Kirkhope. Curse of the Crystal Coconut, a 2020 pirate metal album by the Scottish heavy metal band Alestorm, contains numerous references to the Donkey Kong franchise, including its title; those who pre-ordered the album had a chance to win an Alestorm-branded Nintendo 64 with a copy of Donkey Kong 64.

Donkey Kong has been noted for its active fandom. Nintendo Life described one fansite, DK Vine, as "highly respected". The franchise's lack of a detailed backstory has led fans to theorize its fictional chronology. Kotaku described one theory, which postulates that Donkey Kong Jr. was killed in a violent, off-screen conflict to explain his absence in the Country series, as "a fascinating example of how fandoms can run away with the smallest bits of narrative available" to rationalize inconsistencies. A team of fans led by animator Alex Henderson released DKC: Curse of the Crystal Coconut, an animated tribute short film, in 2021 to commemorate the franchise's 40th anniversary and the Donkey Kong Country television series' 25th anniversary. Several voice actors from the Country television series reprised their roles for DKC: Return to Krocodile Isle, a follow-up animation released in 2023.

In the years following the original Donkey Kong's release, the phrase "it's on like Donkey Kong" entered pop culture vernacular. The phrase has been used in television series, films, music, and news headlines; it is typically used to say something is "going down". It was popularized by the rapper Ice Cube, who used the phrase in his song "Now I Gotta Wet'cha" (1992), though it is unclear if he coined it. Nintendo filed a trademark request for the phrase with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in November 2010 as part of its marketing push for Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Notes

  1. Japanese: ドンキーコング, Hepburn: Donkī Kongu, [doŋ.kiː koŋ.ɡɯ]
  2. Nintendo and King Features ultimately renegotiated the license to produce the arcade game Popeye (1982), which Miyamoto designed alongside Genyo Takeda under the production system that Nintendo adopted following Donkey Kong.
  3. Although Universal's Space Panic preceded Donkey Kong by a year, Red Bull wrote that Donkey Kong is generally considered the first "true" platform game for introducing the ability to jump.
  4. Attributed to multiple references: Diehard GameFan, Electronic Gaming Monthly, Next Generation, and Total!
  5. Attributed to multiple references: GameSpot for the GBA ports, and IGN for the Nintendo DS port
  6. Sales breakdown:
    • Arcade: 60,000
    • ColecoVision: 6 million
    • Game & Watch: 8 million
    • NES: 1.13 million
  7. Sales breakdown:
    • Arcade: 30,000
    • NES: 1.11 million
  8. Sales breakdown:
    • SNES: 9.3 million
    • GBC: 2.19 million
    • GBA: 1.82 million
  9. Sales breakdown:
    • N64: 4.88 million
    • DS: 1.59 million
  10. Sales breakdown:
    • GBA: 1.37 million
    • Switch: 1.12 million
  11. Sales breakdown:
    • Wii: 6.53 million
    • 3DS: 2.91 million
  12. Sales breakdown:
    • Wii U: 2.02 million
    • Switch: 2.08 million
  13. Attributed to multiple references: Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, IGN, and Wired

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