Nintendo finally unveiled the Switch 2 yesterday, giving us some bits of information and plenty of new cause for speculation, but the only game we saw was the next Mario Kart. Fans are already calling the kart racer Mario Kart 9 despite us having no official title yet. Though we only saw a few seconds of the game, fans are combing through every frame and speculating about things like the possibility it will support up to 24 players, or maybe have an exploration mode. But one thing folks are hyperfixating on is the updated character designs. Donkey Kong’s, in particular, is one of the bigger departures, significantly changing how the gorilla has looked for decades.
Donkey Kong has had a few redesigns since his debut in the original 1981 Donkey Kong arcade game, with the character carrying the Donkey Kong moniker getting the design most people know today—the one with the muscular build and jaunty red tie—in 1994’s Donkey Kong Country. (Well, the tie actually first surfaced a few months earlier, in the outstanding 1994 Game Boy game Donkey Kong ‘94, but 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 put out Donkey Kong Country in 1994, but it looks like Mario Kart 9 might be a turning point for the character, as he now resembles his Super Mario Bros. Movie iteration, as well as harkening to 2D illustrations by Nintendo artist Shigehisa Nakaue and Shigeru Miyamoto’s original design.
Hopefully, folks warm up to the new look when the new Mario Kart launches. Right now it’s the only game we know that’s coming to Switch 2, and considering Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the Switch’s best-selling game, it makes sense Nintendo would lead with a heavy hitter. We’ll know more about it and the new console when Nintendo holds a dedicated Direct presentation on April 2.