Donkey Kong (franchise)

The Donkey Kong series follows the adventures of Donkey Kong and his friends. The first game in the series, Donkey Kong, is also considered the first game of the Mario series, as it actually starred Mario (known as "Jumpman"), while Donkey Kong was the villain.

Like the Mario series, the Donkey Kong series is a media franchise made up of video games, comics and cartoons. After the initial series of arcade and Game & Watch titles (many of which included Mario), the series ended until Rare, Ltd. created Donkey Kong Country, which was drastically different than the earlier Donkey Kong games: it focused solely on Donkey Kong and his kin, and was set in and around their jungle home on Donkey Kong Island. This led to two more games in the Donkey Kong Country series, three similar Donkey Kong Land games, and various other installations and spin-offs.

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.

Cancelled Games and Tech Demos
{| align=center width=100% border=1 !width=10%| Title !width=62%| Summary !width=18%| Planned system !''Diddy Kong Pilot
 * - style="background-color: whitesmoke;"

!'''Donkey Kong Racing
 * Diddy Kong Pilot was the planned sequel to Diddy Kong Racing, but instead focusing only on flying and nothing else. Due to Rare being acquired by Microsoft, Rare was already far at work into the game and instead of scrapping it altogether, the game was removed of all Donkey Kong references and was turned into Banjo-Pilot.
 * Game Boy Advance

!'''Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers
 * Donkey Kong Racing is another cancelled game, this one focusing on Donkey Kong instead of Diddy Kong. It would feature new Animal Buddies such as a gigantic Rambi and a purple Enguarde. After the buy out of Rare, the game was seen as vaporware.
 * Nintendo GameCube

!'''Return of Donkey Kong
 * Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers was going to be developed by Rare. But when it was bought by Microsoft it was removed of it's Donkey Kong references and made into It's Mr. Pants.
 * Game Boy Advance


 * Return of Donkey Kong was the possible sequel to the original Donkey Kong. Not much is known about it.
 * Nintendo Entertainment System