While Mario and the various denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom might be the most recognizable faces of gaming monolith Nintendo to modern players, it was actually Donkey Kong that helped jump-start Nintendo when the famed gorilla character’s eponymous game, Donkey Kong, was released in 1981 to brisk sales and widespread acclaim.

Donkey Kong franchise celebrates 40 years of video games

July 9, 2021, marks the landmark 40th anniversary of the release of the original Donkey Kong arcade game. Now, therefore, serves as the perfect time to revisit this beloved franchise a staggering four decades after Nintendo luminary Shigeru Miyamoto brought it into this world.

The original arcade game came into being when Miyamoto was assigned by Nintendo to convert Radar Scope, a game that had been released to test audiences with poor results, into a game that would appeal more to Americans. People went ape for Donkey Kong as soon as he arrived rolling barrels angrily at player-character Mario, who simply wants to rescue his girlfriend Pauline (who made a memorable return to the extended Mario universe in Super Mario Odyssey).

Since then, DK has become one of Nintendo’s most notable characters in the modern era. This is due to excellent mainline games and a wide variety of guest appearances in spin-off series such as Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros., Mario Party, Mario Tennis, and many others.

The original Donkey Kong game completed its arcade cabinet lifecycle as the fourth highest-selling arcade game of all time. With 132,000 cabinets sold with revenue listed by 1982 at $280 million – which would be over $700 million by today’s standards – it was one hell of an arcade cabinet.

Expanding the series with more new characters

The game’s sequel, Donkey Kong Jr., featured the debut of the title character (whose role as notable sidekick to Donkey Kong was usurped by Diddy Kong a few years later – more on him shortly) and saw DK himself captured and imprisoned by Mario – the only time in videogame history that Mario serves as the villain of a game. While not as successful as its predecessor, DK Jr. sold a solid 30,000 cabinets and ranks as the 11th highest-selling game of all time.

As arcade games began to wane in popularity following the release of Donkey Kong 3 in 1983, the franchise went on an 11-year hiatus. It would return with the release of perhaps the most highly regarded games in the franchise’s history – the Rare-developed Donkey Kong Country series for Super Nintendo in 1994.

These side-scrolling platformers were immensely easy on the eyes and hugely enjoyable overall. Featuring fairly difficult but gratifying dexterity challenges as well as the debut of Donkey Kong’s nephew – the mischievous scalawag Diddy Kong.

All three of the Donkey Kong Country games for Super Nintendo were successful and highly regarded – so much so that the final game in the SNES series, Donkey Kong Country 3, was released two months after the Nintendo 64 came out – a testament to Rare’s pedigree and brilliant game design.

Once again, a short interlude occurred in which no new DK property was released. That is until the muscle-bound monkey waltzed into the 3D era with perhaps the best game in his franchise’s history – one that perhaps has not yet been topped.

Seeing the buff primate strutting his stuff in 3D – combined with the iconic DK Rap – meant that Donkey Kong 64 was sure to be a favorite of fans of the franchise for years to come.

New consoles with new successful video games

Riding high on the success of DK 64, the next mainline Donkey Kong game didn’t come for another five years on the Nintendo GameCube. While an enjoyable game, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat is likely most remembered for being playable on the unwieldy DK Bongos controllers by slapping on them in order to navigate the game. Though reviews were good, obtaining rarely used drum-based controllers alongside the game was always going to be a hard sell.

With DK Jungle Beat not quite living up to expectations, another lengthy delay between releases occurred – six years to be exact. This time, however, it was worth the wait when Donkey Kong Country Returns was released for the Nintendo Wii. It later found its way and was extremely successful to the Nintendo 3DS as DK Country Returns 3D.

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This game sees the series return to its roots as Retro Studios faithfully recreated and updated the SNES’s beloved DK Country series with all the newfangled bells and whistles one would expect of a game that released with the past decade(ish).

The Modern Era of Donkey Kong games

Both the Wii version and the ported 3DS version stand as some of the highest-rated in the franchise’s history alongside its successor… the punishingly difficult but immensely entertaining Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which was released in 2014 on the Wii U.

While the Wii U failed miserably, Retro Studios’ run with the DK franchise did not, as this game immediately garnered immense critical accolades and has sold briskly since being ported to the far better Nintendo Switch console.

One can’t help but love Donkey Kong. Whether it’s birthing amusing memes due to his lovable face and vibrant expressions or stealing scenes in various Nintendo spin-off series, DK has got something for everyone.

So grab some bananas and get ready to side-scroll on July 9 to honor one of gaming’s most treasured franchises.