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Does Rare Replay Have The Original Donkey Kong Game?

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Have you ever wondered about Rare Replay and if it has Donkey Kong? Maybe you are a long time fan of Donkey Kong and the game series and were wondering about Rare Replay and if it has Donkey Kong. In this article we will go over everything you need to know about Rare Replay and if it includes the very popular game Donkey Kong. 

So does Rare Replay have Donkey Kong? 

Rare Replay retains the local and online multiplayer modes of the original games, and includes their main downloadable content add-ons. Sadly, it does not include Donkey Kong, the original arcade game released in 1981. 

If you want to know about Rare Replay and why it does not include the popular character Donkey Kong, then you will want to continue reading this article. You can also watch this video all about Rare Replay and all the different games that are included.

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What is Rare Replay?

The Rare Replay is a 2015 collection of thirty different video games. These thirty video games are video games that have appeared and have been part of the thirty-year history of the game designers and developers named rare and also the developers’ frontrunners, Ultimate Play the Game. It would interest you to know that this replay incorporates different genres and consoles from Xbox 360 to ZX Spectrum. The more interesting fact is that this rare series still leaves in its design the mistakes of earlier versions, this includes a few corrections. 

What are the features  that this compilation adds to its game developments? It adds new levels and missions to make the game easier and more fun. The compilation was one of several ideas Rare considered to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Inspired by fans, Xbox One backwards compatibility features, and a desire to link Rare’s past and future, the company sorted through 120 games to choose titles that best represented its oeuvre. It prioritized games with characters and environments original to the company. 

Rare incorporated four hardware emulators in the package, and worked with its parent company, Microsoft, to use its then-unannounced Xbox 360 emulation. Rare Replay released worldwide as an Xbox One exclusive on August 4, 2015. Rare Replay‘s reviews were generally favorable. Critics appreciated the package’s design and craft and called the release a new pinnacle for compilation releases. They commended its “rewind” and Snapshot features, but criticized technical issues in the Xbox 360 emulation and game installation. 

Among its games, reviewers preferred Rare’s Nintendo 64 classics, especially Blast Corps, and disliked Perfect Dark Zero, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, and the Spectrum games. Some outlets lamented the absence of the Donkey Kong Country series and GoldenEye 007 due to inevitable licensing problems, while others thought the package was fine without them.

Critics deemed the archival game content and developer interviews as among the compilation’s best features, but were upset to see the content hidden behind time-consuming in-game challenges. Rare Replay became Rare’s first United Kingdom all-formats charts bestseller since Banjo-Kazooie in 1998.

Which Donkey Kong Game is not Included in Rare Replay?

The Rare Replay game series does not include Donkey Kong or GoldenEye 007 because of licensing issues. The Donkey Kong game we are referring to is the arcade game that came out in 1981. If you are a fan of the Donkey Kong series you know there are many different Donkey Kong games. Some of the other Donkey Kong games do appear such as Donkey Kong 64. The game we are talking about in this article is the original Donkey Kong arcade game.

The storyline was such that in its first release, Donkey Kong was the enemy and opponent who had Mario’s girl in custody while the other versions had a somewhat different storyline. An example is the 1982 version, where the game was renamed Donkey Kong Jr, the storyline was very different from the original storyline. The new version spotlighted Donkey Kong Jr. trying to save his father from a cage where Mario held him. He has to do so by overcoming a lot of different obstacles until he can reach his father and save him from Mario.

More About the Character, Donkey Kong

The main character in this arcade game is Donkey Kong. This game character is a character who is in the form of a gorilla and is used in the game series called Donkey Kong. This game was named after the main character. Make sure to remember that Donkey Kong is featured in most of the Donkey Kong game series and also makes his appearance in some of the Mario game series as well. 

Donkey Kong made his first appearance in 1981, in the Donkey Kong arcade game. Donkey Kong quickly became a very popular character amongst gamers. The love people have for Donkey Kong is so much that they are interested in his relationship with other characters in the game series.

People are interested in knowing the characters he is related to by blood. This has sparked speculations that he is related to one or more of the characters in the Donkey Kong game series. Also, there has been a question that refers to his relationship with Diddy Kong. Gamers have come to realise that Diddy Kong is Donkey Kong’s trusty sidekick and also nephew wanna-be. The game in which Donkey Kong the character is used first came as an arcade game.

What other games have Donkey Kong?

Even though Rare Replay did not have Donkey Kong on it’s compilations, I want to let you know that Atari does have Donkey Kong. Starting from 1983, Atari released different computer versions under the umbrella of Atarisoft. Some have Donkey Kong on the left half of the screen in the barrel level, as he is in the arcade game,  and others have him on the right side. 

Donkey Kong has additionally shown up in different Mario sporting events. Donkey Kong was additionally a selectable character in Mario Tennis, Mario Power Tennis, Mario Tennis: Power Tour, Mario Tennis Open, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash and Mario Tennis Aces. Donkey Kong is playable in Mario Golf, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour and Mario Golf: World Tour, yet not Mario Golf: Advance Tour. 

Donkey Kong is highlighted in Super Mario Strikers for the GameCube and also showed up on the Wii inside the title Mario Strikers. He was a character that was playable as a soccer skipper. In Mario Super Sluggers, he shows up as a skipper once more. Donkey Kong additionally shows up in Mario Superstar Baseball. 

He showed up in pretty much every Mario and Sonic game, beginning with Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. He is also playable in Mario Hoops 3-on-3 and Mario Sports Mix. He is additionally playable in every Super Smash Bros. game. 

Donkey Kong showed up in Super Smash Bros. as the main character from the Donkey Kong arrangement and had a phase called “Kongo Jungle”, which depended on Donkey Kong Country. Both he and Kongo Jungle returned for the second game, Super Smash Bros. Scuffle. That game had two new stages called “Wilderness Japes” and “Kongo Jungle”, and a form of the “DK Rap” from Donkey Kong 64 fills in as stage music for Kongo Jungle.

The one contrast for the song was that in the verses, when hell was said, it was substituted for damnation. He showed up again in Super Smash Bros. Donkey Kong, this time being joined by his sidekick Diddy Kong and three different phases – “Wilderness Japes” from Melee, “Thunder Falls” from Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, and “75m” from the first Donkey Kong game from 1981.

Conclusion

We have seen that Donkey Kong from 1981 did not appear in the Rare replay game. This is particularly due to licensing issues. Rare could not get the gaming right to use the name, Donkey Kong. Which even though may disappoint some gamers, we have also discussed a lot of other options that do include this original Donkey Kong arcade game, and also games that just include Donkey Kong himself.