Donkey Kong (series)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Donkey Kong is a video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto, featuring a gorilla called Donkey Kong.

1 History
2 Sequels and remakes
3 Successors
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

Donkey Kong was created when Shigeru Miyamoto was assigned by Nintendo to convert Radar Scope, a game that had been released to test audiences with poor results, into a game that would appeal more to Americans. The result was a major breakthrough for Nintendo and for the videogame industry. Sales of the machine were brisk, with the game becoming one of the best-selling arcade machines of the early 1980s. The gameplay itself was a large improvement over other games of its time, and with the growing base of arcades to sell to, it was able to gain huge distribution. In 1981 Falcon created a legitimate clone of Donkey Kong known as Crazy Kong for distribution in non-US markets.

Original Donkey Kong game (screen from NES version)

In Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd., MCA Universal sued Nintendo over copyright violations, claiming that Donkey Kong was a copy of King Kong. Nintendo's lawyer, Howard Lincoln, who would go on to become a Senior Vice President of the company, discovered that Universal didn't own the copyright to King Kong either, and was able to not only win the lawsuit (as well as several court appeals), but get Universal to pay the legal costs. Ironically, it was MCA Universal that previously won a lawsuit declaring King Kong was in the public domain. The case was an enormous victory for Nintendo, which was still a newcomer to the U.S. market. The case established Nintendo as a major player in the industry and arguably gave the company the confidence that it could compete with the giants of American media.^[1] The case was selected as #20 on GameSpy's list of the 25 Dumbest Moments in Gaming. [1]

Because of the huge success of Donkey Kong, Nintendo of America was able to grow and release many more games in succeeding years, and had the resources necessary to release the Nintendo Entertainment System in the United States.

[edit] Sequels and remakes

Donkey Kong 3

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.

Throughout the 1980s, eight Donkey Kong games were released for the Game & Watch platform.

In 1994, Nintendo produced a sequel for Game Boy, simply called Donkey Kong. Some of its levels were based upon the Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. arcade games, the enemies from the two games also returned. Donkey Kong's, Donkey Kong Jr.'s and Pauline's character designs were updated for this game.

[edit] Successors

[edit] 16-bit era (SNES)

Donkey Kong Country's title screen (SNES version)

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 and Tim Stamper which took the Donkey Kong premise in an entirely new direction and became a showcase title to show off then-revolutionary CGI graphics.

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. This was the first game to feature Donkey Kong wearing the monogrammed necktie which has become his trademark.

The sequel, Donkey Kong Country 2 (Super Donkey Kong 2 in Japan) involves DK being kidnapped by K. Rool, who was now a Kaptain, 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 by K. Rool, now Baron K. Roolenstein, and Dixie and her cousin Kiddy Kong had to save them in the final game of the series for the SNES.

[edit] Game Boy

The Donkey Kong Land trilogy for the Game Boy were smaller, modified versions of the "Country" games,. In addition, Donkey Kong Country was ported to the Game Boy Color, and the entire Donkey Kong Country trilogy has been ported to the Game Boy Advance.

[edit] 64-bit era (N64)

Donkey Kong 64 game cover

A successful Nintendo 64 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 K. Rool, (now King Krusha K. Rool) and his Kremling Krew. An easter egg can be found that contains the original Donkey Kong arcade.

Donkey Kong also made an appearance in "Mario Kart 64", and since then, he has appeared in every outing featuring Mario's all-star cast on the N64. In the Mario Party series, he was a playable character in all three titles released for the N64, but he eventually became an "event character" in the later games. He was also a selectable character in Super Smash Bros., Mario Tennis and Mario Golf. In nearly all of these games, Donkey Kong is presented as a powerful and heavy character, although slow and cumbersome.

[edit] Sixth-generation era (GameCube)

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat box art

A demo for a Donkey Kong game on the GameCube, Nintendo's sixth generation 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, Enguarde, 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 is due to the fact that Microsoft does not have its own portable console in direct competition. No further information about Donkey Kong Racing has since been released, leading the game to be classified as cancelled.

Rare's ownership change led to numerous changes. 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. Likewise, Banjo Pilot was originally titled Diddy Kong Pilot, but altered following the Microsoft acquisition.

Donkey Konga was released for the GameCube in 2004. Created by Namco, this musical rhythm action game relied upon use of the DK Bongos accessory (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. Its sequel, Donkey Konga 2, was released in 2005, and Japan later got Donkey Konga 3 that same year.

Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat was released in Japan in December 2004 and elsewhere in 2005. Donkey Kong fights Dread Kong, Ninja Kong, Karate Kong, and Sumo Kong. This platform game used the aforementioned DK Bongos as a controller; tapping one drum repeatedly made Donkey Kong run, tapping both at the same time made him jump, tapping both alternately made him attack, and 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.

Donkey Kong featured as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. In Super Smash Bros. Melee he is second only to Bowser in Weight and Power, although he can lift and carry around barrels, crates and even his opponents with ease, something not even Bowser (who has short arms) can do. In addition, Donkey Kong featured in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Power Tennis, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, Mario Superstar Baseball and Super Mario Strikers. He made his last playable appearance in the Mario Party series in Mario Party 4 before being relegated to an incidental character on the game board. He was also featured on the Game & Watch Gallery handheld series.

[edit] Game Boy Advance

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. Donkey Kong originally started out a villain and returns to being one in this game. Wanting a mini-Mario doll, he walks on over to the toy store to see that they're sold out. He terrifies the Toads at the factory and steals the toys. This sets up the game's plot, where Mario chases Donkey Kong endlessly until he takes the dolls back. In true Mario style, everybody is happy in the end.

Donkey Kong then starred in DK-King of Swing, which featured gameplay similar to Clu Clu Land.

[edit] Nintendo DS

Donkey Kong, along with Mario, in Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis

Donkey Kong's only appearances in a DS game so far have been Mario Kart DS, Tetris DS, Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, and Yoshi's Island DS. He's set to appear in the game DK King of Swing DS. In Yoshi's Island DS, he is "Baby DK" a younger version of himself, similar to Baby Mario. First appearing in World 3-1, most of his gameplay reflects Donkey Kong Jr., even featuring the Snapjaw enemies from the game.

[edit] Seventh-generation era (Wii)

Donkey Kong is confirmed to make an appearance in Mario Party 8, once again as an incidental character on the game board. He will also be appearing again in the recently announced DK Bongo Blast. It is unknown if Donkey Kong would appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl or Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.