Rumour Super Nintendo World Rides And Layout Potentially Revealed In "Leaked" Images
Including a Donkey Kong area!
Random Turns Out DK Gives Diddy Kong A Little Cuddle Every Time They Sit In A Barrel
In Donkey Kong Country Returns, at least
Donkey Kong - News
July2019
Random Turns Out DK Gives Diddy Kong A Little Cuddle Every Time They Sit In A Barrel
In Donkey Kong Country Returns, at least
Let us improve your day dramatically by sharing the most wholesome piece of Nintendo trivia we've stumbled across in recent times. Anyone familiar with the Donkey Kong Country Returns series will likely remember the barrels used to transport DK around each stage; hop into one of these explosive beasts and...
Rumour Super Nintendo World Rides And Layout Potentially Revealed In "Leaked" Images
Including a Donkey Kong area!
As part of Nintendo's goal to maximise the potential of its beloved franchises, a 'Super Nintendo World' theme park is planned to open next year at Universal Studios Japan. You may well be aware of this already, but these new images might just have given us our first true look at how the park will look. The images come...
News Wii's Donkey Kong Country Returns Is Now Playable At 1080p And 60fps On Nvidia Shield
See it in action
As you may well be aware, a number of Nintendo's first-party Wii titles have been ported to the Nvidia Shield in China. The latest to make the jump is Donkey Kong Country Returns, and it's looking just as tasty as you might expect. The Wii game has been treated to the usual upgrades for the Nvidia Shield release, meaning it plays...
June2019
News Save Up For Your Switch Games With This Officially Licensed Donkey Kong Money Box
Super Mario Savings!
Saving up for all of your favourite video games can be tricky, and while even the coolest of money boxes can't help you to buy them all, it can certainly help you store your cash in style. This officially licensed Donkey Kong money box is set to release next month, available directly from Merchoid. It stands at 30cm tall and...
February2019
News The Next Smash Bros. Ultimate Spirit Board Event Is A Donkey Kong Family Reunion
Starts later this week
The next Super Smash Bros. Ultimate spirit board event is a Donkey Kong-themed family gathering. It starts this Friday and as usual runs for a total of three days. During this period, you'll be able to collect more Donkey Kong spirits than usual, including the likes of Tiny Kong and Chunky Kong from DK64. Here's the official...
December2018
Feature The Day I Met Donkey Kong On Live TV
Alex Norton talks of TV fame and people in ape suits
No, you're not suffering from déjà vu; this article originally appeared on the site in August this year, and we're republishing it as part of our 'Best of 2018' series which celebrates what we feel were our finest features of the past twelve months. In this special one-off piece, reader Alex...
November2018
News Billy Mitchell Live Streams 1,050,100 Point Donkey Kong Game
The Return of the King of Kong
After the apparent fall from grace, 'video game player of the century' Billy Mitchell has been live streaming arcade gameplay sessions of Donkey Kong on Twitch. His latest effort was different from the regular broadcasts. In Billy's own words: While that impressive high score is still not enough to claim the crown...
News Nintendo Grabs Smartphone-Related Trademarks For Zelda: Spirit Tracks And Mario Vs. Donkey Kong
As well as 'download' and 'game program' trademarks
Nintendo Co., Ltd. has applied for trademarks for The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and Mario Vs. Donkey Kong - which isn't massive news in itself, as the company is forever renewing its trademarks to cover older IP. However, what makes these two near-identical applications interesting is that...
October2018
News Disgraced King Of Kong Star Billy Mitchell Is Aiming To Reclaim His Donkey Kong Score
"Why? Cause I’m Billy Mitchell"
It's not been the best of times for Billy Mitchell, one of the most famous high score-chasers the gaming industry has ever known. Earlier this year, video game records organization Twin Galaxies stripped Mitchell of his high scores following
August2018
News Donkey Kong Country Designer Shows Off Early King K. Rool And Kremling Art Concepts
A much more serious design
Rare employee Gregg Mayles is at it again, giving us even more tasty insights into the makings of the Donkey Kong Country franchise. Earlier today, Mayles shared a list of the original names for Donkey Kong Country's characters and even the game itself, including the recent addition to the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate...
Random Rare Employee Reveals Original Name Of K. Rool And Donkey Kong Country
"Slightly rubbish"
After what feels like forever, the king of the Kremlings is finally coming to Super Smash Bros. Following King K. Rool being officially revealed for the
News Yes, King K. Rool Really Is Coming To Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
It's finally happening
You almost had us, Nintendo. During today's special Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct, several new fighters were revealed, and at the end of the broadcast it seemed as if the prayers of Donkey Kong Country fans had been answered with the appearance of King K. Rool - only for it to turn out to be King Dedede in disguise...
