Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers

Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers is a canceled puzzle game for the Game Boy Advance and a planned spinoff title within the Donkey Kong franchise. The game was developed by Rare Ltd. but was canceled shortly before Microsoft bought out the entire company. Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers was reworked into a different title, It's Mr. Pants, which released in late 2004.

Some of the planned modes included various challenges around Donkey Kong Island, challenges from Cranky Kong, and a multiplayer mode.^[1]

History Edit

Even before changing into a Donkey Kong game, Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers went through many different iterations: Splonge, Nutcracker, Animal Cracker, and Sunflower.^[2] At the time, the reason for choosing Donkey Kong was due to marketability and the ease of implementation. Some time after becoming a Donkey Kong title, one of the working titles was Donkey Kong Puzzle Paint.

The game was originally shown off at E3 2001, and there were plans to release the game in November 2001.^[1] It was likely postponed ahead of timedue to the forthcoming acquisition from Microsoft in 2002.^[3]

After the game was canceled, Rare removed all Donkey Kong-related elements from it. Some time before releasing It's Mr. Pants, Rare considered reworking the game into either a Banjo-Kazooie game titled Banjo's Jiggy Juggle, which had an animation of Banjo juggling jigsaw pieces, or a Sabreman title.^[4]

Gallery Edit

Artwork Edit

Artwork of Donkey Kong, reused from Donkey Kong 64

Screenshots Edit

Title screen

Design documents Edit

Animal Crackers logo
Pamphlet with the working title Donkey Kong Puzzle Paint
Preliminary logo titled Donkey Kong's Coconut Crackers, as seen in a laminated document
A design sheet explaining why Donkey Kong was selected as the mascot as well as the concept behind the game