Donkey Kong (franchise)

The Donkey Kong series is the video game series that follows the adventures of Donkey Kong and his friends. It is a spinoff of the Mario series. Like the Mario series, it has also span off into a media franchise beyond videogames, spawning 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 has taken Rare's place and kept the series alive.

Pre-NES and NES Era
Donkey Kong was created by Shigeru Miyamoto in 1981. In this game, Donkey Kong was the villain who kidnapped the hero (Mario, at the time called "Jumpman")'s girlfriend (Pauline).

The following year, another 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, was to save his kidnapped father from Mario.

The final game in this series was Donkey Kong 3, whereas Stanley the Bugman fought DK.

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

Donkey Kong played a large role in many Game & Watch systems.

SNES Era
Donkey Kong, or Donkey Kong Jr. to be exact, returned to the Nintendo system in the game, Super Mario Kart. Here, he was one of the two heavy characters.

It wasn't until two years later when Donkey Kong officially began his own series. A small British company called Rareware showed Nintendo a much larger Donkey Kong Universe, and Donkey Kong was no longer just Mario's enemy-He now 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.

Donkey Kong also appeared in several Mario spin-off titles, including all of the party and sport games.

Nintendo GameCube Era
Nintendo sold Rareware to Microsoft, and they became known as Rare and could only develope titles for Nintendo on the handheld system.

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

Donkey Kong Racing for the GameCube was also cancelled, though never officially stated.

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.

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. Nintendo has confirmed that a remake of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, will be ported to the Wii in the new Enjoy With Wii section.