Donkey Kong (series)

"Donkey Kong" is a video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto, featuring a gorilla called Donkey Kong.

History

"Donkey Kong" was created when Shigeru Miyamoto was assigned by Nintendo to convert "Radar Scope", a game that had been released to test audiences with poor results, into a game that would appeal more to Americans. The result was a major breakthrough for Nintendo and for the videogame industry. Sales of the machine were brisk, with the game becoming one of the best-selling arcade machines of the early 1980s. The gameplay itself was a large improvement over other games of its time, and with the growing base of arcades to sell to, it was able to gain huge distribution. In 1981 Falcon created a legitimate clone of "Donkey Kong" known as "Crazy Kong" for distribution in non-US markets.

In Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd., MCA Universal sued Nintendo over copyright violations, claiming that Donkey Kong was a copy of King Kong. Nintendo's lawyer, Howard Lincoln, who would go on to become a Senior Vice President of the company, discovered that Universal didn't own the copyright to King Kong either, and was able to not only win the lawsuit (as well as several court appeals), but get Universal to pay the legal costs. Ironically, it was MCA Universal that previously won a lawsuit declaring "King Kong" was in the public domain. The case was an enormous victory for Nintendo, which was still a newcomer to the U.S. market. The case established Nintendo as a major player in the industry and arguably gave the company the confidence that it could compete with the giants of American media.Sheff, David (1999). Game Over: Press Start to Continue: The Maturing of Mario. p. 127. Wilton, Connecticut: GamePress.] The case was selected as #20 on GameSpy's list of the "25 Dumbest Moments in Gaming". [http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/june03/dumbestmoments/index5.shtml]

Because of the huge success of "Donkey Kong", Nintendo of America was able to grow and release many more games in succeeding years, and had the resources necessary to release the Nintendo Entertainment System in the United States.

equels and remakes

"Donkey Kong" spawned two sequels, neither of which were as popular as the original arcade hit. In "Donkey Kong Junior" Donkey Kong was kidnapped by Mario and players had to control his son Donkey Kong Jr. to rescue him. In "Donkey Kong 3" DK broke into a greenhouse and got chased out by Stanley the Bugman, who carried a spray can to protect his greenhouse from Donkey Kong's insects. A music-based game titled "Donkey Kong no Ongaku Asobi" was originally planned to be released, but was eventually cancelled.

Throughout the 1980s, eight "Donkey Kong" games were released for the Game & Watch platform.

In 1994, Nintendo produced a sequel for the Game Boy, simply called Donkey Kong. Some of its levels were based upon the Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. arcade games, the enemies from the two games also returned. Donkey Kong's, Donkey Kong Jr.'s and Pauline's character designs were updated for this game. This was the first game to feature Donkey Kong wearing the monogrammed necktie, which has become a trademark.

uccessors

16-bit era (Super NES)

Shortly after that, he appeared in "Donkey Kong Country" (in Japan, "Super Donkey Kong"). Donkey Kong Country was an entirely new DK franchise established by the British company Rare and Tim Stamper which took the Donkey Kong premise in an entirely new direction and became a showcase title to show off then-revolutionary CGI graphics.

In "Donkey Kong Country", DK was the hero and he and his sidekick nephew Diddy Kong had to save his hoard of bananas from the thieving King K. Rool and his Kremling Krew. The game was an action sidescrolling title similar to the Mario games and was enormously popular for its graphics, music and gameplay.

The sequel, "" ("Super Donkey Kong 2" in Japan) involves DK being kidnapped by K. Rool, who was now a Kaptain, and getting rescued by Diddy Kong and his girlfriend Dixie Kong, in a less cheery and a more darkly-themed game.

In "" (in Japan, "Super Donkey Kong 3") he and Diddy both got kidnapped by K. Rool, now Baron K. Roolenstein, and Dixie and her cousin Kiddy Kong had to save them in the final game of the series for the SNES.

Game Boy

The "Donkey Kong Land" trilogy for the Game Boy (excluding "Donkey Kong Land" itself) were smaller, modified versions of the "Country" games. In addition, "Donkey Kong Country" was ported to the Game Boy Color, and the entire "Donkey Kong Country" trilogy has been ported to the Game Boy Advance.

64-bit era (N64)

A successful Nintendo 64 sequel was also developed. In "Donkey Kong 64", DK once again has the starring role as he joins forces with Diddy Kong, Tiny Kong, Lanky Kong, and Chunky Kong to save Donkey Kong Island from destruction at the hands of K. Rool, (now King Krusha K. Rool) and his Kremling Krew. This game features a rare yellow cartridge and is only playable with the included Expansion Pak.

Donkey Kong also made an appearance in "Mario Kart 64", and since then, he has appeared in every outing featuring Mario's all-star cast on the N64. In the "Mario Party" series, he was a playable character in all three titles released for the N64 (also "Mario Party 4" for the GameCube), but he eventually became an "event character" in the later games. He was also a selectable character in the original "Super Smash Bros.", "Mario Tennis", and "Mario Golf". In nearly all of these games, Donkey Kong is presented as a powerful and heavy character, although slow and cumbersome.

ixth-generation era (GameCube)

A demo for a Donkey Kong game on the GameCube, Nintendo's sixth generation console, was shown at SpaceWorld 2001. The game was called "Donkey Kong Racing" and showed various characters, including Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Taj the Genie racing on Ellie, Expresso, Rambi, Enguarde, and Zinger, and presumably, Necky, Army, and Chomps Jr. that had been introduced in previous Donkey Kong games by Rare.

