is a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

series and

media franchise A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program, o ...

created by the Japanese game designer

Shigeru Miyamoto is a Japanese video game designer, video game producer, producer and Creative director#Video games, game director at Nintendo, where he has served as one of its representative directors as an executive since 2002. Widely regarded as one o ...

for

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

. It follows the adventures of

Donkey Kong is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo. It follows the adventures of Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong, a large, powerful gorilla, and other members of the List of Don ...

, a large, powerful gorilla, and other members of the Kong family of apes. ''Donkey Kong'' games include the original

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...

trilogy by Nintendo R&D1; the ''Donkey Kong Country'' series by Rare and Retro Studios; and the ''Mario vs. Donkey Kong'' series by

Nintendo Software Technology Nintendo Software Technology Corporation, doing business as Nintendo Software Technology (NST), is an American video game developer. NST was created by Nintendo as a first-party developer to create games for the North American market, though thei ...

. Various studios have developed spin-offs in genres such as

edutainment Educational entertainment, also referred to by the portmanteau edutainment, is media designed to education, educate through entertainment. The term has been used as early as 1933. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has inciden ...

puzzle A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are differe ...

racing In sports, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific g ...

, and

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...

. The franchise also incorporates animation, printed media, theme parks, and merchandise. Miyamoto designed the original 1981 ''

'' to repurpose unsold

arcade cabinet An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...

s following the failure of '' Radar Scope'' (1980). It was a major success and was followed by the sequels '' Donkey Kong Jr.'' (1982) and ''

Donkey Kong 3 is a 1983 shoot 'em up game developed and published by Nintendo. It is the third installment in the ''Donkey Kong'' series and was released for arcades worldwide in 1983, the Family Computer in 1984, then in North America for the Nintendo Ent ...

'' (1983). Nintendo placed the franchise on a hiatus as it shifted focus to the spin-off ''

Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...

'' franchise. Rare's 1994

reboot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...

, the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

(SNES) game ''

Donkey Kong Country ''Donkey Kong Country'', known in Japan as is a 1994 platform game developed by Rare (company), Rare and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It is a Reboot (fiction), reboot of Nintendo's ''Donkey Kong'' ...

'', reestablished ''Donkey Kong'' as a major Nintendo franchise. Rare developed ''Donkey Kong'' games for the SNES,

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

, and

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...

until it was acquired by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

in 2002; subsequent games were developed by Nintendo, Retro Studios,

Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...

and Paon. After '' Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze'' (2014), the franchise went on another hiatus, which ended with '' Donkey Kong Bananza'' (2025). The main ''Donkey Kong'' games are

platformer A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

s in which the player must reach the end of a

level Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (optical instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights * Spirit level or bubble level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *C ...

. Donkey Kong appears as the

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

; his role alternates between games. The original games featured a small cast of characters, including Donkey Kong,

, and Pauline. Rare's games expanded the cast with friendly Kongs alongside the

Kremlings is a series of video games published by Nintendo since 1981 and created by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Donkey Kong and Mario have both had the roles of protagonist and antagonist in the series. Other characters have included other Kongs, ...

, an army of antagonistic crocodiles led by Donkey Kong's nemesis King K. Rool. Mario, the protagonist of the 1981 game, became Nintendo's

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

and the star of the ''Mario'' franchise, and ''Donkey Kong'' characters appear in ''Mario'' games such as ''

Mario Kart is a series of kart racing games based on the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise developed and published by Nintendo. Players compete in go-kart races while using various power-up item (game terminology), items. It features Characters in ...

'', ''

Mario Party is a series of party video games created by Hudson Soft and owned by Nintendo. It features List of Mario franchise characters, characters from the Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise in which up to four local players or Artificial inte ...

'', and '' Mario Tennis''. ''Donkey Kong'' characters also feature in crossover games such as '' Mario & Sonic'' and '' Super Smash Bros.'' Outside of video games, the franchise includes the animated series ''

'' (1997–2000), a themed area in

Super Nintendo World (stylized in all caps) is a themed area at Universal Studios Japan, Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Epic Universe, with a future area under construction at Universal Studios Singapore. A result of a partnership between Nintendo and Un ...

at Universal's theme parks, soundtrack albums, and

Lego Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

construction toys. ''Donkey Kong'' is one of Nintendo's bestselling franchises, with more than 65 million copies sold by 2021. The original game was Nintendo's first major international success; it rescued Nintendo of America from a financial crisis, and established it as a prominent force in the

video game industry The video game industry is the tertiary industry, tertiary and quaternary industry, quaternary sectors of the entertainment industry that specialize in the video game development, development, marketing, distribution (marketing), distribution, ...

. The franchise has pioneered or popularized concepts such as in-game storytelling and

pre-rendered Pre-rendering is the process in which video footage is not rendered in real-time by the hardware that is outputting or playing back the video. Instead, the video is a recording of footage that was previously rendered on different equipment (typ ...

graphics, inspired other games (including clones), and influenced popular culture.

History

1981–1982: Conception and first game

In the late 1970s, the Japanese company

shifted its focus from producing toys and playing cards to

s. This followed the

1973 oil crisis In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...

, which increased the cost of manufacturing toys, and the success of

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...

's arcade game ''

Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Taito for Arcade video game, arcades. It was released in Japan in April 1978, with the game being released by Midway Manufacturing overseas. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed s ...

'' (1978). In 1980, Nintendo released '' Radar Scope'', a ''Space Invaders''-style

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a Video game genre, subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain typ ...

. It was a commercial failure and put the newly established subsidiary Nintendo of America in a financial crisis. Its founder,

Minoru Arakawa is a Japanese businessman best known as the founder and former president of Nintendo of America, and the co-founder of Tetris Online, Inc. Biography Minoru Arakawa was born on 3 September 1946 in Kyoto, Japan, the second son of Waichiro Araka ...

, asked his father in-law, Nintendo CEO

Hiroshi Yamauchi Hiroshi Yamauchi (; 7 November 192719 September 2013) was a Japanese businessman and the third president of Nintendo, joining the company on 25 April 1949 until stepping down on 24 May 2002, being succeeded by Satoru Iwata. During his 53-year t ...

, to provide a new game that could repurpose the unsold ''Radar Scope'' cabinets. Most of Nintendo's top developers were preoccupied, so the task went to

, a first-time game designer. Supervised by

Gunpei Yokoi , sometimes transliterated as Gumpei Yokoi, was a Japanese toy maker and video game designer. As a long-time Nintendo employee, he was best known as creator of the Game & Watch handheld system, inventor of the cross-shaped Control Pad, the ...

, Miyamoto settled on a

love triangle A love triangle is a scenario or circumstance, usually depicted as a rivalry, in which two people are pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with one person, or in which one person in a romantic relationship with someone is simultaneo ...

with the characters Bluto,

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Olive Oyl from the ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.King Features fell through. Bluto evolved into a gorilla, an animal Miyamoto said was "nothing too evil or repulsive". He was named

—''donkey'' to convey ''stubborn'' and ''kong'' to imply ''gorilla''. Popeye became

, the new protagonist, while Olive Oyl became Pauline, the

damsel in distress The damsel in distress is a narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has been kidnapped or placed in other peril. The "damsel" is often portrayed as beautiful, popular, and of high social status; she is usually depicted ...

