Donkey Kong joining LEGO Super Mario this summer!
Posted by CapnRex101,
In addition to unveiling 71423 Dry Bowser's Castle, today's MAR10 stream also teased the long-awaited arrival of Donkey Kong!
The fearsome gorilla will be available this summer and seemingly serves as a mount for Super Mario, triggering unique reactions from the hero.
You can watch the short teaser clip below...
Are you looking forward to Donkey Kong joining LEGO Super Mario? Let us know in the comments.
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58 comments on this article
I love seeing the Nintendo theme carry to other franchises! Now all we need is Zelda, Metroid, and Kirby!
As much as I do appreciate this, I still wish for minifigures. My guess is, they're gonna come out as a minifigure series in early 2024
Y'all, don't google "Mario riding Donkey Kong"!
I have a feeling we'll see this instead of the "____ Starter Set" which is awesome. Hopefully we see some coaster tracks and get a minecart for him!
I already don’t want it. Look how pale the printing is on DK’s eyes.
Donkey Kong! So awesome. And also rad that it isn’t a digifig, but just an awesome extra!
@alegrippa said:
"Y'all, don't google "Mario riding Donkey Kong"!"
Hahahah.
I am scratching my head trying to think of when Mario EVER rode on Donkey Kong's back.
Yay, DK.
@sideswinger said:
"I love seeing the Nintendo theme carry to other franchises! Now all we need is Zelda, Metroid, and Kirby!
As much as I do appreciate this, I still wish for minifigures. My guess is, they're gonna come out as a minifigure series in early 2024"
Eh? Donkey Kong was part of the original Mario game. The Donkey Kong games are a spin-off from Mario.
So they're finally here, performing for you!
If you know the words, you can join in too!
Put your hands together if you want to clap,
as we take you through this monkey rap!
Huh!
Does LEGO realize the mountains of money it's leaving on the table by not producing minifigure sets? Do we know if there something holding them back contractually in their partnership with Nintendo from doing so?
i was hoping for a brick built donkey kong like the big bowser one.
@MegaBlocks said:
"Eh? Donkey Kong was part of the original Mario game. The Donkey Kong games are a spin-off from Mario."
Are you sure about that? I kind of recall Donkey Kong was the first arcade game where he and Mario appeared.
That makes Mario games the spin-off... ;¬P
But maybe I'm wrong, it is a long time since then.
I think he looks pretty good in this format, all things considered.
Still would've preferred minifigures.
It's cool that DK plays some music from the DK Country games, but unfortunately the audio sounds like ass...
This could be us, but you playin
@LeonHardJPG said:
" @MegaBlocks said:
"Eh? Donkey Kong was part of the original Mario game. The Donkey Kong games are a spin-off from Mario."
Are you sure about that? I kind of recall Donkey Kong was the first arcade game where he and Mario appeared.
That makes Mario games the spin-off... ;¬P
But maybe I'm wrong, it is a long time since then."
No, you’re right. The first game with either character is the classic arcade game Donkey Kong, released in 1981.
However, though the game is named after Kong, Mario is the player’s character, and Donkey Kong the antagonist. One could just as easily say it’s a Mario game as a Donkey Kong one. I’m not really sure which (if either) should be considered a spinoff of the other.
@LeonHardJPG said:
" @MegaBlocks said:
"Eh? Donkey Kong was part of the original Mario game. The Donkey Kong games are a spin-off from Mario."
Are you sure about that? I kind of recall Donkey Kong was the first arcade game where he and Mario appeared.
That makes Mario games the spin-off... ;¬P
But maybe I'm wrong, it is a long time since then."
Actually yeah it was that way around. Either way it's not really another Nintendo franchise as the two are tied.
The Zelda set will be completely separate to the Mario theme.
@MegaBlocks said:
[Eh? Donkey Kong was part of the original Mario game. The Donkey Kong games are a spin-off from Mario.]
Someone was going to correct you, might as well be me. You got your names mixed up. Mario (at the time known simply as Jumpman) made his first appearance in the first Donkey Kong game. So Mario is a spin off from DK.
The issue with a Mario minfig is the large number of characters in the Mario universe and scale. A lot of them would have to be molded characters. You then get the into a weird scenario where you either don’t get very many side characters or you have so many unique molds and it starts to feel less Lego.
I think brick-built was absolutely the way to go for this theme, given the size and flexibility of the characters.
@doodlebird said:
" @MegaBlocks said:
[Eh? Donkey Kong was part of the original Mario game. The Donkey Kong games are a spin-off from Mario.]
Someone was going to correct you, might as well be me. You got your names mixed up. Mario (at the time known simply as Jumpman) made his first appearance in the first Donkey Kong game. So Mario is a spin off from DK.
