Do we still need Candy Kong in modern games?

[Dorayaki]

(Yes, old members here would remember that I was very supportive this idea back in Wii era

I think this would be a very intriguing topic at the time Pauline is a full-time main cast and appears with Donkey Kong in most games, that reminds of the fact Candy was Donkey's love interest back in the early days of DKC franchise.

However, Candy cannot be described as a very active character within major official games (simply based on the fact she was never playable in any form). Instead, people had more impression on her performance in cartoon adaption. And obviously recent DKC materials, from Mario sport games, 2023 movie to the recent Universal Studio, don't want to mention most DKC characters including her. When it comes to being supportive NPC, now Nintendo also seem to prefer to stick to Cranky and Funky.

Personally I think it's a shame for Nintendo to not make Candy as useful and supportive as she is in TV series, given that most heroines in Mario series (Daisy, Birdo, Toadette) have been getting a better life these days, and even Warioware has a bunch of supportive female companions, Nintendo's treat for Candy and girls in DKC seems to be very poor .

And then.... not sure if having Donkey only passionate for Pauline now is okay? We know the two won't really result in a romantic relationship, so I feel like not keeping Donkey and Candy's relationship is kinda bad for the two. Bowser is always known for one-sided crush so he is fine with that, but Candy is an already built character so removing her seems to be a bad move.

I know Pauline is Miyamoto's earlier creation so he sure has more preference for her, and obviously Miyamoto didn't seem to care about Candy when he created newer Mini March series. But tide has changed and I don't think she and Candy contradict each other in storytelling. Pauline was the one to contradict with Peach yet she survives with new settings, after all.

Do you think bringing her back to newer games (not necessarily playable, at least as a supporting cast) would be good?

 

[Ray Trace]

Candy Kong needs a redesign, it just doesn't cut it for me.

 

[Daniel Dyce]

I don't care how tasteful your fan fic is. In my book it's still a sin for an ape to mack on a human!

 

[Bowser Jr.]

Probably should bring back Cranky Kong given that a relationship between Donkey Kong and Pauline would never work out since she's a human and he's an ape and besides she's (probably, in my opinion) not even interested in him romantically-only he is (interested in her), and that's (probably in my opinion) why he kidnaps her. He really should stop doing that. Like isn't the only times when she appears with Donkey Kong when he kidnaps her? (I don't know everything about Mario so I don't know; don't know much about the lore with Donkey Kong and Pauline so my assumptions here could be wrong; just giving my opinions here). Like, I don't know; I think they should bring back Candy Kong because she would genuinely be romantically interested in Donkey Kong since Pauline wouldn't be (I assume-don't know everything about the lore between them). Like-I think an ape like him crushing on a human is really weird-maybe even wrong like Daniel Dyce said. Just saying. So I think he should be with Candy instead.

Anyway if a lot of that info I just spouted off is wrong, eh, it's only my opinions. I don't know much about the lore between them so there are bound to be a lot of discrepancies and errors to be honest. I'm really not familiar especially with the lore of the earlier '80s Donkey Kong games either. I know nothing about it. So there's a lot of (probably wrong) assumptions and speculating and theorizing on my part.

Candy Kong probably should be redesigned if she's brought back into the series because she just with her design currently looks too '90s to me. I like the 90s, but she needs to be a bit more modernized in appearance.

 

[fantanoice]

Bring her back so she can dump DK and focus on her music career

 

[Windy]

After Rare was acquired by Microsoft, her role has been greatly reduced. Due to her very low importance and never made playable appearance in the 2000s, so she was cut from Returns and did not return in Tropical Freeze.

Even if she reappears after 18 years since 2007, there is no reason to feature her if she returns in a supporting cast. Because she has never made any playable appearance since all the new works in 2001 were canceled. There's no need to stuck her in supporting cast jail. If a Mario spinoff is going have DK characters other than Donkey and Diddy would appear, there would be other DK characters that can be played and more prominent.

Since the character is created by Rare, and there is a history of all new works being canceled around the time Rare was acquired by Microsoft, this needs to be resolved first. Donkey Kong hasn't had a new release in over 10 years.

 

[winstein]

I wouldn't be opposed to her but I am uncertain about what Candy Kong's role could be. Assuming that the relevant Kongs return as playable including Funky Kong, maybe she can be a shopkeeper in his place? But then again that cool parrot basically stood in for Funky if he did go adventuring.

Thank you for reading.

 

[Bowser Jr.]

It would be cool for Nintendo to bring all the classic Donkey Kong Country characters back in some form. I mean a lot of adult Donkey Kong/Donkey Kong Country fans I'm sure have really fond memories of those characters playing those games. As far as Donkey Kong Country coming back maybe Nintendo should do that. I mean, fans like are in this thread probably really miss playing those games. They were good games-or at least fun if they weren't objectively good, but I think they were good games personally. Especially Donkey Kong Country 1-3.

 

[Mcmadness]

I often forget she exists to be honest.

 

[Bowser Jr.]

I honestly didn't know she existed before this LOL.

 

[Toka Hebizuka]

Candy Kong is an abomination that never should've existed. Donkey Kong Country 2 made the right choice by introducing the objectively cooler Dixie Kong and Wrinkly Kong, and any game featuring Candy afterwards was developed by fools.

I think Candy Kong is comparable to Tawna from Crash Bandicoot, in that they're both a love interest for the games protaganist that's the same species as them, but designed to be sexy from a straight human male perspective and it just sucks. Similarly, I think if they brought back Candy Kong for a new game, they should just entirely redo Candy so she's actually at least a somewhat interesting character.

 

[Koopa con Carne]

while not particularly interesting, she's there to fill a common cartoon trope like almost every other character in Donkey Kong games and i think that's fine.