. Miyamoto cited the fairy tale "

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

" and the 1933 film ''

King Kong King Kong, also referred to simply as Kong, is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. The character has since become an international pop culture icon,Erb, Cynthia, 1998, ''Tracking Kin ...

'' as influences. ''

'' was one of the earliest

platform game A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

s, with players controlling Mario as he ascends a construction site to rescue Pauline from Donkey Kong. Whereas previous platform games focused on climbing, Miyamoto placed an emphasis on jumping to avoid obstacles and cross gaps. He envisioned something akin to a playable

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

that unfolded across multiple levels with unique scenarios. This was uncommon in contemporary arcade games, which typically featured a single scenario that repeated. As he lacked programming expertise, Miyamoto consulted technicians on whether his ideas were possible. Four programmers from

Ikegami Tsushinki () is a Japanese manufacturer of professional and broadcast television equipment, especially professional video cameras, both for electronic news gathering and studio use. The company was founded in 1946. History Ikegami introduced the first ...

spent three months turning Miyamoto's design into a finished game. Although Miyamoto's team was told it would be a failure, ''Donkey Kong'' became Nintendo's first major international success upon its release in July 1981. The

windfall gain A windfall gain is an unusually high or abundant income, net profit or profit margin, that is sudden, unexpected, or, at times, anticipated. Types Examples of windfall gains include, but are not limited to: *Unexpected inheritance or other large m ...

rescued Nintendo of America from its financial crisis and established it as a prominent brand in America. ''Donkey Kong'' achieved further success in 1982, when Nintendo released a

Game & Watch is a series of handheld electronic games developed by Nintendo. Designed by Gunpei Yokoi, the first game, ''Ball'' was released in 1980 and the original production run of the devices continued until 1991. The name Game & Watch reflects thei ...

adaptation and licensed it to

Coleco Coleco Industries, Inc. ( ) was an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as The Connecticut Leather Company. The name "COLECO" is an abbreviation derived from the company's original name which combines the first two letters of "C ...

for

ports Ports collections (or ports trees, or just ports) are the sets of makefiles and Patch (Unix), patches provided by the BSD-based operating systems, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD, as a simple method of installing software or creating binary packages. T ...

home consoles A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. While initial consoles were dedicated units with only a few game ...

. It grossed $4.4 billion across various platforms, making it one of the highest-grossing games of all time. In 1982, Universal City Studios filed a lawsuit alleging ''Donkey Kong'' violated its trademark of ''King Kong''. The lawsuit failed when Nintendo's lawyer, Howard Lincoln, discovered that Universal had won a lawsuit in 1976 by declaring that ''King Kong'' was actually in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

1982–1994: Sequels and first hiatus

Miyamoto and his team used

game mechanics In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics define how a game works for players. Game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide player actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, whi ...

and levels that could not be included in ''Donkey Kong'' as the basis for a sequel. Miyamoto wanted to make Donkey Kong the protagonist, but the sprite graphic was too big to easily maneuver, so he created a new character, Donkey Kong Jr. The team still wanted Donkey Kong on top of the screen, so they conceived a plot in which Mario had caged him and Donkey Kong Jr. had to save him. To develop '' Donkey Kong Jr.'' (1982), Nintendo

reverse-engineered Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompl ...

Ikegami's ''Donkey Kong'' code, making it the first game that Nintendo developed without outside help. Following ''Donkey Kong Jr.'' release, Ikegami sued Nintendo for

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of Copyright#Scope, works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the c ...

. In 1990, the

Tokyo High Court is a high court in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The is a special branch of Tokyo High Court. Japan has eight high courts: Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Sendai, Sapporo, and Takamatsu. Each court has jurisdiction over one o ...

ruled in favor of Ikegami, and the companies reached a settlement. ''

'', released in 1983, features

shooter game Shooter video games, or shooters, are a subgenre of action video games where the focus is on the defeat of the character's enemies using ranged weapons given to the player. Usually these weapons are firearms or some other long-range weapons, a ...

play that departs from its predecessors. Instead of Mario, the player controls Stanley, an exterminator from the Game & Watch game '' Green House'' (1982), who must fend off Donkey Kong and a swarm of bees. ''Donkey Kong 3'' was unsuccessful, as was '' Donkey Kong Jr. Math'' (1983), an

game for the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

(NES).

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

obtained the license to develop a game featuring a playable Donkey Kong as a parking attendant, but it was canceled after Sega's David Rosen and

Hayao Nakayama is a Japanese businessman and was the former President and CEO of Sega Enterprises, Ltd from 1983 to 1999. Early life and career Nakayama was born into a family of doctors, and was expected to pursue medicine as a career. However, Nakayama ...

arranged a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

from

Gulf and Western Industries Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. (stylized as Gulf+Western) was an American conglomerate. The company originally focused on manufacturing and resource extraction, but it began purchasing a number of entertainment companies beginning in 1966 ...

in 1984. The franchise went on an extended hiatus, while the spin-off ''

'' franchise found success on the NES, cementing Mario as Nintendo's

. Donkey Kong's appearances in the years following ''Donkey Kong 3'' were limited to cameos in unrelated games. Nintendo staff began discussing a ''Donkey Kong'' revival as the original game's tenth anniversary approached in 1991. They were unable to start a new game at the time, so they included Donkey Kong Jr. as a playable character in '' Super Mario Kart'' (1992). However, the discussions led to the production of the

game ''

'' (1994), the first original ''Donkey Kong'' game in ten years. It features Mario as the player character and begins as a

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...

of the 1981 game before introducing over 100 puzzle-platforming levels that incorporate elements from ''Donkey Kong Jr.'' and '' Super Mario Bros. 2'' (1988). The 1987 '' Official Nintendo Player's Guide'' advertised a ''Donkey Kong'' revival for the NES, ''Return of Donkey Kong'', which was never released. In the early 1990s,

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

obtained the license to use five Nintendo characters, including Donkey Kong, in games for the

CD-i The Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I, later CD-i) is a digital optical disc data storage format as well as a hardware platform, co-developed and marketed by Dutch company Philips and Japanese company Sony. It was created as an extension of CDDA ...

format. Philips contracted Riedel Software Productions to make a CD-i ''Donkey Kong'' game; it was developed between 1992 and 1993, but canceled. The 2020 Nintendo data leak included a prototype for '' Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island'' (1995) featuring a protagonist who resembles Stanley. Its title, ''Super Donkey'', suggested that ''Yoshi's Island'' began as a ''Donkey Kong'' game before it was altered to star the ''Mario'' character

Yoshi Yoshi is a fictional dinosaur who appears in video games published by Nintendo. Yoshi debuted in '' Super Mario World'' (1990) on the SNES as Mario and Luigi's sidekick. Throughout the mainline '' Super Mario'' series, Yoshi typically serves ...

