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Donkey Kong (character)

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This article is about the character called Donkey Kong. There are also two video games entitled simply Donkey Kong; see either Donkey Kong (video game) or Donkey Kong (Game Boy). For information on the series of video games featuring Donkey Kong, see Donkey Kong series
Donkey Kong
'Donkey Kong series' character
File:DonkeyKongMP7.jpg
Donkey Kong promotional art for Mario Party 7.
First gameDonkey Kong (1981)
Created byShigeru Miyamoto

Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング, Donkī Kongu) (or sometimes referred to simply as DK) is a character from Nintendo that has appeared in many video games since 1981. Donkey Kong was created by Shigeru Miyamoto. Since 1994 he has worn a necktie, his sole item of clothing.

Game history

Main article: Donkey Kong series

Donkey Kong was created when Shigeru 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. The result was a major breakthrough for Nintendo and for the videogame industry. Sales of the machine were brisk, with the game becoming one of the best-selling arcade machines of the early 1980s. The gameplay itself was a large improvement over other games of its time, and with the growing base of arcades to sell to, it was able to gain huge distribution. Due to the game's success, Nintendo released two sequels, Donkey Kong Junior and Donkey Kong 3, as well as eight games for the Game & Watch platform. Later on, Nintendo also released a game simply called Donkey Kong that was based upon the previous arcade versions.

File:Donkey Konk Game.gif
Original Donkey Kong game (screen from NES version)

Throughout the 1990's, the British company Rareware developed Donkey Kong related games, establishing an entirely new world for the franchise. These games included Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2, and Donkey Kong Country 3 for the Super Nintendo (SNES), and Donkey Kong 64 for the Nintendo 64 as well as the spin-off game Diddy Kong Racing . However, following the sale of Rare to Microsoft in 2002, Rare announced that it was concentrating its efforts on Xbox games, although Rare continues to develop games for Nintendo's portable consoles, the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS.

Recently Donkey Kong has appeared in Donkey Kong Jungle Beat for the GameCube. On the GameCube he also appeared in the Mario sport and party spinoffs, usually having an unconventional style of playing said sports (such as using a boxing glove instead of a baseball bat), as well as the Super Smash Bros. franchise. He also starred in his own spinoff rhythm-action game series, which included Donkey Konga, Donkey Konga 2, and Donkey Konga 3.

In the Mario Party series, Donkey Kong appeared in all of the games. In Mario Parties 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 he appeared as a playable character (only on Super Duel Mode in Mario Party 5). But in Mario Parties 5, 6 and 7, he had his own space like Bowser & Koopa Kid. He is rumored to be returning to the list of playable characters, with Diddy Kong that will take his place in Mario Party 8.[verification needed]

In the future, Donkey Kong is set to appear in Yoshi's Island DS for the Nintendo DS, DK Bongo Blast for the Wii, Mario Strikers Charged for the Wii, as well as Donkey Kong Wii[verification needed] for the Wii.


Animated series

Segments of "Saturday Supercade" featured Donkey Kong, along with Mario and Pauline (here billed as Mario's niece), who tried to recapture Donkey Kong, who had escaped Mario's circus. The show aired from 1983 into 1985 on CBS, where he was voiced by Soupy Sales.

The original version of Donkey Kong had appeared on Captain N: The Game Master (and its spin-off comic book). There, he was shown to be about 20-30 feet tall.

A computer generated animated television series that lasted 40 episodes was produced in 1996 by a French animation studio, released in North America as simply Donkey Kong Country.

Donkey Kong appears in two The Simpsons episodes, and a third episode compares Homer to him:

  • In "The Springfield Files," he appears as a guest at a local arcade. When the turnout is low the owner replies that he's "just not a draw anymore." Donkey Kong replies by throwing a barrel at him and bowling him over. The man then exclaims happily, "Hey! He's still got it!"
  • In "Marge Be Not Proud", Mario, Luigi, Sonic the Hedgehog and Donkey Kong try to convince Bart to steal a video game ("Duuuh, it's the company's fault for making you want it so much!").
  • In "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass," Mario arrives on a bus of Italian tourists, who mock Homer for being featured in an embarrassing Internet video. Homer throws trash cans at him. Mario jumps over the trash cans, making distinctive noises from Donkey Kong, and gets a hammer.

In the first episode of Groening's other animated series Futurama, "Space Pilot 3000", Fry is seen playing a game called "Monkey Fracas Jr." (an obvious parody of DK sequel Donkey Kong Jr.), which deviates from its apparent space shooter format with the appearance of a Donkey Kong-esque character (virtually the same except that this version wears a loincloth) as a level boss. In a later episode, "Anthology of Interest II", the same character, this time specifically identified as Donkey Kong ("Ambassador" Donkey Kong, in fact, from the planet Nintenduu 64), appears along with Mario and other classic game characters like Pac-Man and Q-bert. Also, he can be seen for a short moment in A Bicyclops Built for Two, is referenced by Leela in The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz when she calls Zoidberg and Fry Kong Donkeys, and in the final episode, The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings, a student playing a holophone version of Für Elise portrays Beethoven jumping over barrels in the style of Donkey Kong arcade.