Following the sale of Rare to Microsoft in 2002, Rare announced that they were concentrating their efforts on Xbox games, although they have continued to support Nintendo's portable consoles, the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. This decision is due to the fact that Microsoft does not have its own portable console in direct competition. No further information about "Donkey Kong Racing" has since been released, leading the game to be classified as cancelled.

Rare's ownership change led to numerous changes. "Donkey Kong: Coconut Crackers" was originally developed by Rare for the Game Boy Advance, but was eventually released as "It's Mr. Pants" after the Microsoft purchase. Likewise, "Banjo Pilot" was originally titled "Diddy Kong Pilot", but altered following the Microsoft acquisition.

"Donkey Konga" was released for the GameCube in 2004. Created by Namco, this musical rhythm action game relied upon use of the DK Bongos accessory (purchasable separately or included, depending on the package) to hit a beat in time with the tune. The tunes included pop songs and themes from some previous Nintendo games. Its sequel, "Donkey Konga 2", was released in 2005, and Japan later got "Donkey Konga 3" that same year.

"" was released in Japan in December 2004 and elsewhere in 2005. Donkey Kong fights Dread Kong, Ninja Kong, Karate Kong, and Sumo Kong. This platform game used the aforementioned DK Bongos as a controller; tapping one drum repeatedly made Donkey Kong run, tapping both at the same time made him jump, tapping both alternately made him attack, and clapping or blowing in to the microphone caused an explosion, shown by a ripple in the screen, attracting assorted jewels or clearing obstacles to progress. A standard GameCube controller could be used instead of the konga drums.

Donkey Kong featured as a playable character in "Super Smash Bros. Melee". In "Super Smash Bros. Melee" he is third only to Bowser and Ganondorf in Weight and Power, although he can lift and carry around barrels, crates and even his opponents with ease, something not even Bowser (who has short arms) can do. In addition, Donkey Kong featured in ', which introduced Diddy Kong to the Mario universe, "Mario Power Tennis", ', "Mario Superstar Baseball" and "Super Mario Strikers". He made his last playable appearance in the "Mario Party" series in "Mario Party 4" before being relegated to an incidental character on the game board. He was also featured on the "Game & Watch Gallery" handheld series.

Most Donkey Kong games are now developed by the relatively new private video game company Paon.

Game Boy Advance

Nintendo's first title for the Game Boy Advance, after Rare left, was "Mario vs. Donkey Kong", a return to the earlier arcade-style games. While its style was that of other games, the Rare design for Donkey Kong carried over. Donkey Kong, originally a villain, returns to this role in the game: wanting a Mini Mario clockwork toy, he finds that they are sold out at a local toy store. Enraged, he terrifies the Toads at the factory and steals the toys. This sets up the game's plot, where Mario chases Donkey Kong until he can take the Mini Marios back from Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong then starred in "", which features gameplay similar to "Clu Clu Land". Here, the player must navigate levels using only the GBA's left and right shoulder buttons.

eventh-generation era (Wii)

Donkey Kong made his first appearance on the Wii within the title "Mario Strikers Charged" as a playable soccer captain. He made an appearance within "Mario Party 8", once again as an incidental character on the game board. On October 10th, 2007, Donkey Kong's first title role on the system was released in the form of "Donkey Kong Barrel Blast", a title originally in development for the GameCube. He also appears in "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" as a playable character. In addition, all three of the Donkey Kong Country and arcade games for the SNES have been made available on the Wii's Virtual Console. He also appears in "Mario Kart Wii", where he is a heavyweight character.His latest appearance is "Mario Super Sluggers",appearing as a captain again. As of Nintendo's conference at October 2, 2008, a remake of "Donkey Kong Jungle Beat" will be ported to the Wii; due for release in Japan on December 11, 2008.

Nintendo DS

Donkey Kong has appeared in various Nintendo DS games in either cameos or side-character roles. He can be found in "Diddy Kong Racing DS", "Tetris DS", "Mario Party DS", "Mario Hoops 3-on-3", ', and "Yoshi's Island 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. "DK Jungle Climber", a sequel to the GBA game ', is Donkey Kong's first title role on the system,it is a mixture of the "Donkey Kong Country" games.

Other appearance

*"Super Smash Bros. series"Donkey Kong appeared in "Super Smash Bros." as the first character from the Donkey Kong series. He had a stage called "Congo Jungle" which was based on "Donkey Kong Country".In the second game "Super Smash Bros. Melee", he returned with his stage. In this game he had two new stages called: "Jungle Japes" and "Kongo Jungle", in the background you heard the "DK Rap" from "Donkey Kong 64". He appeared once more in "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" along with his sidekick Diddy Kong, and three stages - "Jungle Japes" from Melee, "Rumble Falls" from "" and "75m" from the original "Donkey Kong" game from 1981.

Awards

The success of the Donkey Kong series has resulted in Guinness World Records awarding the series with 7 world records in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008. The records include, "First Use of Visual Storytelling in a Video Game" for the rudimentary cut scenes featured in the original Donkey Kong arcade game, "Most Collectible Items in a Platform Game" for Donkey Kong 64, and "Most Successful Video Game Documentary" for the 2007 film, "The King Of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters".

References

External links

* [http://www.donkeykongcountry.com/ Nintendo's official "Donkey Kong Country" website]
* [http://www.donkeykonga.com/ Nintendo's official "Donkey Konga" website]
* [http://donkeykonguniverse.wikispaces.com/ Donkey Kong Wiki]