History YMMV / DonkeyKong

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: All the Kongs that aren't Donkey, Diddy, Dixie, Cranky, and Funky; since there are no prominent characters other than the five listed, it is unclear which characters will appear in the next work. These factors are what make it difficult to develop new works. This is one of the reason why there has been no DK games for nearly a decade.
** Candy's only appearance in the original SNES trilogy was the first game, but after ''Donkey Kong 64'', she was largely reduced to cameo appearances instead of more starring roles. She at least could have appeared in ''Donkey Kong Country Returns'', but she never became a normal character due to never to be a playable character. As a result, she ended up being absent from both ''Donkey Kong Country Returns'' and ''Tropical Freeze'', both developed by Retro Studios. She was intended to appear as a playable character in ''Diddy Kong Pilot'' and more games developed by Rare, but never released.
** Dixie and Tiny are sisters, but there is very little shown chemistry between them; Dixie was not in Tiny's debut game ''Donkey Kong 64'', and similarly with Candy, Tiny was mostly sidelined after her game, until she was redesigned in ''Diddy Kong Racing DS''. Tiny at least could have appeared in ''Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze''. She was also scheduled to appear in ''Donkey Kong Racing'' before it was cancelled.
** Lanky and Chunky Kong also from ''Donkey Kong 64''. Chunky has more personality than his baby brother Kiddy, so not having him appear in the series since the game is a big wasted opportunity, and as for Lanky, he could have had a chance to appear in ''DK: King of Swing'' and ''DK: Jungle Climber'' which have the gimmick of climbing across pegs, but he was completely absent.
** Just like with Dixie and Tiny, Kiddy and Chunky, despite being brothers, have never had any screen time together (aside from the minigame in the ''Donkey Kong Country 3'' remake where he can can save Chunky in the water), since Kiddy wasn't in ''Donkey Kong 64'' and they haven't made any appearances in any DK games afterward.
** The very unpopular character Kiddy would have had a few opportunities to appear, mostly when he was meant to appear in Donkey Kong Racing. It is also a missed opportunity that he was also absent in ''Donkey Kong Barrel Blast'' which would have made up for it. The fans also largely believed Kiddy would be the fourth playable Kong in ''Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze'', which would have easily expanded his character. Kiddy, Chunky and Swanky are Kongs who do not physically appear in any games not developed by Rare.
** Not just King K. Rool, but also his Kremling Krew. They were fully absent in both ''Donkey Kong Country Returns'' and ''Tropical Freeze''. An appearance from all them in either game would have been impactful.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: After Nintendo sold off Rare in 2002, the franchise struggled in finding a new identity for itself. Donkey Kong stopped starring in platform games and went into quirky spin-off titles that while they have their share of fans, [[SoOkayItsAverage were unimpressive]] and lacked memorability. It came to an end in 2010, when Retro Studios took over and developed ''Donkey Kong Country Returns'', which was [[WinBackTheCrowd was released to wide acclaim]] and brought in a new legion of DK fans.

** Candy's only appearance in the original SNES trilogy was the first game, but after ''Donkey Kong 64'', she was largely reduced to cameo appearances instead of more starring roles. She's never been a playable character, so she didn't become a normal character. As a result, she was absent in both ''Donkey Kong Country Returns'' and ''Tropical Freeze'', both developed by Retro Studios. She was intended to appear as a playable character in ''Diddy Kong Pilot'' and more games developed by Rare, but never released.

*** Just like with Dixie and Tiny, Kiddy and Chunky, despite being brothers, have never had any screen time together (aside from the minigame in the ''Donkey Kong Country 3'' remake where he can can save Chunky in the water), since Kiddy wasn't in ''Donkey Kong 64'' and they haven't made any appearances in any DK games afterward.

** Candy's only appearance in the original SNES trilogy, was the first game, but after ''Donkey Kong 64'', she was largely reduced to cameo appearances instead of more starring roles. She's never been a playable character, so she didn't become a normal character. As a result, she was absent in both ''Donkey Kong Country Returns'' and ''Tropical Freeze'', both developed by Retro Studios. She was intended to appear as a playable character in ''Diddy Kong Pilot'' and more games developed by Rare, but never released.
** Dixie and Tiny are sisters, but there is very little shown chemistry between them; Dixie was not in Tiny's debut game ''Donkey Kong 64'', and similarly with Candy, Tiny was mostly sidelined after her game, until she was redesigned in ''Diddy Kong Racing DS''. Dixie at least could have appeared in ''Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze''. Tiny was also scheduled to appear in ''Donkey Kong Racing'' before it was cancelled.