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Fun Club Being a Donkey Kong fan is suffering

Mekanos

Mekanos

Tattletale
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I'm just tired. Ever since the Rare buyout almost two decades ago now the franchise is in a constant state of uncertainty. Even with all the rumors swirling around and the theme park opening, I really dislike being unsure what the future will hold. This is a damn good series that almost always sells well. I just hate that I never know when or if we'll get another game. It's one of my favorites and has been with me for as long as I've played video games. It should be front and center as a pillar IP.

...this is an ironic complaint I suppose given that since the SNES every Nintendo platformer thus far has gotten a brand new DK platformer before the end of its lifespan, and the Switch's lifespan is far from over.

But I'm still gonna complain.

At least K. Rool got into Smash.

E38xT_eWEAA_aWw


Share your woes, fellow Kongs. This is a safe space.
 
In 2024 you'll be able to meet the real Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong at Universal Studios Japan. Maybe get a photo with them.

DK's time is coming my friend.
 
MondoMega said:
In 2024 you'll be able to meet the real Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong at Universal Studios Japan. Maybe get a photo with them.

DK's time is coming my friend.
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You'll also be able to meet the real Stanley, who will spray real poison at your face! Nintendo's plans for the DK park get more and more ambitious.
 
Clov said:
You'll also be able to meet the real Stanley, who will spray real poison at your face! Nintendo's plans for the DK park get more and more ambitious.
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Maybe they can have the real Jumpman wacking guests with hammers too! The possibilities are endless!
 
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What uncertainty about new games, because I must have missed it.

The only completed console generation that didn't get a new mainline DK game was the GameCube, and even then I presume Nintendo would disagree and cite Jungle beat.
 
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Phantoon said:
Try being a Metroid fan
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You mean the series that got a proper revival back in 2017 and literally just got a critically acclaimed new game on Switch that's basically guranteed to become the best selling Metroid game? Sounds good to me!

Meanwhile it's been almost eight years since the last original DK platformer. Not that hard to see why people are antsy.
 
Dinoman96 said:
You mean the series that got a proper revival back in 2017 and literally just got a critically acclaimed new game on Switch that's basically guranteed to become the best selling Metroid game? Sounds good to me!

Meanwhile it's been almost eight years since the last original DK platformer. Not that hard to see why people are antsy.
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That's ignoring the seven years between Other M and Samus Returns. And the eight years between Super and Prime. The Donkey Kong series gets constant nods, and has even had a Switch release of a very highly rated game. There's reportedly one in the offing from EPD too.

Metroid misses whole generations, Donkey Kong hasn't missed one so far. Wow, Metroid just got ONE game! Which was the sequel to Fusion we only had to wait the twenty years for.
 
But we have a new DK game next year right?

RIGHT??
 
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I'm actually pretty positive about where DK is right now. DK parks coming to both Japan and Florida, DK's going to be in a major movie (with rumors of a spinoff DK movie floating around), Nintendo realizing how beloved K. Rool is and putting him in smash, an internal team in Nintendo dedicated to the IP (we learned about them when the DK Adventure DLC was coming out for Mario+Rabbids), AND the rumors that Nintendo is putting in the effort to bring DK back into the in-house Nintendo fold? I think we're on the cusp of a new golden age for the Great Ape. I'm excited!

Still, I can see how hard it might be to see the good around the corner coming off of 7 years with no new mainline DK. But DK isn't dead, and we've got a good few years ahead of us! So keep your head up, my dude!
 
As a part of the Mario umbrella, Donkey Kong is always getting content through the nonstop stream of Mario spinoffs. So many other Nintendo IP's get so little in comparison.
 
GoGoDezmo said:
I'm actually pretty positive about where DK is right now. DK parks coming to both Japan and Florida, DK's going to be in a major movie (with rumors of a spinoff DK movie floating around), Nintendo realizing how beloved K. Rool is and putting him in smash, an internal team in Nintendo dedicated to the IP (we learned about them when the DK Adventure DLC was coming out for Mario+Rabbids), AND the rumors that Nintendo is putting in the effort to bring DK back into the in-house Nintendo fold? I think we're on the cusp of a new golden age for the Great Ape. I'm excited!