News A Metroid Easter Egg Has Been Found In Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze After Four Years
Hiding all this time
Nintendo games often have little nods to other franchises cheekily tucked away in hard-to-reach areas, giving fans a nice little burst of happiness and pride when they stumble across them, but this little easter egg inside Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze managed to remain hidden for more than four years. Until now, of...
July2018
Random DK Bongos Are The Perfect Substitute For Hori Taiko Drum Controller
Backup drummer
As exciting as it is to find out Bandai Namco will release Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum ‘n’ Fun! in the west this November, we're still admittedly coming to terms with the fact the Hori Taiko Drum Controller will not be made available locally. The only way of obtaining it now is to import it from websites like
June2018
Random This 1/2 Scale Nintendo Arcade Cabinet Made From LEGO Is Completely Playable
We'll take five
Sometimes fan-made creations can simply blow you away, and this 1 The design of the cabinet only took Helen around six hours, but over 27 hours were needed for the build itself. With a giant Donkey Kong figure on the top, brick-built graphics on the sides, and a mock co
Review Arcade Archives Donkey Kong
The true Original Edition
Released in 1981, Donkey Kong was Nintendo’s first big arcade hit, featuring the debuts of the titular ape, Mario and future mayor of New Donk City, Pauline. Despite its popularity, Nintendo has favoured re-releasing the cutdown (with one stage missing) NES port of this classic platformer over the...
May2018
News Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze Hangs Onto Second Place In UK Charts
Switch version has racked up 1/4 of all copies sold so far in the UK
Sony's PS4 epic God of War remains the UK's top-selling video game for a fourth week, but Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze on Switch proves it has some staying power, too - it's been able to cling onto second place for a second week. That's pretty impressive stuff when you...
News Consumers Go Bananas For Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze In This Week's UK Charts
Nintendo Labo goes in the recycling bin!
Last week we saw Nintendo Labo: Toy-Con 01: Variety Kit make a strong debut in the UK software charts at position three. Unfortunately for Nintendo, it's fallen out of favour this week in the UK, slipping all the way to 13th place. Poor old Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 02: Robot Kit, only charted at 20th...
Random Spot The Difference Between These Two Covers For Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze hits the Switch soon, and as you'll know from our review, it's well worth picking up - even if you already own the Wii U original. However, if for some reason you don't fancy trying out the latest Kong adventure, you can still entertain yourselves with a wee game of "spot the difference". For...
News Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Disappears From The North American Wii U eShop
Update: Aaaaaaaand it's back
Update: And just like that, the game is back up on the Wii U eShop. We'll let you ponder why this might be in the comments section below. Original Story: The Nintendo Switch has had its fair share of Wii U ports, something which has divided the fanbase a little, but makes a whole lot of business sense. Considering the...
April2018
Video Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze's New Easter Egg is Only On Switch
Great for all the wrong reasons
Easter eggs are, in our view, a lovely way for developers to make little nods to other games, franchises, or any other subject that might otherwise pass a player by. We've discovered one such reference to the divisive Donkey Kong Country TV show in the Switch version of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. As you...
Video Digital Foundry Explores Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze's Resolution And Frame Rate
Looks like a winner
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze was one of the Wii U's gaming highlights; the platforming fun was great from start to finish, but it also looked great and played nicely, too. To explore the differences between the WIi U version and the upcoming Switch version, though, and to check for any improvements, the folk at Digital...
Feature The History And Evolution of Donkey Kong
37 years in the making
Few gaming characters have hung around as long as Donkey Kong, and over the years we at NL towers have garnered a healthy respect for the giant, tie-wearing ape. That's why we decided to throw together a short audio-visual retrospective to take a look at how DK managed to get where he is today. What's your favourite entry...
News Billy Mitchell Breaks His Silence To Address Accusations Of Cheating
"Everything was done professionally, according to the rules"
It's fair to say that it's not been a great year for Billy Mitchell, the former "King of Kong". Earlier this year he was accused of cheating in order to claim his famous Donkey Kong high score, and last week Twin Galaxies responded and
"We must repeat, the truth is the priority"
High score record-keeping site Twin Galaxies has removed all of Billy Mitchell's rankings from its database and banned him from competition following accusations of wrong-doing relating to the classic Nintendo title Donkey Kong. Earlier this year, Mitchell's scores were called into doubt by Donkey...