1994–1996: Rare and ''Donkey Kong Country''

Tim and Chris Stamper outside the FortuneFish offices

Around 1992, Rare, a British developer founded by the brothers

Tim and Chris Stamper Brothers Tim and Chris Stamper are British entrepreneurs who founded the video game companies Ultimate Play the Game and Rare (company), Rare. They first worked together on arcade conversion kits, which were licensed to companies, but later b ...

, purchased Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) Challenge workstations with Alias rendering software to render 3D models. The move made Rare the most technologically advanced UK developer and situated them high in the international market. Rare began experimenting with using the technology in a boxing game. At the time, Nintendo was embroiled in a console war with Sega, whose

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

competed with the

(SNES). Nintendo wanted a game to compete with Sega's ''

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; , , ATU 561, 'Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with '' One Thousand and One Nights'' (often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of the original ...

'' (1993), which featured graphics by

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

animators. Lincoln, who became a Nintendo of America executive following the Universal lawsuit, learned of Rare's SGI experiments during a trip to Europe. After impressing Nintendo with a demonstration, Tim Stamper suggested developing a platform game that used

3D graphics 3D computer graphics, sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics, are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for the purposes of perfor ...

. Nintendo granted the Stampers permission to use the ''Donkey Kong''

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

; some sources indicate that the Stampers obtained the license after Nintendo offered them its catalog of characters and they chose Donkey Kong, though the designer

Gregg Mayles Gregg Mayles (born 29 April 1971) is a British video game designer currently working for video game company Rare as creative director. He is one of the longest-serving members of the company, having worked there since 1989. Career Mayles be ...

recalled that it was Nintendo that requested a ''Donkey Kong'' game. Nintendo figured licensing ''Donkey Kong'' posed minimal risk due to the franchise's dormancy. Rare's

, ''

'', featured

side-scrolling A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller) is a video game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling grap ...

gameplay that Mayles based on the ''

Super Mario (also known as and is a platform game series created by Nintendo starring their mascot, Mario. It is the central series of the greater Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise. At least one ''Super Mario'' game has been released for every ma ...

'' series. It was the first ''Donkey Kong'' game neither directed nor produced by Miyamoto, though he provided support and contributed design ideas. ''Donkey Kong Country'' was one of the first games for a mainstream home video game console to use pre-rendered graphics, achieved through a

compression Compression may refer to: Physical science *Compression (physics), size reduction due to forces *Compression member, a structural element such as a column *Compressibility, susceptibility to compression * Gas compression *Compression ratio, of a ...

technique that allowed Rare to convert 3D models into SNES sprites with little loss of detail. Because ''Donkey Kong'' did not have much of an established universe, Rare was free to expand it, introducing Donkey Kong's sidekick

Diddy Kong is a series of video games published by Nintendo since 1981 and created by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong and Mario have both had the roles of protagonist and antagonist in the series. Other characters ha ...

(who replaced Donkey Kong Jr.) and the antagonistic

. After 18 months of development, ''Donkey Kong Country'' was released in November 1994 to acclaim, with critics hailing its visuals as groundbreaking. It was a major success, selling 9.3 million copies and becoming the third-bestselling SNES game. It reestablished ''Donkey Kong'' as a major Nintendo franchise and heralded Donkey Kong's transition from villain to hero. Miyamoto felt Rare had "breathed new life into" Donkey Kong and demonstrated that it could be trusted with the franchise. Following the success, Nintendo purchased a large minority stake in Rare. Rare began developing concepts for a ''Donkey Kong Country'' sequel during production, and Nintendo

green-lit In the context of the film and television industries, to greenlight is to give permission to proceed with a project. It specifically refers to formally approving its production finance and committing to this financing, thereby allowing the projec ...

the project immediately after the success. '' Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest'', released in 1995, features Diddy rescuing a kidnapped Donkey Kong and introduces Diddy's girlfriend Dixie Kong. It was designed to be less linear and more challenging, with a theme reflecting Mayles' fascination with pirates. ''Diddy's Kong Quest'' was a critical success and is the sixth-bestselling SNES game. Following ''Diddy's Kong Quest'', the ''Donkey Kong Country'' team split in two, with one half working on '' Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!'' (1996). ''Dixie Kong's Double Trouble'' featured Dixie and a new character, Kiddy Kong, as the protagonists, and incorporated 3D-esque gameplay and '' Zelda''-inspired

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing ...

elements. Although it was released late in the SNES's lifespan and after the launch of the

, ''Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!'' sold well.

1995–2002: Franchise expansion

Separate Rare teams developed the Game Boy games '' Donkey Kong Land'' (1995), '' Donkey Kong Land 2'' (1996), and '' Donkey Kong Land III'' (1997), which condensed the ''Country'' series' gameplay for the

handheld game console A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the con ...

. Rare's Game Boy programmer, Paul Machacek, convinced Tim Stamper that developing ''Land'' as an original game rather than a port would be a better use of resources. A port of ''Country'' was eventually released for the

Game Boy Color The (GBC or CGB) is an 8-bit handheld game console developed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on October 21, 1998, and to international markets that November. Compared to the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color features a color TFT scre ...

in 2000. Rare also developed a

tech demo A technology demonstration (or tech demo), also known as demonstrator model, is a prototype, rough example or otherwise incomplete version of a conceivable product or future system, put together as proof of concept with the primary purpose of sho ...

for a Virtual Boy ''Donkey Kong'' game, which was canceled after the system's commercial failure. The first ''Donkey Kong'' game for the Nintendo 64, ''

Diddy Kong Racing ''Diddy Kong Racing'' is a 1997 kart racing game developed and published by Rare for the Nintendo 64. The game revolves around Diddy Kong and his friends' attempt to defeat the intergalactic antagonist, a wizard pig named Wizpig, through win ...

'', a

kart racing game A kart racing game, also known as cart racing game or go-kart racing game, is a subgenre of Racing game, racing games. Kart racing games have simplified driving mechanics while including unusual racetrack designs, obstacles, and Vehicular combat ...

, was released as Nintendo's major 1997 Christmas shopping season product. Rare originally developed it as a sequel to its NES game '' R.C. Pro-Am'' (1988), but added Diddy Kong to increase its marketability. It received favorable reviews and sold 4.5 million copies. Two playable characters, Banjo the Bear and Conker the Squirrel were included as crossover content promoting the eventual ''

Banjo-Kazooie ''Banjo-Kazooie'' is a platform game series developed by Rare, a British company. The games feature a male bear named Banjo and his friend, a large female red bird named Kazooie, both of whom are controlled by the player. Banjo originally mad ...

'' and '' Conker'' franchises. In 1997, Rare began working on ''

Donkey Kong 64 ''Donkey Kong 64'' is a 1999 platform game developed by Rare (company), Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the first ''Donkey Kong'' game to feature 3D gameplay. As the gorilla Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong, the p ...

