Donkey Kong (franchise)

The Donkey Kong Series is a series based on a character that appeared in the first Mario game. It wasn't too long until the character branched off into a series of his own, as did the other.

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).

Years later, 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 sequals, and a handheld series on the Game Boy as well, beginning with Donkey Kong Land.

Nintendo 64 Era
In 1998, 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.

Rare fans were pleased soon afterwards with DK: King of Swing, which was very loyal to the original series with the return of King K. Rool and Cranky Kong too.

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.

Future
Not much is known about what lies in store for this ape, we do know however, that a sequal to DK: King of Swing is in the works for the Nintendo DS as Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber. Additionally, Donkey Jet has been confirmed for the Wii. There was also a little talk about a sequel to the original Donkey Kong 64, which is currently called Donkey Kong Wii.