My longest editorial in 2022 was a dour retrospective of Sonic the Hedgehog 4’s misleading marketing campaign. In 2024, I swung in the opposite direction and reminisced over Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s delightful daily blog updates. Another two years have passed, so it’s time I pen another retrospective. What video game hype cycle to cover, though? This industry has supplied us with a wide array of memorable ones, from the aggravating to the thrilling.
Image: Source Gaming. Full disclosure: Donkey Kong is my favorite Nintendo property after the Cing canon. This rundown’s gonna sound defensive!
Well, the choice was obvious: Donkey Kong Bananza’s. Unlike my last two subjects, Bananza’s hype cycle is fresh; today’s the one-year anniversary of the game’s release. A few friends have told me I’m a harsh critic, but I sincerely prefer to spread positivity; this is an outlet to gush about a vibrant franchise and its vital 2025 installment (though, admittedly, we’ll unearth negativity doing so). Most importantly, this is an opportunity to tell a compelling tale. Bananza is the cumulation of its star’s storied, strange history—so let’s start from the beginning…
1981 to 2002: The Golden Banana Years
Shigeru Miyamoto’s 1981 arcade classic Donkey Kong was revolutionary, laying the foundation for what evolved into the platformer genre. It secured Nintendo’s place in the industry, and its hero and baddie, Mario and the titular gorilla, became household names. Flipping the script, Donkey Kong Jr. of the following year introduced a new frontman whose plight painted the primates in a sympathetic light. Then, a twist: Mario abandoned the Kongs to headline 1983’s Mario Bros., leading to his meteoric rise as Nintendo’s mascot. Sure, Donkey Kong 3 hit that same year, but it was a mechanical departure that left little impact.
Image: Source Gaming. I wasn’t alive during the series’ quarter-guzzling heyday, though I venerate it. Nevertheless, it doesn’t star “my” DK. As a tyke, I was hanging out at a friend’s house one lazy afternoon when I first laid eyes on a Super NES…
While Donkey Kong never outright retired, he wasn’t at the forefront of the Nintendo empire, eclipsed by his frenemy and upstarts like The Legend of Zelda’s Link. Until 1994, that is, when British developer Rare’s illustrious Donkey Kong Country reinvented the property. Aging up the arcade headliner was a bold move, one that let his “totally new” successor inherit the mantle. Needless to say, Country was wildly successful, expanded Donkey Kong’s world, and the franchise was part of the zeitgeist again. It’d retain that status for eight years.
2002 to 2010: Donkey Dormancy
I was about twelve. The internet was this exciting, nascent playground full of like-minded eccentrics. Through it I began to realize that games didn’t magically phase into existence; people toil away making them! And I remember the shock I felt when I read that industry newcomer Microsoft purchased Rare in 2002, ending their partnership with Nintendo (though they kept developing games for Nintendo’s handhelds until 2008, kindly). Y’know, the union that spawned the Country and Land trilogies, Diddy Kong Racing, and Donkey Kong 64—alongside several unrelated titles. Hey, many of those were fun! Why didn’t Nintendo secure Rare when they had the chance? That thought bitterly refused to leave my head for years, and the buyout went on to inform online Donkey Kong discourse for even longer.
Image: Nintendo. During the Aughts, several critics—including Nintendo’s—and forum-goers called Country “overrated.” Misinformation spread claiming Miyamoto and Nintendo EPD Tokyo (then-EAD Tokyo) disliked it, causing fans to spurn Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, their GameCube flop. ‘Twas an awkward decade.
To be clear, the Aughts gave us cool stuff! DK: King of Swing is charming, and most prefer its sequel. Despite its flaws, I got a lotta mileage out of Diddy Kong Racing DS. I ultimately found Jungle Beat a theatrical, energetic experience. While I was bummed Dixie Kong and King K. Rool skipped Brawl, Diddy Kong’s inclusion was a highlight amongst its lofty hype cycle. (Plus, Rare still made neat things, a handful of which homaged the Kongs.) To my pals, however, Donkey Kong was an inessential extension of Mario who starred in tacky slogs while padding out rosters in his spin-offs. That wasn’t an entirely unfair conclusion to reach, truthfully. Then-Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé even had concerns that the peripheral-powered Donkey Konga would devalue the brand.
