Nintendo finally revealed the Switch 2 yesterday, giving us some information and plenty of new reasons to speculate, but the only game we saw was the next Mario Kart. Fans are already calling the kart driver Mario Kart9 although we don’t have an official title yet. Even though we only saw a few seconds of the match, the fans are comb through each image and speculate on things like the possibility that it could accommodate up to 24 players, or perhaps have an exploration mode. But one thing people are hyperfixating on is updated character designs. Donkey Kong, in particular, is one of the biggest changes, significantly altering the gorilla’s appearance for decades.
Donkey Kong has undergone a few redesigns since his debut in the original 1981 game. Donkey Kong arcade game, with the character nicknamed Donkey Kong having the design most people know today – the one with the muscular build and jaunty red tie – in 1994. Donkey Kong Country. (Well, the tie first appeared a few months earlier, in the exceptional 1994 Game Boy game. Donkey Kong ’94but Donkey Kong Country popularized his new look. Oh, and this character is actually the grandson of the original Donkey Kong, now known as Cranky Kong in most modern Donkey Kong And Mario games. Got all that?) Donkey Kong has looked pretty much the same since Rare came out Donkey Kong Country in 1994, but it seems that Mario Kart9 could be a turning point for the character, as he now looks like his Super Mario Bros. Movie iteration, as well as references to 2D artwork by Nintendo artist Shigehisa Nakaue and The original drawing by Shigeru Miyamoto.
Hopefully people will get used to the new look when the new Mario Kart spear. Right now, it’s the only game we know of that’s coming to Switch 2, and considering Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the The best-selling Switch gameit makes sense that Nintendo would lead with a heavy hitter. We’ll know more about this and the new console when Nintendo hosts a dedicated conference Direct presentation on April 2.