'', the first ''Donkey Kong'' platform game to feature 3D gameplay. They conceived it as a linear game similar to the ''Country'' series, but switched to a more open-ended design using the game engine from their 1998 game ''

'' after 18 months. Transitioning ''Donkey Kong'' to 3D proved challenging since the technology was still new. The designers could not replicate the detail of ''Country'' pre-rendering on the Nintendo 64, which rendered graphics in real time. ''Donkey Kong 64'' was released in November 1999, accompanied by a 22 million marketing campaign. It was Nintendo's bestselling game during the 1999 Christmas season and received positive reviews, though critics felt it did not match the revolutionary impact of ''Donkey Kong Country''. At E3 2001, Nintendo and Rare announced three ''Donkey Kong'' projects: the

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

game ''Donkey Kong Racing'' and the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

(GBA) games ''Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers'' and '' Diddy Kong Pilot''. However, development costs were increasing, the Nintendo 64 did not perform as well as Nintendo's previous consoles, and the GameCube was also expected to be a sales disappointment. Rare began looking to be acquired, but Nintendo did not see Rare remaining valuable in the long term and opted against acquiring them. In September 2002,

acquired Rare for $375 million, making Rare a

first-party developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...

for

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

. Nintendo retained the rights to ''Donkey Kong'' under the terms of the acquisition. ''Donkey Kong Racing'' was canceled, and Rare reworked ''Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers'' and ''Diddy Kong Pilot'' into '' It's Mr. Pants'' (2004) and '' Banjo-Pilot'' (2005).

2002–2010: After Rare

After Microsoft acquired Rare, Nintendo relegated Donkey Kong to spin-offs and guest appearances in its other franchises, such as ''

'', ''

'', and '' Super Smash Bros.'' In 2003, Nintendo and

released '' Donkey Konga'' (2003), a spin-off

rhythm game Rhythm game or rhythm action is a genre of music-themed action video game that challenges a player's sense of rhythm. Games in the genre typically focus on dance or the simulated performance of musical instruments, and require players to pres ...

. It was designed for the DK Bongos, a GameCube peripheral that resembles

bongo drum Bongos ( Spanish: ''bongó'') are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. The pair consists of the larger ''hembra'' () and the smaller ''macho'' (), which are joined by a wo ...

s. Nintendo of America executive

Reggie Fils-Aimé Reginald Fils-Aimé ( ; born March 25, 1961) is an American businessman best known for being the President (corporate title), president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, the North American branch of the Japanese video game co ...

opposed releasing ''Donkey Konga'', concerned it would damage the ''Donkey Kong'' brand, but it sold well and received positive reviews. It was followed by '' Donkey Konga 2'' (2004) and the Japan exclusive '' Donkey Konga 3'' (2005). '' Donkey Kong Jungle Beat'', the first main ''Donkey Kong'' game since ''Donkey Kong 64'', was released for the GameCube in 2004. It returned to the ''Donkey Kong Country'' style of platforming, controlled using the DK Bongos. It was directed by

Yoshiaki Koizumi is a Japanese video game designer, director, producer, and business executive. He is a senior executive officer at Nintendo and a deputy general manager at Nintendo EPD, where he is known for his work within their ''Mario'' and ''The Legend of ...

as the debut project of Nintendo EAD Tokyo. Koizumi sought to create an accessible game with a simple control scheme to contrast with more complex contemporary games. It received positive reviews, but was a commercial disappointment. A

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

version, featuring revised

Wii Remote The Wii Remote, colloquially known as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with an ...

and

Nunchuk is a traditional East-Asian martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks (traditionally made of wood), connected to each other at their ends by a short metal chain or a rope. It is approximately (sticks) and (rope). A person who has pract ...

controls, was released in 2008 as part of the ''

New Play Control! is a series of first-party GameCube games ported to the Wii by Nintendo. Games in the ''New Play Control!'' series feature enhancements such as widescreen support, enhanced graphics and the implementation of the Wii's motion controls with th ...

'' line. A racing game that used the DK Bongos, '' Donkey Kong Barrel Blast'', was developed by Paon for the GameCube, but was moved to the Wii with no support for the peripheral. It was released in 2007 to negative reviews, with criticism for its controls. Despite the acquisition, Rare continued to develop games for Nintendo's handheld consoles since Microsoft did not have a competing handheld. It developed ports of the ''Country'' games for the GBA and ''Diddy Kong Racing'' for the

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

with additional content, released between 2003 and 2007. Meanwhile, Paon also developed '' DK: King of Swing'' (2005) for the GBA and '' DK: Jungle Climber'' (2007) for the DS, which blend ''Country'' elements with

gameplay inspired by ''

Clu Clu Land is a puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo in 1984 in Japan for the Family Computer. It was released in North America in 1985 as a launch title for the Nintendo Entertainment System, with Europe receiving the game in 1987. Ninte ...

'' (1984). ''Mario vs. Donkey Kong'', a spin-off series that acts as a

spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous product or work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue th ...

to the Game Boy ''Donkey Kong'', was developed by

. It began with a 2004 GBA game and continued with the DS sequels '' March of the Minis'' (2006), '' Minis March Again!'' (2009), and '' Mini-Land Mayhem!'' (2010). ''Mario vs. Donkey Kong'' restored Donkey Kong's villainous role from earlier games.

2010–2025: Retro Studios and second hiatus

In 2008, Miyamoto expressed interest in a ''Donkey Kong Country'' revival. The producer

Kensuke Tanabe is a Japanese video game producer and designer working for Nintendo, where he currently is Senior Officer at Nintendo EPD. After he had graduated from the Visual Concept Planning Department of Osaka University of Arts, he decided to enter the ...

suggested enlisting Retro Studios, which had developed the '' Metroid Prime'' series. With '' Donkey Kong Country Returns'', Retro sought to refine classic ''Country'' elements and introduce mechanics such as surface-clinging and simultaneous

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

. ''Returns'', the first original ''Country'' game since ''Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!'', was released for the Wii in November 2010. It sold 4.21 million copies in under a month and received positive reviews, with critics considering it a return to form for the franchise. Monster Games developed a

Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...

version in May 2013, while a high-definition

remaster A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

, made by Forever Entertainment, was released for the

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

in January 2025. Retro developed a sequel, '' Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze'', for the

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

. The greater processing power allowed for new visual elements, such as lighting and translucency effects and dynamic camera movement. ''Tropical Freeze'' was released in 2014 to favorable reviews, but sold poorly in comparison to ''Returns''; ''

Nintendo Life Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British digital media company based in London. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and ot ...

'' attributed this to the Wii U's commercial failure. It achieved greater success when it was ported to the Switch in 2018, outselling the Wii U version within a week. ''Tropical Freeze'' remained the most recent major ''Donkey Kong'' game for over a decade, though the ''Mario vs. Donkey Kong'' series continued with '' Tipping Stars'' (2015) and '' Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo Challenge'' (2016) for the Wii U and 3DS, and a remake of the GBA game (2024) with new levels and cooperative gameplay for the Switch. Nintendo and

Vicarious Visions Blizzard Albany (formerly Vicarious Visions, Inc.) is an American video game development division of Blizzard Entertainment based in Albany, New York. Founded in 1991, the company was acquired by Activision in January 2005. In January 2021, Vica ...

