Donkey Kong Is Rumoured to Be Nintendo’s Next Big Game

Nintendo to celebrate DK's 40th in style.

Everyone’s favourite ape is set to make a comeback in a big way with rumours swirling that Nintendo’s next big game for the Switch will be all about Donkey Kong (heck yes!).

The rumours are courtesy of Nintendo insider Zippo and Nintendo Life, and both sites report that the Japanese gaming company are bringing DK back to celebrate the gorilla’s 40th anniversary (ooft, that makes me feel old).

The Donkey Kong arcade game turns 40 years old this coming Friday! Join us on July 9th as we do our best to get #DonkeyKong40 trending and wish our favorite primate a happy birthday. #DonkeyKong pic.twitter.com/IdDOC1b8UX

— Kong Island (@KongISLServer) July 3, 2021

According to Zippo, the game has been in development for more than three years now, and the team at Nintendo are trying to replicate what was done with Mario’s 35th anniversary.

“I’ve been told by multiple people that Donkey Kong is the next franchise in line to follow Mario in Nintendo’s push for their franchises to become multimedia jugganauts,” Zippo wrote.

“Donkey and co. aren’t just getting a new game, they’re getting animation, a big theme park expansion, merchandise, etc. This new game is not just a one off, DK is being taken seriously at the big N again, and that should be good news for fans everywhere.”

Okay, so there’s a lot to unpack there but basically Nintendo are going to bombard us with Donkey Kong content until he’s all we can think about.

Super Nintendo world opened in Universal Studios Japan in March this year, so seeing them add DK into the mix is a no brainer.

The “animation” that Zippo mentions is the one to keep an eye on though. In case you didn’t know, Nintendo are working on an animated Super Mario movie with a launch date sometime in 2022 and it appears Donkey Kong will be getting the same treatment.

If all goes well, I can almost guarantee that DK won’t be the only one getting his own movie. Much like Disney, we’ll probably get a Yoshi TV series, an origin film about Bowser and a live action Zelda made by HBO.

It’s been seven years since Nintendo made a new, original "Donkey Kong" game, so seeing the ape swing back onto our screens is gonna be a nice nostalgia fix for all you Nintendo stans.

Header Image: Nintendo