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Post by Koopaul on May 2, 2011 0:34:51 GMT -5
On many forums I go to (sans the DKVine) I'm usually the only one who really gives a damn about the Donkey Kong franchise.
Everyone finds the series and characters "boring" "lame" or "stupid"
I theorized it's because characters these days have to be one of four things to be loved: "cute" "cool" "badass" or "nostalgic"
I want to know what these forums think. How do you feel about the franchise? Do care about it? Why do you think it has such a small fanbase?
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Post by Shrikeswind on May 2, 2011 0:57:35 GMT -5
Your theory falls flat: The DK franchise has a nostalgia-driven fanbase capped by very few others. The problem actually arises because its main series is defined by a simple core of 5 games (the Country trio, DK64, and Returns) and a bunch of oddballs (Jungle Beat, Konga, Barrel Blast, KoS.) From DK64 to Returns, the DK franchise didn't have a steady dev team, since Rare's last main-series game was DK64 before the Stamper Bros. and Nintendo sold Rare to Microsoft. After that, we ended up with wierd turns for the franchise. The KoS series was the successor to DK64, but the wierd mechanics left a bad taste in gamers' mouths, while Jungle Beat was just DK off doing something else. With drums. A standard, DKC platformer was called for, a game like Returns. Will the Returns style be permanent? Can't tell, it's too new.
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Post by Koopaul on May 2, 2011 1:05:45 GMT -5
Not true because the Mother series has only 3 games, two of which aren't even released overseas, and it's still has an enormous fanbase that dwarfs many.
Besides that still doesn't explain why the other forums I belong to find the characters boring.
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Post by Shrikeswind on May 2, 2011 1:40:32 GMT -5
The Mother series has 3 games total, all of which are main series and totally devoid of wierd gameplay. How many DK games exist, barring Mario games? Between DK64 and Returns were over 11 years of spin-offs and wierd, unsuccessful descendants. That's a long gap. Sure, it's not Kid Icarus or Mother long, and we got stuff in between, but it was the DKC Dork Age. We were accidentally given total CRAP. Notice how everyone cheered to see DK swingin' vines at E3? Think real quick: How many vines preceded it since DK64? Not as many as one would hope. As a stalwart fan I can't remember DK in the swing of things since DK64.
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Post by TV Eye on May 2, 2011 1:43:17 GMT -5
What? Everyone loves DK! I got my dad to play Smash Bros Brawl today and the first character he chose was Donkey Kong.
DK is recognizable to people who grew up on video games. We saw DK's face before we saw Mario's.
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Post by Shrikeswind on May 2, 2011 1:57:29 GMT -5
What? Everyone loves DK! I got my dad to play Smash Bros Brawl today and the first character he chose was Donkey Kong. Though I don't doubt nostalgia for that, realize he selected to play a gorilla in a fighting game. A bit of that might've been instinct. =P
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Post by kirbychu on May 2, 2011 3:20:57 GMT -5
I always think of DK as more a series for older gamers. If you aren't old enough to have played the arcade games or DKC when you were younger, you're probably not going to "get it".
DK's a comedic character, like Wario. If recent childrens TV shows are anything to go by, that's just not what Western kids are into right now.
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Post by nocturnal YL on May 2, 2011 6:55:21 GMT -5
At first I misunderstood it as "DK is comedic in Wario's way," which didn't make much sense. But yeah, DK is comedic. I theorized it's because characters these days have to be one of four things to be loved: "cute" "cool" "badass" or "nostalgic" It's a bit of.... generalizing too much. Also, define these terms please. Right now I can't think of a single fictional character that possesses none of the first three. As for nostalgic, I'd say not really. Not everything in the past that haven't shown up in, say a few years, are automatically good. A good counterexample, I'd say, is Mario. He is badass in my book, but some would say otherwise, especially if you look at just his appearance and some of his basic moves. Regardles, he's hugely popular. Is he cute? I wouldn't use that to describe him (although he doesn't look bad either). Is he cool? He doesn't have that kind of detached, aloof personality, nor does he look calm and quiet. Is he nostalgic? Not if there are more Mario stuff than ever now compared to the NES days. For a simple exercise, count how often a Mario game comes out now compared to the 1985~1991 period. So is it true that if you don't think Mario is badass you wouldn't like him?
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Post by TV Eye on May 2, 2011 9:32:40 GMT -5
What? Everyone loves DK! I got my dad to play Smash Bros Brawl today and the first character he chose was Donkey Kong. Though I don't doubt nostalgia for that, realize he selected to play a gorilla in a fighting game. A bit of that might've been instinct. =P Considering the second character he chose was Pikachu? I don't buy it
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Post by Manspeed on May 2, 2011 10:18:05 GMT -5
I dunno, whenever I look at Rare's old DKC renders, they seem like a pretty obvious attempt to make him appear "cool": Of course, ever since Rare was sold off they kinda went back to making DK look goofy: I think this may have affected people's perception of the current DK character, since this is the way he was depicted during the arcade era. It also doesn't help that most of DK's appearances in the past 10 or so years have been as a side character in Mario games, where he typically acts like a goofy foil rather than a capable protagonist.
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Post by The Qu on May 2, 2011 11:15:12 GMT -5
Not true because the Mother series has only 3 games, two of which aren't even released overseas, and it's still has an enormous fanbase that dwarfs many. It doesn't have that big of a fanbase, though. It simply has a vocal one. A good litmus test for this is the sales of Mother 3. It didn't sell very well at all.
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Post by kirbychu on May 2, 2011 12:38:21 GMT -5
It doesn't have that big of a fanbase, though. It simply has a vocal one. A good litmus test for this is the sales of Mother 3. It didn't sell very well at all. Really?Don't forget that Mother 3 was a Japan-only release. If you just take Japanese sales into account, overall Mother 3 sold around the same amount as Mario & Luigi and Golden Sun. Then consider the fact that Mother 3 was released for the GBA about a year and a half after the DS came out. It sold really well against those odds.
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Post by The Qu on May 2, 2011 13:46:30 GMT -5
All right, I'll concede those points. I hadn't thought about those circumstances.
Doesn't change the fact that Mother has a not-as-big-as-you'd-think fanbase, though, which is the question in question.
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Post by Koopaul on May 2, 2011 15:37:46 GMT -5
Well I don't consider arcade DK the same thing. Which is why when I go on Deviantart and I see more arcade DK fanart than Country DK fanart it gives me the impression that he isn't that popular.
The only really dedicated DKC fan projects I can think of are from Overclocked remix. Mother on the other hand, has tons of fan adoration, fansites, artwork, remixes, cosplay, the works.
How many dedicated Donkey Kong communities can you think of? How many for Kirby or Zelda?!
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Post by Manspeed on May 2, 2011 17:40:18 GMT -5
The only two big DK sites I can think of are DK Vine (which we both post on) and DK Atlas (which is kind of in the shitter at the moment).
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