Having played the Mario games since the notion of a Mario game was novel — opposed to the Donkey Kong games that preceded them, at least — I’d like to think I know a thing or two about the expansive universe that’s grown up around everyone’s favorite portly plumber. One specific field of Mariology, however, that has continually confounded me is fans’ views on Mario’s world with respect to what separates it from the Donkey Kong’s world.

Go Nintendo recently posted an item indicating that Diddy Kong will appear in the just-released Mario Party DS. Though I haven’t heard whether he’ll actually be a playable character, the announcement — which came via a Go-Gurt promotion, oddly enough — made for some interesting responses from that blog’s readers:

• “Ugh, Diddy Kong is such an abysmal failure… They keep Mario out of the Donkey Kong franchise, why continue to shove Diddy Kong into Mario’s?”
• “Yeah, I don’t really see what Diddy Kong has to do with Mario. Donkey Kong because of the original Donkey Kong. But Diddy?”
• “one diddy is not in my top 100 favorite mario family characters. 2 bowser jr. is not either.”

Really? As devout a Mario fan as I am, even I can understand people’s hatred of that eighth Koopaling, Bowser Jr. But anti-Diddy sentiments?

Superficially, people getting up in arms over video game characters seems silly. But if you’re reading this blog, you probably understand that these matters spark some strong reactions. Particularly with Donkey Kong and Mario games, I’ve noticed some of the following:

• Mario and Donkey Kong don’t mix.
• Donkey Kong doesn’t show up often enough in the Mario games.
• Donkey Kong is fine, but the extended cast of Donkey Kong Country types don’t belong in Mario games.
• It would be fine if Donkey Kong characters showed up in Mario games if only they got their own “real” games instead of B-grade spin-offs.
• Pre-Donkey Kong Country Donkey Kong is superior to the Rare model.
• The Rare-era Donkey Kong is superior to his Paon-era version.
• Death to Tiny Kong. Long live Dixie Kong.
• And what the hell ever happened to Donkey Kong Jr.?

And that’s just to name of the few of the sentiments from dyed-in-the-wool Nintendo fans that I’ve gleaned just by browsing the comments on Donkey Kong-related posts throughout the gaming blogosphere.

The simple answer as to why Donkey Kong inspires such strong reactions, I suppose, is that people truly care about the games. That seems obvious enough. But if people care so much about Donkey Kong characters, then shouldn’t they be happy to see them in any game, no matter what?

Clearly they don’t. Hence the comments. A quick look at Nintendo history, however, might help explain the sensitivity.

The first big majorly successful Mario spin-off game, Super Mario Kart, featured Donkey Kong Jr. as a playable character, giving the Kong clan a foot in future spin-offs that you’d think would stand the test of time. Donkey Kong Jr. appeared again as a playable character again in the Virtual Boy Mario Tennis, but by the time Nintendo delivered the Nintendo 64 version of Mario Kart, Donkey Kong Jr. had been replaced by Rare’s recreation of the regular, non-junior Donkey Kong character. And by the time the Nintendo 64 had reached the end of its heyday, Nintendo was pairing this renovated Donkey Kong alongside a similarly-modeled Donkey Kong Jr. in Mario Tennis.

Shortly thereafter, when Mario sports titles entered a new gaming age in the GameCube, Donkey Kong Jr. too was replaced — specifically in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour with Diddy Kong of the Donkey Kong Country games. Diddy showed up again among the Mario regulars in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, and by the time Mario Superstar Baseball hit shelves, Dixie Kong had also been added to the list of players — a trend that continued in Mario Hoops 3-on-3. Donkey Kong County regular Rambi, in a sense, even appeared in Mario Kart DS, though having been transformed into an inanimate vehicle. At this point, any Donkey Kong regular — Cranky, K. Rool or even the often-forgotten Pauline — could appear in the next Mario spin-off and he or she wouldn’t seem any more out-of-place than anyone else, at least in my opinion.

Clearly, the absorption of Donkey Kong character’s into Mario games has been long in the making. So why then the resistance on the part of many Donkey Kong fans? And would people be similarly frustrated if characters from other spin-off Mario franchises — namely Wario Land, WarioWare and the Yoshi games — began cropping up in titles in Mario proper?

I don’t think so, and after thinking about why people love these games, I may have come up with an answer: Simply, the original three Donkey Kong Country games showed up on the Super Nintendo during an area in which Nintendo wasn’t delivering the classic, side-scrolling Mario adventures that people came to know and love.

Think about it: Between Super Mario World and NEW Super Mario Bros., true-to-formula Mario games were few and far between, with only Super Mario Land 2 filling the void (…and even that series promptly became owned by Wario in Super Mario Land 3). Granted, Mario took off to new heights in the phenomenal Super Mario 64, but in the meantime and in the stead of traditional Mario games, Nintendo loyalists only had Rare’s Donkey Kong Country. And the games rocked.

With that in mind, I think it’s presumable that gamers today are so fiercely defensive about the characters who debuted in those games because, since Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble, not Rare nor Nintendo nor Paon delivered another regular platforming game. Sure, we have Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat and Donkey Kong: King of Swing, both of which depart radically from platformer basics with some fairly radical gameplay innovations.

Donkey Kong and his friends have appeared in plenty of games since — like Donkey Konga, Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast, and the Diddy Kong Racing games —but have yet to recapture the glory of those platformer greats, which, one could argue, embody classic video game style by virtue of being hop-and-bop sidescrollers. And to the people who flocked to the big old ape during the Super Nintendo days, it’s kid of a slap in the face to not only have D.K. denied a proper return to sidescrolling action but to also suffer the indignity of being reduced to a Mario series third-tier character. (One who, quite notably, hasn’t even appeared as playable character in the Mario Party games since number five. As if it takes any credibility to appear in a Mario Party game!)

Even Mario, who’s been busy in all manner of recreational side-adventures, got his NEW Super Mario Bros. as a chance to return to his classic roots. Until Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong also get a chance to go retro in the best way possible, I imagine Donkey Kong fans will continue to be resentful of the fact that their hero — who, I should note, wears a stylish tie instead of a dumpy plumber’s outfit — has hovered in the limbo of never-ending spin-offs. Until that magical Donkey Kong Country formula returns and sends D.K. running, jumping and stomping without the aid of bongos, there will be those who bemoan the fact that he’s playing second fiddle to his former enemy.

Because really, Nintendo, when D.K. and Mario are competing side-by-side on the tennis court or baseball diamond or whatever as if they were equals, they know they’re not. And we know they’re not. At least, not until they’re treated like they are. Watch those message boards and comment fields. There’s a reason people whine about what they whine about.

Drew also writes about pop culture on his blog, Back of the Cereal Box.

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