Only once Donkey Kong Country Returns arrived in 2010 did a sense of stability set in again. “If you listen, you can hear it coming,” Fils-Aimé proudly teased during its unveiling. One of Nintendo’s most acclaimed teams, Retro Studios—y’know, the Metroid Prime peeps—were on it! Everyone seemed excited! Unsurprisingly, Returns became a franchise-defining success whose Wii U sequel, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, was unveiled in 2013.
Image: Source Gaming. Fans and platforming connoisseurs warmly embraced 2014’s Tropical Freeze. Retro re-released it on the infinitely more popular Nintendo Switch four years later, benefiting it immensely.
Reception to its announcement among the larger gaming coalition was ice cold. Cries that Retro was being wasted on “another damn Donkey Kong Country” rang loudly. Many opined that Metroid would’ve saved the stillborn Wii U! Now, I dislike drudging this “drama” up, especially since I adore Metroid! After 2010’s disastrously received Other M, I understood the desire for a return to form. A perception that Nintendo had already published a glut of platformers also took hold; why another so soon? Moreover, I get why Retro’s then-recent hires, including a Naughty Dog alum, raised hopes that their next undertaking would be more “mature” or “ambitious” than a second side-scroller starring some second banana. Fairly or not, folks expected a “prestige” title that’d rival The Last of Us, Sony’s 2013 critical darling. This was a tumultuous period for Nintendo; everyone wanted the Wii U to find a killer app.
Even ignoring that context, however, an acerbic backlash to Tropical Freeze was probably inevitable. Enthusiast spaces aren’t the best gauge of what the public thinks, though vocal forum-goers clearly didn’t respect Donkey Kong (presumably, they weren’t around for its glory days). They seemingly expected Returns to be a one-off, and Retro choosing to follow it up so soon was the “safe” option. After Rare’s portable Country remakes, Returns was the only game that built momentum for the monkeys since 2002. It wasn’t enough to override this unflattering perception of the franchise.
Image: Nintendo. Producer Kensuke Tanabe admitted that he wished they did more with the Animal Buddies, the series’ steeds. Cool, sequels to Tropical Freeze will tackle that… right?
As the years passed, an uncomfortable truth grew impossible for Donkey Kong fans to ignore: he was homeless again. Retro moved on, unsuccessfully working on an original property before inheriting Metroid Prime 4. And that speaks to the franchise’s underlying problem since 2002. Studios are dedicated to, say, Mario and Zelda, ensuring they enjoy steady releases. Meanwhile, this unlucky lug was sadly entering another hiatus.
…Sorta.
2018 to 2021: Hearing Things Through The DK Grapevine
Onlookers and even some fans believed Donkey Kong was hibernating or “dead” between 2014 and 2025. Most people don’t monitor every facet of a multimedia franchise, understandably, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Considering the circumstances, 2018 was actually a banger year for him!
Image: Ubisoft. According to Hyle Russell of DK Vine, Nintendo had “a multi-faceted plan” to “rebuild [Donkey Kong] into one of their core intellectual properties.” Signs were everywhere.
Most of those were significant wins! But I understand why they went undercelebrated; casual consumers weren’t gonna notice or care that a Kong calendar lacked a Mario trademark. Curiously, Mario spin-offs also started dedicating less space to the apes; Diddy’s absence in Mario Kart 8 confused many (and was eventually rectified through its Switch port’s decade-later DLC). To the layman, the series’ standing wasn’t being elevated much.
Image: Nintendo. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate gained a Mii hat modeled after Dixie, echoing the costume K. Rool nabbed in the previous games. Rare stablemates Krystal and, later, Banjo & Kazooie scored screentime, too. Perhaps the Smash Ballot, the outlet through which fans voted for our favorite characters, taught Nintendo how popular they are?
