Donkey Kong
Video game franchise
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| April 1 2025 | The Queensland court issued a verdict in Mitchell's lawsuit against Jobst, awarding Mitchell $350,000, with the judge finding that Jobst's videos caused substantial damage to Mitchell's reputation and caused him distress. |
| 2025 | A high-definition remaster of Donkey Kong Country Returns released for the Nintendo Switch. |
| 2024 |
Donkey Kong Jr. Math
Nintendo added Donkey Kong Jr. Math to the Nintendo Switch Online service, further extending the game's digital availability.
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| 2024 |
Donkey Kong high score competition
Billy Mitchell and Twin Galaxies reached a settlement, with Twin Galaxies agreeing to reinstate Mitchell's scores in a historic database, though he remains banned from current leaderboards.
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| 2024 | A remake of the first Mario vs. Donkey Kong released for the Nintendo Switch, featuring new levels and cooperative gameplay. |
| January 2024 | Mitchell and Twin Galaxies settled their legal cases. Twin Galaxies re-posted Mitchell's scores to a historical database, acknowledging expert testimony that it was impossible to definitively prove improper hardware use. |
| 2023 | Fans release 'DKC: Return to Krocodile Isle', a follow-up animation with several original voice actors from the Donkey Kong Country television series. |
| 2023 | Donkey Kong featured prominently in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, an animated film produced by Nintendo, Illumination, and Universal Pictures. Seth Rogen voiced Donkey Kong, and the character was redesigned, combining elements of Rare's design and his original arcade-era look. |
| August 2023 | The Lego Group released the first four Donkey Kong Lego construction toy sets, based on the Donkey Kong Country games, as part of the Lego Super Mario product line. |
| February 2023 |
Donkey Kong high score competition
Photos are published of Billy Mitchell next to a Donkey Kong machine with a modified joystick, raising doubts about his previous records.
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| September 2022 | Forensic analyst Tanner Fokkens and five other experts published a report concluding that Mitchell could not have obtained his records on original arcade hardware. |
| September 2022 |
Donkey Kong high score competition
Tanner Fokkens published a report comparing Billy Mitchell's recorded video to the game emulator MAME, finding the video matches the emulator.
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| 2021 | Kaze and the Wild Masks was released, demonstrating the ongoing influence of Donkey Kong Country's game design. |
| 2021 | Fans release 'DKC: Curse of the Crystal Coconut', an animated tribute short film commemorating the franchise's 40th anniversary and the Donkey Kong Country television series' 25th anniversary. |
| 2021 | Nintendo Life reported that Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development was working on a new Donkey Kong game for the Switch. |
| November 2021 | Reports emerged that Illumination was developing a standalone Donkey Kong film, with Seth Rogen expected to reprise his role as the character's voice actor. |
| October 2021 | A U.S. appeals court allowed Mitchell's lawsuit against Twin Galaxies to proceed. |
| September 2021 | Mitchell filed a defamation lawsuit against Karl Jobst for videos about Mitchell's previous lawsuit and accusations of cheating. |
| September 2021 | Nintendo and Universal Destinations & Experiences jointly announced a Donkey Kong-themed expansion for Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan, designed with consultation from Shigeru Miyamoto. |
| July 2021 | Jobst published a retraction video regarding his claims about Mitchell and Ben Smith. |
| June 8 2021 |
Donkey Kong high score competition
Robbie Lakeman sets the final recorded high score of 1,272,800 points
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| May 2021 | Karl Jobst began posting videos claiming Mitchell's lawsuit was a significant factor in Ben Smith's suicide, which he later retracted. |
| March 2021 | Donkey Kong franchise reaches 65 million units in total sales by March 2021, marking a significant milestone in the video game series' commercial success. |
| 2020 | Billy Mitchell filed a defamation lawsuit against YouTuber Ben Smith (Apollo Legend) over videos claiming Mitchell cheated. The lawsuit was settled, requiring Smith to remove videos about Mitchell and refrain from discussing him, with no monetary exchange. |
| 2020 |
Donkey Kong high score competition
Guinness World Records reinstated Billy Mitchell's previous records based on new evidence, contradicting Twin Galaxies' decision.