, with consultation from Miyamoto, worked on a ''Donkey Kong'' game for the Switch for six months. Codenamed ''Freedom'', the project was an open-world 3D platformer that emphasized traversal, with grinding on vines as a core mechanic. It was canceled in 2016 after

Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. Activision Blizzard currently includes three operating units: Activision, Blizzard Entertainment and King (company), King. Founded in July 2 ...

, Vicarious Visions' parent company, redirected its developers' focus to the ''

Call of Duty ''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter military video game series and media franchise published by Activision, starting in 2003. The games were first developed by Infinity Ward, then by Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games. Several spin-of ...

'' franchise.

2025: ''Donkey Kong Bananza''

''Nintendo Life'' reported in 2021 that Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development was working on a ''Donkey Kong'' game. In a

Nintendo Direct Nintendo Direct is a series of online presentations or live shows produced by Nintendo, where information regarding the company's upcoming content or franchises is presented, such as information about games and consoles. The presentations began ...

presentation on April 2, 2025, Nintendo announced '' Donkey Kong Bananza'', the first 3D ''Donkey Kong'' platformer since ''Donkey Kong 64''. It is scheduled for release on July 17 for the

Nintendo Switch 2 The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo, released in most regions on June5, 2025. Like the original Nintendo Switch, Switch, it can be used as a Handheld game console, handheld, as a Tablet computer, tablet, or connected via ...

Story and characters

The original ''Donkey Kong'' features three characters: Donkey Kong, a large, antagonistic gorilla; Mario, the overall-wearing protagonist; and Pauline, Mario's girlfriend. ''Donkey Kong'' follows Mario as he ascends a construction site to rescue Pauline from Donkey Kong, his escaped pet ape. In the sequel, ''Donkey Kong Jr.'', Mario imprisons Donkey Kong in a cage. The game introduces Donkey Kong's son, the diaper-wearing Donkey Kong Jr. Mario, Pauline, Donkey Kong, and Jr. return in the 1994 Game Boy ''Donkey Kong'', in which Mario again must rescue Pauline from the Kongs. The Game Boy game was the first ''Donkey Kong'' game to depict Donkey Kong wearing a red

necktie A necktie, long tie, or simply a tie, is a cloth article of formal neckwear or office attire worn for decorative or symbolic purposes, resting under a folded shirt collar or knotted at the throat, and usually draped down the chest. On rare o ...

bearing his initials, "DK". Beginning with ''Donkey Kong Country'', Donkey Kong's role shifted from antagonist to protagonist. Rare's Kevin Bayliss redesigned him; alongside the red tie from the Game Boy game, he was given what ''

GamesRadar+ ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and '' Compute ...

'' described as "menacing, sunken eyes and beak-like muzzle", and Bayliss designed him as blocky and muscular to make animating him easier. The Donkey Kong in Rare's games is a separate character from the one in the arcade games, who appears as the elderly

Cranky Kong often shortened to DK, is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. One of the flagship characters of the Japanese video game company Nintendo, he is the star of the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise and also ...

. Cranky Kong provides scathing,

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...

-breaking humor in which he unfavorably compares current games to older ones like the original ''Donkey Kong''. Nintendo's stance on whether Cranky is Donkey Kong's father, making the modern Donkey Kong a grown-up Donkey Kong Jr., or grandfather has been inconsistent. Rare's games moved the franchise's primary setting from a city to Donkey Kong Island, an idyllic isle. Because ''Donkey Kong'' did not have much of an established universe, Rare was free to expand it with new characters. ''Donkey Kong Country'' introduced Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong's sidekick and nephew. Diddy's design was based on a

spider monkey Spider monkeys are New World monkeys belonging to the genus ''Ateles'', part of the subfamily Atelinae, family Atelidae. Like other atelines, they are found in tropical forests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico to Brazil. The g ...

; he was created as a redesign of Donkey Kong Jr. but retooled into a separate character at Nintendo's request. As a result, Donkey Kong Jr. has made few appearances since ''Country''. Other supporting Kong characters that Rare introduced include

Funky Kong is a series of video games published by Nintendo since 1981 and created by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong and Mario have both had the roles of protagonist and antagonist in the series. Other characters ha ...

, a surfer; Candy Kong, Donkey Kong's girlfriend; Dixie Kong, Diddy's girlfriend; Kiddy Kong, a large toddler;

Chunky Kong is a series of video games published by Nintendo since 1981 and created by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Donkey Kong and Mario have both had the roles of protagonist and antagonist in the series. Other characters have included other Kongs ...

, Kiddy's brother; Tiny Kong, Dixie's sister; and Lanky Kong, a buffoonish

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...

. ''Country'' introduced King K. Rool, an

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

crocodile who serves as the series' main antagonist. K. Rool leads the Kremlings, an army of crocodiles who seek to steal Donkey Kong's hoard of bananas. Their name is a play on the

Moscow Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Kremlin Wall along with the K ...

and their theme music incorporates Soviet influences. ''

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...

'' summarized K. Rool as an archetypal game villain who "often wears disguises and invents strange gadgets for his elaborately evil schemes", such as dressing as a pirate captain in ''Donkey Kong Country 2''. Other villains introduced in the Retro Studios ''Country'' games include the Tiki Tak Tribe, a race of floating masks who hypnotize animals into stealing the banana hoard, and the Snowmads,

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

invaders who summon a dragon to take over Donkey Kong Island. Although the ''Mario'' and ''Donkey Kon''g franchises largely remain separate, they take place in the same fictional universe. Donkey Kong and other ''Donkey Kong'' characters frequently appear as playable characters in ''Mario'' spin-offs such as ''Mario Kart'', ''Mario Party'', and '' Mario Tennis''.

Gameplay

Original series

''Donkey Kong'' and ''Donkey Kong Jr.'' are early examples of the platform game genre. In both games, the player must guide the playable character (Mario in the first game, Donkey Kong Jr. in the second) to scale four levels while avoiding obstacles. The player jumps to dodge incoming obstacles (such as barrels) or cross gaps and climbs ladders or vines to reach the top of the level. In the first game, Mario can destroy obstacles by obtaining a hammer power-up, while in the second, Donkey Kong Jr. can do so by knocking pieces of fruit down from vines. Score (game), Points are awarded for dodging or destroying obstacles, collecting items, and completing stages quickly. The player begins each game with three Life (video games), lives, which they lose if they touch an obstacle or fall. ''Donkey Kong 3'' departs from this gameplay: it is a shooter game in which the player controls Stanley, an exterminator who must prevent Donkey Kong from stirring up insects in his greenhouse. The player fires bug spray at Donkey Kong and enemy insects that attempt to steal Stanley's flowers. They complete levels by spraying Donkey Kong enough to force him to the top of the screen or by killing all the insects. The 1994 Game Boy game begins with the four stages from the original ''Donkey Kong'', but after completing the fourth, the player is presented with over 100 additional stages that introduce puzzle-platform gameplay in which Mario must scout each level within a time limit to locate a key. Mario can pick up and throw objects and enemies, similar to ''Super Mario Bros. 2'', and perform acrobatics to reach otherwise inaccessible areas of the levels. This gameplay would serve as the basis for ''Mario vs. Donkey Kong'', which introduces stages in which Mario must guide six Mini-Mario toys to a toy box while protecting them from hazards. ''Mario vs. Donkey Kong'' sequels make guiding the Mini-Mario toys the focus, with each stage requiring the player to do so with touchscreen controls. This gameplay has been frequently compared to the strategy video game ''Lemmings (video game), Lemmings'' (1991).

