Donkey Kong (universe): Difference between revisions

|latestinstallment = ''{{s|mariowiki|Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Nintendo Switch)}}'' (2024)

In this seminal entry, then-innovative techniques were used to tell the on-screen story of how the stubborn pet gorilla of "Jumpman" the carpenter (who would later become iconically known as [[Mario]]) steals away his girlfriend, [[Pauline]], and it is up to the hero to save the damsel in distress. The game became an unprecedented critical and financial success for the company, especially in international markets where they previously struggled to get a foothold in. This caught the attention of Universal Pictures, the rightsholder of King Kong at the time, who sued Nintendo for copyright infringement. Nintendo won the case due to being different enough to avoid plagiarism, and this court case is still being used as precedent for infringement cases to this day.  

Some retrospectives express doubt on whether the success of ''Donkey Kong Country'' necessarily reflected the actual quality of the gameplay itself, but regardless Rare essentially became the sole shepherds of the Donkey Kong franchise during the rest of the 1990s, which included two sequels on the SNES: ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest}}'' in 1995, starring Diddy Kong and his newly introduced girlfriend {{s|mariowiki|Dixie Kong}}, and ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!}}'' in 1996, starring Dixie Kong and a gorilla toddler named {{s|mariowiki|Kiddy Kong}}, both of which were reviewed as improvements. All three ''Country'' games were each accompanied by their respective Game Boy counterparts, the ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Land}}'' games. This was a subseries of interquels translating the pre-rendered visuals of the SNES titles onto the original Game Boy. Moving into the [[Nintendo 64]] era, Rare would first develop ''{{s|mariowiki|Diddy Kong Racing}}'' in 1997; the game was retooled from an N64 reboot of the ''R.C. Pro-Am'' series and featured a host of original characters starring alongside Diddy Kong, some of which would later headline their own video game series. Following this, Rare released the first fully-3D ''Donkey Kong'' title, ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong 64}}'' in 1999, a game cut from a similar cloth to their previous work on {{uv|Banjo-Kazooie}}. Meanwhile, Donkey Kong's thoroughly established resurgence in the Nintendo lineup guaranteed he would forever appear in either starring or side-roles not only in future ''Mario'' spinoffs, but in the Nintendo crossover series ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' However, in September of 2002, Nintendo sold 100% of Rare's shares to [[Microsoft]] and left the ''Donkey Kong Country'' brand and characters under Nintendo's full ownership. Several games Rare was planning to develop, including ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Racing}}'' for [[Nintendo GameCube]], ''{{s|mariowiki|Diddy Kong Pilot}}'' and ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers}}'' for Game Boy Advance, were either retooled into different original titles or canceled outright, the first of which was unfinished before Rare was bought by Microsoft, while the last two had set release dates but ended up being unpublished. None of the Rare games except ''{{s|lylatwiki|Star Fox Adventures}}'' were showcased at E3 2002.

Throughout the 2000's, the mainline ''Donkey Kong'' series was on hiatus not unlike the buildup to Rare's SNES trilogy. This second hiatus for the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise came to an end when Texas developer [[Retro Studios]] was approached by Nintendo and Miyamoto to produce a new ''Donkey Kong Country'' game. Having concluded their saga with the original ''{{iw|metroidwiki|Metroid Prime}}'' trilogy, along with several core staff leaving the studio to pursue other interests, Retro jumped at the chance to revitalize another dormant Nintendo franchise. The result of these efforts was ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Country Returns}}'', a return to the side-scrolling gameplay style of the ''Donkey Kong Country'' games released for the Wii in 2010. Critical reception to this game was incredibly positive, with points of praise going to the level design and challenge while criticism was aimed at the sometimes disruptive motion controls. A port of ''Returns'' by Monster Games was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2013 featuring an easier difficulty option and additional exclusive levels. Following the Wii version's success, Retro Studios felt there were many opportunities to seize on with a sequel on more powerful hardware. As such a direct sequel, ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze}}'', was released for the Wii U in February 2014. Reception was far stronger to ''Tropical Freeze'' than it was to ''Returns'', with points of praise going to the more ingenious level design, impressive visuals, and musical score by original series composer David Wise. The game was re-released for the Nintendo Switch in May 2018 with a new easier difficulty and featuring Funky Kong as a playable character. Since the Switch port's release, Retro Studios has no plans for a third ''Donkey Kong Country'' game as the team has since shifted focus to developing ''Metroid Prime 4'' for the Nintendo Switch.

*[[File:PastKongoJungleIconSSBM.png|right|link=Kongo Jungle (SSB)]] {{gameIcon|SSB}}'''[[Past Stages]]: {{SSB|Kongo Jungle}}''' ([[Unlockable stage|Unlockable]]): The original Congo Jungle stage from ''Super Smash Bros.'' is one of three such stages to have been ported to ''Melee''; besides a correctly spelled name, it is seemingly an exact replica of the stage, with a slightly larger size and a slight delay to the launch process of the Barrel Cannon that is underneath the stage.{{clr}}

''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'' debuts the second playable character from the ''Donkey Kong'' series; these two characters occupy a column on the game's roster shared with the stars of the other two ''Mario'' subseries, {{SSBB|Yoshi}} and {{SSBB|Wario}}, which neighbors the column devoted to the core ''Mario'' series itself. {{SSBB|Diddy Kong}} and [[Dixie Kong]] were originally planned to be a tag-team fighter and the player would have been able to swap between the two during battle like in ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest}}''. However, this idea was scrapped due to technical issues and Diddy Kong was left as a solo fighter.<ref>http://www.geocities.jp/bgrtype/gsl/words2/dairantosmabrax/smashbrothersx.html</ref>

*'''{{b|Hammer|item}}''' (battering): A large mallet from the original ''{{iw|mariowiki|Donkey Kong|game}}''. The player who picks it up enters a state of constantly swinging it, inflicting damage to opponents who make contact with its head. However, the '''Hammerhead''' occasionally falls off, leaving the user vulnerable as they swing a useless stick. Other players can pick up the Hammerhead and throw it as a powerful projectile. The length of the attack is much shorter than it was in ''Melee'' and ''Brawl''.