Nintendo Goes All In on Donkey Kong Redesign Seen in Nintendo Switch 2 and Mario Kart 9 First Look

Nintendo is going all in on the Donkey Kong redesign spotted by fans in the Mario Kart 9 gameplay debuted during the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal event.

Donkey Kong has had the same design for years now, even decades, and has appeared as such in the likes of Mario Kart 8, Mario Tennis, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and more, but Nintendo is now pivoting to a look many think is similar to the incredibly successful The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

While Donkey Kong’s video game revamp had only been seen in Mario Kart 9 so far, Nintendo has now revealed a range of Donkey Kong merchandise that also includes the redesign. As spotted by Nintendo Life, cookiemaster221 shared the products on Reddit. “History is being rewritten in front of our very eyes,” they said.

The handful of products show Donkey Kong with perhaps a friendlier look headlined by his once furrowed brow being rounded out. “They’re giving him the Kirby treatment, but backwards,” SmallBlueSlime said in the comments. “Instead of making him angry, they’re making him chill.”

“They really are dead set on redesigning DK,” said another user. “I’m gonna miss that eyebrow looking down. Always made DK seem both kind and strong,” added someone else. “It’s alright in my opinion,” added a fan in favor of the new look. “They probably did it to make him look more goofy and less angry.”

This is the best look fans have had at the redesign since the glimpse at Mario Kart 9, where Donkey Kong only appeared in a few scenes himself and not particularly clearly. An extended look at Donkey Kong in action will likely come in April when Nintendo hosts a Switch 2 focused Nintendo Direct.

In anticipation of this event, the console reveal trailer included just a few hints of the Switch 2, focusing mostly on how it looks. It did confirm the hardware is mostly backwards compatible, the Joy-Cons feature a mysterious new button, and that a theory about using the controller as a mouse appears spot on.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.