Donkey Kong is one of Nintendo’s most famous characters. The smash hit 1981 arcade game that made the company, kicked off Shigeru Miyamoto’s future of innovation, and introduced the world to Mario, bears Donkey Kong’s name. The big ape is as close to Nintendo’s historic creative heart as you can get if you’re not called Mario.

But oddly enough, Nintendo very rarely makes Donkey Kong games itself. Donkey Kong Bananza, due for release on July 17 and made by the Super Mario Odyssey team, will be the first Donkey Kong game in over 20 years to be produced by one of the company’s in-house studios in Japan. Beginning with 1994’s Donkey Kong Country, the character was tended to by Rare for many years. Retro Studios has taken care of him more recently in games like Tropical Freeze. Other developers like Namco and Paon have done stints.

The good news for DK fans — and anyone looking forward to Bananza — is that when Nintendo does turn its own hand to a Donkey Kong game, it invariably rules. The last time it happened was........

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