The 3D DK Game of My Dreams Was CANCELLED 

If Metroid Dread is anything to go by, no Nintendo game is truly "dead"

My goodness sir! Thank you for the kind StreetPass shoutout 🥰 - Zion

I get that Retro Studios had all hands on deck for Metroid Prime 4, but the fact that Donkey Kong won't have a single new title for the entirety of the Switch generation despite being one of the longest in Nintendo console history is bit disheartening. There's no reason Nintendo couldn't grant permission to another studio to make a new game, especially after their full acquisition of Next Level Games or the growing partnership with Bandai/Namco. DK platformers are arguably the best in the genre, and while Super Mario Wonder did an excellent job that shouldn't be an excuse for sleeping on the Great Ape.

1:33 I find it funny you point out the cancelled Sheikah game. Cause the investigation that DYKG did revealed that the actual gameplay was just Whac-A-Mole with the Wii Mote. Also you weren’t even going to play as Sheik, you would be playing a new character who was a member of the Sheikah. Also-Also, I’m pretty sure the bit of information from the Gigaleak was literally just the project name on a document. Not really the blow your pants off info like uncompressed voice files from Star Fox 64 or anything like that.

My Wife: Why is cookie monster on my tv?

Surprised you didn't mention that Velan has ALREADY collaborated with Nintendo, they developed Mario Kart Live Home Circuit, that AR track builder a couple years back. Studios got a good future imo, used to work in the same building as em and they seemed like nice people.

This is only kind of related, but a friendly reminder that the Sheik game that was cancelled was nowhere near as cool as people speculated it might be, something DYKG also covered.

We never got to be lathered in coconut cream pie..

You know what’s the worst cancellation of all time. Mega Man Legends 3. Its cancellation has left a Scar on Capcom compared to all the games Nintendo has cancelled.

A reminder that DK Vine originally broke this story and they’ve got a great podcast that goes into even more in-depth detail about this game.

You know, I have a funny story about this. Back before the gamecube came out, there was a new cover on it and it mentioned two games: "A game where Luigi has to save Mario, defeating ghosts with a vacuum." and "Donkey Kong Racing, a sequel to Diddy Knog racing where you ride on animals." So .... I told my older brother about this and he didn't believe me... later he said, he did believe me about Donkey Kong racing, but not the Luigi's ghost game. ........ Looking back, it's ironic huh? Given which one came out and which one was cancelled.... :^)

Having worked at a studio that’s developed games for Nintendo IP, and having worked at Activision, sometimes the legality for these things can be messy. If the powers that be decide to cancel a project, the publisher doesn’t necessarily always have access to that repository unless it’s explicitly stated in the contract. Not to mention any characters that were specifically created for that game in particular could partially be owned by the developer, not Nintendo (see Astor from Age of Calamity or Shez and Arval in Three Hopes). After Activision decided to pull the plug, it’s possible that Nintendo couldn’t do anything about it. Couldn’t touch the code because they didn’t have repo access nor a concept that too similar because of the rights to the project.

Finding out the next Skylanders title was actually in development before Imaginators flopped hurts my soul so hard. We knew imaginators had a scrapped large update, but there was a dedicated open world game?! Man…

Conceiving a game is only half the battle. Convincing an executive holding their purse strings tight that your idea will make bank is the other half. Never underestimate the psychological factor of game creation.

DK has been treated very oddly for the entire Switch generation literally the only games that have anything to do with his series he’s had on the system are re-releases

I didn’t even know there was another 3D Donkey Kong game in some form of development

Image if Sunshine, Galaxy, Galaxy 2, 3D Land, 3D World and Odyssey did not exist. Image SM64 was the newest, and only, 3D Mario to this day. That's how it is for 3D Donkey Kong.

Right now I'm just hoping for Donkey Kong 64 to be put on the NSO service.

Maybe it could come back! People thought that Dread and Prime 4 were dead, and look at us now!😊

Velan Studios are the ones behind Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit

Wild that you'd never mentioned that Nintendo had Velan made Mario Kart Live! Nintendo has Rapport with them! And rapport got their attention with a perfectly Nintendo Gimmick! Which, despite it's gimmick, is still a very polished experience!

Hope this gets a second chance. I actually loved DK 64 and would love to see a spiritual successor to that.

it really does suck, Vicarious Visions is such a talented group of developers, and it's so sad not only what happened to the game but also about them getting absorbed:(( So much talent wasted into bigger projects instead of smaller, more stylized products

Time for us Nintendo fans to show Donkey Kong more love! We demand a new 3D (or 2D) game with a new David Wise score!