The Robot Chicken episode "The Sack" has a segment parodying Donkey Kong by having Spartans from the Halo series invading the game, killing Mario, DK, and the Oil Drum Flame while saving Pauline in the process.

Pop Culture

  • As a gaming mainstay, Donkey Kong is one of the few video game characters to be referenced in other media. A popular slang phrase related to Donkey Kong is the phrase, "It's on like Donkey Kong", derived from "it's on", which means something (usually exciting) is about to get started. The phrase was first used by rapper Ice Cube in his song "Now I gotta Wet' cha" off of his The Predator album. The phrase is also used by American professional wrestler turned announcer John Layfield when calling the action during a particularly important match, such as a main event. Similarly, the phrase was tweaked for use in a Teen Girl Squad episode on Homestarrunner.com as "Let's get it on like Diddy Kong."
  • In the 1995 Adam Sandler film Billy Madison, Billy is talking to one of the kids at school about videogames and is angered when the kid says, "Donkey Kong sucks!":
    Kid: Mortal Kombat, on Sega Genesis, is the best video game ever.
    Billy Madison: I disagree, it's a very good game, but I think Donkey Kong is the best game ever. (the kid then says the DK-bashing line noted above) You know something? YOU SUCK!
  • On the first episode of the show Futurama, Fry is playing a game called "Monkey Fracas Jr.", a strange combination of Donkey Kong and Defender. In a later episode, Donkey Kong is a member of the invading force from the planet Nintendu 64. In another episode, Leela refers to Fry and Zoidberg as "Kong Donkeys" when she finds them playing video games instead of helping clean an oil spill, and A Bicyclops Built for Two, Donkey Kong can be seen in Death Factory III for a moment before Fry shoots him. Finally, in the series' last episode, it features characters jumping over barrels in a holophone sequence in the style of Jumpman.
  • In the 2006 film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, when asked by his friend Twinkie if he knew what D.K. meant, the main character Shawn Boswell replies: Donkey Kong?
    Twinkie later explains that D.K. means Drift King.
  • The country song Honkytonk Badonkadonk by Trace Adkins includes the line "Got it goin' on Like Donkey Kong".
  • The Donkey Kong world record is 1,047,200 points achieved by Billy Mitchell of Hollywood, FL, on June 7, 2004, according to the Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard.
  • In his recent single, "Googly Moogly", featuring The Three 6 Mafia, Project Pat references Donkey Kong with the following line: "That ain't a monkey hanging on your back; that's Donkey Kong!"
  • In the 1982 episode of Archie Bunker's Place entitled, Of Mice and Bunker (originally aired on March 7th), Archie puts a Donkey Kong machine in his bar.
  • In an episode of Lost (The Long Con) Sawyer is at a computer when Jack comes in and asks him, "What are you doing?" Sawyer replies "Shhh I'm, like, this close to getting the high score on Donkey Kong"
  • On Rock 105.3's The Mikey Show in San Diego, Sky's husband is referred to as Donkey Kong, a nickname given to him by the rest of the cast because of how well-endowed Sky claims she is. A running gag on the show includes Sky's made-up helicopter called the Donkey Kong II.
  • Donkey Kong Crunch is a cereal based on the character.
  • In the Weebl and Bob episode Funeral, Donkey Kong is Donkey's father.
  • In the beta version of Banjo-Kazooie, a picture of Donkey Kong was seen in Banjo's house. The actual game has a picture of Tooty.

Other versions

File:Mariovsdonkeykong3.PNG
Mini Donkey Kong from Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis.
  • Baby Donkey Kong: A younger version of Donkey Kong will appear in the upcoming Yoshi's Island DS for the Nintendo DS. Baby is actually pronounced "behbeh" on the game, highlighting Donkey Kong's dialect.
  • Mini Donkey Kong: A toy version of Donkey Kong created by the Mario Toy Company. The character appears in Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis.
  • Giant Donkey Kong: In the N64 game, Super Smash Bros., Donkey Kong was featured as a boss in Classic mode, at about twice his normal size in the game. He also appears in the Adventure mode of Super Smash Bros. Melee. In Melee Donkey Kong himself could grow to giant proportions utilising the Super Mushroom item; however, the effect was not permanent.
  • Donkey Kong Jr: Donkey Kong's son from the arcade game Donkey Kong Jr. He also featured as an unlockable character in the Nintendo 64 version of Mario Tennis and in SNES' Super Mario Kart.

Voice Artists

See also

Official
* MobyGames' entry for the Donkey Kong Games Series at MobyGames

Other

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