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Donkey Kong (universe): Difference between revisions
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Some retrospectives express doubt on whether the success of ''Donkey Kong Country'' necessarily reflected the actual quality of the gameplay itself, but Rareware released two sequels on the SNES: ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest}}'', starring Diddy Kong and his newly-introduced girlfriend Dixie Kong, and ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble}}'', starring Dixie Kong and a gorilla toddler named Kiddy Kong, both of which were reviewed as improvements. Rareware then created the highly-acclaimed and successful ''{{s|mariowiki|Diddy Kong Racing}}'' for the Nintendo 64 in 1997, and then created the 3D adventure-platformer ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong 64}}'' in 1999, in a similar vein to their previous work on ''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'' games, but in the Nintendo crossover series ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]''. But then, in late 2002, Microsoft bought out 100% of Rareware's shares, turning Rare into a first-party developer for the Xbox line of consoles and leaving the ''Donkey Kong Country'' aesthetic and related characters under Nintendo's ownership (and incidentally letting their last planned console game, ''Dinosaur Planet'' for the Nintendo 64, get revised and released as ''[[Star Fox (universe)|Star Fox Adventures]]'' for the GameCube). | Some retrospectives express doubt on whether the success of ''Donkey Kong Country'' necessarily reflected the actual quality of the gameplay itself, but Rareware released two sequels on the SNES: ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest}}'', starring Diddy Kong and his newly-introduced girlfriend Dixie Kong, and ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble}}'', starring Dixie Kong and a gorilla toddler named Kiddy Kong, both of which were reviewed as improvements. Rareware then created the highly-acclaimed and successful ''{{s|mariowiki|Diddy Kong Racing}}'' for the Nintendo 64 in 1997, and then created the 3D adventure-platformer ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong 64}}'' in 1999, in a similar vein to their previous work on ''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'' games, but in the Nintendo crossover series ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]''. But then, in late 2002, Microsoft bought out 100% of Rareware's shares, turning Rare into a first-party developer for the Xbox line of consoles and leaving the ''Donkey Kong Country'' aesthetic and related characters under Nintendo's ownership (and incidentally letting their last planned console game, ''Dinosaur Planet'' for the Nintendo 64, get revised and released as ''[[Star Fox (universe)|Star Fox Adventures]]'' for the GameCube). | ||
Donkey Kong remained a regular in ''Mario'' games as always, and his contributions have included the full ''[[mariowiki:Mario vs. Donkey Kong (series)|Mario vs. Donkey Kong]]'' series of puzzle games that pay homage to the original ''Donkey Kong'' coin-op's scenario. And the characters and setting originally introduced by Rareware and associated with the ''Donkey Kong Country'' brand have made fairly regular appearances in games published by Nintendo but, for the most part, are developed by a variety second-party developers: the Paon Corporation developed the Game Boy Advance puzzle game ''{{s|mariowiki|DK: King of Swing}}'' and its Nintendo DS sequel ''{{s|mariowiki|DK: Jungle Climber}}'', as well as the Wii racer ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Barrel Blast}}''; [[Namco]], meanwhile, developed all three titles in the ''[[mariowiki:Donkey Konga (series)|Donkey Konga]]'' series of GameCube rhythm games that use a unique bongo drum-themed peripheral for input (a peripheral also used as a controller for the Nintendo-developed GameCube platformer ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Jungle Beat}}''); and most recently, the "official" return of the side-scrolling gameplay style of ''Donkey Kong Country'' was the 2010 Wii title ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Country Returns}}'', which was developed by Retro Studios (previously famous for bringing forth the revival of the ''[[Metroid (universe)|Metroid]]'' franchise with the full ''Metroid Prime'' subseries). A Wii U sequel, ''[[mariowiki:Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze|Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze]]'', | Donkey