Donkey Kong (franchise)

The Donkey Kong series is the video game series that follows the adventures of Donkey Kong and his friends. The Mario series is actually a spin-off of the greater Donkey Kong franchise, since the first Mario game was Donkey Kong. Like the Mario series, the Donkey Kong series is a media franchise made up of video games, comics and cartoons. After a series arcade and Game & Watch titles, the series ended until Rare, Ltd. created Donkey Kong Country. Since then, the series has become a regular Nintendo license and has produced several spin-offs. After Microsoft bought Rare, Ltd., two spin-offs to the series, Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers and Diddy Kong Pilot were canceled. The series faced a five year hiatus until Nintendo EAD released Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. Since then, Paon and Retro Studios have taken Rare's place and kept the series alive.

Pre-NES and NES Era
Donkey Kong was created by Shigeru Miyamoto in 1981 for arcades. In this game, Donkey Kong was the villain who kidnapped Mario's girlfriend (Pauline). It was later ported to the many home systems including the Atari 2600, the Collecovison and the Nintendo Entertainment System.

The following year, another arcade game was created, Donkey Kong Jr.. This time, the roles were reversed. Mario was the villain, and DK was a good guy. Here, Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong's son, had to save his kidnapped father from Mario.

The final game in this series was Donkey Kong 3, where Stanley the Bugman fought DK. This game differed from its predecessors in that it is a shooter/platformer hybrid and did not include Mario as a character.

All of these games were ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System.

SNES Era
In 1994, a small British company called Rareware showed Nintendo a much larger Donkey Kong Universe, and Donkey Kong was no longer just Mario's enemy. Instead, he was the hero of Donkey Kong Island. Thus, Donkey Kong Country was born.

Barrels became projectiles, Oil containers could let out enemies, and the series also introduced DK's nephew, Diddy Kong.

This game had two sequels, and a handheld series on the Game Boy as well, beginning with Donkey Kong Land.

Nintendo 64 Era
In 1999, Rareware made Donkey Kong 64, Donkey Kong's debut in the world of 3D gaming.

Before that however, DK's nephew, Diddy Kong, starred in his own game, Diddy Kong Racing, where Diddy and his friends raced to defeat the evil Wizpig.

The first and only Donkey Kong game on the Game Boy Color came in the form of a remake of Donkey Kong Country.

Nintendo GameCube Era
In 2002 Rareware was purchased by Microsoft, and they became known as Rare and could only develop titles for Nintendo on handheld systems.

Because of this, Diddy Kong Pilot, a sequel to Diddy Kong Racing was canceled, and instead, became Banjo Pilot, a game about Banjo the Bear, another Rare character.

Donkey Kong Racing for the GameCube was also canceled, though never officially stated. (Note that both Donkey and Diddy Kong starred in a racing game for this system -- Mario Kart: Double Dash.)

Fortunately, the big ape starred in his own game on this system, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, which was praised for its simplicity and fun factor. It didn't contain anything from the Donkey Kong Country series though, other than bananas and Donkey Kong himself.

DK: King of Swing was released, and it featured the return of King K. Rool and Cranky Kong.

Rare has remade the whole Donkey Kong Country series on the Game Boy Advance, with extra features.

Diddy Kong Racing has also been remade for the Nintendo DS, as Diddy Kong Racing DS with plenty of new factors, such as Wifi, and the ability to play as Diddy's girlfriend, Dixie Kong, and her sister, Tiny Kong, in place of the removed Rare characters, Banjo and Conker.

Wii era
In the new Wii era, DK Jungle Climber was released in August for Japan, and has since been released in other territories as the sequel to DK: King of Swing. DK's first game for Wii, Donkey Kong Barrel Blast, was later released as a new racing game, not the sequel to Diddy Kong Racing, however. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, was ported to the Wii in the New Play Control! series. Additionally, Donkey Kong Country Returns has been announced as an add-on to the Donkey Kong Country series.