Feature The 26 Best Nintendo Game Boy Games Of All Time
Limited to four colours per cartridge
Every system has its gems, but the original Game Boy was something else. Despite some weak hardware compared to its rivals at the time, it managed to dominate the handheld market and last for years longer than it arguably had any right to, largely thanks to a certain yellow electric mouse. So today we're going...
Random Here's What Donkey Kong Country Would Have Looked Like With Classic Kong
Alternate timeline monkey business
When Rare was given the chance to work with one of Nintendo's most famous intellectual properties, it created one of the SNES' truly classic 2D platformers. However, Donkey Kong Country not only gave Kong a new lease of life; it gave him an entirely new look which has become the accepted template ever since. What,...
February2018
Feature Shining A Light On Ikegami Tsushinki, The Company That Developed Donkey Kong
And the legal battle that shocked Nintendo
As one of Nintendo's earliest hits, Donkey Kong has a special place not only in the company's illustrious history, but in the realm of gaming in general. Despite its advanced years the game continues to capture the imagination of players, and has recently been thrust back into the spotlight thanks to its...
News Donkey Kong Scorekeeper Rubbishes Billy Mitchell's Claims Of Fabricated Footage
Mitchell's defence "does not make sense"
The saga of Billy Mitchell's Donkey Kong high score continues to rumble along following accusations from score-verifier Jeremy Young that Mitchell - who was a key figure in the cult movie King of Kong - used MAME to record his record-breaking runs on the game, as opposed to original hardware, as...
News Billy Mitchell Reacts to Accusations of Fake Donkey Kong High Score
"I’ve never even played MAME"
Billy Mitchell is a famed name in the competitive gaming scene, both for the records that he set on arcade games and for the role that he played in the story behind The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. Recently, Mitchell’s achievement with setting the Donkey Kong high score has been called into question, with...
News Billy Mitchell's Donkey Kong High Scores Come Under Doubt Amid Accusations Of Monkey Business
Meanwhile, Robbie Lakeman extends his world record score
Billy Mitchell is a video game icon who needs little introduction; he was one of the first players to gain mainstream recognition for his skill at arcade games, and more recently found fame in the documentary King of Kong, where he was positioned as the antagonist to Steve Wiebe's heroic...
December2017
News The Donkey Kong World High Score Record Just Got Smashed To Bits (Again)
Robbie Lakeman wins back his title with a score of 1,230,100
In video games, there are high scores and then there are high scores. The long battle for Donkey Kong's biggest score definitely falls into the latter category; it's the holy grail of arcade scores and it's played host to some of the most competitive rivalries in history. Well, the arcade...
June2017
News Even After 10 Years, Billy Mitchell Still Hasn't Seen King Of Kong
"On the souls of my children, I haven’t watched it"
It's hard to believe that The King of Kong is a decade old now. A seminal work in the history of video game movies, it presented a thrilling David and Goliath tale which focused on humble schoolteacher Steve Wiebe's dream of being the world high score holder for Nintendo's arcade smash Donkey...
May2017
Random The King of Kong Is Being Adapted into a Stage Musical
Now this should be interesting...
The King of Kong was a standout documentary in 2007, chronicling the intense rivalry that existed between Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell, who continuously beat each other’s world record high scores over many years of playing Donkey Kong. One would think that this documentary was enough to cover the story of these...
And Halo: Combat Evolved, but this is Nintendo Life, so...
The World Video Game Hall of Fame has been up and running for three years now, which is organised and run by The Strong museum in Rochester, New York. Its third intake of games has now been confirmed, with two Nintendo-published titles making the cut among four inductees. There were 12...
April2017
News Donkey Kong, Pokémon Red and Green Nominated for the World Video Game Hall of Fame
Games that started history
Shigeru Miyamoto's arcade hit, Donkey Kong, has been nominated for the 2017 addition to the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Additionally, The Pokémon Company International released a statement on its website announcing that Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green, originally released in 1996 on the Nintendo Game Boy, have also...
News The Yooka-Laylee Rap Tries to be the Best and Worst Thing All at Once
The spirit of the DK rap lives on
The DK Rap is iconic, well known for being pretty awful while also being loved by plenty of retro gamers. It was typical Rare, and so the freshly revealed Yooka-Laylee rap is perhaps 'typical Playtonic'. It's no secret that many of the leading developers in the Playtonic team have lucrative histories at Rare, and...