Kong remained a regular in ''Mario'' games as always, and his contributions have included the full ''[[mariowiki:Mario vs. Donkey Kong (series)|Mario vs. Donkey Kong]]'' series of puzzle games that pay homage to the original ''Donkey Kong'' coin-op's scenario. And the characters and setting originally introduced by Rareware and associated with the ''Donkey Kong Country'' brand have made fairly regular appearances in games published by Nintendo but, for the most part, are developed by a variety second-party developers: the Paon Corporation developed the Game Boy Advance puzzle game ''{{s|mariowiki|DK: King of Swing}}'' and its Nintendo DS sequel ''{{s|mariowiki|DK: Jungle Climber}}'', as well as the Wii racer ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Barrel Blast}}''; [[Namco]], meanwhile, developed all three titles in the ''[[mariowiki:Donkey Konga (series)|Donkey Konga]]'' series of GameCube rhythm games that use a unique bongo drum-themed peripheral for input (a peripheral also used as a controller for the Nintendo-developed GameCube platformer ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Jungle Beat}}''); and most recently, the "official" return of the side-scrolling gameplay style of ''Donkey Kong Country'' was the 2010 Wii title ''{{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Country Returns}}'', which was developed by Retro Studios (previously famous for bringing forth the revival of the ''[[Metroid (universe)|Metroid]]'' franchise with the full ''Metroid Prime'' subseries). A Wii U sequel, ''[[mariowiki:Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze|Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze]]'', was released in February 2014. | ||
The modern-day Donkey Kong seen in all ''Mario'' and ''Donkey Kong'' games since ''Donkey Kong Country'' is stated by the games featuring Rareware's extended ''Donkey Kong'' cast and setting to be the son (or grandson) of the "Donkey Kong" that was featured in the classic coin-op arcade games, and this original "Donkey Kong" is depicted in the Rareware-originated series as an elderly curmudgeon named [[Cranky Kong]]. (Nintendo has sometimes ignored Rareware's decision on this matter in the past, but nowadays counts this as part of the ''Mario'' canon.) Donkey Kong's extended family and friends, all of them simians, are collectively referred to as the Kong Family, living on an island shaped like Donkey Kong's head named {{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Island}}, and in every Kong Family-centered game their enemies are an expansive army of humanoid crocodilians called the {{s|mariowiki|Kremling Krew}}. They and their ruler, the comically obese and cantankerous {{s|mariowiki|King K. Rool}}, constantly try to steal the Kong Family's enormous hoard of bananas for unspecified reasons, and to this end they have allies of different species such as [[mariowiki:Necky|vultures]] and [[mariowiki:Zinger|giant spiked wasps]]; Donkey Kong, his nephew Diddy Kong, and certain other Kong Family members embark on quests to defeat the Kremling Krew and safeguard their bananas, and the Kongs sometimes call on animal allies of their own. | The modern-day Donkey Kong seen in all ''Mario'' and ''Donkey Kong'' games since ''Donkey Kong Country'' is stated by the games featuring Rareware's extended ''Donkey Kong'' cast and setting to be the son (or grandson) of the "Donkey Kong" that was featured in the classic coin-op arcade games, and this original "Donkey Kong" is depicted in the Rareware-originated series as an elderly curmudgeon named [[Cranky Kong]]. (Nintendo has sometimes ignored Rareware's decision on this matter in the past, but nowadays counts this as part of the ''Mario'' canon.) Donkey Kong's extended family and friends, all of them simians, are collectively referred to as the Kong Family, living on an island shaped like Donkey Kong's head named {{s|mariowiki|Donkey Kong Island}}, and in every Kong Family-centered game their enemies are an expansive army of humanoid crocodilians called the {{s|mariowiki|Kremling Krew}}. They and their ruler, the comically obese and cantankerous {{s|mariowiki|King K. Rool}}, constantly try to steal the Kong Family's enormous hoard of bananas for unspecified reasons, and to this end they have allies of different species such as [[mariowiki:Necky|vultures]] and [[mariowiki:Zinger|giant spiked wasps]]; Donkey Kong, his nephew Diddy Kong, and certain other Kong Family members embark on quests to defeat the Kremling Krew and safeguard their bananas, and the Kongs sometimes call on animal allies of their own. | ||