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===Characters and story=== Kevin Bayliss was in charge of redesigning Donkey Kong. He wanted a character that looked believable and could perform animations like pounding his chest.{{sfn|Milne|2022|p=18}} His initial design was blocky and muscular to make Donkey Kong easy to animate, but it became more cartoonish when Nintendo [[fax]]ed reference material. Some of Bayliss' designs were in the style of his ''Battletoads'' work,<ref>{{cite web|last=Wood|first=Austin|title=Original ''Donkey Kong Country'' drafts reveal the characters that might have been|url=https://www.gamesradar.com/original-donkey-kong-country-drafts-reveal-the-characters-that-might-have-been|website=[[GamesRadar+]]|access-date=16 June 2022|date=19 January 2021|archive-date=16 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220616191837/https://www.gamesradar.com/original-donkey-kong-country-drafts-reveal-the-characters-that-might-have-been/|url-status=live}}</ref> and the final design's eyes came from those of the [[Battletoads (characters)|Battletoads]].<ref name="Kotaku: Worried" /> Miyamoto provided some suggestions, including the red tie,<ref name="RG: MakingOf" /> but left the design's specifics to Bayliss.{{sfn|Milne|2022|p=18}} Because ''Donkey Kong'' did not have much of an established universe, Rare was free to expand it with new characters. Mayles conceived Diddy as a redesign of [[Donkey Kong Jr. (character)|Donkey Kong Jr.]],<ref name="RG: MakingOf" /> and Bayliss designed him.<ref name="JXV: BTS" /> Unlike the original Donkey Kong Jr., Rare did not want Diddy to share his build with Donkey Kong, so Bayliss based the design on a [[spider monkey]] and made him agile to give him distinct moves.{{sfn|Milne|2022|p=18β20}} The redesign was also motivated by Bayliss' distaste for Donkey Kong Jr.<ref name="JXV: BTS" /> Nintendo considered the redesign too great a departure and asked it to be reworked or presented as a new character. Mayles felt the redesign suited the updated ''Donkey Kong'' universe, so he chose to make it a new character. Naming the character was a challenge; considered names included "Diet Donkey Kong", "Donkey Kong Lite", and "Titchy Kong".<ref name="JXV: BTS" /> Rare settled on "Dinky", but ultimately changed it to "Diddy" due to legal problems.<ref name="RG: MakingOf" /> Rare staff spent hours at the nearby [[Twycross Zoo]] recording gorillas for reference, which they described as "a complete waste of time".<ref name="NLife: MakingOf" /> They found their movements unsuitable for a fast game and their noises too quiet to be captured by a microphone, so they based Donkey Kong's running animation on a horse's [[Canter and gallop#Gallop|gallop]] and had programmer [[Mark Betteridge]] provide Donkey and Diddy's voice clips.<ref name="RG: MakingOf" /><ref name="NLife: MakingOf" /> Rare positioned Cranky Kong as the original Donkey Kong character from the arcade games but avoided mentioning this in the game and marketing materials out of fear that Nintendo would disapprove of the idea,<ref name="Kotaku: Worried">{{Cite web|last=Zwiezen|first=Zack|date=25 November 2019|title=Nintendo was worried Donkey Kong Country was 'too 3D'|url=https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/11/nintendo-was-worried-donkey-kong-country-was-too-3d/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923161416/https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/11/nintendo-was-worried-donkey-kong-country-was-too-3d/|archive-date=23 September 2020|access-date=26 May 2020|website=[[Kotaku]]}}</ref> though it was mentioned in the instruction manual.{{sfn|Nintendo|1994a|p=27}} Rare created each character using Donkey Kong's model as a base and made the Kong designs consistent to reflect that they were relatives.<ref name="JXV: BTS" /> All story drafts centered on the theft of Donkey Kong's banana hoard.<ref name="JXV: BTS" /> According to Mayles, the team pitched the ''Super Mario'' character [[Wario]] as the antagonist,<ref>{{cite tweet|author-link=Gregg Mayles|last=Mayles|first=Gregg|user=Ghoulyboy|title=@TopherPutnam wanted more info on a disused concept we did for #DKC, so here it is! Mario invents a time machine, Wario uses it to acquire a fancy gun that he turns Mario to stone with, a parrot sees it all and flaps off to get DK's help |number=1177306565109518336|date=26 September 2019|access-date=2 February 2025}}</ref> but Nintendo asked them to use original characters.<ref>{{cite tweet|author-link=Gregg Mayles|last=Mayles|first=Gregg|user=Ghoulyboy|title=It's an early pitch we made to Nintendo that eventually became DKC. They wanted all new bad guys, so we used our reptile Kremlings instead. I still have the book somewhere, but I'm sure I tweeted a some images from inside a few years ago|number=1176830620137377792|date=25 September 2019|access-date=2 February 2025}}</ref> They recycled the Kremlings from ''Johnny Blastoff and the Kremling Armada'', a cancelled ''[[Monkey Island]]''-style [[adventure game]].<ref name="JXV: BTS" /> Their name is a play on the [[Moscow Kremlin]].<ref name="GI: Wise"/> Rare's initial story was extensive and spanned 15 pages, but Nintendo had it condensed to fit into an [[instruction manual]].{{sfn|Undercover Lover|1994|p=54}}
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