December2016
Random Sega Almost Released A Parking Attendant Game Starring Donkey Kong
The man behind Zelda and Mario on the CD-i talks
Stephen Radosh might be more famous nowadays for creating the TV show Catchphrase - which remains incredibly popular in the UK - but he also has quite a history in the video game arena, too. Radosh kicked off his career decades ago working for a publisher which produced textbooks before helping to...
November2016
Random PC Indie Title Gives You A Reason To Dust Off Those Donkey Konga Bongos
"It's a lot more fun with a controller you can hit really hard"
Beat Nebula is an indie title created by TJ "Kyatt" Cordes for QaziJam8 event, and while it's unlikely to ever make it to the Wii U, 3DS or Switch, it should be of interest to Nintendo fans thanks to the controller it supports. The premise is simple - you have to destroy incoming...
News Doubt Is Thrown On The Exact Story Behind The Creation Of Donkey Kong
Did Miyamoto have to compete with his co-workers?
Donkey Kong is arguably one of the most important games in Nintendo's history. Prior to its release the firm was struggling for attention with coin-op rivals like Taito and Namco, and it is often stated that it was a 'make or break' release for the Japanese company after a string of costly failures...
News Donkey Kong Jungle Beat Hitting the North American Wii U eShop This Week
The Wii version, obviously
Though we often wait until the full Download Update is issued before going into too much detail on the line-up for any given week, it's worth changing it up to confirm that North American gamers are in for a treat - Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (the Wii New Play Control version) is heading to the Wii U eShop on 3rd November,...
October2016
Feature NES Mini Classics - Donkey Kong
It's on like (cease and desist inbound...)
With the upcoming release of the Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition (NA) / Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System (EU), we're going to provide short profiles of all 30 games included on the system. This time around we look at Donkey Kong, a tale perhaps more complicated than it...
September2016
News Donkey Kong Country Returns Swings to the North American Wii U VC This Week
*Cue bongo drums*
Rare's Donkey Kong Country trilogy is a collection of three absolutely classic games, so there was obviously plenty of trepidation when Donkey Kong Country Returns was announced back at E3 in 2010. However, if there were ever a capable studio, it would be Retro Studios, and the development team did an excellent job of revitalizing...
July2016
Anniversary Donkey Kong is Now 35 Years Old
When Mr. Video rescued Pauline
We suspect that Shigeru Miyamoto and some veteran colleagues in Nintendo will be raising a glass this weekend in honour of Donkey Kong, as the arcade arrived in Japan on 9th July 1981 - 35 years ago. It was its impact in North America when it landed at the end of that month, however, which proved particularly vital to...
May2016
News The Donkey Kong High Score Has Been Topped Again
How high can you get?
Donkey Kong has long since been a popular game for aspiring world record holders to challenge in hopes of being the "King of Kong". Mario and Donkey Kong's inaugural debut may seem to be a simple enough game, but competitors have been battling for years over the crown, continuously pushing the limits of what was thought to be...
February2016
Video Try Not To Go Bananas At This Unreal Engine 4 Recreation Of Donkey Kong 64's Opening Stage
Unfinished monkey business
The power of Epic's Unreal Engine is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it allows talented fledgling artists to create amazing sequences which are arguably on par with the efforts of professional developers, but on the other it teases viewers with tantalising glimpses of projects which are unlikely to actually...
January2016
Live Jump Into the Donkey Kong and 2D Mario Block of Awesome Games Done Quick
Wahoo!
Awesome Games Done Quick is picking up momentum, with all of its participants, attendees and viewers now well into a solid week of gaming. We're been hosting some blocks from the broadcast that feature familiar and fondly regarded games on Nintendo hardware, just in case you're not on top of the schedule. This time around we have the Donkey...
News Wes Copeland Takes Donkey Kong World Record From Robbie Lakeman For The Second Time In A Year
"I just hope Robbie at least lets me sleep on it"
Long-time followers of Nintendo Life will know that we've tried to keep abreast of the battle for the Donkey Kong high score record for many years now. The obsession began with the excellent movie King of Kong, which focused on the efforts of underdog Steve Wiebe to topple the then-champ Billy...
November2015
News Donkey Kong Champ Billy Mitchell Loses Legal Battle Against Regular Show Parody
"GBF appears as a non-human creature, a giant floating head with no body"
Famed games player Billy Mitchell has lost his legal battle against his depiction in the Cartoon Network's The Regular Show. The character - known as GBF (Garrett Bobby Ferguson or Giant Bearded Face) - is a floating head with arms who is revealed to be an alien who cheats...