Never did I think Arlo would cover the topic that came from a DYKG video

He he here we go Donkey Kong you know him well He's finally back to kick some tail His gun can fire in spurts and he can shoot ya He's bigger, faster stronger too The leader of the DK crew The baffled Kong performing Hallelujah

This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I just don't think a 3D DK game made by Vicarious Visions would have been anything better than a 6/10 at best. The concept and aesthetics could be cool but the actual platforming and level design wouldn't have that Nintendo-tier craft. The N-Sane trilogy which they made was notorious for its awful hitboxes and weird movement, and this is when they already had level design taken care of since it was a remake. If it was instead going to have been made by the Tropical Freeze devs still at Retro, or one of Nintendo's internal studios, it would have been a much bigger loss.

If only people didn’t treat Tropical Freeze as “Another damn Donkey Kong” we could’ve gotten that and five more DK games by now. But this is also like years old news lol

It really sucks. If Vicarious Visions could do a good job with the GBA Crash games and the NSane Trilogy. I could’ve seen them do a good job with DK. Hell, I’d have been interested in seeing them do a new DKC considering that again, they also made the GBA Crash games.

Nintendo when people jump to think that they were the ones who canceled the game: “I don’t know what’s happening to me. I’m getting all the blame for things I didn’t do…”

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Metroid was brought back stronger than ever on Switch, so maybe on Switch2, DK will come back swinging!

All I want is a DK game with K. Rool and the old baddies. Oh and Dark Souls 4.

Petition for square space to put their ad back at the beginning of the video so it’s easier to skip

It's interesting the people who worked on this went on to found Velan, since they've now worked with Nintendo themselves. They developed Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, so it's not entirely impossible for them to also work on other Nintendo projects like a version of this cancelled game.

Playing as Pauline in a Donkey Kong Country game sounds absolutely epic. This character is well known to be gaming's first Damsel In Distress, being kidnapped by A Younger Cranky Kong. The idea of her teaming up with the DK crew despite what Cranky put her through in the 80s sounds like it would be Zuko levels of outstanding character development.

Velan's already worked with Nintendo they helped develop Mario Kart Live Home Circuit

Grinding / Sliding on mossy branches seems like the most natural addition to a new DK game and specially a 3D one, I feel like everyone has imagined a game were you can replicate the iconic scenes of Disney Tarzan doing just that. I think only Sonic Adventure 2 has come close to it.

I’m really sad about this. I grew up playing the Returns Duology and was so excited to hear about a 3D Donkey Kong game. Its sad that the game got cancelled, but I mean hey, who knows, maybe we’ll see a 3D Donkey Kong game someday

Did square space recently start requiring that partners do their sponsor DURING the run of a video? :/

I know that you're making a joke about that FromSoft Kirby deal, but that genuinely does sound like it'd be a huge sticking point between them: Nintendo doesn't wanna make Kirby too difficult, vs Miyazaki who's said in interviews that he can't hold himself back from adding tons and tons of toxic swamps in his games. It'd definitely be a cool crossover though

I love 3D exploration games but I feel like DK should be more like Nintendo's Crash Bandicoot, think about it, linear levels running forward sometimes to the sides or towards the camera, using different Kongs, riding animals, breaking barrels to get fruit (bananas), explosive barrels... it's basically Crash, plus that gameplay is way more popular with the masses.

That new DK Game by Nintendo EDP better be a 3D platformsr that takes heavy inspiration on whatever Vicarious Project could've been. There's hope that Velan Studios is helping Nintendo with the new DK game knowing how they already have a good involvement after developing that Mario Kart toy game

It’s okay, 3D DK will return one day soon. I got a good feeling about it.

So basically they were making a Donkey Kong Sonic game?

Fun and Hopeful Fact: Nintendo has actually already collaborated with Velan for Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, in fact it was even their very first game. It’s very possible Nintendo might still be working on that DK game alongside Velan, especially considering a good amount of the talent from Vicarious moved over there.

It sucks when that happens. Especially if it’s a game series you love.

For me, that game is Mega Man Legends 3 ... The first two games were a special experience with really wonderful characters, writing, voice acting, and an *incredibly* charming world. I still think about all the fun mini-games those titles had to this day ... and now I suddenly have the itch top do another playthrough. 😂😂😂

This is old news, DK Vine covered this a year ago. Donkey Kong Freedom could still be real though, just because Activision scrapped what Vicarious Visions was conceptualizing doesn't mean Nintendo couldn't actualize the project. Metroid Dread eventually saw the light of day. Maybe if Ninty fans hadn't been so Anti-Tropical Freeze, this could have happened sooner.

Fromsoft making a kirby game would be hilarious 😂

6:56 Rolling around at the speed of sound / Got places to go / Gotta follow my rainbow

I would love to have a DK Game in the style of Kirby and the forgotten land. The art style and level design could be the same as in the new country games. I would prefer that to a full 3d open world dk, which may sound great for hardcore dk fans, but not for the average casual player tbh.