''Donkey Kong Country''

The ''Donkey Kong Country'' series features platforming gameplay in which players complete side-scrolling levels to progress, reminiscent of Nintendo's ''Super Mario'' series. The player progresses through a Overworld#Platform games, world map that provides access to the themed worlds and their levels. They traverse the environment, jump between platforms, and avoid enemy and inanimate obstacles. Each world ends with a Boss (video games), boss fight with a large enemy. The ''Country'' series is known for its high difficulty level and emphasis on momentum, requiring players to react to oncoming obstacles quickly to maintain flow. Players control one of the various playable Kongs, depending on the game: Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Kiddy Kong, Cranky Kong, and Funky Kong. The Rare games each feature two protagonists, with one protagonist carrying over to the sequel while another is introduced. The Retro Studios games star Donkey Kong with other characters as his sidekicks. Players primarily control one Kong, with the second acting as a second Health (game terminology), hit point. In the Retro Studios games, other characters ride on Donkey Kong's back to provide special abilities; for instance, Diddy's jetpack allows him to temporarily hover. ''Country'' game mechanics include blasting out of barrel cannons, vehicle sequences with minecarts and barrel-themed rockets, levels in which the characters and foreground environments appear in silhouette, and swinging vines. Barrels return from the original series and can be used as weapons or broken to uncover power-ups. One barrel variant releases a partner Kong when thrown. Each level contains collectibles such as bananas, letters that spell out K–O–N–G, balloons, and puzzle pieces. These items can be found within the main level or by discovering hidden bonus stages, where they are earned via completing a challenge. In certain levels, the player can free an animal that provides the Kongs with special abilities, similar to the ''Super Mario'' series' Yoshi. Recurring animal friends include Rambi, a rhino that can charge into enemies and find hidden entrances; Enguarde, a swordfish that can defeat enemies underwater; and Squawks, a parrot who carries the Kongs or assists in finding collectibles. Outside the main gameplay, the Rare games' world maps contain areas where players can converse with non-player characters, such as Cranky, who provide advice, collectibles, and saved game, save points. The Retro Studios games feature shops (run by Cranky in ''Returns'' and Funky in ''Tropical Freeze'') where the player can purchase items like power-ups and lives.

Other games

The ''Donkey Kong Land'' trilogy condenses the SNES ''Country'' gameplay for the Game Boy, with different level design that accounts for the system's low-quality display. ''Donkey Kong 64'' blends ''Country'' elements with adventure gameplay that emphasizes collecting items to proceed, reminiscent of ''Super Mario 64'' (1996) and ''Banjo-Kazooie''. The player explores worlds and solves puzzles tailored to the unique abilities of the five playable characters (Donkey Kong, Diddy, Chunky, Tiny, and Lanky). ''Jungle Beat'' score attack emphasis challenges players to complete levels with as many points as possible. ''DK: King of Swing'' and ''DK: Jungle Climber'' feature settings and elements from the ''Country'' games, but require players to use the shoulder buttons to grab and climb pegboards to reach the end of a level. ''Diddy Kong Racing'' and ''Donkey Kong Barrel Blast'' are kart racing games that play similarly to the ''Mario Kart'' series, though ''Diddy Kong Racing'' features an adventure mode with boss fights and ''Barrel Blast'' has the player shake the Wii Remote and Nunchuk alternatively to accelerate. The ''Donkey Konga'' trilogy was developed by the ''Taiko no Tatsujin'' developers and features the same gameplay: they are rhythm games in which the player must hit scrolling notes to the beat of the music with accurate timing, with stylized notes corresponding to different buttons. Players build combos by hitting two or more notes; the combo ends when they miss a beat.

Music

The music for ''Donkey Kong'' and ''Donkey Kong Jr.'' was composed by Yukio Kaneoka, one of Nintendo's earliest audio engineers. Kaneoka wanted to take players on an adventure with a "pretty melody", which he compared to those in Disney films. He faced resistance from the designers, who wanted comical music to reflect the games' tone. Hirokazu Tanaka, a sound engineer who later garnered recognition for his work on Nintendo's ''Metroid'' and ''Pokémon'' franchises, also contributed, while Miyamoto wrote ''Donkey Kong'' opening and closing music. David Wise by Gage Skidmore

The ''Donkey Kong Country'' series features atmospheric music that mixes natural environmental sounds with melody, melodic and percussive accompaniments. It was primarily composed by David Wise (composer), David Wise, who worked at Rare from 1985 to 2009. Wise drew inspiration from Koji Kondo's ''Super Mario'' and ''Legend of Zelda'' music, Tim Follin, Tim and Geoff Follin's ''Plok!'' (1993) soundtrack, and 1980s synthesizer-heavy rock music, dance music and film soundtracks. He aimed to imitate the sound of the Korg Wavestation synthesizer. After Wise moved with a portion of the ''Diddy's Kong Quest'' team to work on ''Project Dream'', Eveline Fischer—who composed a portion of the first ''Country''—handled the majority of ''Dixie Kong's Double Trouble''. Fischer attempted to give levels a sense of purpose and drew inspiration from film composers such as Alan Silvestri and Klaus Doldinger. Wise composed a replacement soundtrack for the 2005 GBA port of ''Dixie Kong's Double Trouble'' after Rare had problems converting Fischer's score. Graeme Norgate and Grant Kirkhope adapted Wise's ''Country'' soundtracks for the first two ''Donkey Kong Land'' games, while Fischer adapted the ''Dixie Kong's Double Trouble'' soundtrack for ''Donkey Kong Land III''. Fischer was set to compose music for ''Donkey Kong 64'', but shifted to working on sound effects. She was replaced by Kirkhope, who composed alongside the ''Banjo-Kazooie'' games and ''Perfect Dark'' (2000). ''Nintendo Life'' described Kirkhope's ''Donkey Kong 64'' score as closer in spirit to his work on ''Banjo-Kazooie'' than to Wise's ''Country'' music. ''Donkey Kong 64'' introduction features the "DK Rap", a comedy rap song which introduces the Kong characters. It was written by ''Donkey Kong 64'' director, George Andreas, scored and recorded by Kirkhope, and performed by Andreas and Chris Sutherland, with other Rare staff joining on the chorus. Wise was unavailable during the development of ''Donkey Kong Country Returns'', so Kenji Yamamoto (composer, born 1964), Kenji Yamamoto took over. At the request of Miyamoto and Iwata, the ''Returns'' soundtrack mostly comprises rearrangements of tracks from the original ''Donkey Kong Country'', plus some new material by Yamamoto. He focused on what Tanabe felt made ''Donkey Kong Country'' music iconic, such as piano arrangements and the bassline. Wise left Rare during ''Returns'' development and collaborated with Yamamoto on the ''Tropical Freeze'' soundtrack. Technological advances allowed Wise to achieve a "1940s big band jazz" sound that he had been unable to produce on the SNES. Beyond the ''Country'' series, Wise composed the ''Diddy Kong Racing'' soundtrack. Other composers who have contributed to ''Donkey Kong'' games include Mahito Yokota, who composed for ''Jungle Beat'', and Lawrence Schwedler, who composed for ''Mario vs. Donkey Kong''. It was revealed in Donkey Kong bananza’s direct in June 18 2025 a song called Breaking Through sung by The Voice actor Kate Higgins the one that sings for Pauline on donkey Kong bananza will be in the game July 17 2025.