Still, I can see how hard it might be to see the good around the corner coming off of 7 years with no new mainline DK. But DK isn't dead, and we've got a good few years ahead of us! So keep your head up, my dude!
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Yeah, this. There’s lots to look forward to. Imagine being a Star Fox fan and you’ve been waiting for a true sequel for 15 years and they keep pumping out remakes of SF64, and everyone online keeps harping about 64 being the only good one and that the series should die. It’s a pretty dismal state of affairs.

Nintendo needs dedicated western teams for these IP that resonate more with western audiences. Then we wouldn’t have to wait roughly a decade or two in-between new entries.

I think DK has a bright future, even if its riding off Mario’s coattails at times.
 
DK is still very important, it's just getting a team to consistently work on the series that's the problem.

Paon developed some of the games after Rare was bought. Their partnership with Nintendo seemingly ended after transitioning to mobile development.

Retro moved onto another project after Tropical Freeze that ended up getting cancelled, before being moved back onto Metroid Prime.
 
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I might just have to replay Tropical Freeze, I can't hold out much longer
Even if we get a new DK I doubt it could live up to the Retro games
 
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They need to bring K Rool over to all the Mario spin-offs as a first step at least… it’s a shame we got him back in smash but haven’t gotten a dk game since for him to return in, at least give us the party/sports games as an appeaser
 
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I even have fanfic tier story and levels for the next DK game imagined in my head
Nintendo hire me and let's make this happen
 
You aren't wrong. Nintendo will probably never touch DKR again. Hopefully the Kremlings return in the next game at least.
 
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A Donkey Kong fan made a deal with the devil to get the Returns games made. That fan should've heeded Satan's warning that someday the tables would turn
 
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Here's hoping a new game isn't that far off.

The timing for the hypothetical EPD DK game is difficult to figure out. Going by what DK Vine said, EPD took the Kongs in-house some time in the second half of 2017. Of course, that doesn't mean that a full development team have had a DK game in full production for the last four years. Given it's the first time for a little while that the series has gone back in-house, it may well be that there was a protracted period where EPD needed to figure out exactly what it is they'd do with the series. Then there's the need to staff up the new team, and then there's the obvious reality of pandemic related disruption. Certainly, I'd say by now that development is advanced, given the rumours broke out a little more widely this year and given over four years have elapsed since this game (hypothetically) was given to EPD Tokyo.

Personally I would be surprised if EPD 8 managed to ship 2 games in the same year, and my expectation has been that 3D Mario would appear from them first. Firstly, the team and development environment for that game is well established, and secondly, there's already a technological and create base for 3D Mario on Switch to draw on. So my expectation is that 3D Mario appears in 2022 and DK happens in 2023, finally, but who knows?

Given EPD Tokyo are in a bigger facility and are based in Tokyo partially to enable the team to outsource and hire plentiful contractors as required, it's possible both games end up shipping at a similar time (if they exist!).

Hypotheticals aside, I really hope we don't have to wait too long and that it's only a matter of time before we get a major new DK.
 
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Phantoon said:
That's ignoring the seven years between Other M and Samus Returns. And the eight years between Super and Prime. The Donkey Kong series gets constant nods, and has even had a Switch release of a very highly rated game. There's reportedly one in the offing from EPD too.

Metroid misses whole generations, Donkey Kong hasn't missed one so far. Wow, Metroid just got ONE game! Which was the sequel to Fusion we only had to wait the twenty years for.
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I do think Nintendo should've done a better job supporting Metroid over the years, but that looks to be changing for the better. Anyways since you brought it up in the thread, let's compare the 2 series side by side.

By the time DK gets a new game it will have been longer than both the 7 years gap from Other M to Samus Returns, and the 8 years gap from Super Metroid to Fusion/Prime 1. That rumor about an EPD DK game could very well be bogus too given that it hasn't been verified by more trustworthy reporters like Emily.

Unlike DK, Metroid gets to have a 2D and a 3D franchise. Even when 2D Metroid wasn't active besides remakes, there was still the 3 Prime games. DK only ever had one 3D game, over 20 years ago, and there likely won't ever be another one.

