History Franchise / DonkeyKong

Throughout its life, the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise has maintained a connection to its greater franchise, ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]''. DK himself appeared in several ''Mario'' spinoffs like the ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' series, ''VideoGame/MarioTennis'' series, and the ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' series. For a while, Creator/{{Nintendo}} was reluctant to incorporate the elements from the Creator/{{Rare}} games with the extended ''Mario'' universe, due to ambiguous IP rights between Nintendo and Rare. The DKC elements were finally integrated into the extended ''Mario'' universe with ''Mario Kart: Double Dash!!'', which featured Diddy Kong as a playable character. Since then, other DKC characters have made appearances in the ''Mario'' spinoffs, among them Funky Kong and the Kremlings. Donkey Kong is also a perennial playable character of the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series of {{Fighting Game}}s, which, unlike the ''Mario'' spinoffs, has incorporated DKC elements from the very beginning. Diddy Kong later joined in ''Brawl''.

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/donkey_kong_logo_1240.png]]

Donkey Kong was completely reinvented by the British studio Creator/{{Rare}} with the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' games on the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem. The trilogy breathed a new life for the Donkey Kong character, giving him a supporting cast of other Kongs such as Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong as well as giving him an established group of enemies to fight called the Kremlings, an army of anthropomorphic crocodilians lead by a constantly name-changing king called King K. Rool. It was also established that the Donkey Kong of the arcade games was now old and retired, going by the name of Cranky Kong, while the playable Donkey Kong was either his son (and therefore the old Donkey Kong Jr.) or his grandson. These games were massively popular for their highly detailed digitized graphics that took full advantage of the {{SNES}}' color rendering capabilities. It also paved the way for Creator/{{Rare}} to become one of Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s most acclaimed development studios. Rare also produced ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64, often thought to be a SelfPlagiarism of their own ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie''.

Throughout its life, the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise has maintained a connection to its daughter franchise, ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]''. DK himself appeared in several ''Mario'' spinoffs like the ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' series, ''VideoGame/MarioTennis'' series, and the ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' series. For a while, Creator/{{Nintendo}} was reluctant to incorporate the elements from the Creator/{{Rare}} games with the extended ''Mario'' universe, due to ambiguous IP rights between Nintendo and Rare. The DKC elements were finally integrated into the extended ''Mario'' universe with ''Mario Kart: Double Dash!!'', which featured Diddy Kong as a playable character. Since then, other DKC characters have made appearances in the ''Mario'' spinoffs, among them Funky Kong and the Kremlings. Donkey Kong is also a perennial playable character of the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series of {{Fighting Game}}s, which, unlike the ''Mario'' spinoffs, has incorporated DKC elements from the very beginning. Diddy Kong later joined in ''Brawl''.

Donkey Kong was completely reinvented by the British studio {{Rare}} with the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' games on the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem. The trilogy breathed a new life for the Donkey Kong character, giving him a supporting cast of other Kongs such as Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong as well as giving him an established group of enemies to fight called the Kremlings, an army of anthropomorphic crocodilians lead by a constantly name-changing king called King K. Rool. It was also established that the Donkey Kong of the arcade games was now old and retired, going by the name of Cranky Kong, while the playable Donkey Kong was either his son (and therefore the old Donkey Kong Jr.) or his grandson. These games were massively popular for their highly detailed digitized graphics that took full advantage of the {{SNES}}' color rendering capabilities. It also paved the way for {{Rare}} to become one of Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s most acclaimed development studios. Rare also produced ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64, often thought to be a SelfPlagiarism of their own ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie''.

** ''Donkey Kong'': Here, Mario and Pauline are reimagined as a circus owner and his animal trainer. Their star attraction Donkey Kong escapes and wanders the country, just wanting to live his life in peace. Mario and Pauline constantly chase him, and all three of them often get tangled with criminals. They would often set aside their rivalry to deal with the criminals, then resume the chase.
** ''Donkey Kong Junior'': Happening around the same time as the above segment, Donkey Kong's son attempts to visit his father at the circus, only to learn of his escape. Junior befriends a biker named Bones, and together they travel the country on Bone's motorcycle, searching for his father and getting into adventures along the way.

