Did Rareware Ltd. Ruin the DK series?

[The Chef]

I think you're making too big a deal out of it.

Dr. Robotnik's name was changed to Eggman

It was the other way around, and eventualy they decided that Robotnik was his real name and Eggman was his nickname.

[SushieBoy]

You guys are forgetting the most important name change, JUMPMAN to MARIO!!

[billy chilly]

It's time Donkey Kong's name was changed.

No it's not.  The time to change his name would have been before the original arcade game was exported from Japan.   

[CrockAlley]

I hate what Donkey Kong has become. I love the Mario series, in part, because of its recurring characters. But Rare's DK doesn't carry the spirit of the original DK. There's no thematic continuity with that character. When I see Mario, or a Shy Guy or whatever, I can remember where they began, and all the games they've been in. There's history there. But with Rare's DK, they stripped away that history. There's no thematic connection with the Mario universe. Rare's Kong-world doesn't fit in with Nintendo's Mario-world. Rare's DK doesn't belong in Mario games.

In my ideal world, Rare's DK game would have the "Donkey Kong" name removed. Call him anything else. "Rare Kong" or "Rare's Neat Gorilla Game". I don't want Rare's games to go away. I just don't want their influence to show in the DK character. My dream is Nintendo bringing back the DK from DK94 and DK Jr. Put those guys in the sports and party games and get rid of DK and Diddy. It's frustrating to see Rare's DK in the "Mario vs. DK" games, where the original DK so obviously belongs.

One huge step to getting things where I want them is to get rid of that giant eyebrow-forehead thing around his eyes. Without that, DK would look so much like he did in DK94.

[Mr. Wiggles]

Eh, the old DK would probably be as PD described him:  Stuck as a dead end villain with only a few appearances before he would be phased out completely. Rare gave him personality and backstory and for that I applaud them. Plus they created Diddy Kong, the absolute best Kong, and the DK rap, which rules.

[Red Paratroopa]

I just don't like what Rare did to the DK Timeline.  If they could've kept the DK in their games the same as the original one and kept DK Jr. in the light, I'd be content.

[DekuSamurai]

(deleted)

[Crazy Penguin]

Donkey Kong had plenty of personality in the 1994 Game Boy game. In the Donkey Kong Country games he was mostly expressionless, except when doing the ridiculously bad 1990s style intro dance and the eye bulging.

[CreamCat]

Donkey Kong had plenty of personality in the 1994 Game Boy game. In the Donkey Kong Country games he was mostly expressionless, except when doing the ridiculously bad 1990s style intro dance and the eye bulging.

Sorry dude, but you are just being ridiculous here! That so called bad 1990s style intro dance might have seemed corny, but it showed us that DK was one easy going, party animal of an ape. Heck, throughout the entire game DK shows us his "I'm the man attitude" by pounding his chest and making a cry of pride when you leave him alone for awhile and shaking his hands up and down and screeching after he defeats bosses. Rareware's  has given DK a personallity much greater then Nintendo has and even you can not deny that.

[The Chef]

The problem is that they said that he was an entirely different character than the old DK in order to explain the change. That's the one thing I do not like.

[BooDestroyer]

What's so bad about DK now? I think that Rare improved him lots! But yes, he should be doing much more in the Mario universe next time.

[smfan1085]

I think the Rare games are better. And the graphics have little to do with why I like them. Mr. Wiggles's earlier post about summed up why I like them. All of the DKC games and (especially) DK64 are positively amazing.

The early Nintendo ones are good too, but I still think the Rare ones are better. (I haven't played a lot of the newer ones.)

I completely fail to understand how someone could think DK64 was not fun. The collecting was made enjoyable by the game's incredible variety.

DK's name is pure genius. It isn't stupid at all. And a name change for him is about the last thing that's called for now, after all the games that have been made about him.

[Clark Beyer]

I always thought that Nintendo and Rare BOTH created the Donkey Kong Country series.

In fact, they did.  Rare didn't single-handedly design the Country trilogy.  But correct me if I'm wrong.

[The Chef]

I also remember hearing that Myamoto himself thought up DK's 'Super' design.

[donkeyDude]

Some games by Rare such as the DKC series sucked but DK64 waz da best DK game ever. I begged my parents to buy it.