Additionally, when Nintendo did revive Metroid they committed hard to new game output. Prime 1 and Fusion were released on the same day following the hiatus from Super. We are seeing it again with this recent revival. Since 2017 we will see 2 new games in Dread and Prime 4, in addition to 2 remakes with Metroid 2 and Prime 1. Even when Donkey Kong "returned" there were only 2 games in 4 years and then the series got back onto hiatus.
 
I honestly think a lot of the problem here is that is that DKC as we all know it was Rare's thing and obviously they went their seperate ways from Nintendo back in the early 2000s. Kirby and Fire Emblem are both thriving franchises because, in addition to being popular sellers, they also both have entire companies backing them up, with HAL Labs and Intelligent Systems respectively. DK doesn't have that luxory as it did in the 90s with Rare gone, which is why Nintendo's basically been passing it around to different developers like Namco or Paon or Retro, or even themselves in Jungle Beat's case.

I feel like this also factors into why the mainline platformers released since the N64 era (Jungle Beat, Returns, Tropical Freeze) all seem very hesitant on actually using Rare's older characters outside of the very bare essentials like DK, Diddy, Cranky, Rambi, etc (those last few characters weren't even in JB!). A former Retro Studios employee said recently that the decision to eschew K. Rool and the Kremlings from DKC Returns was because they wanted to distinquish it from Rare's games. And from what we've heard before it would seem this decision was more or less a mandate from the higher ups at NCL. It seems like there was a desire on Nintendo's part on trying to sort of make DKC "their own", if that makes any sense. Compare it to like the NSMB games which have no problem reusing Bowser and other old enemies until the end of time.

With the exception of DK himself, the characters and the series as a whole just aren't really apart of Nintendo's cultural DNA in the same way Mario, Zelda, Splatoon, Animal Crossing and such are. And I think that's why the series has struggled so much after the Rare buyout. Kirby and Fire Emblem would probably be having similar issues if HAL and IS just randomly disappeared overnight, leaving them without a developer. But who knows, maybe things have changed. The same crew that made Jungle Beat went on to make Mario Odyssey and its New Donk City stage, which features a ton of references and callbacks to Rare's DKC characters (even ones that haven't appeared since the Paon era, like Candy, Tiny, K. Rool, etc) and now there's been rumors of a new EPD team, filled with people who grew up playing the original trilogy, bringing the series back in house.
 
We got 2 DKC games in the past 10 years. yes, it's been a while since the last new release, but it's better than no updates.
The thing with Nintendo is outside of Mario and Zelda, a lot of their other franchises can take long breaks and even with Mario and Zelda, the main entries are often 3-5 years apart. They're just not the annualized release kind of company.

Before anyone says we get Zelda annualy, They've only managed to annualize Zelda release by re-releasing old games and spinoffs, but we're still waiting for the sequel to BOTW2.

Strictly speaking Mario Kart fans are on the same boat. The marquee Mario Kart game on Switch is an upport of the Wii U version and is nearing 10 years old now.
 
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Dinoman96 said:
I honestly think a lot of the problem here is that is that DKC as we all know it was Rare's thing and obviously they went their seperate ways from Nintendo back in the early 2000s. Kirby and Fire Emblem are both thriving franchises because, in addition to being popular sellers, they also both have entire companies backing them up, with HAL Labs and Intelligent Systems respectively. DK doesn't have that luxory as it did in the 90s with Rare gone, which is why Nintendo's basically been passing it around to different developers like Namco or Paon or Retro, or even themselves in Jungle Beat's case.

I feel like this also factors into why the mainline platformers released since the N64 era (Jungle Beat, Returns, Tropical Freeze) all seem very hesitant on actually using Rare's older characters outside of the very bare essentials like DK, Diddy, Cranky, Rambi, etc (those last few characters weren't even in JB!). A former Retro Studios employee said recently that the decision to eschew K. Rool and the Kremlings from DKC Returns was because they wanted to distinquish it from Rare's games. And from what we've heard before it would seem this decision was more or less a mandate from the higher ups at NCL. It seems like there was a desire on Nintendo's part on trying to sort of make DKC "their own", if that makes any sense. Compare it to like the NSMB games which have no problem reusing Bowser and other old enemies until the end of time.