However, 2018 yielded one of the fandom’s happiest memories this side of Returns: K. Rool crashed Ultimate, a monumental, validating victory! Smash auteur Masahiro Sakurai outright said he performed well in the Ballot! According to Russell, Nintendo was surprised by K. Rool’s popularity, though not out of distaste for him. Supposedly, Retro wanted to include the monarch as a bonus boss in the Tropical Freeze port, but Nintendo’s suits decided to reserve his comeback for Smash, to accentuate its impact.
And though its roller coaster and hot dog stand were still a distant promise, it was an open secret that Nintendo and Universal were planning a Donkey Kong theme park, another massive milestone! At the risk of sounding dismissive, this alone should’ve allayed fears for the franchise’s future. Nintendo wouldn’t invest millions in such an endeavor on a whim.
Image: Source Gaming. DK’s nostrils were enlarged in the Tropical Freeze re-release, a subtle harbinger for a bigger makeover to come.
Even that euphoria couldn’t last forever, however. A 2021 calendar cameo aside, K. Rool was stuck in the Smash Bros. bubble. Given the dearth of original Donkey Kong media, he had no way to reappear in his home franchise—creating a loop where Donkey Kong merch couldn’t readily incorporate him. Was the creep’s comeback a one-off for the crossover? Some nervously started wondering.
Which speaks to an issue with Retro’s minimalistic approach: Donkey Kong’s cast was paltry, unexciting. Fictional characters don’t inherently “deserve” anything, but it was ironic that relatively little Kong iconography returned in Returns (though it retained more than Jungle Beat, thankfully). In 2010, I accepted that because reestablishing the IP’s prominence was the main priority, and I expected sequels would gradually bring back older elements. Sadly, Tropical Freeze wound up Retro’s only avenue to address the latter. For as optimistic as I was that more oldies would yet reemerge, it grows tiring seeing the same few faces for eleven years, especially when contemporaries like Mario and Sonic dutifully celebrate their casts. Donkey Kong flaunts a fun, unique world; Nintendo should be proud of it.
Image: Source Gaming. Perhaps they were starting to agree? The centerpiece in 2017’s Super Mario Odyssey was New Donk City, an incredible level that venerates Donkey Kong.
Waiting years for a video game when you’re an adult isn’t a big deal; you have a wealth of responsibilities and less free time. When the itch for Donkey Kong arose, I’d replay the classics, express my love for them through my writing, or try one of the dozens of games they inspired. Skimming social media, I saw plenty of fans—younger ones, I assume—growing impatient for something, anything. Our collective imaginations soon started stirring…
2021 to 2025: The Cusp of a Kong Comeback
Rumors spread across the web like wildfire. Most are malarky. Historically, a Donkey Kong “leak” also wouldn’t accrue the attention of, say, a Smash Bros. one. An eye-catching rumor began brewing near the start of the Twenties, though: one of Nintendo’s Japanese teams was helming a new Donkey Kong, the first since Jungle Beat. Only diehards were initially privy; when Russell was giddy over what the future held, he’d tease it. Eventually, the story picked up steam; Nintendo Life reported that their namesake was developing a 2D Donkey Kong.
Image: Activision. By 2021, Donkey Kong wasn’t in a bad position—but he was in a weird, unprecedented position, where he was netting virtually everything except a new, standalone adventure.
Well, some sources said 2D; others claimed 3D. Job listings provided no clarification! Nintendo EPD Tokyo—the studio behind Jungle Beat and most 3D Super Mario excursions, including Odyssey—was hiring for a 2D and a 3D project. Plus, EPD 10, the side-scrolling Super Mario studio, was also hiring for a 2D title! Was one of these projects of pertinence to the ape? Russell claimed a new team within EPD, one full of young Donkey Kong fans, spun off from Odyssey’s. Popular podcast host NateTheHate similarly heard that the Odyssey team specifically wasn’t behind this endeavor.
