Donkey Kong

:For the original arcade game called Donkey Kong, see Donkey Kong (arcade game).

Sequels and spin-offs

Donkey Kong spawned two sequels, neither of which were as popular as the original arcade hit. In Donkey Kong Junior Donkey Kong was kidnapped by Mario and players had to control his son Donkey Kong Jr. to rescue him. In Donkey Kong 3 DK broke into a greenhouse and got chased out by Stanley the Bugman, who carried a spray can to protect his greenhouse from Donkey Kong's insects. In 1994, Nintendo produced a remake of the original game for the Game Boy (known under the informal title of "Donkey Kong '94" to disambiguate it from the original) which contained 97 new stages (most of which were puzzle-oriented) in addition to the original four from the Arcade game. Donkey Kong's and Pauline's respective character designs were updated for this game (DK now wore a tie and Pauline was made into a brunette to distinguish her from Peach).

Related Topics:
Donkey Kong Junior - Donkey Kong Jr. - Donkey Kong 3 - Stanley the Bugman - Remake - Donkey Kong '94

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Shortly after that, he appeared in Donkey Kong Country (in Japan, Super Donkey Kong). Donkey Kong Country was an entirely new DK franchise established by the British company Rareware which took the Donkey Kong premise in an entirely new direction. Severing DK's ties to the Mario world (until Mario Kart 64), Donkey Kong Country established a whole new world for DK, and became a showcase title to show off then-revolutionary 3D CGI graphics.

Related Topics:
Donkey Kong Country - Rareware - Mario - Mario Kart 64 - CGI

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In Donkey Kong Country, DK was the hero and he and his sidekick Diddy Kong had to save his hoard of bananas from the thieving King K. Rool and his Kremling Krew. The game was an action sidescrolling title similar to the Mario games and was enormously popular for its graphics music and gameplay. Some sources, such as Nintendo Power, suggest that the Donkey Kong in the Country series was the son of Cranky Kong, the original Donkey Kong from the arcade game, which would equate him with Donkey Kong Junior. Other sources, including the manual of Donkey Kong Country1 and in-game dialogue from other games in the series, suggest that the Donkey Kong in Donkey Kong Country is Cranky's grandson and the son of Donkey Kong Junior. This is also contradicted by the in-game dialogue from Donkey Kong 64, as Cranky specifically calls DK his son. Rareware released an official statement some time ago, stating that Cranky is indeed the D.K. of the arcades and that the current Donkey Kong is D.K. Jr. In Issue No.8 of the Nintendo Online Magazine in Nintendo's Japanese website (http://www.nintendo.co.jp/nom/0002/index.html), it is stated that the current Donkey Kong is Cranky's grandson (who is confirmed to be the original Donkey Kong in the same issue) and list Junior as a separate character.

Related Topics:
Banana - King K. Rool - Kremling Krew - Nintendo Power - 1 - Donkey Kong 64

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Sequels and adaptations soon followed. A computer generated animated television series that lasted 40 episodes was produced by a French animation studio, released in North America as simply Donkey Kong Country.

Related Topics:
Animated - Television series - French - North America - Donkey Kong Country

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The official sequel, Donkey Kong Country 2 (Super Donkey Kong 2) involves Donkey being kidnapped by King K. Rool (now Kaptain K. Rool) and getting rescued by Diddy Kong and his girlfriend Dixie Kong, in a less cheery and a more darkly-themed game. In Donkey Kong Country 3 (in Japan, Super Donkey Kong 3) he and Diddy both got kidnapped, and Dixie and her cousin Kiddy Kong had to save them in the final game of the series for the SNES. The Donkey Kong Land series for the Game Boy were smaller and slightly modified versions of the "Country" games.

Related Topics:
Donkey Kong Country 2 - Kaptain K. Rool - Donkey Kong Country 3 - Donkey Kong Land - Game Boy

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A successful N64 sequel was also developed. In Donkey Kong 64 DK once again had the starring role as he joined forces with Diddy Kong, Tiny Kong, Lanky Kong, and Chunky Kong to save Donkey Kong Island from destruction at the hand of the Kremlings.

