Nintendo is on a roll currently, taking its long running franchises, and reimagining them for a brand new generation on the Nintendo Switch. They did it with The Legend of Zelda, with the superlative Breath of the Wild earlier this year, and then again with Super Mario Odyssey, which took that franchise back to its sandbox platforming roots from the Super Mario 64 days.
But of course, this is not all that Nintendo has planned- apparently, the company is looking at modernizing its entire stable of franchises for the Switch generation, which Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Amie said in an interview with TIME magazine. Interestingly enough, while answering the question- which categorically as about Mario and Zelda– he also name dropped two interesting franchises.
“Whether it’s with a Metroid experience or a Donkey Kong experience, we’re constantly looking to push the envelope on the IP versus doing sequential small iterations with a particular franchise,” he said.
Now, we already know Metroid Prime 4 is coming (though outside of its existence, we know nothing else, so it’s hard to say whether or not it might be a Mario and Zelda level reinvention just yet), but Donkey Kong has not yet been announced for the Switch at all. What could this mean? Is there a new Donkey Kong game on the horizon? Could it be a reinvention on par with Odyssey and Breath of the Wild? I am sure that the legions of fans of Nintendo’s gorilla are going to be overjoyed at the prospect- now Nintendo just needs to actually announce the damn thing.