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| 2020 | Alestorm releases the pirate metal album 'Curse of the Crystal Coconut' with numerous Donkey Kong franchise references, offering a chance to win an Alestorm-branded Nintendo 64 with Donkey Kong 64. |
| December 2020 | Ben Smith (Apollo Legend) died by suicide in December. |
| December 18 2020 |
Donkey Kong Country 3
Released on the Nintendo Switch via the Nintendo Switch Online service.
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| September 22 2020 |
Donkey Kong high score competition
Robbie Lakeman achieves a high score of 1,271,100 points
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| June 2020 | Guinness World Records reviewed Mitchell's records and, unable to find conclusive proof of improper methods, restored his Donkey Kong and Pac-Man high scores. |
| 2019 |
Donkey Kong
Included in PC Magazine's '10 Best Game Boy Games' list.
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| 2019 | Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair was released by Playtonic Games, featuring gameplay similarities to Donkey Kong Country due to the involvement of former Rare employees. |
| May 25 2019 |
Donkey Kong high score competition
John McCurdy sets a record score of 1,259,000 points
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| January 2019 | Mitchell filed lawsuits against Twin Galaxies, Jeremy Young, and YouTuber Apollo Legend in response to the removal of his gaming records. |
| 2018 |
Donkey Kong Country 3
IGN ranked Donkey Kong Country 3 58th on their 'Top 100 SNES Games of All Time', describing it as a satisfying conclusion to Rare's cycle of 16-bit platformers.
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| 2018 |
Donkey Kong Country 3
Complex ranked Donkey Kong Country 3 as number 65 in their list of The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time.
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| 2018 |
Donkey Kong high score competition
Twin Galaxies vacated Billy Mitchell's Donkey Kong high scores and banned his future participation, citing concerns about the authenticity of his gameplay.
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| 2018 | King K. Rool is added as a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. |
| 2018 | Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze was ported to the Nintendo Switch, making the game more accessible to a broader audience and introducing the title to new players. |
| April 12 2018 | Twin Galaxies announced an investigation concluding that Mitchell did not achieve his submitted scores on original arcade hardware, removing all of his scores and prohibiting him from future score submissions. |
| February 2 2018 | Twin Galaxies member Jeremy Young filed a complaint challenging the validity of Billy Mitchell's Donkey Kong high score, particularly his August 7, 2010 record certified by Todd Rogers, who was later exposed for fabricating scores. |
| February 2 2018 |
Donkey Kong high score competition
Robbie Lakeman reaches a new high score of 1,247,700 points
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| 2017 |
Donkey Kong 64
Grant Kirkhope composes a similar rap for Yooka-Laylee, a platform game made in homage to Rare's works.
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| 2017 |
Donkey Kong high score competition
Kong-Off 7 held in Banning, California, with Jeff Wolfe winning his first tournament title.
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| 2017 | The film War for the Planet of the Apes features treacherous apes nicknamed 'donkeys', which director Matt Reeves confirmed was a reference to Donkey Kong. |
| 2017 | A Hat in Time was developed, with the developer Jonas Kaerlev commenting on the impact of Donkey Kong 64 on the 3D platforming genre. |
| 2017 | Donkey Kong becomes the protagonist of an expansion pack in Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. |
| December 2017 |
Donkey Kong high score competition
Robbie Lakeman regains the record after previously announcing withdrawal from competitive play.
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| August 2017 | Jeremy Young, a Donkey Kong Forum moderator, raised concerns about Mitchell's video-recorded high scores at Boomers, questioning the legitimacy of the board-switching during his record-breaking runs for Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. |
| 2016 |
Donkey Kong Country 2
The game was released on the New Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console.
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Donkey Kong Jr. Math, Donkey Kong, Billy Mitchell (gamer), The King of Kong, Donkey Kong (1994 video game), Donkey Kong 64, Donkey Kong Country 3, Donkey Kong high score competition & Donkey Kong Country 2, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.