Related Topics:
N64 - Donkey Kong 64 - Donkey Kong Island

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A demo for a Donkey Kong game on the Gamecube, Nintendo's 128 bit console, was shown at Spaceworld 2001. The game was called Donkey Kong Racing and showed various characters, including Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Taj the Genie racing on Ellie, Expresso, Rambi, Enguard, and Zinger, and presumably, Necky, Army, and Chomps Jr. that had been introduced in previous Donkey Kong games by Rare. Following the sale of Rare to Microsoft in 2002, Rare announced that they were concentrating their efforts on Xbox games, although they have continued to support Nintendo's portable consoles, the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. This decision will have taken in to account the fact that Microsoft do not have their own portable console in direct competition. No further information about Donkey Kong Racing has since been released, leading the game to be classed as cancelled.

Related Topics:
Gamecube - Spaceworld - Microsoft - Xbox - Game Boy Advance - Nintendo DS

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Donkey Konga was released for the Gamecube in 2004. Created by Namco, this musical rhythm action game relied upon used of a konga drum peripheral (purchasable separately or included, depending on the package) to hit a beat in time with the tune. The tunes included pop songs and themes from some previous Nintendo games. A sequel, Donkey Konga 2, was released in 2005 and Donkey Konga 3 was released in Japan in the same year. was released in Japan in December 2004 and elsewhere in 2005. This platform game used the aforementioned konga drums as a controller- tapping one drum repeatedly made Donkey Kong run, tapping the other made him jump. Clapping or blowing in to the microphone caused an explosion, shown by a ripple in the screen, attracting assorted jewels or clearing obstacles to progress. A standard Gamecube controller could be used instead of the konga drums.

Related Topics:
Donkey Konga - Namco - Donkey Konga 2 - Donkey Konga 3

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Nintendo's first title after Rare left was Mario vs. Donkey Kong, a return to the earlier arcade-style games. While its style was that of the original games, the Rare-design for Donkey Kong carried over.

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Donkey Kong also appears in a number of other games such as Mario Kart 64, ', the Mario Party series, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, and the two crossover games Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee. In nearly all of these games, Donkey Kong is presented as a powerful but slow and cumbersome character (for example, in the Mario Kart games, he has a high top speed, but poor acceleration), as opposed to Yoshi. Donkey Kong is slated for several games on the Nintendo GameCube and the Game Boy Advance.

Related Topics:
Mario Kart 64 - Mario Party - Mario Golf - Mario Tennis - Super Smash Bros. - Super Smash Bros. Melee - Yoshi - GameCube - Game Boy Advance

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While still under Rare's influence, numerous spin-offs of Donkey Kong were created. Diddy Kong Racing, a racing game released in 1997 starring the Diddy Kong character, was the launching point of the Banjo-Kazooie and Conker franchises as well as the first appearance of several characters that would later spring up in Rare games. These franchises are now owned by Microsoft, but they'll always have their origins in Donkey Kong's universe. Donkey Kong: Coconut Crackers was originally developed by Rare for the Game Boy Advance, but was eventually released as It's Mr. Pants after the Microsoft purchase.

Related Topics:
Diddy Kong Racing - 1997 - Banjo-Kazooie - Conker - Microsoft - Rare - Game Boy Advance - It's Mr. Pants

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"Donkey Kong Universe" (DKU) refers to the place in which all Donkey Kong games (except the original arcade versions), and games taking place in the same universe as Donkey Kong, exist. The list of characters in the Donkey Kong Universe include all of the Kongs in the Donkey Kong Country series, the Banjo-Kazooie series, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, and Star Fox Adventures. The games are inter-related by cameo appearances by characters from other Rare games or references to the other games.

Related Topics:
"Donkey Kong Universe" - Banjo-Kazooie - Conker's Bad Fur Day - Grabbed by the Ghoulies - Star Fox Adventures - Cameo appearances

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