2009 Year in Review/2010 Year in 'Preview'

An article by Jomingo

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2009 has had a lot of ups and downs, and for the most part a lot of nothing. So in this hopefully yearly feature I will wrap-up every game we've seen this past year in terms of Donkey Kong, and what I think we'll see in 2010.

So 2009 has supplied the world with a lot of gaming news. Aside from the not exactly shocking news that both the DS and the PSP have been redesigned once again, there was some shocking revelations on the console side of things. Not only did both Microsoft and Sony's respective consoles each get a price drop(and a redesign for the PS3), but they are also both getting very impressive looking Motion control devices, meaning that there is now absolutely no reason whatsoever to buy a Wii. Well, Nintendo thinks differently, as evidenced by the fact that their casual throwing around of the word Mario has got thousands of fanboys crawling back with their tales between their legs. That's right, two more Mario's and a couple Zelda's for good measure. That'll make the fans happy, right? Well, wrong. We have still yet to see a new Kirby, Starfox, or DK adventure on the Wii, and that brings us full-circle back to the star of the article, Donkey Kong. The Big Banana has had a fair amount of screen time this year, though it was through a number of ports and cameo appearances. Here are all of DK's 2009 games:

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First, we got New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis. The New Play Control! series are Nintendo produced Gamecube games that Nintendo has decided to remake for the Wii at discount prices. Seeing as Camelot isn't really in a position to make a new Mario Tennis, this is the best we're going to get, which is a bit of a dissapointment when compared to the rather extensive DK representation in more recent Mario Sports titles. Oh well, at least this has Diddy Kong...

The next game on our list actually puts DK in the starring role, it's New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. A remake of one of the most controversial titles in DK's history, this game is arguably the best on the list. The problem most people had with the first game was that it spat upon all the characters and elements already established for the Donkey Kong series, and had no story or explanation whatsoever for why DK was just rampantly beating the bananas out of everything he saw. Well, this remake attempts to rectify the situation and improve the experience in general by adding barrel cannons, DK coins(which act as 1ups), a handslap ability, and an actual storyline! Another complaint many had with the original was that it had an annoying gimmick(being the Bongo controller), and this changes that too by replacing the gimmick with a very normal control scheme(ie. control stick for movement, A button to jump, etc.) All in all, this was a very well received game.

About 2 months after NPC!DKJB(wow that's a mouth full) came another quality title, Punchout!! This Wii rendition of the classic NES game was revealed to feature the big banana himself as a secret boxer, which is surprising seeing as Mario, who was the referee of the original, doesn't make an appearance at all. For fans of the NES this is just gushing with nostalgia, and DK is lucky to have snuck his way into one of the must buy Wii games of the year.

Next up on the list is a much less anticipated title, Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Mini's March Again. It is the third installment of the Mario Vs Donkey Kong series, and was released on the DSiWare at the beginning of June. It sorta came out of nowhere; it was released less than a week after it was announced and was pretty much forgotten just as fast. It features a level editor, and the usual corny storyline revolving around DK kidnapping Pauline.

Then, there's another DK cameo in the form of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. Including DK was a stupid choice, but not exactly a surprising one. It turns out that the original Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games... game... was supposed to have DK in it but he was cut at the last minute.

And Finally, DK saw some revival in the long awaited releases of Super Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. on Nintendo's Virtual Console.

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So that's it for 2009 DK appearances. Another year gone, and another year on the horizon. And on that note I will begin the second half of this feature, the 2010 Preview/ Predictions part!

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OK, so technically the only one we know about so far for 2010 is WarioWare: DIY, which happens to feature a cameo from Diddy Kong. That's it. So I guess it's time to list my predictions of what we'll see this year.:

1) Mario Party 9- We've always gotten a new Mario Party once every year, that is until now. Mario Party 8 was the best selling MP ever, and yet for some reason the cash cow train has come to a stop. I think three years is plenty of time to keep us waiting.

2) Something starring DK- We haven't seen a game starring Donkey Kong that wasn't a port since Barrel Blast, somebody has to be working on something. Who knows, we've yet to see a WiiWare debut, that might be all we get. If we're lucky we'll get the DKC revival that I've described in this article.

I know, try to keep your excitement from overwhelming you. Unfortunately, this is probably all we'll get to see in terms of Donkey Kong titles next year. You can probably trust my judgement, after all I did predict Project Natal. Of course, there'll always be surprise titles that we don't expect, like half of the titles that came out 2009.

Anyway, that about wraps up my New Years feature. As you can see, there's nothing really to look forward to on the Donkey Kong side of things. You will all probably be playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 while I boycott it. Let's hope I'm around next year to write another one of these. If I'm not, it'll be because I went clinically insane from the complete lack of any common sense or logic in anything that Nintendo does. Happy Holidays!

- by Jomingo -

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This article was written by a DKC Atlas Forum staff member. All opinions expressed within this article are those of the writer, and are not necessarily shared by DKC Atlas, or the DKC gaming community.