"
Fun fact: Mario was still suffering from male-pattern baldness back then. He was also a carpenter instead of a plumber, but let's be honest, I don't think Mario really knows where his responsibilities are supposed to end (or begin).
https://preview.redd.it/gytd5ohhpqt51.jpg?width=538&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=42128c39cd6038df7a187d0ce9015bdcd67f6cb1
Fun fact 2: the original Donkey Kong appears as Cranky Kong in the platform-games. The gorilla you play as, is Donkey Kong Jr., all grown up.
Fun fact 3: the original Donkey Kong-game was based on a different (read: identical) game that was concurrently in production, where Popeye was supposed to rescue Olive from Bluto. So before our plumber was even a carpenter, he was standing in for a sailor. Go figure.
Less fun fact: Donkey Kong kidnapped Pauline as an act of revenge, because Mario was a cruel and irresponsible pet-owner. If you pay close attention to any animation where Mario makes Yoshi whip out his tongue, you can see that Mario honestly never really learned from his mistakes. Mario riding DK here does not bode well.
@sideswinger said:
"I love seeing the Nintendo theme carry to other franchises! Now all we need is Zelda, Metroid, and Kirby!
As much as I do appreciate this, I still wish for minifigures. My guess is, they're gonna come out as a minifigure series in early 2024"
agreed
I love DK, no interest in these play sets, but it keeps new generations interested in classic Nintendo IPs so I like that.
fingers crossed for a large DK like the Bowser one
Did Lego give any indication at all that there would be minifigure sets announced? Seems like a lot of people who were expecting that, but zero reason for them to expect it.
Wait a second! I know that monkey. His name is Donkey.
He's the leader of the bunch, you know him well
He's finally back to kick some tail
His coconut gun can fire in spurts
If he shoots ya, it's gonna hurt!
He's bigger, faster, and stronger too
He's the first member of the DK crew!
I love DK. Still not big on the digifigs, but a lot of these brick-built characters do continue to impress. This might be one I try to track down or put together loose....
No minifigure, not interessed .
I did have Donkey Kong on the Atari 800 so could be tempted if it's on it's own and not a playset.
Although, to be honest, I much preferred Miner 2049er so Bounty Bob would have been even better!
DK looks great! The choice to have him as a rideable character instead of a digi-fig probably makes sense given that he'd look goofy with Mario's overalls or Peach's skirt, though it does make me curious what his gameplay will be like (since presumably Mario/Luigi/Peach can't scan other objects while they're riding on him). Wondering if he has any physical play features hidden in that bulky bod (like pressing down on the platform on the back to swing his arms forward).
Please tell me the set will just be DK?! Highly unlikely...but I can dream.
@Vindicare said:
"Please tell me the set will just be DK?! Highly unlikely...but I can dream. "
It wouldn't be TOTALLY unprecedented (last year's Clown Car and Goomba's Shoe were both small sets focusing on a "rideable" object, though they also had one enemy each to scan). But I think a set with a character like DK is more likely to include at least some DK-themed environments or enemies to interact with as well.
@sideswinger said:
"I love seeing the Nintendo theme carry to other franchises! Now all we need is Zelda, Metroid, and Kirby!
As much as I do appreciate this, I still wish for minifigures. My guess is, they're gonna come out as a minifigure series in early 2024"
Given the success of this Mario theme, and the number of molds needed for a proper Mario series, I can’t imagine they’ll make them minifigures. I’d love it of course, but they have a good thing going here.
@fakespacesquid said:
"Did Lego give any indication at all that there would be minifigure sets announced? Seems like a lot of people who were expecting that, but zero reason for them to expect it."
No, there’s never been any indication, it’s just people that keep hoping it’s the announcement.
Is this Minifig scale? (obviously remove the back attachment first)
Someone's gonna make a LEGO version of the "NOT FUNNY DIDN'T LAUGH" meme and we'll all have to suffer for it.
@doodlebird:
Okay, that’s not exactly accurate either. He was originally “Mr. Video”, internally. He was nameless in the Japanese version of DK, but “Jumpman” in the American instructions. And he was “little Mario” in a sales brochure.
@fakespacesquid:
Technically, no. But they made an announcement that they’d be making an announcement, and minifigs is the biggest thing anyone can think of that they could announce. Ironically, I have not seen a single comment prior to this week expressing a desire to see Donkey Kong added to this game. All the focus has been on the rest of Bowser’s family, various enemy goons, and a minifig theme.
@LeonHardJPG said:
" @MegaBlocks said:
"Eh? Donkey Kong was part of the original Mario game. The Donkey Kong games are a spin-off from Mario."