Rare was later bought out by Microsoft, leaving the franchise in a state of limbo. Nintendo still kept the rights to all elements of the ''DKC'' games introduced by Rare. During this period, they collaborated with [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]] to produce the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKonga'' series of {{Rhythm Game}}s, which used elements of the DKC trilogy, and the platform game ''Videogame/DonkeyKongJungleBeat'', which was set outside the continuity and used no elements from the Rare games. The franchise was eventually given to Paon, who produced ''DK King of Swing'' and ''DK Jungle Climber'', two games reminiscient of CluCluLand set in the Rare continuity, as well as the RacingGame ''DonkeyKongBarrelBlast''. The American subsidiary Nintendo Software Technology also produced ''VideoGame/MarioVsDonkeyKong'', which reunited Mario with his former rival (or probably the son/grandson of his former rival). The limbo came to an end when RetroStudios released ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'', which marked a return to the 2D platforming style, and its success led to the production of [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze a sequel]].

Throughout its life, the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise has maintained a connection to its daughter franchise, ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]''. DK himself appeared in several ''Mario'' spinoffs like the ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' series, ''VideoGame/MarioTennis'' series, and the ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' series. For a while, Creator/{{Nintendo}} was reluctant to incorporate the elements from the {{Rare}} games with the extended ''Mario'' universe, due to ambiguous IP rights between Nintendo and Rare. The DKC elements were finally integrated into the extended ''Mario'' universe with ''Mario Kart: Double Dash!!'', which featured Diddy Kong as a playable character. Since then, other DKC characters have made appearances in the ''Mario'' spinoffs, among them Funky Kong and the Kremlings. Donkey Kong is also a perennial playable character of the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series of {{Fighting Game}}s, which, unlike the ''Mario'' spinoffs, has incorporated DKC elements from the very beginning. Diddy Kong later joined in ''Brawl''.

** ''Donkey Kong Junior'':

*** ''VideoGame/DiddyKongRacing''

Rare was later bought out by Microsoft, leaving the franchise in a state of limbo. Nintendo still kept the rights to all elements of the ''DKC'' games introduced by Rare. During this period, they collaborated with [[NamcoBandai Namco]] to produce the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKonga'' series of {{Rhythm Game}}s, which used elements of the DKC trilogy, and the platform game ''Videogame/DonkeyKongJungleBeat'', which was set outside the continuity and used no elements from the Rare games. The franchise was eventually given to Paon, who produced ''DK King of Swing'' and ''DK Jungle Climber'', two games reminiscient of CluCluLand set in the Rare continuity, as well as the RacingGame ''DonkeyKongBarrelBlast''. The American subsidiary Nintendo Software Technology also produced ''VideoGame/MarioVsDonkeyKong'', which reunited Mario with his former rival (or probably the son/grandson of his former rival). The limbo came to an end when RetroStudios released ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'', which marked a return to the 2D platforming style, and its success led to the production of [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze a sequel]].

Donkey Kong was completely reinvented by the British studio {{Rare}} with the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' games on the SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem. The trilogy breathed a new life for the Donkey Kong character, giving him a supporting cast of other Kongs such as Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong as well as giving him an established group of enemies to fight called the Kremlings, an army of anthropomorphic crocodilians lead by a constantly name-changing king called King K. Rool. It was also established that the Donkey Kong of the arcade games was now old and retired, going by the name of Cranky Kong, while the playable Donkey Kong was either his son (and therefore the old Donkey Kong Jr.) or his grandson. These games were massively popular for their highly detailed digitized graphics that took full advantage of the {{SNES}}' color rendering capabilities. It also paved the way for {{Rare}} to become one of Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s most acclaimed development studios. Rare also produced ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' for the Nintendo64, often thought to be a SelfPlagiarism of their own ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie''.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys

* OutsideContextVillain: Both of the villains from the Retro-created "Returns" series have been entirely new and unrelated to the Kremlings.

Rare was later bought out by Microsoft, leaving the franchise in a state of limbo. Nintendo still kept the rights to all elements of the ''DKC'' games introduced by Rare. During this period, they collaborated with [[NamcoBandai Namco]] to produce the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKonga'' series of {{Rhythm Game}}s, which used elements of the DKC trilogy, and the platform game ''Videogame/DonkeyKongJungleBeat'', which was set outside the continuity and used no elements from the Rare games. The franchise was eventually given to Paon, who produced ''DK King of Swing'' and ''DK Jungle Climber'', two games reminiscient of CluCluLand set in the Rare continuity, as well as the RacingGame ''DonkeyKongBarrelBlast''. The American subsidiary Nintendo Software Technology also produced ''MarioVsDonkeyKong'', which reunited Mario with his former rival (or probably the son/grandson of his former rival). The limbo came to an end when RetroStudios released ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'', which marked a return to the 2D platforming style, and its success led to the production of [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze a sequel]].