With the exception of DK himself, the characters and the series as a whole just aren't really apart of Nintendo's cultural DNA in the same way Mario, Zelda, Splatoon, Animal Crossing and such are. And I think that's why the series has struggled so much after the Rare buyout. Kirby and Fire Emblem would probably be having similar issues if HAL and IS just randomly disappeared overnight, leaving them without a developer. But who knows, maybe things have changed. The same crew that made Jungle Beat went on to make Mario Odyssey and its New Donk City stage, which features a ton of references and callbacks to Rare's DKC characters (even ones that haven't appeared since the Paon era, like Candy, Tiny, K. Rool, etc) and now there's been rumors of a new EPD team, filled with people who grew up playing the original trilogy, bringing the series back in house.
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It definitely messed them up in the 2000s, but on some level it's a failure of NCL leadership that they still haven't found a strong steward for it 20 years past Rare's departure. Paon and Monster Games have moved past Nintendo collaborations, then Retro moved on and has had other projects like the canceled new IP and Prime 4.

I do wonder if Donkey Kong has suffered due to the company reorganization from EAD and SPD to the combined EPD in 2015. It resulted in Miyamoto leaving his general manager role to go work on IP expansion, and he was an internal advocate for DK that helped get Returns made. IP that Miyamoto had a hand in like DK and Pikmin we see getting new projects in theme parks, movies, and mobile apps. Meanwhile those IP have been inactive in Nintendo's core software development for close to a decade under the leadership of Takahashi who was formerly the head of SPD.
 
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DK is one of these series where Nintendo's investment doesn't match the series' sales potential whereas other series get more than they realistically deserve (in relation to how many people would actually be interested). At least some recent developments are pointing towards a potentially brighter future for the series. If they bring it back in-house as one rumour seems to suggest it will hopefully mean that the series is in safer hands in the long term.
 
Well, even Retro is doing now Metroid over DK.
Because…

Metroid >>>>> Retro is doing f****ng Donkey Kong thread
 
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Dinoman96 said:
I honestly think a lot of the problem here is that is that DKC as we all know it was Rare's thing and obviously they went their seperate ways from Nintendo back in the early 2000s. Kirby and Fire Emblem are both thriving franchises because, in addition to being popular sellers, they also both have entire companies backing them up, with HAL Labs and Intelligent Systems respectively. DK doesn't have that luxory as it did in the 90s with Rare gone, which is why Nintendo's basically been passing it around to different developers like Namco or Paon or Retro, or even themselves in Jungle Beat's case.

I feel like this also factors into why the mainline platformers released since the N64 era (Jungle Beat, Returns, Tropical Freeze) all seem very hesitant on actually using Rare's older characters outside of the very bare essentials like DK, Diddy, Cranky, Rambi, etc (those last few characters weren't even in JB!). A former Retro Studios employee said recently that the decision to eschew K. Rool and the Kremlings from DKC Returns was because they wanted to distinquish it from Rare's games. And from what we've heard before it would seem this decision was more or less a mandate from the higher ups at NCL. It seems like there was a desire on Nintendo's part on trying to sort of make DKC "their own", if that makes any sense. Compare it to like the NSMB games which have no problem reusing Bowser and other old enemies until the end of time.

With the exception of DK himself, the characters and the series as a whole just aren't really apart of Nintendo's cultural DNA in the same way Mario, Zelda, Splatoon, Animal Crossing and such are. And I think that's why the series has struggled so much after the Rare buyout. Kirby and Fire Emblem would probably be having similar issues if HAL and IS just randomly disappeared overnight, leaving them without a developer. But who knows, maybe things have changed. The same crew that made Jungle Beat went on to make Mario Odyssey and its New Donk City stage, which features a ton of references and callbacks to Rare's DKC characters (even ones that haven't appeared since the Paon era, like Candy, Tiny, K. Rool, etc) and now there's been rumors of a new EPD team, filled with people who grew up playing the original trilogy, bringing the series back in house.
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This is very true, I think. Finding the resources and a space for Donkey Kong internally would lead to a brighter future for the series so I do hope that's happening.
 
