Donkey Kong

For the original arcade game called Donkey Kong, see Donkey Kong (arcade game).

Donkey Kong (Japanese:ドンキーコング) is a gorilla character from Nintendo that appeared in many video games since 1981. Like many Nintendo franchises, Donkey Kong was created by Shigeru Miyamoto.

File:Donkey Kong.JPG

Donkey Kong was redesigned for the SNES Donkey Kong Country series.

History

Donkey Kong was created when Shigeru Miyamoto was assigned by Nintendo to convert Radar Scope, a poorly selling arcade game in the U.S., into a game that would have more appeal to Americans. The result was a major breakthrough for Nintendo and for the videogame industry. It was likely the first game with a "hero," a "villain," and a "damsel in distress." Sales of the machine were brisk, with the game becoming the best-selling arcade machine of all time in its era. 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.

MGM sued Nintendo over copyright violations, claiming that Donkey Kong was a copy of King Kong. If victorious, this lawsuit would have crushed Nintendo of America, and the history of videogames would be drastically altered. Nintendo's lawyer, Howard Lincoln, who would go on to become a Senior Vice President of the company, discovered that MGM didn't own the copyright to King Kong either, and was able to not only win the lawsuit but get MGM to pay the legal costs.

Due to 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 NES in the USA.

Overview

The exact origins of the name "Donkey Kong" are unclear and debated. The most common explanation of the name is that it was created by Shigeru Miyamoto as a combination of the word "Kong" from King Kong (although 'Kong' by that time had already come to colloquially mean monkey), and "Donkey," a word which can mean stubborn. It is believed by many that the name "Donkey Kong" was the result of a typo on the original cabinet's art work for "Monkey Kong," but this has been denied by Miyamoto and others.

In the original Donkey Kong game, the player's character "Jumpman" (later: "Mario") must Jump over barrels thrown by Donkey Kong while climbing ladders up a crooked construction site to reach the top of the screen to rescue his girlfriend Pauline (who was originally called Lady in Japan). Each screen is a game stage, with stages grouping to form levels. Each successive level is progressively harder.

This game was first released in the arcades, but was ported to home video game consoles and home computers. The game was also sold as a portable LCD game (1982) by Nintendo in two versions: Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong II.

The game was quite revolutionary for its time, featuring multiple distinct levels, large colorful graphics, and a unique form of play control.

Sequels and spin-offs

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. In 1994, Nintendo produced a remake of the original game for the Game Boy (often dubbed "Donkey Kong '94" to distinguish it from the original) which contained 96 new stages (most which were puzzle-oriented) in addition to the original four from the Arcade game. Donkey Kong's and Pauline's respective appearances were updated for this game (DK now had a tie and Pauline was made into a brunette to set herself apart from Peach).

After that he went on hiatus until 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 Rareware which took the Donkey Kong premise in an entire new direction. Severing DK's ties to the Mario world (until Super Mario Kart), Donkey Kong Country established a whole new world for DK, and became a showcase title to show-off then-revolutionary 3D CGI graphics.

In Donkey Kong Country, DK was the hero and he and his sidekick 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. Some sources, such as Nintendo Power, suggest that the Donkey Kong in the Country series was the son of Cranky Kong, the original Donkey Kong from the arcade game, which would equate him with Donkey Kong Junior. Other sources, including the manual of Donkey Kong Country¹ and in-game dialogue from other games in the series, suggest that the Donkey Kong in Donkey Kong Country is Cranky's grandson and the son of Donkey Kong Junior. This is also contradicted by the in-game dialogue from Donkey Kong 64, as Cranky specifically calls DK his son. Rareware released an official statement some time ago, stating that Cranky is indeed the D.K. of the arcades and that the current Donkey Kong is D.K. Jr. However, Nintendo hasn't made up their minds yet as to what it should be, and have been known to refer to today's Donkey Kong as Mario's oldest rival. This has led to some confusion, but because they own the characters, it is ultimately up to Nintendo to decide which possibility is correct.

Sequels and adaptations soon followed. A computer generated television series that lasted 40 episodes was produced by a French animation studio, released in North America as simply Donkey Kong Country.

The official sequel, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Super Donkey Kong 2) involves Donkey being kidnapped by King K. Rool (now Kaptain K. Rool) and has to get rescued by Diddy Kong and his girlfriend Dixie Kong, in a less cheery and a more dark themed game. In Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble (in Japan, Super Donkey Kong 3) he and Diddy both got kidnapped and Dixie and her cousin Kiddy Kong had to save them in the final game of the series for the SNES. The Donkey Kong Land series for the Game Boy were smaller and slightly modified versions of the "Country" games.

A successful N64 sequel was also developed. In Donkey Kong 64 DK once again had the starring role and he had to join forces with Diddy Kong, Tiny Kong, Lanky Kong, and Chunky Kong to save Donkey Kong Island from destruction at the hand of the Kremlings.

The Donkey Kong Country series died after Rareware split with Nintendo to develop games for the Xbox. Though the DKC series were always solely developed by Rare, they featured Nintendo's trademarked characters and as a result are not allowed to appear on any other system.

Nintendo's first title after Rare was Mario vs. Donkey Kong, a return to the earlier arcade-style games. While its style was that of the original games, the Rare-design for Donkey Kong carried over.

Donkey Kong also appears in a number of other games such as Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, the Mario Party series, Mario Golf series, Mario Tennis series, and the two crossover games Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee. In nearly all of these games, Donkey Kong is presented as a powerful but slow and cumbersome character (for example, in the Mario Kart games, he has a high top speed, but poor acceleration), as opposed to Yoshi. Donkey Kong is slated for several games on the Nintendo GameCube and the Game Boy Advance.

While still under Rare's influence, numerous spin-offs of Donkey Kong were created. Diddy Kong Racing, a racing game released in 1997 starring the Diddy Kong character, was the launching point of the Banjo-Kazooie and Conker franchises as well as the first appearance of several characters that would later spring up in Rare games. These franchises are now owned by Microsoft, but they'll always have their origins in Donkey Kong's universe. 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.

"Donkey Kong Universe" (DKU) refers to the place in which all Donkey Kong games (except the original arcade versions), and games taking place in the same universe as Donkey Kong, exist. The list of characters in the Donkey Kong Universe include all of the Kongs in the Donkey Kong Country series, the Banjo-Kazooie series, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, and Star Fox Adventures. The games are inter-related by cameo appearances by characters from other Rare games or references to the other games.

Mario Hoops 3-on-3 info

• Type: Powerful
• Special Shot: Konga Dunk

Mario Superstar Baseball Bio

"A gorilla known for raw power, DK lives a carefree jungle life... unless someone messes with his bananas, in which case he just loses it. His ancestor, the original Donkey Kong, wore no necktie. His talents lead in beating on primate foes and kart-racing. Fear his Banana Ball.

External Links

• Donkey Kong Megasite
• Donkey Kong Universe