Donkey Kong (character)

Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング, Donkī Kongu) (sometimes abbreviated as DK) is a gorilla appearing in the Donkey Kong and Mario video game franchises. A popular character, he has appeared in many video games. Donkey Kong was Mario's first opponent in the game of the same name, Nintendo's popular 1981 arcade game, Donkey Kong. Since then he has starred in his own series of games, starting with 1994's Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and remains an important character in the spin-off games of the Mario series.

DK debuted at the same time as Mario, and he still appears with Mario on occasion, appearing as a playable character in the Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. series, and is the primary antagonist in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games.^[1]

Concept and creation

In 1981, Nintendo was pursuing a license to make a game based on the Popeye comic strip. When this fell through, Nintendo decided that it would take the opportunity to create new characters that could then be marketed and used in later games.^[2][3] Miyamoto came up with many characters and plot concepts, but he eventually settled on a gorilla/carpenter/girlfriend love triangle that mirrored the rivalry between Bluto and Popeye for Olive Oyl.^[4]

Bluto was replaced by an ape, which Miyamoto said was "nothing too evil or repulsive", and the pet of the main character.^[5] Miyamoto has also named "Beauty and the Beast" and the 1933 film King Kong as influences for the character.^[6]

Miyamoto used "donkey" to convey "stubborn" in English, the name Donkey Kong was intended to convey "stubborn ape" to the American audience.^{[7][8][9][10]} When he suggested this name to Nintendo of America, he was laughed at, but the name stuck.

Donkey Kong was redesigned for the Super NES in 1994 by former Rare character artist Kevin Bayliss. He presented the modern look to Nintendo and was immediately approved. Although the character design has been tweaked over the years, Donkey Kong's appearance remains consistent to this day when Bayliss last modified him.

"Today it makes me smile to see so many products with DK on the front, and that he's pretty much still the same as he looked when I gave him a once-over. So that's good enough for me – I must have done something right!"

— Kevin Bayliss^[11]

Characteristics

The Donkey Kong Country series introduced the setting Donkey Kong Island and a backstory for the character. The series also introduced Diddy Kong as Donkey's nephew and sidekick, and King K. Rool, king of the Kremlings, as his nemesis who steals his banana hoard. While retaining the red necktie he's had since the 1994 Game Boy remake of Donkey Kong, he also donned a distinct physical appearance featuring heavy brows and a peaked lock of hair on top of his head. This would become the standard look for Donkey Kong still used over two decades later. The modern Donkey Kong is portrayed as a powerful yet laid-back ape, who is interested mainly in his banana hoard and his sidechick, Candy Kong.

The new Donkey Kong introduced in Donkey Kong Country was initially characterized as the grandson of the original Donkey Kong,^[12] who appears in the game as an elderly ape named Cranky Kong,^[13][14] however Donkey Kong 64 states that the current Donkey Kong was actually meant to be Cranky Kong's son,^[15][16] with one source implying that he is a grown-up version of Donkey Kong Jr.^[17] However, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Donkey Kong Country Returns, the current Donkey Kong is referred to as Cranky's grandson.^[18] The story designs of the present DK series, which began with Donkey Kong Country, are clearly different, which Nintendo uses alteration of generations to explain.

Donkey Kong's personality is similar to a typical gorilla's; DK shows pride in his strength, enjoys eating and hoarding bananas, and is occasionally depicted as an idiot or dopey. He is a hero to the Kongs but a rival to Mario; occasionally this rivalry erupts especially when DK kidnaps Pauline, whom he finds attractive.

Appearances

The Original Donkey Kong game, with Donkey Kong (top) (NES version)

Early history

The original Donkey Kong (later established to be Cranky Kong from the Donkey Kong Country series)^[13] made his first appearance as the titular antagonist of the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong alongside protagonist Mario (then known as "Jumpman") and damsel in distress, the Lady (later renamed Pauline). As Jumpman, the player must reach Donkey Kong at the top of each stage, where he is holding the Lady captive. Donkey Kong attempts to hinder the player's progress by throwing barrels, springs, and other objects towards Jumpman. The ape reappeared the following year in the sequel Donkey Kong Jr., where Donkey Kong is taken captive and locked in a cage by the renamed Mario, while Donkey Kong Junior sets out to rescue him. Donkey Kong resumed his antagonistic role in Donkey Kong 3, this time the character Stanley the Bugman taking Mario's place as the protagonist. Stanley fights Donkey Kong's attempts to invade a greenhouse along with a horde of killer bees.

