Welcome reader! In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the full history of the groundbreaking Donkey Kong arcade and console franchise. As one of Nintendo‘s oldest and most adaptable properties, tracing Donkey Kong‘s four decades of evolution provides great insight into Nintendo‘s own fascinating journey to becoming the video game giant we know today.
Setting the Stage: Nintendo‘s Pre-Donkey Kong Struggles
According to industry sales reports, Nintendo struggled through the late 1970s and early 1980s to gain traction in the competitive North American arcade market. While their early Game & Watch handheld devices sold modestly, the Radar Scope arcade cabinet failed to resonate with American audiences on the level of Pac-Man or Space Invaders.
With warehouses full of unsold Radar Scope units, Nintendo‘s management tapped creative artist Shigeru Miyamoto to lead the charge on re-purposing the hardware into a promising new arcade attractor concept.
Donkey Kong Origin Story: Miyamoto‘s Breakthrough Hit
In multiple interviews, Miyamoto claims he originally conceived Donkey Kong as a Popeye themed running/chase game. When licensing deals fell through, he swapped in new characters pulled from a mixture of inspirations like the classic Beauty and Beast Story and King Kong films.
Programmed and designed by Miyamoto with music by Nintendo composer Yukio Kaneoka, Donkey Kong released in Japan and North America in July 1981. It cast Mario (then called Jumpman) in an epic quest spanning four colorful single-screen stages to rescue damsel Pauline from the titular rampaging ape. The humorous love triangle premise, strong game mechanics, and short animated cutscenes fused together into a novel breakthrough concept.
According to sales trackers, Donkey Kong became a word-of-mouth sensation throughout the back half of 1981 and 1982. Nintendo struggled to produce arcade boards fast enough to meet demand, selling over 60,000 cabinets globally including a record setting 4,000 boards per month at its peak in 1981 alone. It grossed an estimated $180 million in lifetime revenue for Nintendo by 1983.
Diminishing Arcade Returns
After redefining Nintendo‘s fortunes, Miyamoto hurried into developing Donkey Kong sequels to capitalize on its popularity in arcades. Unfortunately sales data shows that follow-up titles Donkey Kong Jr. (1982) and Donkey Kong 3 (1983) earned only modest profits relative to the breakout original.
- Donkey Kong Jr. flipped Mario into the villain role and sold approximately 30,000 arcade units globally according to VGChartz. This paled against the original‘s 60k unit sales.
- Donkey Kong 3 went further astray from the winning formula by removing Mario and focusing gameplay on shooting, leading to only 5,000 lifetime arcade sales.
By end of 1983, Nintendo shifted focus towards manufacturing home consoles, ending Donkey Kong‘s position as lead attraction in arcades.
The Rareware Renaissance: Donkey Kong Country Reinvigorates a Franchise
In 1994, veteran British game studio Rareware forged a partnership with Nintendo to exclusively develop games based on classic Nintendo properties. Their first project resulted in a breakthrough re-imagining of the Donkey Kong series as a vibrant 2D cinematic platforming adventure for Super Nintendo.
Titled Donkey Kong Country, Rare‘s visually groundbreaking adventure made Donkey Kong relevant to 90s audiences. It sold a blistering 9 million copies by 2000 according to Nintendo sales data, making it the 2nd best selling 1st party SNES game ever.
Extending Platforming Dominance on SNES
Galvanized by DKC‘s success, Rare developed two hit sequels that iterated and expanded upon the rich universe and gameplay formula.
- 1995‘s Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy‘s Kong Quest enchanted critics and fans again, selling over 5 million SNES copies per Nintendo sales figures.
- 1996 series finale Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong‘s Double Trouble garnered similar commercial success.
Rare‘s SNES Donkey Kong Country trilogy marks the first golden age for the franchise.
Donkey Kong 64: Rare‘s Peak then Controversial Experiments
Seeking to replicate their platforming magic in the third dimension, Rare spent 3 years developing an ambitious 3D collectathon platformer Donkey Kong 64 which released as a 1999 Nintendo 64 exclusive.
While critics praised its visuals, music, and multiplayer modes, DK64 garnered fan pushback for overstuffing the experience with too many collectible items. Gameplay also suffered accusations of relying too heavily on backtracking previous levels.
Regardless, Donkey Kong 64 performed well initially as 1999‘s 3rd best selling N64 game with 3 million units moved. But some franchise fans consider its bloated, repetitive structure a warning sign of future missteps.
Rare‘s later experiments merging Donkey Kong Country with musical rhythm gimmicks via the Donkey Konga series‘ bongo controllers also polarized fan response in the early 2000s.
Returns to Excellence: Reviving Donkey Kong Country
After letting the Donkey Kong franchise lose focus for nearly a decade, Nintendo handed their mascot ape back to Metroid Prime developer Retro Studios for a re-imagining of the classic Country formula.
The result, 2010‘s Donkey Kong Country Returns for Nintendo Wii, earned rave reviews for capturing the original SNES trilogy‘s elegant level design and challenging gameplay. It sold over 6 million copies across two ports according to Nintendo financial reports, proving the ape could still deliver sales slam dunks.
Retro followed up this successful revitalization with 2014‘s Tropical Freeze on Nintendo Wii U, garnering similarly glowing reviews for intricate level design and devilish challenges.
The Future: An Enduring Franchise
While main "Hero" duties clearly still sit with Nintendo‘s overly-mustachioed Italian plumber, Donkey Kong remains a key piece of company history as one of their oldest and most flexible properties.
As this high-level tour through Donkey Kong‘s four decades of rebellion, reinvention, and the occasional misfire shows, the Kong franchise keeps finding ways to bounce back relevant. So while Mario garners the shiny press hype, this perennial fan favorite ape still has room to grow and thrive under Nintendo‘s stewardship.