Making the story juicer was the notion that this Donkey Kong was born from the ashes of a canceled one! Here’s a rundown: Activision subsidiary Vicarious Visions was tinkering on a 3D Donkey Kong prototype following Skylanders: SuperChargers, a Wii U venture that included the gorilla as a guest. It fell through, and since Miyamoto sought stability for his beloved brand, Nintendo brought it in-house around—surprise—2018.
Image: Source Gaming. While Vicarious Visions’ “Freedom” pitch wouldn’t necessarily influence EPD, it sparked hope that a new 3D DK wasn’t some outlandish dream.
Naturally, people debated the rumors’ veracity. Would Nintendo risk sidelining Mario, their main man? Was Donkey Kong really receiving a second 3D outing, especially since his first is… polarizing, to put it charitably (as much as I like Rare, their oeuvre is hardly flawless)? Skepticism grew when E3 2021 passed without an ape appearance. For whatever it’s worth, I believed in “MonkEPD,” as fans affectionately dubbed it. From 2018 onward, there was too much smoke for a fire not to be brewing. What would MonkEPD entail, though? Was Donkey Kong gonna score its coveted “Breath of the Wild moment?”
We’d wait four more years for answers to those questions, but only four months for our next bombshell: Donkey and Cranky Kong were gracing The Super Mario Bros. Movie, respectively voiced by Seth Rogen and Fred Armisen! “Even though this is a Mario movie, Donkey Kong will also be making an appearance,” Miyamoto announced, reinforcing that they’re distinct IPs despite a shared lineage. Our first glimpse of the simian was a shocker, too—he received a makeover, one Miyamoto happily drew attention towards while belatedly commemorating the franchise’s fortieth anniversary. Sorry to beat a dead horse, but when do “dead” franchises garner this much fanfare?
Image: Illumination. The Super Mario Bros. Movie includes a handful of DK’s buddies and the iconic “DK Rap.” Shame its composer, Grant Kirkhope, wasn’t credited, though.
Unsurprisingly, the 2023 film was a commercial triumph. Using it to nakedly promote the primates paid off handsomely, too. Capitalizing on its Mario / DK feud, Nintendo published a remake of Mario vs. Donkey Kong, the 2004 puzzle-platformer, in 2024. More importantly, rumors assert a Donkey Kong film is coming! Rogan once admitted he wanted one based on Country. I suspect he’ll get his wish.
While fans were still hungry for a new Donkey Kong, it finally had a steady stream of content again. The Nintendo Museum memorializes it. Universal’s Donkey Kong Country attraction opened in Japan at the end of 2024, Florida’s equivalent arrived the following May, and a synergistic Returns remaster released between them in January (and an update earlier this year spruced it up considerably). Nintendo promoted Returns HD through an event in Tetris 99, their battle royale game. When the 2026 calendar was unveiled, we saw that, yeah, DK’s redesign is sticking—his new handlers are embracing him as their own! Folks were noticing Nintendo’s resuscitated simian; when did, say, Saturday Night Live last humor the primates?
Image: Source Gaming. To clarify, Retro’s duology is fantastic! It’s just a pity they were reluctant to utilize more of Country’s iconography, to the point where finding Cranky’s gramophone in Tropical Freeze was a treat. Similar deal for spotting Dixie’s Rare-era guitar in her LEGO set.
Our first look at the Nintendo Switch 2 coincided with Donkey Kong Country Returns HD’s release, overshadowing it. And yet… the big guy still wound up the talk of the town! A glimpse of his cheerier veneer in the new Mario Kart took many aback (admittedly, acclimating to it took me a while). We’d see more of them soon, too, because a Switch 2 Direct was airing in three months! What was gonna be the machine’s other must-have…?
