Donkey Kong
From The DS Ultimate Wiki
Donkey Kong is a fictional ape character who is one of the most famous video game characters of all time, and the star of multiple different series. Being around in games either in name (his grandfather, Cranky Kong, was the main character of Donkey Kong Arcade) or self (Current Donkey Kong has been around at least since the release of Donkey Kong Country), he is one of the primary characters that Nintendo owns.
Arcade Days
The first appearance of a character called Donkey Kong was in the 1981 arcade of the same name, when he captured Pauline and Mario (then known as Jumpman) had to save her from DK, who was on top of a construction site. This version of Donkey Kong, as noted in the Donkey Kong Country games was actually a younger Cranky Kong.
He made a few more appearances later, such as being captured in Donkey Kong Jr, and having to be rescued by the character of same name, and as an antagonist to Stanley in Donkey Kong 3, when he invaded a greenhouse. There were apparently supposed to be more games in this series, but these were cancelled.
Donkey Kong Country
The current Donkey Kong however first appeared in Rare's main SNES series, Donkey Kong Country. Here, he was not an antagonist, but a peaceful laid back hero, who's life got turned upside down by attacks from King K Rool and the Kremling Krew. The first game had Donkey Kong journey across the land with Diddy Kong to retrieve the banana hoarde King K Rool and the Kremling Krew had stolen from the Kongs. The second game, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, had Donkey Kong captured by King K Rool (under the guise of Kaptain K Rool. He had to be rescued by Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong. This game is generally the most well known game in the series, where key themes such as Bramble Blast were from. Donkey Kong's next appearance was Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, where again, Donkey Kong was captured by the Kremlings (apparently under the control of a robotic leader called KAOS, although truly ruled by King K Rool as Baron K Roolenstein). This time, Diddy Kong was also captured, and it was Dixie Kong and Kiddy Kong who had to investigate and rescue DK and Diddy.
Donkey Kong Land
A Game Boy series made with many of the same themes as the main Donkey Kong Country series. The first game was a different quest based loosely off of Donkey Kong Country, the latter two were basically repeats of the stories and game of Donkey Kong Country 2 and 3.
Donkey Kong 64
In this game, Donkey Kong had to collect 201 stolen Golden Bananas to stop King K Rool using his new Blast-O-Matic device to destroy DK Island. He's aided in his quest by four other Kong characters, Didd Kong, Lanky Kong, Tiny Kong and Chunky Kong, his main instrument is a set of Bongos, and his main weapon is the Coconut Shooter/Gun. He, as like in the other games eventually succeeds in his quest and King K Rool is again defeated.
