All due respect to developer Uncommon — I actually loved my time with Diddy Kong Racing, workforce! — I’m selecting to willfully ignore virtually the whole thing of its work on the Donkey Kong franchise, as a result of there’s a bunch of very complicated ape lore I’d want 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 need to take into consideration Sweet Kong specifically.
As a longtime fan of video games Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and 1994 Sport Boy sport Donkey Kong, I’m going to method the occasions of Bananza as the following 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 save lots of a girl — if that’s certainly how the Tremendous Mario Odyssey workforce has determined to deal with this potential prequel.
Nintendo is, in fact, withholding these essential 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 subsequently earnestly avoiding spoilers for the upcoming Swap 2 sport in a method I by no means thought I’d. 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 swimsuit my very own egocentric wants. There will probably be dozens of named and unnamed simians in Bananza, and I’ll acknowledge their existence with recent 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 concern with the design of Sweet Kong, an alarmingly sexed-up ape who appears like a barely disguised fetish and thus in all probability scarred impressionable youngsters for all times. (Funky Kong is OK.)
Donkey Kong Bananza, nonetheless, appears to flesh out Kong lore and ape selection in additional visually intriguing methods. The sport’s large 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 unhealthy guys look to be an evolution of the antagonists of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, albeit way more artistic.
None of my deliberate willful ignorance of the Donkey Kong Nation video games (and by extension the Donkey Kong Nation Returns video games) must be interpreted as a slight in opposition to how these video games play. They’re tremendous. 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 tremendous to let all of them stay prior to now and transfer on to a courageous new Donkey Kong world.