The success of the series is commonly attributed to its technical innovation and entertaining platforming sequences. Many of the Donkey Kong games use supporting characters throughout gameplay, allowing the player to control different members of the family. The franchise is centered on the anthropomorphic gorilla Donkey Kong and his clan of other apes and monkeys. Most of the games in the franchise are platform games, although the series also includes spin-offs other genres such as racing and rhythm games. The Donkey Kong franchise has sold a total of 82 million copies as of 2022. With the original arcade games being ported into versions on third-party home consoles and developed by several companies. It debuted in 1981 with the arcade game Donkey Kong, which was a sales success that brought Nintendo into the North American market.

While the first games were arcade releases, most Donkey Kong games have been released for Nintendo consoles and handhelds since the third generation. Games in the franchise have been developed by a variety of developers including Nintendo, Rare, Paon and Retro Studios. Donkey Kong is a video game franchise created by Shigeru Miyamoto and published by Nintendo.

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