Other media

Crossovers

''Donkey Kong'' is represented in every game in Nintendo's ''Super Smash Bros.'' series of crossover fighting games. Donkey Kong debuted in the original ''Super Smash Bros. (video game), Super Smash Bros.'' (1999) as the only heavyweight fighter, with slow but powerful attacks. Diddy Kong was added as a playable fighter in ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' (2008), while King K. Rool was added in ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' (2018). ''Smash'' games also feature ''Donkey Kong'' stages and music. Donkey Kong appears in '' Mario & Sonic'', an Olympic Games-themed crossover between ''Mario'' and Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise, as a playable character; in the Wii version of ''Punch-Out!! (Wii), Punch-Out!!'' (2009) as the final boss; and in ''Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle'' (2017), a crossover between ''Mario'' and Ubisoft's ''Raving Rabbids'' franchise, as the protagonist of an expansion pack. Activision's toys-to-life game ''Skylanders: SuperChargers'' (2015) includes Donkey Kong as a playable character in the versions released on Nintendo platforms.

Animated series

A ''Donkey Kong'' cartoon produced by Ruby-Spears aired as part of CBS's hour-long ''Saturday Supercade'' programming block in 1983. The cartoon follows Mario and Pauline as they attempt to capture Donkey Kong after he escapes from a circus. ''Game Informer'' described the series as "abysmal... filled with bad puns and ridiculous situations". Soupy Sales voiced Donkey Kong, while Peter Cullen and Frank Welker (who later garnered recognition for voicing Optimus Prime and Megatron in the ''Transformers'' franchise) voiced Mario and Donkey Kong Jr. Donkey Kong is also a recurring character in ''Captain N: The Game Master'', a DIC Entertainment series that ran on NBC for 34 episodes between 1989 and 1991. ''

'', a television series produced by the French-Canadian company Medialab Technology, ran for 40 episodes between 1997 and 2000, bridging the gap between ''Dixie Kong's Double Trouble'' and ''Donkey Kong 64''. Reflecting the games' pre-rendered 3D graphics, ''Donkey Kong Country'' was produced using computer animation, accomplished with motion capture technology. The series adopts a sitcom approach and follows Donkey Kong as he attempts to protect a magical artifact, the Crystal Coconut, from King K. Rool. The creative direction was largely dictated by the limitations of early motion capture technology; Simon Racioppa, one of the writers, noted restrictions including characters being unable to pick up objects and introducing new locations and characters being discouraged. ''Donkey Kong Country'' was produced with little input from Nintendo, and was the final Western series that Nintendo licensed before it shifted to producing and distributing anime. The series was popular in France and Japan, though less so in the United States. Retrospectively, ''Hardcore Gaming 101'' criticized the series for lacking the adventure of the ''Country'' games, while ''GameSpot'' called its aged animation "nightmare fuel" and "visually disturbing".

Printed media

The first issue of ''Blip'', a short-lived American comic book published by Marvel Comics in 1983, features a story in which a foolish news reporter attempts to interview Mario during the events of the original ''Donkey Kong''. The story characterizes Donkey Kong as the result of a failed experiment to breed construction-worker gorillas. ''Blip'' marked Mario's first appearance in a comic book, years before Valiant Comics' ''Nintendo Comics System'' series in the 1990s. The British comics publisher Fleetway Publications published a promotional ''Donkey Kong Country'' comic in the UK in 1995, while Michael Teitelbaum wrote children's book adaptations of ''Donkey Kong Country'', ''Donkey Kong Land'' and ''Donkey Kong Country 2''.

Film

Elements from the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise feature prominently in ''The Super Mario Bros. Movie'' (2023), an animated film produced by Nintendo, Illumination (company), Illumination, and Universal Pictures. Mario (Chris Pratt) and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) seek the Kongs' help to stop Bowser (Jack Black) from invading the Mushroom Kingdom. Seth Rogen and Fred Armisen voice Donkey Kong and Cranky Kong, while other Kongs make cameo appearances and the "DK Rap" plays during Donkey Kong's introduction. Donkey Kong was redesigned for the first time since ''Donkey Kong Country'', combining elements of Rare's design and his original arcade-era design. ''The Super Mario Bros. Movie'' received mixed reviews, and Rogen received criticism for voicing Donkey Kong in his regular speaking voice. The film earned over $1.3 billion, making it the List of highest-grossing films based on video games, highest-grossing film based on a video game. In November 2021, prior to ''The Super Mario Bros. Movie'' release, reports emerged that Illumination was developing a ''Donkey Kong'' film with Rogen set to reprise his role.

Theme parks

In September 2021, Nintendo and Universal Destinations & Experiences announced a ''Donkey Kong''-themed expansion of the

themed area at Universal Studios Japan and Universal Epic Universe. The area, Donkey Kong Country, opened at Universal Studios Japan in 2024 and expanded the size of Super Nintendo World by 70%. It was designed with consultation from Miyamoto and includes a roller coaster, Mine-Cart Madness, based on the Tiki Tong boss fight from ''Donkey Kong Country Returns''. The area also features a K–O–N–G letter collection game and offers ''Donkey Kong''-themed food and merchandise. A similar version of the section opened alongside Universal Epic Universe in 2025.

Merchandise

''Donkey Kong'' merchandise includes clothing, toys such as plushes and Amiibo figures, trading cards, breakfast cereal, and soundtrack albums. The Lego Group began producing ''Donkey Kong''

construction toys in 2023 as a subseries within its Lego Super Mario product line. The initial four sets, based on the ''Donkey Kong Country'' games, were released in August 2023.

Legacy

Sales

''Donkey Kong'' is one of Nintendo's bestselling franchises, with sales reaching 65 million units by March 2021. Five ''Donkey Kong'' games (''Donkey Kong Country'', ''Donkey Kong Land'', ''Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!'', ''Donkey Kong 64'', and ''Donkey Kong Country Returns'') have shipped over a million copies in Japan alone, and several have been added to Nintendo's Nintendo Selects, Player's Choice and Nintendo Selects bestseller lines. Excluding rereleases and arcade games, as of 2022 the SNES version of ''Donkey Kong Country'' is the franchise's bestselling game, with 9.3 million copies sold worldwide, while ''DK: King of Swing'' is the worst-selling, with 280,000 copies sold worldwide.

