Donkey Kong (Universe)

The Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング, Donkī Kongu) universe is a franchise centered around a series that originate from the subset of Nintendo's Mario franchise that is focused on the character Donkey Kong. It is like the other "sub-franchises" to Mario - Yoshi and Wario - in that its characters are regularly featured in Mario games, but also stars them in its own games. In this case, it is a series that was initially established by developer Rareware, then a second-party developer for Nintendo, to feature Donkey Kong and an extended simian cast, crocodilian enemies, and an exclusive setting.

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 * —About the Donkey Kong Universe.

Franchise description
Nintendo had an arcade game called Radar Scope that was successful in Japan but not as successful in the United States. The Nintendo president of the time, Hiroshi Yamauchi, turned to the young game developer Shigeru Miyamoto and entrusted him with the development of a new game, which would be built from units of the Radar Scope game. Miyamoto came up with the game Donkey Kong, the game that would be the debut for the characters Donkey Kong as the titular antagonist and Mario, then called "Jumpman," as the hero to rescue DK's damsel-in-distress hostage Pauline. The game was a breakthrough hit for Nintendo and helped put the company on the map. Both DK and Mario reappeared in Donkey Kong Junior, but this time the former was held captive by the latter and it falls to DK's titular son Donkey Kong Jr. to save him. And in Donkey Kong 3, DK breaks into a greenhouse to again assume the role of an antagonist, and the player controls Stanley the Bugman to oust DK and his insect minions. In addition, throughout the 1980s, eight Donkey Kong games were released for the Game & Watch platform. Afterwards in 1994, Nintendo produced a Game Boy sequel simply titled Donkey Kong, which was a restructuring and expansion to the first two games.

Donkey Kong was established as its own franchise when the British company Rareware designed and released Donkey Kong Country for Super NES; the new, main premise of Donkey Kong and the accompanying fictional world were introduced and made specific to the Donkey Kong name. The game itself was a 2-D platformer and a major financial success because it demonstrated then-revolutionary CGI-graphics on the console. Notable introduced elements include DK's homeland, Kongo Bongo Island, of which his home is in the region known as Kongo Jungle; DK's nephew and sidekick Diddy Kong and other Kong cohorts Cranky Kong, Candy Kong, and Funky Kong; and Barrel Cannons are found throughout levels and are used as modes of being transported through stages. The series' villains, the Kremlings, who are mostly reptilians, are introduced and led by the obese, arrogant Kremling King K. Rool.

Rareware expanded its Donkey Kong Country franchise with two SNES sequels. In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest, DK is kidnapped by K. Rool and it is up to Diddy Kong and a new character, his girlfriend Dixie Kong, to rescue him; here, other introduced members of the Kong family tree are the grandmotherly Wrinkly Kong and the showbiz Swanky Kong. In Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble, both DK and Diddy have been kidnapped, and it is up to Dixie and her newly introduced cousin, Kiddy Kong, to rescue them. Then, Rare created the 3D adventure platformer Donkey Kong 64, in which K.Rool attempts to annihilate Kongo Bongo Island with his own mechanical island, but DK, Diddy, and three more introduced Kongs, the clown-like Lanky Kong, Dixie's younger sister Tiny Kong, and Kiddie's older brother Chunky Kong, thwart the plan. Though DK 64 generally received high marks, it has been criticized for being an example of an overt "collect-a-thon". All of these games, like other Rare titles, have a large degree of self-referential humor, contrary to Mario games.

In the meantime, DK has seem to have also appeared frequently as a character, main and otherwise, in many Mario game series such as Mario Kart, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, and Mario Party, and also was featured as a main character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. The Donkey Kong Country franchise by Rare seemed to be put on hold, however, when Rare was sold to Microsoft in 2002. All subsequent games that are Donkey Kong-centric are either made by other developers (such as Donkey Konga for GameCube, which was made by Namco) or by Nintendo itself (such as the recent Mario vs Donkey Kong puzzle game series for GBA and DS) and conform to a much more Mario style of mannerisms. DK remains an incredible universe known throughout the world.

Heroes

 * Donkey Kong
 * Diddy Kong
 * Dixie Kong

Supportives

 * Candy Kong

Allies

 * Funky Kong
 * Lanky Kong
 * Wrinkly Kong
 * Tiny Kong
 * Cranky Kong

Villains

 * King K. Rool
 * Kremling Krew
 * KAOS
 * Manky Kongs
 * Ghastly King
 * Snowmads
 * Lord Ferdrik
 * Pompy
 * Skowl
 * Ba-Boom
 * Fugu
 * Bashmaster

Others

 * Konga Beat
 * Rocketbarrel Barrage
 * Hammer
 * Spring
 * Rambi
 * Enguarde
 * Kritter
 * Squitter
 * Expresso
 * Kass
 * Kip
 * Kalypso
 * Kludge
 * Helibird
 * Turret Tusk
 * Xananab
 * Peanut Popgun
 * Rocketbarrel Pack