Can't wait for "Puppet gets scared of Monkey running in the jungle" in 2030

Friendly reminder that Star Fox Zero’s controls were not a gimmick. They served a practical purpose of allowing for a cinematic presentation without sacrificing SF’s core gameplay.

I highly recommend everyone here to go and watch the DidYouKnowGaming video Arlo linked in the description. Its a must watch to truly understand what an injustice this all was.

Anyone else still keep their 3DS in their pocket all day every day?

0:34 This actually happened to Half-Life 2 Episode 3, there was a story leak from an writer who worked on it, Marc Laidlaw. Just like Sammy Hall, the artist Retro contracted who leaked "Haunt" Though it is apparently still coming, just not written as Marc Laidlaw wrote it.

It almost feels like they took this hypothetical setting for the DK game and gave it to Kirby and the forgotten land

6:17 I still want to know what connection, if any, that the Forgotten Land has to Shiver Star. Mostly because Shiver Star from Orbit looks like what will happen to Earth when Sol, our sun, burns out. It seems to be implied that the inhabitants of Earth left to colonize the Forgotten Land (as well as a few other key locations in the Kirby universe) but abandoned it (and the rest) later on for unknown reasons and are still nowhere to be found in Kirby lore. Was humanity wiped out?

Forgot to mention: Velan were the ones behind Mario Kart Live Home Circuit! So they did collaborate with Nintendo.

The 3D DK of my dreams exists on the N64. It's my second favorite game of all time just behind Half-Life as my number one favorite game.

We'll get that 3D DK game one day, I'm willing to wait as long as needed

If Metroid Dread & Sora being in SSBU has taught me anything, is that no idea us too crazy for Nintendo to revisit

🎵amd it goes on and on and on! It's the return of the return of Donkey kong (yeah!) 🎵

I think remastering DK64 or remaking DK64 could be a good idea It would be one of those tests that studios do where they see if the game sells well and then if it does then they green light another project like it.

I’ve spent hours and hours of my life watching my mom play DK 64 over and over again. So many good memories at 5,10,15, and 20+ and the thought that I could’ve had that but with a fresh new experience is absolutely maddening.

1:25 "All these cool projects" And then there's the Sheikah game that was ruined by executives who don't know the first thing about game design but insisted on ideas that were obviously stupid.

Feels like there could be a cool connection to the city idea and Mario Odyssey's New Donk City? Even if they used a similar physics engine to Odyssey, I feel like that would be an incredible movement based DK game!

Euurrrgghhhh a large open 3D platformer filled with collectibles and nonsense, is just describing n64 games. You would end up with a game where you constantly fall from a great height and need to spend AGES climbing back up - the reason people hated Sunshine.

One BIG aspect you forgot to mention about Velan studios, they haven't lost their relationship with Nintendo!!!! Velan developed Mario Kart: Home Circuit directly after being formed, so clearly the people at Nintendo still see promise in them. Perhaps this game idea could make a resurgence with the same team they originally planned it with!

A 3D Donkey Kong game has sooo much potential - think of Insomniac's Spider-Man games for instance: You could have DK swinging from multiple choice vines, landing into blast barrels, punching through enemies like a torpedo, ground pounding during a barrel avalanche, Diddy Kong has his peanut popguns and jetpack to reach new heights, cartwheeling like how Sonic spins, combat would be fluid and impactful against a gang of Kremlings... imagine the combos!

A reminder Arlo. Velan Studios made Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. THERES STILL A CHANCE.

But wait Arlo there is a chance. Velan worked on the Mario Kart live: home circuit. They still have a connection to Nintendo.

Oh man, this is wild. Just finished watching the DYKG video. The folks at VV definitely deserve better, and the opportunity to continue working on Donkey Kong Freedom. Maybe one day we'll finally see a new 3D DK game!

Velan recently laid off a sizable chunk of their staff after a game being developed with an external partner was cancelled. I wonder what that was

RIP Senran Kagura 7even. It hurts. It hurts SOOO much.

Am I the only one still hoping for a dk64 remake?

I'm with you, Arlo :( Even though I'm not particularly into DK as a character, the DK Country games are consistently stellar platformers, and I hope we'll see another DK game eventually.

If he had bananas 🍌 on his feet, would they not be called “slippers”? This joke was low hanging fruit, Arlo!

I really do hope the best for a similar game to this, it’s been so long since I played a Donkey Kong game but that sounds like it’d have been amazing

Imagine a 3d recreation of Game Boy’s 1994 DK ❤

Velan Studios being the devs behind Mario Kart Live, makes me wonder if they are making Nintendo games. Just a thought

I think this project is dead and gone, but.. a new DK project is almost certain... probably a 3rd member of the DKC returns family. Hopefully seeing teh return of everyone's favorite villains, the Kremlings

I've recently started thinking about how cool it would be if a 3D DK tok some inspiration from Ratchet and Clank and feature upgradeable weapons. Could bring back the coconut gun, the bongos, the bananarang from Mario + Rabbids, and even new ones like spears or crossbows that shoot fruit or something.

