04-14-2015, 08:14 PM
Another reason why Donkey Kong probably isn't as well loved and clamored for is because the Country games sort of backshafted Donkey Kong himself. Country 2 had Diddy as the main protagonist, and Dixie was the protagonist in Country 3. Meanwhile, DK's popping up in all kinds of Mario spinoffs like Kart, Party, Golf, etc. Donkey Kong wasn't playable in his own series of games until 1999, when DK64 dropped. That's five years.
Mario and Sonic were always the primary main character of all of their games, but DK never really got to STICK as a protagonist. He, like Wario, was solidified into the minds of many as a side character in the Mario games.
I think if Rare stayed with Nintendo and developed Donkey Kong Racing and Diddy Kong Pilot as intended, I don't think we'd be having this issue. Donkey Kong would never be HUGE ala Mario and Sonic, but he'd still be relevant and brought into all kinds of new games. But, because of the buyout, we had to watch Nintendo desperately try their hand at making DK cool, all while injecting DK and his world into the Mario spinoff games. Which, isn't bad mind you. But it is sort of the reason DK's identity is so heavily tied to the Mario franchise.
Returns and Tropical Freeze were masterly handed by Retro Studios, bringing back everything we loved about the original Donkey Kong Country to a new generation. Buuuuuut, I can see a lot of gamers overlooking them if they HAVEN'T played a Donkey Kong Country game or if they dismiss them as a simple side scrolling platformer. I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty sure to the normal gamer, Side Scrolling Platformers are "indie shit". Doesn't help that Tropical Freeze dropped on a system that really had nothing going for it at the time besides, well, a sweet Mario platformer. But why would you buy a system for TWO platformers??? you'd have to be insane or like, a Nintendo fanboy to pick one of those up.
*dusts off my "I bought a WiiU at launch" badge*
Mario and Sonic were always the primary main character of all of their games, but DK never really got to STICK as a protagonist. He, like Wario, was solidified into the minds of many as a side character in the Mario games.
I think if Rare stayed with Nintendo and developed Donkey Kong Racing and Diddy Kong Pilot as intended, I don't think we'd be having this issue. Donkey Kong would never be HUGE ala Mario and Sonic, but he'd still be relevant and brought into all kinds of new games. But, because of the buyout, we had to watch Nintendo desperately try their hand at making DK cool, all while injecting DK and his world into the Mario spinoff games. Which, isn't bad mind you. But it is sort of the reason DK's identity is so heavily tied to the Mario franchise.
Returns and Tropical Freeze were masterly handed by Retro Studios, bringing back everything we loved about the original Donkey Kong Country to a new generation. Buuuuuut, I can see a lot of gamers overlooking them if they HAVEN'T played a Donkey Kong Country game or if they dismiss them as a simple side scrolling platformer. I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty sure to the normal gamer, Side Scrolling Platformers are "indie shit". Doesn't help that Tropical Freeze dropped on a system that really had nothing going for it at the time besides, well, a sweet Mario platformer. But why would you buy a system for TWO platformers??? you'd have to be insane or like, a Nintendo fanboy to pick one of those up.
*dusts off my "I bought a WiiU at launch" badge*