Donkey Kong, along with other Nintendo franchises (Kirby, and maybe Yoshi), hasn’t seen a “true” release in a long time. In recent years Donkey Kong’s home console games have been limited to drumming games. Portable games have been limited to simple games where the only thing that Donkey Kong can do is swing from 2d vine to another 2d vine or limited to merely being a victim of the Mini-Marios.
During the SNES era, Rare, the company now owned by Microsoft, made 3 Donkey Kong games, Donkey Kong County, Donkey Kong Country 2 – Diddy’s Kong Quest, and Donkey Kong Country – Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble. These three games were some of the best games made for the Super Nintendo.
During the N64 era, Rare’s Donkey Kong 64, was the first game to use the N64’s expansion. The game was the first game to show off what the expansion pack could do and it was the first game to truly bring Donkey Kong into the third dimension.
Kirby’s last big game for a console, Kirby’s Air Raid, was also a big diversion from the main franchise. Now Nintendo, you have to remember that if you bring a franchise away from the main series, you have to bring it back. Donkey Kong and Kirby haven’t seen a “true to the franchise” game for a home console since the Nintendo 64 era, although the Kirby experience has continued on Nintendo’s portable consoles.
Does Nintendo not release these games, because of the painful memory of their lost company, Rare, who made these games? I don’t think that’s the case, because Microsoft (the owner or Rare) has supported Nintendo’s portable console. If for some reason Nintendo doesn’t want to pursue a 3D Donkey Kong game for the Wii, I would still love to see a 3d Donkey Kong game, so I would love to see Rare do what they did for Diddy Kong Racing DS and release Donkey Kong 64 on the Nintendo DS.
So, I think it’s time to bring back a 3d Donkey Kong for Nintendo’s latest console, the Wii. Why, because there is no reason Nintendo shouldn’t make another 3d Game for the lovable Nintendo character. I’d say the game should be cell shaded, when I think of Donkey Kong, I think of him as a cartoon, even more so that Mario or Zelda. But, either way, Donkey Kong on the Wii would be an enjoyable graphical experience, because outside of Brawl we’ve never seen a highly defined Donkey Kong franchise character or DK environment. When Super Mario galaxy came out, and people saw Bowser’s hair waving in the air, they had one of those “WOW!” moments. I think having Donkey Kong on the Wii would offer something similar, because no one has seen a Donkey Kong that was using the Wii’s graphical abilities. I for one would love to see DK in a lush environment, with hair that looks like hair and not a series of monkey shaped polygons, with buildings that don’t pop up when come close to then and disappear when walking away from them and Icons where you can see the edges of the pixels.
What would be the story? Well they would just what they do with all Nintendo Franchises, by repeating themselves, like Mario saving the princess, Link saving Zelda, and Donkey Kong finding the Golden Banana’s for some reason.
Outside of bring the game back to its roots, I think DK fans would enjoy a Vine swinging game, similar to what NiGHTS 2 had to offer in its flying dynamic, but in a more flat environment, and with more vertical path’s. If that would stand as a game itself, I would love to see it added as a feature to a 3d Donkey Kong game for the Wii.
Either way, if Nintendo keeps releasing these gimmicky games feature these icons with out releasing titles true to their respective franchises these franchises will loose their identity.
