Earlier this year, Nintendo revealed a new design for Donkey Kong, which is being used in Mario Kart World and his new game Donkey Kong Bananza.

Interestingly, it seems that Donkey Kong is the only member of the DK cast that has undergone this change. As seen in an official 2026 calendar released by Nintendo, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, and Cranky Kong still seem to retain their previous designs, which originated from Rare’s Donkey Kong Country games.

In the case of Cranky Kong, we already knew from early promos from Donkey Kong Bananza that he would still be using his current design for the new game. At the time of this writing, it is not known whether Diddy or Dixie Kong will also be appearing there.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.