2025 Onward: Oh, Bananza!
Typically, Donkey Kong releases in the back half of a console’s lifespan. Giving the franchise a new entry within the Switch 2’s launch window, however, would convey Nintendo’s confidence in it. Well, guess what: Donkey Kong Bananza was the Direct’s “one more thing,” and we’d only have a three-month wait for it (and a two-month one for the system and Mario Kart World)!
Image: Source Gaming. We’d later learn that fellow heroes Diddy and Dixie received some design tweaks, too.
Questions and concerns swirled. Was the Odyssey-coded Bananza by EPD Tokyo? What’d that mean for Mario? I saw a few speculate—pray, really—that Bananza was simply a side project à la Bowser’s Fury or Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. It was still inconceivable to some that the jungle king would receive the royal treatment. Most, however, seemed excited for Bananza.
Only one familiar face graced its reveal trailer, though: the banana-lover himself. Tense oldbies recalled the disconnected Jungle Beat, and I tried to calm their concerns as more nods to the series trickled out. The Nintendo Today! app unveiled Cranky, who then crashed the Treehouse Live playthroughs. Reliable rhino Rambi accompanied him. Even our first look at Bananza contained a Gnawty collectible and ACM-style palm trees, aspects from Country that seemed long buried. Another pleasing detail was only noticed a few weeks afterwards: the Underground World’s maps sport the overworld of the oft-overlooked Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! Nintendo’s Korean branch accidentally spoiled Odd Rock’s identity (causing some to fear Rare’s lore would be retconned), though the publisher continually divulged nuggets on Bananza.
Image: Source Gaming. Even Bananza’s font (probably unintentionally) honors the series and raised questions regarding its developer. Some noted that Next Level Games’ titles employ a similar font, while placing portraits within the dialogue is a Super Mario staple.
Bananza deals with Donkey Kong diving down a subterranean realm à la Journey to the Center of the Earth alongside a new buddy, Odd Rock; think Cappy and the 3D Mario companions. Fans avidly speculated what surprises awaited them, with many theorizing that Bananza would resurrect K. Rool and the Kremlings, citing the strange Crockoid skeletons and Cranky’s ambiguous rants. Was he babbling about Void Kong, the new villain? Despite the fervor surrounding the crocodile, however, people were enchanted by the smug VoidCo. CEO and his underlings—finally, new enemies with charisma!
Nintendo hosted a Donkey Kong Bananza Direct, the second one dedicated to the ape after his park’s! Hey, that purple boulder is actually a teenage Pauline! Diddy and Dixie were in! Same for the beloved bramble backdrops of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest! We got a healthy look at Donkey Kong’s new moves, “Bananza” transformations, and the plot.
Image: Source Gaming. Thematically, it’s impressive how tight Bananza is: it’s about mining, DK’s abilities toy with the terrain, he dresses appropriately, and the collectibles are fossils and treasure. Amoral excavator Void provides a phenomenal foil.
A boon to a three-month hype cycle is that gorilla sightings were everywhere soon. Trains bore his mug. Nintendo of Europe offered pre-order bundles. The Nintendo Store snagged Bananza merch. My Nintendo hosted a sweepstakes. Nintendo Switch Online highlighted Bananza through profile pictures and Tetris 99. Commercials aired. Interviews with the developers—many of whom, yes, worked on Odyssey; Bananza’s an EPD joint—elevated our anticipation. We were finally getting a Donkey Kong-branded amiibo and, likewise, a Donkey Kong game that used amiibo! Even Super Mario Run ran a Bananza tie-in. Considering Nintendo’s ambitions for the apes, it isn’t surprising they spared no expense; a licensing expo positioned the genial gorilla alongside Mario and Zelda!
And Nintendo’s reaping rewards for their efforts! Donkey Kong Bananza is selling well, currently exceeding 4 million units. Living up to its pedigree, Bananza’s a hit critically. It was even voted “Best Family Game” at The Game Awards, beating the Switch 2 bestseller Mario Kart World.
Image: Source Gaming. Music’s another massive part of Bananza (it inspired a “special release” on Nintendo Music)—and, really, the entire franchise. The anxious Pauline hopes to become a singer and discovers inner harmony as the duo digs deeper.
