Believe it or not, Donkey Kong celebrated his 40th anniversary this week. I mean yeah, sure, that technically makes it Mario’s birthday too, but he wasn’t actually called Mario in his first appearance, so we’re focussing on the gorilla.
The gaming community celebrated this landmark by reminiscing on his past hits, from the very first Donkey Kong arcade game, all the way to Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze on Nintendo Switch. They were joined by the voice of Donkey Kong himself, Grant Kirkhope, who shared a collection of out-of-context voice clips from Donkey Kong 64, and… well just listen for yourself.
In the video, Kirkhope shares various clips from the Donkey Kong 64 recording booth. You can hear all the attempts he had to make to capture the perfect gorilla grunts, screams, and voice lines - and it’s impossible not to walk away with even more respect for the craft. Kirkhope can't help but crackup too, especially when listening to all his attempts of reading out “Oh Banana!”.
That wasn't all Kirkhope did to mark the big day. He also issues an apology for “subjecting you to that bloody awful rap” - which makes no sense, because the DK Rap slapped back then, and it slaps now. Many in the replies shared this sentiment, saying it was “10/10” and “legendary”.
Despite the fanbases celebrations, there was one very notable absence on this milestone birthday: Nintendo. Rumours suggest that a plethora of Kong content is on the way, but it was incredibly odd that he didn’t even get a nod on his big day, when many were expecting a game announcement. According to various rumours and potential leaks, Nintendo is indeed working on another 3D-Donkey Kong game, which would make sense given his lack of Switch titles so far. It may just be the case that the ongoing pandemic has slowed down development, and it wasn’t ready to be revealed this week.