Video The Story of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot... in Donkey Kong 64
Remember, remember
The Fifth of November, Guy Fawkes' Night, Bonfire Night, Fireworks Night, or whatever you want to call it is a celebration in the United Kingdom and certain other countries centred around a historical event known as the Gunpowder Plot. Many people know it because of the excellent comic and subsequent film adaptation V for...
October2015
Weirdness This 1983 Short Movie Combines Horror With Donkey Kong
Can you find the Treasure of the Haunted House?
Long-time readers of the site will be familiar with the work of Tyler Esposito - not only have we covered his excellent videos in the past, he's also contributed to Nintendo Life with an amusing look at one of the most bizarre NES games ever made. He also runs the excellent YouTube channel iretrogamer...
Review Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
A toy story
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis is the Nintendo DS sequel to the original GBA classic and a new recruit to the ever-growing Wii U Virtual Console library. Rather than being more of the same platforming puzzle action, Nintendo chose to focus this entire game around what is but a small percentage of the previous game - the...
September2015
Prophesizing the amiiboom
Mario vs. Donkey Kong is interesting in that it's the only game in the Mario vs DK franchise (to date) that actually allows the player to control Mario; indeed this was originally planned to be a sequel to 1994's Donkey Kong on Game Boy, so arguably those two have more in common than the other games in the series. Mario vs...
News Rare's Gregg Mayles Reveals It Was Miyamoto Who Suggested Donkey Kong Should Sport Neckwear
Rare staffer reveals the pre-history of Donkey Kong Country
Gregg Mayles is one of Rare's longest-serving employees and can list some of the firm's most famous titles on his impressive CV. He's currently hard at work on the studio's next offering, Sea of Thieves, but has taken the time to post some interesting info relating to the SNES classic...
August2015
Video Iron Maiden's New Music Video Pays Tribute To Donkey Kong, Of All Things
A heavy trip through gaming history
Legendary British heavy metal band Iron Maiden are preparing to release their first single in half a decade and have put together a video game-inspired music video to mark the occasion. Speed of Light's official video sees the band's iconic mascot Eddie getting sucked into an arcade machine which then forces him...
Aping the King of Swing
What do you get when you throw away an established series' playbook and try for something new? You get DK: Jungle Climber. Unlike previous entries in the venerable Donkey Kong franchise, DK: Jungle Climber takes a fresh look at the series by focusing on swinging and timing more than precise platforming. The problem? It gets...
July2015
Video Here's a Brief, and Entertaining, History of Donkey Kong
Iconic and diverse
We don't yet know what's next for Donkey Kong and his many relations, but we can certainly celebrate the mascot's diverse history to date. From transforming the fortunes of Nintendo's video game business with the self-titled arcade cabinet, to dazzling in the Rare and then recent Retro Studios days, with plenty of games in...
June2015
News Reggie Explains Why Donkey Kong And Bowser Were Chosen For Skylanders SuperChargers
As well as how the Activision partnership came to be
If you caught E3 earlier this week, you'd know that Nintendo has teamed up with Activision to create two new amiibo for the latest instalment to the Skylanders series: Skylanders SuperChargers. However, the announcement left some scratching their heads as to why Nintendo decided to use Donkey...
A surprise from E3 2015 you may not have expected
In case you missed it, this year Bethesda Softworks hosted its very own E3 press conference for the first time ever. As expected, the company teased the new DOOM, Dishonored 2 and their most cherished creation, Fallout 4. During one of the many Fallout 4 segments, the company revealed the latest...
April2015
News Former Rare Devs Playtonic Want Donkey Kong Country Villain K. Rool In Super Smash Bros.
"Let's get another of our artists' beautiful children into the fight"
Nintendo has opened up voting to see which characters its fans want to see in Super Smash Bros., and this has predictably led to some rather outlandish recommendations. UK studio Playtonic - made up of former Rare developers - has thrown its hat into the ring by suggesting fans...
March2015
Video New Pixels Movie Trailer Passes One Million Views in Less Than a Day
"It's just a barrel, how bad can it hurt?"
Pixels is set to be a comedy blockbuster this Summer, and has naturally got fans of gaming - particularly those with a fondness for retro - rather excited. With a big-hitting cast - albeit including the marmite-esque Adam Sandler - it'll be heavily publicised by Sony Pictures as the film to see in a few...
Video Nintendo Star Makes Brief Cameo Appearance in Pixels Movie Teaser
The one that started it all...
