On July 9, 1981, the first Donkey Kong game was released by Nintendo in Japan, making Donkey Kong officially 40 years old as of today. Considering that it’s been rumored that Nintendo planned on doing a big “push for Donkey Kong” recently, we are surprised and a bit concerned that Nintendo has been so silent on the series’ fortieth anniversary.
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We’d already heard about the new Donkey Kong game that’s been rumored for a while now. But around a week ago, we heard another rumor regarding the series from insider, Zippo, who has made plenty of other accurate predictions in the past. According to them, they’ve “been told by multiple people that Donkey Kong is the next franchise in line to follow Mario in Nintendo’s push for their game franchises to become multimedia juggernauts.”
Apparently, this means more than just another Donkey Kong game. It was suggested that Donkey Kong will also be “getting animation,” though it’s unclear as to exactly what this means. Additionally, there is supposed to be a Donkey Kong theme park expansion.
But the real question now is: if all of this is true, why would Nintendo not even acknowledge Donkey Kong’s big 40 if they’re actually planning on pouring more into the franchise? If they’re trying to make it so that Donkey Kong follows more in the footsteps of Mario, starting by not acknowledging an important anniversary probably isn’t going to help. As of the time of writing, Nintendo has yet to say anything about the series’ anniversary on their social media accounts.
The one encouraging part about this is that fans have certainly not dropped the ball like Nintendo has. If you search Donkey Kong on social media, you will find endless posts and artwork created for Donkey Kong’s anniversary. While Nintendo might not be doing one of its biggest series justice today, we can always rely on dedicated fans to ensure that Donkey Kong will not be forgotten.
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