Donkey Kong (series)

For other uses, see Donkey Kong (disambiguation).

Donkey Kong
Typical logo commonly used in game titles of the Donkey Kong series.
Developer(s)	Rare, Ltd., Namco, Paon, Retro Studios, Monster Games Inc.[1]
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Main Development Staff	{{{devteam}}}
Platform(s)	Arcade, Game & Watch[2], Family Computer/Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Super Family Computer/Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo Switch
Release Date(s)	Various (first released: July 1981)
Genre(s)	Platformer, educational, racer, rhythm
Ratings	Various (almost for all age)
Mode(s)	Various (almost single player)
Media(s)	Various (arcade machines, ROM cartridges, disks, digital media)
Input(s)	Various (gamepad, etc.)
Preceded by	{{{preceded by}}}
Succeeded by	{{{succeeded by}}}

Donkey Kong is a series of multiple games owned by Nintendo. Its first installment is the Donkey Kong arcade game, released in July 9, 1981. Shigeru Miyamoto^[3] is credited as being the franchise's creator, although Rare notably revitalized Donkey Kong with the release of Donkey Kong Country in 1994. The character Donkey Kong, his family of sentient primates and allies are the usual protagonists of the Donkey Kong franchise.

While Donkey Kong is sometimes seen as a Mario spinoff, it is the predecessor to the Mario franchise, whose first game was Mario Bros. for the Game & Watch, released in early 1983.

History[]

It started out with the game Donkey Kong in the Arcade machines which introduced the world to Donkey Kong, Mario, and the platforming genre. The game was a smash hit, and it warranted two arcade sequels, and the eventual uprising of a Video Game Industry powerhouse, that to this day is one of the biggest gaming companies. Donkey Kong was then retired as a character until he was eventually brought back in the game Donkey Kong Country on the Super Family Computer/Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Donkey Kong Country became the second best selling SFC/SNES game because of its use of pre-rendered graphics and its fun platforming gameplay. The game established Rareware as the Donkey Kong series new developers. After two sequels and the spiritual successor trilogy Donkey Kong Land on the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, respectively, the Donkey Kong Country franchise went three-dimensional with the game Donkey Kong 64. Before the 3D adventure, however, Rare also created the game Diddy Kong Racing, which was very popular, and later spawned two new spin-off game series (Banjo-Kazooie and Conker series).

After Microsoft Game Studios^[4] acquired Rare in 2002, Nintendo handed the franchise to Namco who created the Donkey Konga series, a rhythm game^[5] trilogy, however, Donkey Konga did not get the widespread support of Donkey Kong Country and thus the third game was never released outside Japan. Nintendo then created the next platformer by themselves, titled Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. The game was also a flop, and thus the series was given to the Japanese company named Paon. Rare remade the Donkey Kong Country trilogy on the Game Boy Advance, which received good sales, as well as Diddy Kong Racing DS on the Nintendo DS which sold well. Paon then created DK: King of Swing on the Game Boy Advance, Donkey Kong Barrel Blast on the Nintendo Wii, and DK: Jungle Climber on the Nintendo DS, none did good sales-wise. While Paon was creating their Donkey Kong games, Nintendo created the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series which was a spiritual successor to the original classic arcade games.

Before Donkey Kong Country was released, Donkey Kong Jr. appeared in the game Super Mario Kart for SFC/SNES as one of Mario's biggest characters due to his involvement in the Arcade titles. When it came time for the game Mario Kart 64, Donkey Kong was added at the last minute, and the game's popularity has put Donkey Kong characters in Mario spin-off games ever since. Donkey Kong characters have appeared in various Mario games including Mario Party, Mario Kart, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Mario Strikers, Mario Hoops 3-on-3, and Mario Baseball. Donkey Kong has also appeared in the Game & Watch Gallery series, Super Smash Bros. series, and the game Punch-Out!! for Wii.

In 2010, Nintendo released the game Donkey Kong Country Returns for Nintendo Wii, developed by Retro Studios, breaking the Donkey Kong Country series' hiatus lasting for over a decade. Monster Games Inc.^[1] developed a port of the game called Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2013. Later, both developers created the game Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, released on the Nintendo Wii U in 2014. The same game was then ported and released on the Nintendo Switch in 2018.

List of Games[]

1980s[]

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong for FC/NES (1981).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Jr. for FC/NES (1982).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Jr. Math for FC/NES (December, 1983).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong 3 for FC/NES (June, 1983).

Donkey Kong Circus handheld (September 1984).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Hockey (November 1984).

1990s[]

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong for Game Boy (June 1994).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Country for SFC/SNES (November 1994).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Land for Game Boy (June 1995).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest for SFC/SNES (November 1995).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Land 2 for Game Boy (September 1996).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! for SFC/SNES (November 1996).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Land III for Game Boy (October 1997).

Boxart of the game Diddy Kong Racing for Nintendo 64 (November 1997).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong 64 for Nintendo 64 (1999).

2000s[]

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Country for Game Boy Color (November 2000).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Country for Game Boy Advance (June 2003).

Boxart of the game Donkey Konga for GameCube (December 2003).

Boxart of the game Mario vs. Donkey Kong for GBA (Summer 2004).

Boxart of the game Donkey Konga 2 for GameCube (July 2004).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Country 2 for Game Boy Advance (November 2004).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Jungle Beat for GameCube (December 2004).

Boxart of the game DK: King of Swing for GBA (February 2005).

Boxart of the game Donkey Konga 3 for GameCube (March 2005).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Country 3 for Game Boy Advance (November 2005).

Boxart of the game Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis for DS (September 2006).

Boxart of the game Diddy Kong Racing DS for DS (February 2007).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Barrel Blast for Wii (October 28, 2007).

Boxart of the game DK: Jungle Climber for DS (September 10, 2007).

Logo of the game Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! for DSi (June 8, 2009).

2010s[]

Boxart of the game Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! for DS (November 14, 2010).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Country Returns for Wii (November 21, 2010).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D for 3DS (May 24, 2013).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for Wii U (February 21, 2014).

Boxart of the game Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for Nintendo Switch (May 3, 2018)

Canceled Games[]

Logo of the game Donkey Kong Racing (canceled in 2002).

Logo of the game Diddy Kong Pilot (canceled in 2002 and repurposed as the game Banjo-Pilot for GBA).

Logo of the game Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers (canceled in 2002 and repurposed as the game It's Mr. Pants^[6] for GBA).

Logo of the game Donkey Kong for GameCube (canceled in 2002).

Logo of the game Diddy Kong Racing Adventure (canceled in 2004).

Other Nintendo's Franchises and Spinoffs[]

Boxart of the game Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 64.

Boxart of the game Super Smash Bros. Melee for GameCube.

Boxart of the game Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii.

Boxart of the game Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

Boxart of the game Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Boxart of the game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for Switch.

References[]