Nintendo has recently shared a very short teaser for Sony's upcoming Pixels movie across its social networking accounts, and have asked the audience as to which big N icon they could spot. Looking across all the comments, many seem to think it's Pac-Man due to his obvious appearance towards the end of the snippet...
February2015
Preview Puzzling Our Way through Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars
Tips go in the jar, mate
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars is just a few days away for North American fans, and those in Europe will only have to wait a little bit longer to get their hands on it. With the release date rapidly approaching, we've put together a short video to show you what you can expect to see in the game when it hits the 3DS and...
News Complete First Season Of Donkey Kong Country TV Series Coming To DVD This May
"I'M GONNA BE A STAR!!!"
Did you know that our dear old ape Donkey Kong has a nigh-on angelic singing voice? Anyone who watched the absolutely bizarre television series from the 90's will know all about it, and now the non-believers will finally get a chance to hear it for themselves in full. Yes, in an announcement that will either delight,...
News Nintendo España Appears to Confirm Super Mario amiibo for Rosalina, Donkey Kong and Wario
Picking up on previous speculation in Japan
Update: Nintendo España has, unsurprisingly, now informed Nintenderos that this press release was in error; we've also received a similar message after enquiring on this with Nintendo UK. As suggested below there have been instances like this out of Nintendo's Spanish divisions in the recent past, so...
January2015
Video Donkey Kong Country Returns...To Wii U
It's on like Donkey Kong. Again.
The second Wii re-release has arrived on the European eShop, and it's a doozy. Are you ready for Donkey Kong Country Returns? As we have come to expect from Retro Studios, they knocked it out of the park with a game that apes (pun intended) the original SNES trilogies' gameplay, but is it worth revisiting on Wii U?...
December2014
Shouldering the effort
Between 1999's Donkey Kong 64 and 2010's Donkey Kong Country Returns, Nintendo's great ape served a cool-off period of sorts when it came to straight-up platforming adventures. He had no huge releases to his name, but that didn't mean he was on the backburner entirely. The 2000s were a time to utilise Donkey Kong as a...
News Donkey Kong Land Rated And Ready For North American 3DS Virtual Console Release
Monkey business
After a successful 3DS Virtual Console début in both Japan and Europe earlier this year, the 1995 Game Boy title Donkey Kong Land is finally on its way to North America. Evidence of the anticipated re-release has appeared via the ESRB. Released a year after the success of the Super Nintendo original, Donkey Kong Land has the Kongs...
News Actor Is Suing Nintendo After Suffering Heart Problems In A Sweltering Donkey Kong Suit
Legal teams are going bananas
When actor Parker Mills stepped into a Donkey Kong costume to promote the launch of Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D at the Los Angeles Zoo last year, he most likely assumed the job would be a piece of cake — after all, what's better than being the mighty Kong for a day, right? However, Mills ended up earning more than...
November2014
Anniversary 20 Years Ago Today, Rare Resurrected The Donkey Kong Brand
Donkey Kong Country is now two decades old
Donkey Kong is Nintendo's first major star, having made his début in the arcade game that effectively turned the company into the global monster it is today. However, when Mario decided to become Super on the NES and take his place as Nintendo's number one mascot, DK was bumped down the pecking order and...
October2014
Marvellous Monkeys
In 1997 the fifth generation of video games was well underway (even Europe and Oceania had the N64 by then), but the trusty Game Boy was still the place to go for portable gaming joy. Having successfully brought monkey platforming action to the handheld twice already, Rare produced a third game — the imaginatively titled Donkey...
Review Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
The ape escape
Rare managed to do something incredible with Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong-Quest; it took the well refined gameplay and style of the first Donkey Kong Country game and made it even better. This second entry in the series features gameplay almost identical to its predecessor’s, but this time everything’s been streamlined...
Video Did You Know Gaming Tackles Donkey Kong Once Again
The Rare years
Rare's Donkey Kong titles have recently been making their way onto the Wii U eShop in Europe — and hopefully will do so soon in North America — making it a good time to look back on the franchise. Whether that timing was part of its consideration or not, we do have Did You Know Gaming returning to the DK IP in its latest video...
Hasn't aged a day
Back in 1994, before 3D games had taken off, a little UK-based games developer called Rare decided that if it couldn’t have good looking 3D models in a game, it'd have to get creative. Donkey Kong Country used a pioneering new technique for the time that took images of pre-rendered three dimensional models and turned these...