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Chalphy said:
As a part of the Mario umbrella, Donkey Kong is always getting content through the nonstop stream of Mario spinoffs. So many other Nintendo IP's get so little in comparison.
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This is how I’ve always seen it. DK will always be part of the marioverse. It’s never in danger of dying
 
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I feel like Lanky Kong should have gotten more usage. Tiny was two pony-tails Dixie and Chunky was an even beefier DK, but Lanky was like nothing seen before.

They say he has no style but like, he's the most interesting one in DK64 lol.
 
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People keep mentioning "imagine being an X fan," but like... most of those series were not successful enough to get a continuation, lol.

Only Donkey Kong is Suffering From Success
 
This is what it felt like to be a Metroid fan until relatively recently.

Still, I don't know, I wouldn't be too upset as a DK fan. It sucks we haven't gotten a new game in a while, but at the same time the games are so successful that it's highly unlikely we won't get a new game in the near future (next ~4 years I'd say). DKC, DKC2, DK64, and DKC:R all did 5+ mil, right? So I wouldn't worry too much, the series is just too consistently successful.
 
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Yea I don't know why some people are bringing up other series that are considered niche in comparison to DK lmao. The difference between DK and those series other people bring up is that DK is a huge fucking IP and one of Nintendo's strongest mascots. What's crazy is that for how big it is the series never gets consistent releases.

Someone brought up Metroid but you gotta realize Metroid is a smaller IP compared to how big DK is. Yet, DK gets jack shit in terms of how big it is. I mean the series has not gotten a 3D game since the N64 while Metroid has gotten both 3D games and 2Ds and it's not as popular (It's getting a goddamn Prime Remake and a new Prime game).

It would be like if Nintendo suddenly made a Remake of DK64 to get people ready for a big brand new 3D DK game, but it's not gonna happen.....

After Rare left DK has never been the same in terms of consistent releases imo.
 
Ultimately DK serves the same niche as Mario and Yoshi, as long as those games are getting made, platformer fans are well served regardless of which mascot is on the cover. Going years without something like Metroid or Famicom Detective Club leaves a hole in Nintendo's lineup that isn't easily covered.
 
Sorry OP, I don't see it. 3 DKC games on SNES, N64 had DK64 and Diddy Kong Racing, GC had 2 Donkey Konga games (3 in Japan) and the amazing Jungle Beat, Wii had Barrel Blast and Returns (also New Play Control Jungle Beat, and DK was the final boss in Wii's Punchout!!), Wii U had Tropical Freeze. Meanwhile there's the Mario vs. DK series which appeared on Wii U, 3DS, DS, and GBA (that's 6 separate games with the Wii U one also ported to 3DS in addition to an original 3DS outing! Also others were ported to the 3DS VC and Wii U VC), DKC ports and King of Swing for GBA, Diddy Kong Racing ported to DS, Jungle Climber on DS, Returns ported to 3DS, DK and company in Smash (including K. Rool!) as well as in Mario Kart. Ubisoft released excellent DK DLC for Mario + Rabbids on Switch in 2018, Tropical Freeze got an enhanced Switch port, and the rumors of a new DK made by none other than EAD themselves are persistent.
None of that is counting the original series on Arcade and all ports of it to consoles, the Game & Watch games or the Math game. It also doesn't include the Wii VC releases and NSO releases (and possibly also more on 3DS and Wii U VCs).

In other words, quit y'er whining.
 
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I'm glad they abandoned most of the Rare stuff but I'm ready for a new arcade game. It's time to give Diddy the boot and get Jr and Stanley back in there.
 
Chalphy said:
Ultimately DK serves the same niche as Mario and Yoshi, as long as those games are getting made, platformer fans are well served regardless of which mascot is on the cover. Going years without something like Metroid or Famicom Detective Club leaves a hole in Nintendo's lineup that isn't easily covered.
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“If you want a DK game, just play Mario or Yoshi, all platformers are basically the same”

lol
 
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