All due respect to developer Uncommon — I actually loved my time with Diddy Kong Racing, crew! — I’m selecting to willfully ignore nearly everything of its work on the Donkey Kong franchise, as a result of there’s a bunch of very complicated ape lore I’d desire not to consider whereas I play Donkey Kong Bananza subsequent week.
And, yeah, Sweet Kong is a giant a part of that. I by no means wish to take into consideration Sweet Kong particularly.
As a longtime fan of video games Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and 1994 Recreation Boy recreation Donkey Kong, I’m going to strategy the occasions of Bananza as the subsequent main milestone in that franchise — a legacyquel, if you’ll. I’m positively buzzing at seeing how the occasions of Bananza lead immediately into Donkey Kong, a narrative about Mario climbing a constructing to avoid wasting a girl — if that’s certainly how the Tremendous Mario Odyssey crew has determined to deal with this potential prequel.
Nintendo is, in fact, withholding these vital story particulars within the lead as much as Bananza. The corporate hasn’t defined why the modern-day Donkey Kong is buddying up with a 13-year-old Pauline, an individual he seemingly kidnapped some 44 years in the past. I’m each excited to see the place this story goes and due to this fact earnestly avoiding spoilers for the upcoming Swap 2 recreation in a method I by no means thought I might. Who cares about Donkey Kong spoilers? Me, apparently!
Whereas it’s been made clear in final month’s Donkey Kong Bananza Nintendo Direct that Nation-era Kongs like Cranky, Diddy, and Dixie Kong will present up in DK’s new journey, I’m going to recanonize these apes to go well with my very own egocentric wants. There will probably be dozens of named and unnamed simians in Bananza, and I’ll acknowledge their existence with contemporary eyes.
Why do I select to disregard these Donkey Kong Nation and Donkey Kong Land video games? Largely for his or her dated humor and Saturday-morning-cartoon-approach to extending the Donkey Kong universe in careless, corny methods. Additionally, the character designs are merely atrocious (see Swanky Kong, Sweet Kong, Kiddy Kong, Chunky Kong, and so forth.). As beforehand talked about, I’ve an actual challenge with the design of Sweet Kong, an alarmingly sexed-up ape who looks like a barely disguised fetish and thus in all probability scarred impressionable youngsters for all times. (Funky Kong is OK.)
Donkey Kong Bananza, nevertheless, appears to be like to flesh out Kong lore and ape selection in additional visually intriguing methods. The sport’s big animal Elders and the menacing apes of VoidCo are a leap ahead in design, they usually give the world of Bananza a mystical, lived-in world really feel. Bonanza’s dangerous guys look to be an evolution of the antagonists of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, albeit far more inventive.
None of my deliberate willful ignorance of the Donkey Kong Nation video games (and by extension the Donkey Kong Nation Returns video games) needs to be interpreted as a slight in opposition to how these video games play. They’re high-quality. A few of them are good! A few of them are Donkey Kong 64. However as a Nintendo fanatic turned off by the Uncommon-era planet of apes, I’m completely high-quality to let all of them dwell previously and transfer on to a courageous new Donkey Kong world.
