The best Donkey Kong games of all time

Alright, we’re kind of fudging the rules here with Diddy Kong Racing, but this game deserves more love. Rare setting its sights oncompeting with Mario Kart 64, and this might be a hot take, but Diddy Kong Racing is the better game. It has all the positives of a Mario Kart game but none of the annoyances and way more to do. There are power-ups, cool characters, and unique tracks, but also different vehicles, a real single-player mode, and tons of other modes to mess around with. Plus, and this may just be our preference, but driving, flying, and hovering in this game just felt better than its competitor.

Let’s make this clear upfront: Donkey Kong 64 isn’t a bad game, it just isn’t to everyone’s taste. If you love collectathons, then you will adore this game. If you want a more pure 3D platformer, Donkey Kong 64 will frustrate you to no end. There’s not a lot of in-between with this game. In terms of content, there’s almost too much here. You have an entire cast of Kongs to unlock and play as, each with their own moves, weapons, and abilities, as well as tons of levels with challenges and missions specific to each Kong. The fact that the game requires you to collect so many things to progress is really the only fault people find with the game, and it isn’t unjustified, especially when you get to the end of the game. However, we can all agree it is worth playing.

We have to end with an honorable mention to the arcade game that started it all, Donkey Kong. Most people think of this as a Mario game now, but DK was clearly the star of the show. It’s clunky and dated now, and quite frustrating too, but it’s a bit of history that should at least be played by anyone who considers themselves a gamer.