Tanooki Donkey Kong?
The NEW Mario Bros. Movie was fun but one thing that stuck out in my mind was how they seemingly implemented an older design of Donkey Kong into their new look for Donkey Kong!
It’s pretty subtle but it’s there! I’m a HUGE fan old old Nintendo art so this was a luvly change for me. As much as I love the Modern and SNES Donkey Kong I would welcome Retro/NEW Donkey Kong. That being said another odd but great thing the NEW Mario Bros. Movie did was GIVE DONKEY KONG FIRE FLOWER POWERS?!?! We have NEVER seen Donkey Kong with any Mario power ups!
This movie chose to use a wide spread of Nintendo lore from so many games. Then out of no where they take an original route and let Donkey Kong use the fire flower?! (I know Peach used the ice flower and her wedding dress changed but that’s a bit more in the canon direction) Outside the Brooklyn stuff, I'd say Fire Donkey Kong was the most original thing this movie did!
Naturally when I saw Fire Donkey Kong I HAD to make the other power-ups! I wanted to use the old school Donkey Kong design as a jump off point. As I googled images for references I realized the internet, as it does, had already pumped out it’s fair share of ideas. I had seen many renditions of simple power ups but not that many original Tanooki Suits! Which was perfect because that was my first choice. So I poured all my efforts into that!
The modern Tanooki Suit has morphed into the Super Leaf Power-up. The Super Leaf gives Mario, Peach and Toad the Tanooki Suit as we know but Luigi gets his own Yellow Fox suit!
There’s not much official art of Fox Luigi so I used the image above and made the image below! (and above)
The Super Leaf for Donkey Kong follows the same design mechanics as Mario and Luigi using Japanese mythology... (I took artistic liberties for Fox Luigi and made his statue form a lucky cat!)
Mario:
Furry Form: Tanuki (Raccoon Dog)
A Tanuki is a type of raccoon dog found in Japan and often depicted in folklore. The mythical version of this creature can shapeshift into anything. (if it looks like in the picture below that the raccoon has huge balls... it’s because it does... google that lore yourself) One of Nintendo’s prominent references to the Tanuki is Tom Nook of Animal Crossing. Where he uses his magic to transform furniture into leaves!
Stone Form: Daigan Jizō Bosatsu
The stone form resembles Kṣitigarbha, the protector of travelers and the guardian of souls, who is known as Daigan Jizō Bosatsu in Japan.
Luigi:
Furry Form: Kitsune (Fox)
In Japanese folklore, Kitsune are foxes that have paranormal abilities including the ability to shapeshift into human form. The more tails a Kitsune has (they may have as many as nine) the older, wiser, and more powerful it is. Nintendo has featured this creature before in games like Zelda and Pokémon. Most directly noted is Ninetales, the 9 tailed fox Pokémon,
Stone Form: Lucky Cat
The stone form resembles Maneki-Neko AKA Lucky Cat! It’s a common Japanese figurine which is often believed to bring good luck to the owner.
(in official games Luigi doesn’t turn into this but I took some artistic liberty here)
Donkey Kong:
Furry Form: Komainu (Lion Dog)
Komainu often called Lion-Dogs, are a pair of Lion-like creatures who guard the entrance to Japanese shrines. They usually only appear in pairs but it felt right to use this for Donkey Kong.
Stone Form: Komainu (Lion Dog) / Donkey Kong Arcade Art
The stone form is a combination of the Lion Dog statue and classic artwork from the Donkey Kong arcade. The statues are usually depicted with a ball or cub under one paw. Representing the world or the cycle of life. I replaced that ball with a classic barrel look from the arcade.
