- For Donkey Kong series related info, see his page in the Donkey Kong Wiki
Donkey Kong (sometimes abbreviated to DK) is the first Mario antagonist who premiered along side Mario (then called Jumpman) in Donkey Kong on the arcade. He later starred in the Mario series games which depicted him as a protagonist, though he remains a featured character in Mario spin-off games and in several Mario adventure and puzzle games, notably Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Yoshi's Island DS and Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis.
Creation and conception
Donkey Kong's name came from the his creator Shigeru Miyamoto who believed "donkey" meant "stupid" in English and assumed the name would show the sense "Stupid Ape" to the American audience. Some say, that the Donkey Kong story may be based on King Kong, adding Mario as the hero.
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong's first appearance (un-chronologically) was in the Arcade game of the same name, where he was the main villain. In the game Donkey Kong made off with Mario's girlfriend Pauline, and carried her to the top of a high construction site. He was pursued by Mario, and attacked him by throwing Barrels and creating living Fireballs. He was eventually pursued to the top of the construction site, where Mario caused the bars supporting him to crash, sending him to the ground. However, this could be Cranky Kong going by the name of "Donkey Kong".
Donkey Kong tried to kidnap Pauline yet again in the Gameboy game Donkey Kong '94, this time accompanied by his son Donkey Kong Jr.. Donkey Kong's tactics in this game remained virtually the same, he attacked mainly by throwing a variety of objects at the hero.
It is still speculated exactly why Donkey Kong tried to kidnap Pauline, while some sources say that he took her in revenge against Mario (who had abused him) others (perhaps trying to show Mario in a more favorable light) say that Donkey Kong fell in love with the damsel-in-distress.
Donkey Kong Junior
Donkey Kong took the role of damsel-in-distress during Donkey Kong Jr.. In this game, Mario actually kidnapped Donkey Kong perhaps to keep him from from kidnapping Pauline and stood guard next to his cage with a whip. In the end Donkey Kong Jr. arrived and defeated Mario to free Donkey Kong.
Donkey Kong 3
In Donkey Kong 3 Donkey Kong was a main villain once again, although this time he did not fight Mario (who had gone on to star in his own series, and would not meet with Donkey Kong again until much later). In this game, Donkey Kong has gone on a rampage inside a greenhouse and a local exterminator called Stanley the Bugman was called in to defeat him (along with other bugs destroying plants in the greenhouse). Donkey Kong would use a system of ropes to lower himself to the greenhouse floor. When he reaches the floor, the game ends and Donkey Kong is able to destroy the rest of the greenhouse. After Stanley sprays Donkey Kong with insecticide three times to keep him off the greenhouse floor, he runs away.
Post-Arcade, Pre-Rare
All the DK arcade games were ported to the NES. But Donkey Kong and DK Junior were thrown back into supporting roles for a long time, most notably, Super Mario Kart. However in 1994, Nintendo released a Gameboy re-make of Donkey Kong, The only notable difference between the versions is Donkey Kong's now famous necktie he sports.
Rareware era
The 1994 Super NES game Donkey Kong Country made by British game developer Rare marked a turning point for Donkey Kong by creating a new setting (Donkey Kong Island) and back-story for the character.
In the Donkey Kong Country series, it is implied that the current Donkey Kong is the grandson of the original Donkey Kong from the arcade game, who has become a bitter, elderly ape named Cranky Kong. This Donkey Kong is portrayed as a powerful, yet lazy and laid-back ape who was more interested in lounging than heroics, and as such was constantly vilified by Cranky and his peers. The series introduced a sidekick for Donkey: his hyperactive friend, Diddy, and DK's crocodilian archenemy, King K. Rool.
Despite his name being in the titles of both games, DK is not the protagonist in the sequel Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest nor Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!. Instead he is captured by K. Rool, while the player controls different Kongs who have set out to rescue him. The Donkey Kong Country series also inspired the Donkey Kong Land trilogy and a television series.
Donkey Kong 64 for the Nintendo 64 would be the last platform game developed by Rare starring Donkey Kong. The modern Donkey Kong supplanted Junior's role in the Mario Kart series from Mario Kart 64. In addition, DK became a regular playable character in the Mario sports series and other spinoffs such as Mario Party and Super Smash Bros.
