Donkey Kong KO’ed

The arcade king was Kong, Donkey  Kong. Featuring the man that would later become Mario and the ape that would later become a star of his own, Donkey Kong got off to a great start. It found a place in everyone’s hearts and homes in the 1990’s though, when Nintendo needed a hit the most.

Competing against Sega in the 16 bit generation, Nintendo was competing well, but had some struggles keeping up at times as Sonic and other franchises were taking away parts  of the market. Nintendo then called on its long held partner, Rare, and the Stamper Brothers to bring back Donkey Kong and turn it into a hit. Turning an arcade game that could be fit into a single screen into a full on side scrolling adventure, Donkey Kong Country was born.

The game used a new style of graphics that allowed for the best graphics of the time. Throw that on top of a great sound track, an already popular character and the best side scrolling game play and fun action, and the game was an instant hit. The Super Nintendo saw 2 sequels after the original came out, with each one building upon one another to increase the series’ popularity, introducing new characters and expanding the character’s universe.

When the N64 arrived it was only natural to introduce DK to the 3-d world as well. What came out was something far less than spectacular though. Originally hailed as a good game, many reviewers when looking back ask themselves what were they thinking. The game play went from fun to a grueling task of collecting so many different things. The entire game focused on collecting. There were notes, ammo, bananas, large bananas, coins, piece of fruit… and then different colors of each for every character. Add that on top  of plot points, voice acting and premises that just were not clever not funny and the game ends up as a disappointment.

Since then Nintendo seemed to just forget about the series as a whole. Some weak installments that included hitting drum controllers and some even weaker scrollers that was entirely about collecting, and the series seemed dead. Just when everyone had forgotten about the franchise except for some cameo appearance, Donkey Kong Country Returns hit the shelves. Too bad the game took away what was so enjoyed from the originals and replaced it with annoying controls, new characters that lacked any personality whatsoever, and overall was a poor performance. As a stand alone title the game may have been decent, but as a DK title, it was just barely acceptable.
With that in mind, where is the franchise to go? People got excited with DK Country returning, but then the ball was dropped. This shows that the market will still bu into the franchise, but it needs to be built up correctly and into a full on game that includes the elements from the past that everyone enjoyed, while bring on new elements. The New Super Mario Brothers Wii managed to do this just fine, but when it came to DK, they just couldn’t do it right. It takes more than just a new graphics engine and a motor to run a franchise, it takes proper development and care about what the customers want.