Velan developed Mario Kart: Home Circuit, so they already have experience with Nintendo. It'd be cool if they could make the DK game they were working on at Vicarious Visions.

Honestly kinda glad it was cancelled (possibly a spicy take? lol) It sounded cool but Idk if it would've ended up very great. After the DYKG video on it, I found myself being more open to the idea, however. The fact that it was very movement-oriented was a great sign though, because DKC is all about movement. The original rumors had crazy stuff like Pauline being involved as sort of an environmental activist, and the plot being about an environmentalist threat. DK has had themes of environmentalism, but I think it being treated too seriously as the main plot idea kinda misses the point. And Pauline ending up as Mayor of New Donk City was definitely a better outcome. The game also apparently had a very divisive artstyle that was unlike anything anyone would expect, which definitely would have me worried. I'm already not a fan of how DK looked in Skylanders Superchargers, so something even weirder than that does not sound appealing to me. The game was too early in development for any of those Pauilne or plot things to be figured out. Basically all they had of the game was a tech demo, cause they only ever got to focus on the gameplay side of things before it was canceled. And while the gameplay sounded fun, I'm not sure if Vicarious Visions would've been able to fully pull off the concept. It's possible the game would've made it much further into development and _then_ got scrapped, which would've definitely been worse than what happened. DK will get another chance at 3D in the future, and it will potentially pull ideas from Projfect: Freedom. We just have to wait and see

Abandoned civilization is a very common theme for the Donkey Kong series. The treetop village, the old cave mines, temple ruins and Aztec area in DK64, old factories, an island full of wrecked planes and ships in Tropical Freeze. It's an aspect I really like about the DK series.

Happy 4th Arlo!

I just went to watch the full report and came back here, and conveying it as fully greenlit by Nintendo is misrepresenting it. It was a demo they were working on and receiving feedback on, that seemed to be on the way to a full greenlight. But was killed primarily by Activision's lack of interest in original projects and desire to maximize GaaS like CoD or Destiny 2 like you do say later. Maybe one day Velan Studios will beestablished enough that they can revive the pitch and GO FOR IT. It sounds like Sonic Frontiers before Sonic Frontiers and likely with a lot more polished movement and aesthetics. Also keep an eye out for stuff from Magic Soup Studios, another new studio formed by Jen O'Neal who finally had enough with the harassment and underpayment from Activision-Blizzard and is trying to start a new thing too. She was the former head of VV who led an attempt to make a new Spyro game, though sadly as an open world multiplayer game because they were desperate to get ActiBlizzard to greenlight ANYTHING. And thank you for the Penny's Big Breakaway mention at 10:00 via the b-roll the game is just incredible I hope so much we see more from Evening Star.

in the end this cancellation was to spite Arlo 😭

So fun thing about Velan Studios. The VERY first game they put out was Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. This brand new company got to do Mario Kart right out the gate. So I think it’s entirely possible that DK with Velan is still on the table.

Not getting my hopes up or anything, but after Retro is done with MP4 they could make a DK game again. Even another 2D DK would be nice.

I like to imagine after the Metroid Prime 4 stuff and all the Mario RPG releases (TTYD remake especially), Nintendo just said: “Arlo ain’t gonna miss this, he’s already eatin good”

Not every 2D series need to go 3D. I thought this mentality died in the 2010s. More things change, the more stay the same. We need more 2D DK games.

Donkey Kong is a Mario quality franchise, but with Pikmin sales.

Thank you @Arlo for this vid! Seriously, we need more videos like these which address this cancelled 3D DK. Vids like these I hope eventually gets to Nintendo’s eyes and ears and strongly conveys to them how much we want a 3D DK experience!

This is SHATTERED MY SOUL. DK and Star Fox are my favorite Nintendo IPs. First Star Fox Gran Prix sounded incredible to me, I'm a huge arcade racing fan. And now an open, movement-centric DK game? I'm picturing Nintendo's Spider-Man, and that honestly has the potential to be one of the best games ever. Now I just have to live with this info??? I'm gonna cross my fingers and hope this returns in some form

This is 99% pure, refined copium but what if in the next direct a 3D DK gets announced for 2025 and both it and MP4 act as the glorious swansong to the system. Also as much as I want a new DK of any kind, I feel like Freedom specifically would not appeal to me which is sad.

I for 1 loved the dk 64 game and still play it sometimes and would absolutely love a new 3d game or even a remake or remaster of the 64 game

It gets a ton of hate, but DK64 is probably my most nostalgic childhood video game outside of Pokémon games. I’ve been dying for a 3D DK, even though I’ve hardly ever gotten into any of the 2D games.