Donkey Kong was also antagonist of a very unsuccessful 3 episode anime series, which was aimed at children and ran from June 2 to August 19, 1985.

After Donkey Kong, Mario went on to become Nintendo's primary mascot, while Donkey Kong and his son were relegated to supporting roles and cameos. The 1994 Game Boy version of Donkey Kong marked his re-emergence as a major character. He was redesigned, appearing with a red necktie, which sometimes bears his initials, "DK".

A screenshot from the game, Donkey Kong Country. Donkey Kong is at the far left, following Diddy Kong as the player controls him.

Rare era

The 1994 Super Nintendo Entertainment System game Donkey Kong Country, developed by British game developer Rare was the beginning of a series. Despite his name being in the titles of both games, DK is the damsel-in-distress in the sequels Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, where he is captured by K. Rool. In these games, the player controls Dixie Kong and one of her fellow Kongs as they set out to rescue him. The Donkey Kong Country series also inspired the Donkey Kong Land series and a television series. In Donkey Kong 64, King K. Rool has driven a mechanical Crocodile Isle in front of DK Island after stealing all of Donkey Kong's bananas and friends.

Post-Rare era

Following Rare's departure from the series, Nintendo co-produced a trilogy of rhythm games with Namco for the Nintendo GameCube known as the Donkey Konga series, which were based on Namco's own Taiko: Drum Master, though only two of the series' games made it to America. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat was released on March 14, 2005 in North America for the GameCube. It depicted DK as being more violent than his original image and also used the bongo controllers. In October 2007, Donkey Kong Barrel Blast was released in North America for the Wii.

On handheld consoles, Donkey Kong was reunited with his former rival Mario in the 2004 Game Boy Advance game, Mario vs. Donkey Kong. A throwback to the Donkey Kong game for the Game Boy, Donkey Kong resumed his antagonist role from his earlier games by taking over the Mario Toy Company, upset over the lack of Mini-Mario toys available for purchase. The game was followed by a 2006 sequel titled Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, where Donkey Kong, who is infatuated with Pauline, kidnaps her and takes her to the roof of the Super Mini-Mario World amusement park when she ignores a Mini Donkey Kong toy in favor of a Mini-Mario. He also once again appeared as the antagonist in Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! and Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!. Aside from those, Donkey Kong appeared in DK King of Swing on the GBA around the time of Jungle Beat, and in its sequel, DK Jungle Climber, for the Nintendo DS. In the 2010 Wii game, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong get rid of the Tiki Tak Tribe, who appears on Donkey Kong Island and hypnotizes various creatures. In the 2014 Wii U game, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Donkey Kong sets out to get his home back from evil Vikings known as the Snowmads.

Other appearances

Every Mario Kart game has featured a version of Donkey Kong as a playable character. Super Mario Kart featured Donkey Kong Junior as a playable character. The adult Donkey Kong made his first appearance in the series with Mario Kart 64, and been in every game to date since.

In the Mario Party series, he was a playable character in all three titles released for the N64, and also Mario Party 4 for the GameCube, this one being his last playable appearance in the series. He eventually became an "event character" in the later games, making appearances as an incidental character on the game board. He made an appearance within Mario Party 8, once again as an incidental character on the game board. Donkey Kong also appears in Mario Party DS and in Mario Party 9 as a non-player character, though he came back as playable in Mario Party 10.

Donkey Kong and his son have had supporting roles in various Mario sports games. He appeared in the Virtual Boy game Mario's Tennis. Donkey Kong was also a selectable character in Mario Tennis, Mario Power Tennis, Mario Tennis: Power Tour and Mario Tennis Open. Donkey Kong is playable in Mario Golf, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour and Mario Golf: World Tour but not Mario Golf: Advance Tour. Donkey Kong featured in Super Mario Strikers for the GameCube and made his first appearance on the Wii within the title Mario Strikers Charged as a playable soccer captain. In Mario Super Sluggers, he appears as a captain again. Donkey Kong also appears in Mario Superstar Baseball. He made a playable appearance in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games and Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. He also appears in Mario Hoops 3-on-3 and Mario Sports Mix.