** ''VideoGame/DKJungleClimber''

** ''Donkey Konga 3''

** ''Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis''
** ''Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again''

Donkey Kong made his debut in the 1981 arcade game ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong''. The premise of the game was that a gorilla named Donkey Kong kidnapped the girlfriend of a carpenter nicknamed Jumpman and escaped into a construction zone. Jumpman then had to brave the game's four levels, each one with many obstacles, in order to rescue his girlfriend. ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' was the UrExample of the genre known as the PlatformGame. The game was the BreakthroughHit of Creator/{{Nintendo}} as a video game company, paving the way for their later success in the industry.

DK later returned in the game's sequel: ''Donkey Kong Jr'' In this game, however, DK was made a DistressedDude by Jumpman, newly rechristened as [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]], in revenge for kidnapping Pauline. DK had to be rescued by his son, Donkey Kong Jr., from Mario, who kept DK in a cage and summoned many creatures to stop DK Jr. from rescuing his father.

After ''DK Jr.'', Mario would later go on to establish [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros his own franchise]] separate from DK. First, he would star in ''VideoGame/MarioBros'', where he and his brother Luigi (who made his debut there) had to deal with the creatures in the Brooklyn sewers. Afterwards, he and Luigi starred in the landmark ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'', which [[TropeCodifier codified]] the standards for the PlatformGame genre and made Mario the mascot of Nintendo and the centerpiece of their gaming empire.

** ''Donkey Kong Jr''

** ''Mario Vs. Donkey Kong''
** ''Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: March of the Minis''
** ''Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again''
** ''Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem''

** ''DK King of Swing''

Throughout its life, the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise has maintained a connection to its daughter franchise, ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]''. DK himself appeared in several ''Mario'' spinoffs like the ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' series, ''VideoGame/MarioTennis'' series, and the ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' series. For a while, Creator/{{Nintendo}} was reluctant to incorporate the elements from the {{Rare}} games with the extended ''Mario'' universe, as they were unsure if they could use those elements. The DKC elements were finally integrated into the extended ''Mario'' universe with ''Mario Kart: Double Dash!!'', which featured Diddy Kong as a playable character. Since then, other DKC characters have made appearances in the ''Mario'' spinoffs, among them Funky Kong and the Kremlings. Donkey Kong is also a perennial playable character of the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series of {{Fighting Game}}s, which, unlike the ''Mario'' spinoffs, has incorporated DKC elements from the very beginning. Diddy Kong later joined in ''Brawl''.

* ExiledFromContinuity: The Rare-created characters used to be forbidden from the extended ''Mario'' universe due to slightly unjustified legal fears, but this has been overturned as of now.

*** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry''

Rare was later bought out by Microsoft, leaving the franchise in a state of limbo. Nintendo still kept the rights to all elements of the ''DKC'' games introduced by Rare. During this period, they collaborated with [[NamcoBandai Namco]] to produce the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKonga'' series of {{Rhythm Game}}s, which used elements of the DKC trilogy, and the platform game ''Videogame/DonkeyKongJungleBeat'', which was set outside the continuity and used no elements from the Rare games. The franchise was eventually given to Paon, who produced ''DK King of Swing'' and ''DK Jungle Climber'', two games reminiscient of CluCluLand set in the Rare continuity, as well as the RacingGame ''DonkeyKongBarrelBlast''. The American subsidiary Nintendo Software Technology also produced ''MarioVsDonkeyKong'', which reunited Mario with his former rival (or probably the son/grandson of his former rival). The limbo came to an end when RetroStudios released ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'', which marked a return to the 2D platforming style.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: A quirky detail that people like to point out are Diddy and Dixie's eyes: They never blink with their eyelids but instead "squish" their irises to create the illusion of blinking. And the way that their face is designed makes it look like their eyeballs are connected to each other. So by definition, Diddy and Dixie are ''double-irised one-eyed monkeys''.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: A quirky detail that people like to point out are Diddy and Dixie's eyes: They never blink with their eyelids but instead "squish" their irises to create the illusion of blinking. And the way that their face is designed makes it look like their eyeballs are connected to each other. So by definition, Diddy and Dixie are double-irised one-eyed monkeys.