Diddy's 8-Bit Quest
The success of Donkey Kong Country inevitably saw a sequel released. Likewise when Donkey Kong Land proved a similar platforming experience was possible on the Game Boy, it was a no-brainer that Rare would release a second handheld adventure. This time Donkey Kong has gone and gotten himself captured, and so it's up to Diddy and...
News New Music and Voice Samples Discovered in the Donkey Kong Arcade
A few decades on, there's still more to find
The Donkey Kong arcade was a key turning point for Nintendo as a company, as it brought Shigeru Miyamoto to the fore and helped to demonstrate to Hiroshi Yamauchi and his management that the video game business could be lucrative for the company. It's so iconic that a small band of gamers still compete...
Mobile monkey magic
Donkey Kong Country was a fun and popular platformer for the SNES, but not everyone thought it was great. Some people (possibly Mega Drive / Genesis owners) said the game was in fact quite poor and any fans were deluded fools drawn to it for reasons other than gameplay – or, as Cranky Kong says, “put a few fancy graphics and...
Review Donkey Kong: Original Edition
Whole once again
The legendary arcade title Donkey Kong is slightly infamous for receiving a rather botched NES conversion. Lacking several screens, animations and even an entire stage, it wasn't exactly one of Nintendo's finer porting jobs, especially when other home versions by different companies did manage to include all of the original content...
September2014
News You Need To See This Amazing Hand-Sculpted Donkey Kong GBA SP Case Mod
Good luck trying to play a game on it, though
If you follow the hardware modding community then the name Vadu Amka will be instantly familiar to you. A seasoned pro when it comes to taking existing systems and making them even more attractive, Amka has recently released another new creation: a Game Boy Advance SP which is based on the model used in...
Weirdness Modder Recreates Donkey Kong Country In Doom Engine
Scary in a different way!
Rare’s Donkey Kong Country was a huge feat in itself when it was released on the Super Nintendo in 1994. Now imagine recreating the iconic jungle-based platformer within an entirely different game engine from around the same era. Enter Doom, and insert the reminder here of just how crazy modders of the classic...
News Robbie Lakeman Sets A New Donkey Kong World Record To Dethrone Hank Chien
We have a new King of Kong
When Hank Chien set a new world record on Donkey Kong back in 2011 — and then went on to break his own score another two times — many believed he could never be beaten. Chien's battle with Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe — the duo immortalised in the movie
Summin' it
In among the Excitebikes, Super Mario Bros., and Ice Climbers of the NES’s North American launch sat Donkey Kong Jr. Math, an edutainment title seemingly designed so that hopeful tots could point to it on the shelf and Trojan-horse Nintendo’s new Duck Hunt-playing powerhouse into the family home, parents unsuspecting, under the guise...
August2014
News Coleco Mini Arcades Set to Sit Proudly On Shelves Once Again
Fingers crossed for the Donkey Kong version
Just recently we shared the news that Coleco wants to bring back its version of Donkey Kong, with the planned ColecoVision Flashback in the works and the company hoping to re-release the version of the DK arcade title that graced the original console. When we say 'company', it's worth observing that the...
News Coleco Wants to Bring Back Their Version of Donkey Kong
Might also be interested in ColecoVision on Virtual Console
Who's up for a quick history lesson? While Donkey Kong is purely Nintendo's furry, banana-breathed baby, the company originally granted Coleco rights to produce console and tabletop versions of the hit arcade game. Coleco bundled Donkey Kong with their new ColecoVision in 1982, then ported...
July2014
News Donkey Kong, Pac-Man And Q*Bert Cast Alongside Game Of Thrones Star Peter Dinklage In Pixels
Based on the web short of the same name
Remember Pixels? It was a short film made by Patrick Jean back in 2010, and showed New York city being invaded by characters from famous retro games. The short is being turned into a fully-fledged movie helmed by Home Alone and Harry Potter director Chris Columbus and starring Peter Dinklage (Game of...
April2014
News Patch Fixes Bug in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Thaws out a progress-stopping problem
Nintendo has made a software update available for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze today that fixes a game-halting glitch in World 3. According to update notes, the patch will solve an issue some players have faced when completing level 3-3, Frantic Fields and finding no path has opened to the next level,...
March2014
News Game Boy Classic Donkey Kong Land Is Coming To The Japanese 3DS Virtual Console
You'll go bananas about this news
Fans of the naked ape wearing only a tie will be pleased to hear the 1995 Game Boy title Donkey Kong Land is being released in Japan on the 3DS Virtual Console early next month. Released a year after the success of the Super Nintendo original, Donkey Kong Land has the Kongs recapturing their banana hoard when...
