The top 5 things we want to see in a Donkey Kong game for mobile
More than monkeys
Have you heard? It looks like The Legend of Zelda and Donkey Kong are the next two games that Nintendo is giving the mobile treatment to. Sounds about right to us, what with Mario Kart Tour set to land sometime later this year.
We've already written a piece about what we'd like to see in a mobile Zelda game, so it'd be pretty mean if we didn't write something for Nintendo's grand old ape as well. After all, Donkey Kong has been around for a good deal longer than Link.
We'd love to hear what you'd like to see in a Donkey Kong game as well, so go right ahead and let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the article. Without any further ado then, let's start talking about monkeys.
1
Platforming
This one might sound a bit like an obvious choice, but Donkey Kong is at its best when it's a side-scrolling 2.5D platformer. And since that sort of thing works really well on mobile, we'd love to see it happening.
Of course there's the very real danger that the game could be a kart racer or a rhythm action game. The first of those options is highly unlikely, what with Mario Kart on the way, but a bongo-bashing music game could be on the cards, and it'd be a bit upsetting.
We wouldn't be averse to bongo sections, but a whole bongo game on a small screen? That doesn't strike us as the most interesting way to utilise DK's talents.
2
Character swapping
It's easy to forget that Donkey Kong has an awful lot of friends. They've all got weird names like Diddy Kong, and they're all different shapes and sizes. And in videogame language we all know what that means - different skills.
Where Zelda is all about getting different items so you can get to different places, DK could be all about using the right character in the right situation. Hot-swapping on the fly would add a level of challenge that we imagine the controls are going to take away.
After all, this is a mobile game, so there are going to be concessions to the platform. One way Nintendo could turn those limitations into strengths is by twisting around some classic ideas from the series so they sit even more comfortably in your pocket.
3
A classic reimagined
It'd be really interesting to see what Nintendo could do with a mobile version of the very first Donkey Kong game. Reverse the roles, have Donkey Kong as the hero and Jumpman as a villain who's trying to get into DK's tree and steal all of his bananas.
We've seen loads of reimagined arcade games in the past couple of years (think Crossy Road and its ilk), but none of them have tried to retread the ground that Donkey Kong first stomped about on all those years ago.
There's more than just the original Donkey Kong to milk for ideas though. There's Donkey Kong 3 for one thing, which is a slightly mad shooter where Donkey Kong is the villain and can throw bees at you. Not even making that up.
4
More than Mario
It'd be easy to do a re-skinned version of Super Mario Run for Donkey Kong. Change the physics a little, put a monkey suit on Mario and you're basically there. But that'd be a pretty alarming thing to see happen, and if it does you can guarantee we're going to have a little cry in the corner.
If Nintendo does something like this, then it's a sure sign that it's not taking mobile as seriously as we all thought. Imagine a re-skinned, main thread Nintendo franchise getting a release on the Switch. It simply wouldn't happen, and if it occurs on mobile it's time to start worrying.
We really hope this one is already set in stone as not happening, and we'd be highly surprised if it did, but that's not the point. Donkey Kong has to stand on his own two feet, and that's not going to happen if Nintendo sits back and rests on its laurels.
5
Game and Watch
One thing that would be amazing would to be see some of Donkey Kong's Game and Watch appearances recreated for mobile. They shouldn't make up the whole of the game, but little asides and mini-games here and there would certainly put a smile on our faces.
It's easy to forget just how much history some of Nintendo's characters have, and it'd be great to see some of it getting the spotlight that it deserves. Again, mobile offers up chances for experimentation here because of the sheer number of different control options that it has.
Donkey Kong often feels like the forgotten son of the Nintendo roster, so it'd be amazing if some of his greatest hits got a chance to show up, even if it's only briefly, when he makes his debut on the most popular gaming device in the world.