Now, Nintendo still wants to keep a lid on Bananza’s twists. Anyone reading this is assuredly aware of the big one; it’s dutifully detailed across numerous Wikis, YouTube, and social media. Avoiding it by this point would’ve only been possible if you were trapped underground! But I’ll respect their wishes for now. I will say, however, that I was grinning ear-to-ear descending the Underground World. As my colleague Wolfman explained in his Bananza review, Donkey Kong’s an archeologist who’s excavating his own history. Several other callbacks lurk the subterranean realm; to quote Russell’s review, such “blatant fan service” is “something that Donkey Kong aficionados haven’t experienced in quite some time.” I’ve seen some argue the “punchformer” could’ve just as easily been a Wario romp. Surface level similarities aside, I vehemently disagree; Bananza is a Donkey Kong shindig down to its very core.
And its hype cycle technically hasn’t ended yet! Mostly, that’s thanks to its DK Island & Emerald Rush DLC. A surprise September reveal (that inspired additional NSO avatars), it serves as an epilogue to the base game. Plus, Emerald Rush rewards skilled players with statues modeled after Donkey Kong’s extended cast, and new pairs are cycled in regularly. Assuming none of the core Layers repeat, only so many waves are left. Will Winky or Squitter accompany Zebra Bananza? Will Swanky get snubbed, like usual? These aren’t questions asked outside the fandom, but Bananza nevertheless conveys how vast Donkey Kong’s universe is. Moreover, Bananza is part of the DK Challenge NSO event and a Super Mario Bros. 40 collaboration; both last until September 1. It’s an option in the “Choose Your Game Bundle.” Nintendo even commemorated its anniversary through a Today! animation and Nintendo Music—with the latter bearing a spoiler warning, naturally. They’re striving to keep Bananza in the conversation. After all, it is the Switch 2’s “real heavy hitter,” to quote my peer Phanah Daiyaluun.
Kong-clusion
Image: Source Gaming. It’s totally okay if you don’t adore DK! But it felt like the fallout from the Rare buyout emboldened its harshest detractors to lambast it two decades ago.
In the Aughts, I was an insecure teen who simply wanted Donkey Kong to get its flowers. Why is it always a struggle for “my” platforming series to celebrate itself, to score the same reverence its peers widely enjoyed? For example, facing fresh threats periodically is fantastic, but Bowser’s rightfully never in danger of losing his crown as Mario’s arch-enemy. Meanwhile, people told me K. Rool’s unimportant, unoriginal, and unlikable. Not everyone’s gonna like him, of course. Why does his inclusion constantly need to be justified, though? He’s an entertaining and, yes, essential and esteemed part of his series! I shed that insecurity as I aged; I proudly like what I like. But Donkey Kong still needed consistency and confidence, not incessant reboots. Today, we’re worlds apart from those woes.
No other franchise has a similar tale to tell. On paper, it’s bizarre—and, yes, disappointing—that it took Donkey Kong over a decade to headline a new, standalone game. The entire Splatoon trilogy released therein; that window spans four presidential administrations. Kids who played Tropical Freeze in 2014 are graduating school and starting their careers. I joined Source Gaming in 2016, and got my start blogging two years beforehand; eleven of the twelve years I’ve been a writer were spent waiting for one of my childhood favorites to return… again. Other Nintendo franchises have suffered setbacks; many are in worse positions. We’re never getting another Time Twist. And Donkey Kong was always present in ways that, say, F-Zero wasn’t, a privilege I never took for granted.
Image: Source Gaming. Really, Donkey Kong fans aren’t adverse to new ideas! We simply want a healthy mix of old with the new, a thread Mario usually needles delicately.