Video DK Breaks The Ice in These Short Tropical Freeze Animations
For your viewing pleasure
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze has been out for a few weeks now and — as we reported earlier this week — it’s selling quite a few copies as well as assisting Wii U sales. Everyone’s favourite gaming ape is certainly playing his part, seemingly winning the hearts of many that play it. If you can’t seem to...
Weirdness The Makers Of TV Show Resurrection Clearly Want Nintendo On Smartphones
Donkey Kong on your mobile?
The series premiere of ABC's Resurrection went out on Sunday — in North America, at least — and the show's glaring similarity to the hit French TV series Les Revenants wasn't the only eye-opening thing about it. In one scene, a character is seen playing a game on his Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone which happens to...
News Nintendo Canada Unpeels The Making Of Its Tropical Freeze Contest
4835 bananas are frozen in total, breaking DK's heart
To help celebrate the launch of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, you may have heard of Nintendo Canada's pretty extravagant contest, Banana Mania. With everything having wrapped up last month, we're all now able to get a peek behind the scenes and see exactly how it was done. A video
News Senran Kagura Bursts Into The UK Top 40 While Donkey Kong Country Hangs A Little Higher Up
Racy subject matter helps niche fighter gain some sales
Senran Kagura Burst isn't your typical 3DS title — it features large-chested anime girls rather than rotund Italian plumbers — but it has gained quite a bit of attention ahead of its European release. We've seen saucy (and
Month Of Kong What Donkey Kong Country Means To Me
Dave Letcavage on growing up with Kong as company
We know what you're going to say. Our Month of Kong celebration should have ended with the close of February, and we're now two days into March. However, in very much the same way that Nintendo refuses to be tied down by conventional calendars when it comes to plotting The Year of Luigi, we're...
February2014
Month Of Kong Whatever Happened To Donkey Kong Racing?
Former Rare man Lee Musgrave talks about a lost GameCube smash hit
E3 2001 was a joyous occasion for Nintendo fans. The GameCube was nearing its release in Japan and North America and Nintendo had a lot to say and show about it. Super Smash Bros. Melee, Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader and Luigi’s Mansion were just some of the games...
Month Of Kong The Making Of Donkey Kong Country
Behind the scenes on the game that spawned a million-selling series
This month has seen the launch of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, a superb platforming romp starring one of Nintendo's most iconic characters and coded by a western development team, Retro Studios. These days, the notion of an American company doing the heavy lifting on one of...
News Donkey Kong Country's Fate Was Determined By A Risky Rare Investment
"The rendering of each 3D model would take ages"
With Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze currently entertaining Wii U owners, it's only natural for those with long memories to cast their minds back to where the franchise began. Donkey Kong Country on the Super NES remains one of the 16-bit system's most iconic games, and sits at the forefront —...
Video Nintendo Minute Shows Off Two Favourite Levels From Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Tough but fun
With Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze now so close that we can smell the bananas, Nintendo's YouTube show 'Nintendo Minute' has naturally pitched in to show a little more of the game in action, with the co-hosts each picking a favourite level. First up is world 3-3 (Frantic Fields) which includes some heroic charging with Rambi...
Video These UK and US Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Adverts Are Islands Apart In Tone
Bongo-drumming up interest
By now you might have seen our coverage of the Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze commercial currently airing to promote DK's latest outing, and it's a fun showcase of gameplay and character that definitely paints a charming picture to drum up some anticipation. Today, a UK version of the same trailer has just arrived to...
News Retro Studios Outlines "Symbiotic Relationship" With Nintendo Teams
"We spent a lot of time working on fur as requested by Iwata-san"
With Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze swinging into Western stores this week, eager fans are no doubt continuing their own personal countdowns. Ahead of the release Official Nintendo Magazine has published its interview with Retro Studios CEO Michael Kelbaugh and Nintendo SPD...
Review Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Ain't no business like monkey business
It says much for the level of expectation placed upon Nintendo and Retro Studios that some questioned the decision to revisit the world of Donkey Kong for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, yet that initial reaction should be pushed aside. Anyone that discounts this title due to the fact it’s not the exact...
News GameChops releases Club Kong: A Modern Jazz Remix of Donkey Kong Music
Sit back, relax and enjoy
In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Donkey Kong Country, video game remix record label GameChops has released a six track remix of music from the game. The album, aptly named Club Kong, is best described as a Donkey Kong electronic jazz club infusion; it comes at a perfect time as Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze...
Donkey Kong - Features
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