10 Video Game Spin-Offs BETTER Than The Main Franchise

Donkey Kong was the arcade breakthrough Nintendo needed back in the early 1980s, becoming a critical and commercial success. Fighting off Mario after kidnapping his girlfriend Pauline, it saw two direct sequels with Donkey Kong Jr and Donkey Kong 3, the latter of which turned it into a fixed shooter.

Mario’s own entries overshadowed these sequels but upon launching the SNES, Nintendo sought to revive Donkey Kong in a new format. Developed by Rare in 1994, Donkey Kong Country proved a dramatic departure, seeing Donkey and Diddy Kong try to retrieve DK’s banana horde after it was stolen by King K. Rool’s henchmen.

Introducing the wider Kong family within a platformer title, its use of 3D graphics was considered revolutionary for the SNES and it launched to high praise. Selling over nine million copies, two sequels quickly followed and it successfully rebooted the DK franchise.

Country not only established a gameplay formula for Donkey Kong that remains in use to this day, it made him an iconic character once more.