Some of my friends talk about how “random” Nintendo is, but a through line often powers their actions; 2018 alone proved Donkey Kong was happy and healthy. Nintendo’s never abandoning an icon of his stature, especially when Miyamoto champions him! Moreover, the company is open to reviving dormant properties. Consider Cing; upon their closure in 2010, I dolefully accepted their IPs were “dead” barring an occasional Smash cameo. Against my wildest wishes, the right opportunity arose and Nintendo published a remake of the Another Code duology two years ago! This industry is grueling and logistically complicated; Nintendo owns too many properties to tend to ‘em all at once. Maintain a level head, though. And keep your ears peeled! If Nintendo’s giving a franchise attention, something might be coming.
Our drought couldn’t have ended on a happier note, either! Admittedly, I wasn’t sure what I expected out of MonkEPD before its reveal. I was similarly unsure what I thought of Bananza after its reveal! The Mario energy it exuded was comforting, but that series has its own tone and strengths; I had mild concerns that Bananza might hue too closely to them. Mostly, that stemmed from its googly-eyed rock denizens, who might look cozier roaming Mario’s or Banjo-Kazooie’s wonderlands than the Kongs’ naturalistic islands. But EPD Tokyo never released a bad game, so I was excited to give their latest a shot. Besides, channeling adventure fiction was a very Rare move, and the inclusion of roll jumping, a Country staple, thrilled me; there were reasons to be optimistic that EPD “got” the gorilla. And while I prefer 2D to 3D platformers, the fruit foodie already had a side-scrolling revival that defined him for a decade; a second wouldn’t grab people’s attention.
Image: Source Gaming. Donkey Kong Bananza is a groundbreaking triumph that pushes its series and genre forward while lionizing their legacies. Plus, the punchformer finally gives the mammal a novel, satisfying 3D gameplay template to build upon.
Moreover, Bananza and Emerald Rush fulfill what I’ve wanted out of Donkey Kong since 2002: affirmation that every facet of it “matters.” Their DK Island recreation honors the DK64 overworld and tucks away cute surprises. Seeing a screenshot of Donkey Kong Country 2’s level clear target made me audibly gasp! That’s my second favorite game of all time, and it usually lurks in its predecessor’s shadow! Yet here it is, immortalized. Standing statues of Pauline, Fredrik, and my second favorite Animal Buddy together is heartening. Tiny and Wrinkly Kong’s event name-drops Barrel Blast, the maligned Wii racer that was nevertheless the only time their modern designs appeared together. Even Kiddy Kong’s getting his due next month! Donkey Kong’s found an adoring home.
Today, the franchise is flourishing in ways it hasn’t since the 90s. Maybe even more so! Games, movies, merch, and an amusement park power it! Even niceties like the Nintendo Alarmo and Today! themes imply the gorilla ranks among Ninty’s top dogs again. Remember when Donkey Kong missed out on the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate countdown? I suspect such exclusions are a thing of the past.
Image: DK Vine. Making Bananza even sweeter is how it coincided with Rare’s ruby anniversary, a minestrone marred by sweeping layoffs across Microsoft’s studios—that, horrifically, haven’t ceased. Parading Rare’s work proves its worth while introducing it to a new audience.
Nintendo’s ensured Donkey Kong will attract new fans perennially. With a little luck, it’ll never skip another hardware generation! Some disappointment to any game reveal is inevitable, and I’ve admittedly spent less time on social media lately. From what I’ve seen, though, the reaction from those who wanted Super Mario at the Switch 2 unveiling seemed substantially less aggressive than the Metroid outbursts of yore. Hopefully those ordeals are behind us. And not everyone, DK devotee or otherwise, likes Donkey Kong Bananza. That’s fine; hopefully its critics will enjoy his next adventure. But I hope we can all appreciate Bananza’s strengths and what it means for the big guy.
What’s next for Donkey Kong is still a mystery, but his future is looking as bright as a Kongo Jungle sunset.
Image: DK Vine. To paraphrase what I said last year, may Donkey Kong’s tenure with his new caretakers be enduring and fruitful.
Thanks to Hamada for helping with edits, and Hyle Russell of DK Vine for helping research.
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