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. DK Jungle Beat was released on March 14, 2005 in North America for the Gamecube. DKJB served as his main platforming adventure on the GCN and depicted DK as being more violent than his original image. It also used the bongos. In October 2007, Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast was released in North America for the Wii. However, the game was going to be on the GameCube. The game was panned by critics but was loved by fans of the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy due to its inclusion of characters, art, locations, and items from the trilogy. Many believe Barrel Blast to be the equivalent of the Donkey Kong Racing, a game that was planned but never came out due to restrictions of the Rare departure. Donkey Kong also has had a space in every console version of Mario Party since Mario Party 5, as well as being playable in some of the earlier games of the series.
Meanwhile on the handhelds, Donkey Kong was reunited with his former rival Mario in the 2004 Game Boy Advance game titled Mario vs. Donkey Kong. A throwback to the Donkey Kong title 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. Aside from those, DK King of Swing on the GBA was released by Paon around the time of DKJB, and its sequel, Donkey Kong Jungle Climber for the DS, was released in America on the 10th of September. Jungle Climber took the gameplay of its predecessor, KoS, and mixed it with the style, locations, and items of the Donkey Kong Country trilogy.
Other Appearances
In 1999, he was one of the first to appear in the successful game and eventually series Super Smash Brothers. He has been an obvious candidate to return to all games in the Smash Bros. series for almost 10 years. The stories of these games never really meant anything so therefore his involvement was nothing special but that was about to change.
Donkey as seen in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Donkey Kong returned to the Super Smash Bros. series in Super Smash Bros. Brawl with a new stage based on the look of Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat and Donkey Kong's Final Smash is Konga Beat which is based on the DK Bongos.[2] In the Subspace Emissary, the single-player adventure mode, Donkey Kong, along with Diddy, are chasing after the Koopas and Goombas that stole their bananas in an attempt to retrieve them. A surprisingly violent side of Donkey Kong is shown in the opening cutscene in a brief scene where DK pounds a Koopa Troopa into the ground (making it appear he crushes its shell). When they confront Bowser, the leader of the Koopas, Bowser attempts to turn Diddy into a trophy, but DK punches Diddy out of the way and takes the shot himself. DK is a playable character in most Mario Party games, until 7, in which he becomes in charge of DK spaces. In 7 these bring a DK related mini-game, but in Mario party 8 landing on a DK space gives an advantage (ie. a chance for a free star). Donkey Kong also appears as one of the challengers Little Mac has to fight in the Nintendo Wii version of Punch-Out!!
Trivia
- In "Super Smash Brothers Brawl", the current Donkey Kong is revealed to be the original one's grandfather in a conversation by CODEC between Solid Snake and Otacon.
Donkey Kong Controversy
The Donkey Kong Controversy is a controversy involving the background of Donkey Kong, Cranky Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and Baby Donkey Kong. The controversy started with Donkey Kong Country in 1994 when the character Cranky Kong whom is said by Rareware (the company that was developing the Donkey Kong series at the time) to be the star of the original Donkey Kong games. Years later during the release of Donkey Kong 64 Cranky Kong calls Donkey Kong his Son which then created the connection making it seem that the current Donkey Kong is a grown up version of Donkey Kong Jr. and the original Donkey Kong is grown old into becoming Cranky Kong. This also explained Donkey Kong Junior's absence in games after Donkey Kong Country. Donkey Kong Junior did make an appearance in Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64 alongside the current Donkey Kong but this is likely not meant to be considered canon due to Mario appearing alongside Baby Mario in that game as well. When Yoshi's Island DS was released a few new baby versions of characters debuted in this title which one was Baby Donkey Kong. Baby Donkey Kong is likely to be the baby version of Cranky Kong due to him being closer to Mario's age. The only issue is that Baby Donkey Kong bears a closer resemblance to the current heroic Donkey Kong rather than the barbaric one shown in the original arcade game. Since Rareware originally created this fact and they are now longer in control of the Donkey Kong series it is currently unknown if Nintendo keeps this fact in consideration of what there view on the situation is.