the logo for the Donkey Kong series.
Donkey Kong is a video game series created by Nintendo and a spinoff of the Mario series. It stars the titular gorilla Donkey Kong. Rare Ltd. is credited with reviving the series with the release of the Super Nintendo game Donkey Kong Country in 1994. The game introduced several series staples, notably Diddy Kong and Rambi the Rhinoceros. Donkey Kong Country received two sequels, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, released in 1995 and 1996 respectively, both also for the Super Nintendo.
The series also had the Donkey Kong Land series which are handheld side games associated with the Donkey Kong Country series. The Donkey Kong Land series has three games: Donkey Kong Land, Donkey Kong Land 2, and Donkey Kong Land III. The very latter title received an enhanced port for the Game Boy Color in 2000.
Rare released two standalone titles, Donkey Kong 64 and Diddy Kong Racing, both for the Nintendo 64. Diddy Kong Racing is a spinoff racing game featuring Banjo and Conker, who would go on to have their own series. Donkey Kong 64 is a 3D platformer featuring five playable Kongs, including Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Lanky Kong, Tiny Kong, and Chunky Kong. In 2000, Donkey Kong Country received a remake for the Game Boy Color. In the mid-2000s, all three Donkey Kong Country games were remade for the Game Boy Advance.
In 2002, three other spinoff games to the Donkey Kong series were in development by Rare but were canceled when Microsoft bought out the entire company. The three games were Donkey Kong Racing, Diddy Kong Pilot, and Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers. Donkey Kong Racing was a game that was going to be for the GameCube and never had a replacement unlike the other two, due to Rare using the Xbox back then as their home console game they create games for. The other two were Diddy Kong Pilot, a racing sequel to Diddy Kong Pilot and Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers, the game that was going to be the first puzzle game in the Donkey Kong series, both for the Game Boy Advance. The two had been replaced as Banjo-Pilot and It's Mr. Pants respectively which are also Game Boy Advance games.
List of Rare-developed Donkey Kong games[]
- Donkey Kong Country (1994)
- Donkey Kong Land (1995)
- Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (1995)
- Donkey Kong Land 2
- Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (1996)
- Donkey Kong Land III (1997, GB / 2000, GBC)
- Diddy Kong Racing (1997)
- Donkey Kong 64 (1999)
- Donkey Kong Country (2000) (GBC)
- Donkey Kong Country (2003) (GBA)
- Donkey Kong Country 2 (2004) (GBA)
- Donkey Kong Country 3 (2005) (GBA)
- Diddy Kong Racing DS (2007)