Effect on the industry

The original ''Donkey Kong'' is regarded as one of the most important video games of all time. Its success established Nintendo as one of the video game industry's leaders. ''Computer and Video Games'' called ''Donkey Kong'' "the most momentous" game of 1981, as it "introduced three important names" to the industry: Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Mario. ''Donkey Kong'' also paved the way for the NES, which rejuvenated Video game crash of 1983, the crashed Western game industry and shifted the home console market's dominance from the US to Japan. The NES was largely based on the ''Donkey Kong'' arcade hardware; Nintendo took a ''Donkey Kong'' arcade cabinet to the semiconductor Integrated circuit, chip manufacturer Ricoh for analysis, which led to Ricoh producing the NES's Picture Processing Unit. ''Donkey Kong'' inspired many games, including clones such as ''Crazy Kong'' (1981) and ''Hard Hat Mack'' (1983), that featured a mix of running, jumping, and vertical traversal. These were initially referred to as "Donkey Kong-type" or "Kong-style" games, but eventually came to be known as platformers. While ''Donkey Kong'' was not the first platform game, ''VG247'' wrote "it was the first to matter" by establishing the genre's template. Furthermore, ''Donkey Kong'' spirited graphics, humor, and contextualization of the gameplay with a story distinguished it from contemporary arcade games. ''Donkey Kong'' is regarded as the first game to use graphics to tell a story, which ''GamesRadar+'' said provided an unprecedented level of narrative depth. ''Donkey Kong Country'' pre-rendered graphics featured a level of detail unprecedented in console games at the time, and inspired many imitators. It inspired games such as BlueSky Software's ''Vectorman'' (1995), Naughty Dog's ''Crash Bandicoot (video game), Crash Bandicoot'' (1996), HAL Laboratory's ''Kirby Super Star'' (1996), and Traveller's Tales and Sonic Team's ''Sonic 3D Blast'' (1996). ''Country'' influence has carried into more modern games such as ''Mekazoo'' (2016) and ''Kaze and the Wild Masks'' (2021); the Australian Broadcasting Corporation credited it for demonstrating 2D games could remain relevant after the introduction of 3D. ''Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair'' (2019)—developed by Playtonic Games, whose staff includes Rare alumni that worked on ''Country''—was noted for its gameplay similarities to ''Country''. The ''Country'' games established Rare as a leading video game developer and set the standard for its work. ''Country'' originated conventions characteristic of Rare's later output, including an emphasis on collecting items, irreverent humor, visual appeal, and tech demo-like design. Conversely, ''Donkey Kong 64'' has been blamed for precipitating 3D platforming's decline in popularity for its excessive emphasis on collecting items. ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' wrote that whereas ''Super Mario 64'' had "breathed life into the 3D platforming genre", ''Donkey Kong 64'' had "sucked it all out". Jonas Kaerlev, who developed the 3D platformer ''A Hat in Time'' (2017), said ''Donkey Kong 64'' gave the genre a reputation for tedium that contributed to a decline in interest.

Cultural impact

Donkey Kong is one of the most iconic video game characters, and he has been described as a mascot for both Nintendo and the video game industry. In 2007, the Monster Jam racing series obtained the license to use Donkey Kong's appearance for a monster truck. The truck debuted in a December 2007 show in Minneapolis and toured with Monster Jam throughout 2008. Donkey Kong appears as an antagonist in the film ''Pixels (2015 film), Pixels'' (2015), which pays homage to classic arcade games, while the film ''War for the Planet of the Apes'' (2017) features treacherous apes nicknamed "donkeys", which director Matt Reeves confirmed was a reference to Donkey Kong. The original ''Donkey Kong'' is a popular competitive video game. ''The Daily Telegraph'' called it "the most fiercely contested video game of all time", while ''Polygon'' wrote that achieving the highest score "is probably the most coveted arcade game world record". ''The King of Kong'' (2007), a documentary film directed by Seth Gordon, brought Donkey Kong high score competition, ''Donkey Kong'' competitive culture to prominence. It follows two players, Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell (gamer), Billy Mitchell, in their respective attempts to obtain and maintain the world record. The ''Telegraph'' described ''Donkey Kong'' competition as bitter and said the heated rivalries between players contribute to the game's lasting appeal. The ''Donkey Kong Country'' games are also popular in the video game speedrunning community. ''IGN'' said that ''Donkey Kong Country'' soundtrack contributed to an increased appreciation for video game music as an art form, and ''The New York Times'' called ''Country'' and ''Diddy's Kong Quest'' soundtracks the video game equivalents to the Beatles' ''Revolver (Beatles album), Revolver'' (1966) and ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (1967). Musicians such as Trent Reznor and Donald Glover have praised the ''Donkey Kong Country'' track "Aquatic Ambience". Glover sampled it in his 2012 song "Eat Your Vegetables", to which David Wise expressed approval. OverClocked ReMix has released ''Donkey Kong'' remix albums including contributions from Wise, Beanland, and Kirkhope. ''Curse of the Crystal Coconut'', a 2020 pirate metal album by the Scottish Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Alestorm, contains numerous references to the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, including its title; those who pre-ordered the album had a chance to win an Alestorm-branded Nintendo 64 with a copy of ''Donkey Kong 64''. ''Donkey Kong'' has been noted for its active fandom. ''Nintendo Life'' described one fansite, ''DK Vine'', as "highly respected". The franchise's lack of a detailed backstory has led fans to theorize its fictional chronology. ''Kotaku'' described one theory, which postulates that Donkey Kong Jr. was killed in a violent, off-screen conflict to explain his absence in the ''Country'' series, as "a fascinating example of how fandoms can run away with the smallest bits of narrative available" to rationalize inconsistencies. A team of fans led by animator Alex Henderson released ''DKC: Curse of the Crystal Coconut'', an animated tribute short film, in 2021 to commemorate the franchise's 40th anniversary and the ''Donkey Kong Country'' television series' 25th anniversary. Several voice actors from the ''Country'' television series reprised their roles for ''DKC: Return to Krocodile Isle'', a follow-up animation released in 2023. In the years following the original ''Donkey Kong'' release, the catchphrase "it's on like Donkey Kong" entered pop culture vernacular. The phrase has been used in television series, films, music, and news headlines; it is typically used to say something is "going down". It was popularized by the rapper Ice Cube, who used the phrase in his song "Now I Gotta Wet'cha" (1992), though it is unclear if he coined it. Nintendo filed a trademark request for the phrase with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in November 2010 as part of its marketing push for ''Donkey Kong Country Returns''.

Notes

References

Citations

Works cited

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External links

Official website
{{Portal bar, 1980s, Video games, Japan Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong video games, Nintendo franchises Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 1981 Video games adapted into television shows