Are you sure about that? I kind of recall Donkey Kong was the first arcade game where he and Mario appeared.
That makes Mario games the spin-off... ;¬P
But maybe I'm wrong, it is a long time since then."
You are correct. Mario was the hero player character in the Donkey Kong arcade game and he was called Jumpman. Then nintendo made the Mario Bros. arcade game and then made Super Mario Bros.
@LusiferSam said:
"Wait a second! I know that monkey. His name is Donkey."
Donkeys arent monkeys. Quit messing with my head!
@sideswinger said:
"I love seeing the Nintendo theme carry to other franchises! Now all we need is Zelda, Metroid, and Kirby!
As much as I do appreciate this, I still wish for minifigures. My guess is, they're gonna come out as a minifigure series in early 2024"
I think the Mario minifigures will definitely come out someday for sure but I think Lego is seeing how the Disney, Muppets and its own Minifigures sales are doing first before launching out a Nintendo Minifig collection.
My guess is that it would be a collection of Nintendo franchises with iconic characters (like a Lego Smash Bros) Choices could include Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Wario, Waluigi, Bowser, Link, Zelda, Ganondorff, Pokemon Trainer, Pokecentre Nurse, Mewtwo, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, K.K Slider, Took, Isabelle.
Toad, Kirby, Meta Knight, and King Dedede's scales and shape would be tricky to fit into the 'System' unless Lego actually made new minifigs to fit (highly unlikely)
pac-man
Oh yeah, it's on like... well like Donkey Kong
@Crispy_Bricks said:
" @LusiferSam said:
"Wait a second! I know that monkey. His name is Donkey."
Donkeys arent monkeys. Quit messing with my head!"
Gorillas aren’t monkeys either…
@Euroseb11 said:
" @sideswinger said:
"I love seeing the Nintendo theme carry to other franchises! Now all we need is Zelda, Metroid, and Kirby!
As much as I do appreciate this, I still wish for minifigures. My guess is, they're gonna come out as a minifigure series in early 2024"
I think the Mario minifigures will definitely come out someday for sure but I think Lego is seeing how the Disney, Muppets and its own Minifigures sales are doing first before launching out a Nintendo Minifig collection.
My guess is that it would be a collection of Nintendo franchises with iconic characters (like a Lego Smash Bros) Choices could include Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Wario, Waluigi, Bowser, Link, Zelda, Ganondorff, Pokemon Trainer, Pokecentre Nurse, Mewtwo, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, K.K Slider, Took, Isabelle.
Toad, Kirby, Meta Knight, and King Dedede's scales and shape would be tricky to fit into the 'System' unless Lego actually made new minifigs to fit (highly unlikely) "
Maybe I’ll eat my words, but I seriously doubt you’ll see any sort of Nintendo minifigure line even close to what you’re suggesting. And I also don’t think it has anything to do with how their current minifigure sales are. I mean, they’re already on wave 3 of Disney, and the actual minifigure line has been going strong for over a decade now.
@Blondie_Wan said:
" @LeonHardJPG said:
" @MegaBlocks said:
"Eh? Donkey Kong was part of the original Mario game. The Donkey Kong games are a spin-off from Mario."
Are you sure about that? I kind of recall Donkey Kong was the first arcade game where he and Mario appeared.
That makes Mario games the spin-off... ;¬P
But maybe I'm wrong, it is a long time since then."
No, you’re right. The first game with either character is the classic arcade game Donkey Kong, released in 1981.
However, though the game is named after Kong, Mario is the player’s character, and Donkey Kong the antagonist. One could just as easily say it’s a Mario game as a Donkey Kong one. I’m not really sure which (if either) should be considered a spinoff of the other."
Certainly Jumpman would be the spin off. After Donkey Kong came Donkey Kong Jr where Jumpman is the villain, and then came Mario Bros (and the name we now give the character). But the Donkey Kong series did continue with Donkey Kong on Game Boy, and this evolved into Mario vs Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong Country would be a spin off just like Mario is.
Now if only we could get a few more spin offs, I think Yoshi games would look fantastic in Lego form, and the game Yoshi’s Brick Built World could be released alongside the sets. And I wouldn’t mind Mario putting on some swabs and stomping on viruses. And then we need some go-karts!
He's the leader of the bunch, you know him well
He's finally back to kick some tail
His Coconut Gun can fire in spurts
If he shoots ya, it's gonna hurt!
He's bigger, faster, and stronger too
He's the first member of the D.K. crew!
Huh!
DK! Donkey Kong!
DK! Donkey Kong is here!
@PurpleDave said:
" @doodlebird :
Okay, that’s not exactly accurate either. He was originally “Mr. Video”, internally. He was nameless in the Japanese version of DK, but “Jumpman” in the American instructions. And he was “little Mario” in a sales brochure."
