We just reported on Nintendo’s incredible Donkey Kong Bananza Direct, which featured a ton of new reveals including the revelation that the game is a Pauline and Donkey Kong origin story. We’ve been analysing the footage again ourselves, and spotted a new hidden detail on the reintroduction of Dixie Kong. In her new redesign, Nintendo have actually re-introduced a reference to Rare, the former developers of the beloved Donkey Kong Country series.
For those unaware, Rare were incredibly influential in the development of the Donkey Kong franchise, and introduced the beloved Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong. The relationship between Rare and Nintendo ended in the early 2000s after Microsoft bought Rare, and the two went their separate ways. Before that point, a key element of Dixie Kong’s design was a golden pin on her hat in the shape of the Rare logo, to match Diddy Kong’s Nintendo logo on his hat. Whilst Nintendo removed all pins from Dixie Kong’s hat after their separation from Rare, we’re now two decades later and they’ve actually just reintroduced a new golden pin to make direct reference to the original Rare design. You can see it on her hat below.
Whilst the new pin on Dixie Kong’s hat is, of course, not the official Rare logo, it’s in the exact same place as the original pin was and shares the exact same golden colour. Dixie has gone years without a pin on her hat since the two companies stopped collaborating, but it appears the celebration of the franchise that Donkey Kong Bananza appears to be has inspired Nintendo to pay homage to the company that made some of the fan-favorite Donkey Kong titles. She did have the same pin in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, but as a background character she received no spotlight or focus in the movie.
What do you think of Dixie Kong’s new design, and do you appreciate the nod to Rare that Nintendo has incorporated? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more breaking gaming news and Donkey Kong Bananza coverage.
Rare MADE Donkey Kong. The original DK SNES games are the best 2D platform games of all time!
Microsoft hasn’t come anywhere near what they were able to produce.
It’s disappointing that money overrides providing joy and happiness for others.
But thank you Rare for your contribution in the Donkey Kong franchise.
I bet they get as annoyed and disappointed as I do when I play a modern Donkey Kong game.
Not to belittle RARE’s accomplishments with the Country trilogy, but technically DK was a Nintendo property first since well before even the NES. Sure, not even Retro Studios’ Returns games hold a candle to their SNES predecessors, but the true origin point for DK was that old arcade title.
Even so, Grant Kirkhope still deserves royalties for the DK rap!
The arcade made Donkey Kong. Rare did groundbreaking work with Donkey Kong Country, on Super Nintendo.
Wouldn’t it be crazy if we find out Playtonic developed this game and that it IS the original rare team?
“but it appears the celebration of the franchise that Donkey Kong Bananza appears to be has inspired Nintendo” lol, sloppy mediocre video game journalism at its finest
Yep. Nintendo inspired themselves with their own celebration. These articles are so terrible. Paragraph after paragraph to say “Dixie Kong has a pin on her hat again”.