A while back, David mentioned one of my long-standing dreams in his closing post for the week. It's long been one of my dreams to see the original Donkey Kong Country brought into real time 3D. All the models that were made and sampled as 2D sprites still exist, likely in Nintendo's own archives, and certainly in Rare's. I just don't trust Nintendo to do it. I'd rather have Rare take care of such a remake. It's not so unfathomable. Microsoft (who currently owns Rare) allowed the company to produce ports of the original DKC trilogy to the Game Boy Advance back in the day, and to much profit. I don't find it unreasonable to allow Rare to use the DK license to milk a few million form the everlasting nostalgia well.

""I think Jungle Beat bombed because Nintendo made sure to take away everything the majority of people wanted and expected from it. Most people were expecting a 3D Donkey Kong Country revival. Instead, they got something that was trying to distance itself from that brand as much as possible.""

Problem is, it will likely never happen. Remember, it's the fault of Nintendo (of Japan) that Goldeneye isn't on Xbox Live. NOA, Rare, Activision, and Microsoft had worked out a mutually amicable agreement, but Iwata killed the deal for no discernible reason. Ego is a major factor with a Japanese company, and he was quoted as saying, "From the day that Rare left Nintendo to today, Nintendo has made a concentrated effort to encourage the public forget anything Rare ever did with the DK brand," even though Rare's work from 1994-2000 was the franchise's most popular time. Nintendo has a fetish with the old-school "dumb ape" persona of the original arcade game. And I don't blame Miyamoto for this. Remember, it was Miyamoto who drew the original "modernized" design pitch for the character that Rare then put their rendered spin on. It was Miyamoto who told them it would be better to replace Donkey Kong Jr. (the original planned DKC sidekick) with something more "hip." Hence, Rare gave us Diddy Kong.

Let's go back to the 90s. During the late years of the 16-bit era, Diddy Kong was just as popular as DK himself. Heck, look at any store display or promotional documentation from the era. Diddy's face was often plastered any place Mario's would be. Often times, you would see Diddy even more than Mario. Remember, it was the DKC series that cemented Nintendo's victory in the 16-bit console war. People resonated with Rare's reimagining of the characters, setting, art direction, and magical musical direction. Nintendo chose to throw that all away and distill the whole franchise into a primeval mess. And even when Nintendo finally caved and allowed small-time (but high quality) developer PAON to use the classic DKC license to full effect, they crippled the projects with small budgets, and little to no marketing.


Seriously, which Donkey Kong would you rather have Nintendo continue forward with?

Jungle Beat bombed at retail back in 2005, but I don't think it was for the reasons Nintendo wanted us to believe. Sure, the bongos (damn you Donkey Konga) were ridiculous, and I still have the blister scars from all that damned clapping, but I think Jungle Beat bombed because Nintendo made sure to take away everything the majority of people wanted and expected from it. Most people were expecting a 3D Donkey Kong Country revival. Instead, they got something that was trying to distance itself from that brand as much as possible. DK's cool persona was replaced with a rampaging animal. Diddy, Dixie, Cranky, K. Rool and the animal buddies were all scrapped. People still love these characters, and Jungle Beat rejected all of it. If anything, take a look at the response to Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Nobody in years better understood what people loved about Rare's creations than Sakurai. Brawl took the best of Jungle Beat, and mixed it with the best of Donkey Kong Country. Since then, there's been a sort of grass-root restart of the Donkey Kong fanbase. Nintendo responded. Suddenly, Funky Kong was deemed worthy of inclusion in Mario Kart Wii. Interest and demand has spread for a proper rebirth of the DKC franchise, and all the things that made it so grand.

So with this in mind, I encourage you to not buy Donkey Kong Jungle Beat's reissue for Wii, firstly because it's a cheap cash-in to prevent Nintendo from having to spend money on an actual sequel. Secondly, it will just encourage them to forget everything that made people love Donkey Kong again in the 90's. Hey Nintendo, let's go back to the good ole' days of Donkey Kong Country. Don't let Japanese corporate ego get in the way of what people really want.