He briefly went by "Middle-Aged Guy" ("Ossan"), which sadly matches the balding image I linked earlier. It wasn't until Nintendo cut a deal with their landlord, Mario Segale, that Not-Popeye/Ossan/Mr. Video/Jumpman was given a name (if not a job) that actually stuck.
It's Luigi we should feel sorry for. "Mario" is now also their last name, so while "Mario Mario" is kind of a goofy name, "Luigi Mario" is such a cold, biting indication that Luigi was unexpected, unwanted, or both.
Or maybe it's the plumbers of the world that we ought to give our respects to, the brave men and women who keep the internal workings of society in order, lured in by false promises of gold coins, magic mushrooms, extra lives, intimate relationships with foreign dignitaries, and cake. It surely is a noble job, but definitely not as glamorous as those lying Mario Brothers make it out to be.
Good part usage for the top of DK's skull...yes, look it up; it not just 'hair' up there:
http://bananaslammago.blogspot.com/2015/11/season-1-episode-1-bad-hair-day-i.html
(A little below the halfway mark...)
@Crispy_Bricks said:
" @LusiferSam said:
"Wait a second! I know that monkey. His name is Donkey."
Donkeys arent monkeys. Quit messing with my head!"
But it would explain why Mario is riding it...
@Crispy_Bricks said:
" @LusiferSam said:
"Wait a second! I know that monkey. His name is Donkey."
Donkeys arent monkeys. Quit messing with my head!"
Donkey Kong isn't a monkey either he's an Ape.
@B_Space_Man said:
"The issue with a Mario minfig is the large number of characters in the Mario universe and scale. A lot of them would have to be molded characters. You then get the into a weird scenario where you either don’t get very many side characters or you have so many unique molds and it starts to feel less Lego.
I think brick-built was absolutely the way to go for this theme, given the size and flexibility of the characters. "
If Minifigs were the way they went, everyone would bitch that "Oh ItS nOt To ScAlE" or the amount of big figs in there for Bowser, DK etc.. Someone who see's sense with this not being minifig scale
@VaultDweller_197 said:
" @B_Space_Man said:
"The issue with a Mario minfig is the large number of characters in the Mario universe and scale. A lot of them would have to be molded characters. You then get the into a weird scenario where you either don’t get very many side characters or you have so many unique molds and it starts to feel less Lego.
I think brick-built was absolutely the way to go for this theme, given the size and flexibility of the characters. "
If Minifigs were the way they went, everyone would bitch that "Oh ItS nOt To ScAlE" or the amount of big figs in there for Bowser, DK etc.. Someone who see's sense with this not being minifig scale"
Do check the above image of Mario riding DK and compare it with the Smash-sizes; I think it's fair to say that we're already suffering some scaling-issues.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ciZliaUjWDg/maxresdefault.jpg
I'm not sure if that's an actual problem, though. Scaling in Nintendo-games is pretty fast and loose; even without the aid of mushrooms (or Kamek), characters (especially Bowser) are as big or as small as they need to be, and that vastly differs per game.
Check out https://brickset.com/minifigs/name-Gorilla-Grodd , whose proportions would be... okay-ish?
I wonder if there'll ever be a Brickset comment section about Mario without any mention of minifigures... it's been three years, now, minifigures would look terrible
In terms of relevancy, DONKEY KONG!!! He looks so funny and fits the blocky style of this line so well. Sort of surprised we aren't getting a new electronic character this year, but this is pretty cool.
@Ridgeheart said:
Or maybe it's the plumbers of the world that we ought to give our respects to, the brave men and women who keep the internal workings of society in order, lured in by false promises of gold coins, magic mushrooms, extra lives, intimate relationships with foreign dignitaries, and cake. It surely is a noble job, but definitely not as glamorous as those lying Mario Brothers make it out to be.]]
This is the best comment all year!
Like a monkey on your back, you need it
But do you love it enough to leave it?
He's a lonely man there on the corner...
This is a darn good brick-built Donkey Kong, although it would be nice if the print was a bit darker. It is suitable for inclusion into your Modular display if you want Donkey Kong in it for some stupid reason.
@CopperTablet:
What? Clearly that’s Ambassador Kong from the planet Nintenduu 64, as seen in the Raiders of the Lost Arcade segment of Fututama’s Anthology of Interest II.
Apart from the hands Donkey Kong is brick built, which is a huge relief as expected another Duplo model.
I think Mario riding DK is a cool concept. It's like when they made the poltergust for Luigi's Mansion: An accessory for an already existing electronic figure. I would kind of rather an electronic DK figure though. Let's just hope to get Diddy or Cranky Kong.