He is also playable in each Super Smash Bros. game. Donkey Kong appeared in Super Smash Bros. as the first character from the Donkey Kong series and had a stage called "Kongo Jungle", which was based on Donkey Kong Country. Both he and Kongo Jungle returned for the series second game, Super Smash Bros. Melee. In this game, he had two new stages called "Jungle Japes" and "Kongo Jungle", and a version of the "DK Rap" from Donkey Kong 64 serves as stage music for Kongo Jungle (the one difference in the lyrics being the word "heck" substituted from the word "hell"). He appeared once more in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, this time being joined by his sidekick Diddy Kong and three stages – "Jungle Japes" from Melee, "Rumble Falls" from Donkey Kong Jungle Beat,^[19] and "75m" from the original Donkey Kong game from 1981. Both Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong returned to the series in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, with Donkey Kong being among the first wave of amiibo released for the games. Jungle Japes from Melee returns in the 3DS version, and both Kongo Jungle from the original Super Smash Bros. and 75m from Brawl return in the Wii U version, along with a new stage called Jungle Hijinxs from Donkey Kong Country Returns. Along with Bowser, he is also a playable guest character in the Nintendo versions of Skylanders: SuperChargers. Super Mario Maker features Donkey Kong as a Mystery Mushroom costume.

The character has also made more incidental appearances. Two minor enemies in Super Mario RPG bear a striking resemblance to Donkey Kong. One of the enemies, named "Guerrilla", says "Don't confuse me with someone else," referring to DK. Both Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong, Jr. appear as minor antagonists in the Super Mario Bros.-based adventure book Doors to Doom. Donkey Kong was also featured on the Game & Watch Gallery handheld series and Tetris DS. In Yoshi's Island DS, Donkey Kong appears as "Baby DK", a younger version of himself, similar to Baby Mario. First appearing in World 2–1, most of his gameplay reflects Donkey Kong Jr., even featuring the Snapjaw enemies from the game. He has been seen in the audience of some games in the Punch-Out!! series. He also serves as the hidden opponent in 2009's Punch-Out!! on the Wii. During Rare's time, references were seen throughout Rare's games. In Banjo-Tooie, Bottle's daughter, Goggles, is seen holding a Donkey Kong plush doll. Also in the worker's quarters in Grunty's Industries, the DK logo is seen on the fridge.

Reception and legacy

Donkey Kong has been described as one of the most iconic mascots for Nintendo.^[20][21] In their 250th issue in January 2010, Nintendo Power ranked him as their eighth-favorite Nintendo hero, stating that while he is a somewhat goofy hero, he is decently good overall and an entertaining one. They also ranked him as their eighth-favorite Nintendo villain, joking that one should avoid him if he isn't wearing a tie.^[22] IGN criticized his tie, stating "DK needs a fashion makeover". They said that while he "used to be a working icon", "his status is starting to show signs of rust".^[23] 1UP.com listed him as the most "Gracelessly Aging Character", citing the fact that the original Donkey Kong from the arcade game eventually became Cranky Kong.^[24] IGN ranked him 5th in their "Top 100 Videogames Villains" list for his earlier appearances.^[25] UGO.com listed Donkey Kong seventh on their list of "The 25 Awesomest Hidden Characters" for his cameo appearance in Punch-Out!!.^[26] Empire also included him on their list of the 50 greatest video game characters, adding that he is "the worst named character in the history of gaming".^[27] The 2011 Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition lists Donkey Kong as the 33rd-most popular video game character.^[28] In 2012, GamesRadar ranked him as the 25th-best hero in video games.^[29]

See also

• List of Donkey Kong video games

References

External links

• Donkey Kong - Play Nintendo
• DK Vine
• Donkey Kong Wiki
• Donkey Kong at the Internet Movie Database