Nintendo fans are always quick to jump on any sign that their favorite game series may be getting a long-anticipated new game. New art, trailers and even leaked models can often be clues towards new projects in fan-favorite game series. One such rumor recently surfaced surrounding a new render for the Donkey Kong character Diddy Kong was revealed on Nintendo's Japanese website, though there's more than one game that this render might point towards.
The last Donkey Kong game was Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for the Wii U and Nintendo Switch. Tropical Freeze saw tons of praise and served as the long-awaited return of the classic Nintendo 64 series. Donkey Kong fans haven't been as vocal for a new game as others, though if the new render of Diddy Kong spotted by Twitter user BlueCatBanjo73 is anything to go off of, fans may have a new Donkey Kong game to look forward to.
The new Diddy Kong render is featured on Nintendo's Japanese website and, as of this article, has yet to make an appearance elsewhere. The render featured some higher-quality fur on Diddy Kong's body and other texture updates to match Nintendo's more recent HD renders of their characters. The updated render comes close to Donkey Kong's 40th anniversary, which certainly helped to fuel rumors that a new Donkey Kong game is on the horizon.
This isn't the first time that a high-quality Diddy Kong render has been updated, as Nintendo has been creating high-quality renders of their characters for quite some time. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has a similarly detailed render of Donkey Kong's sidekick, though it's a far different pose and very clearly not the same render as Smash. That being said, some fans did notice that this render has been used before its appearance on Nintendo's Japanese website.
Fans were quite to identify that this new Diddy Kong render isn't actually a completely original one. It's actually Diddy Kong's Mario Party DS render that's been updated, which may instead point towards a new Mario Party game or even a port of the fan-favorite entry in Nintendo's flagship party game series. There's some evidence to help support an upcoming Mario Party title since Mario Party's developer NDcube was recently hiring for work on a new game.
The exact nature of this game wasn't explicitly stated, though the recruitment brochure did heavily feature imagery from the Mario Party series. This doesn't confirm anything, but it does serve as some pretty convincing evidence that a new Mario Party game may be on the horizon. Outside of Mario Party and Donkey Kong, there's actually a third possible game that this render may point towards when considering its history.
According to the website Nintendo Life, this render of Diddy Kong also showed up in the mobile-only Mario Kart Tour. That version of Diddy Kong's render didn't have the same upscaled textures as this new one, so it's fairly clear that this render of Diddy Kong was specifically updated for some reason. In short, there are three possible games that this render could point to: a new Donkey Kong game, a new Mario Party title or potential news surrounding Mario Kart Tour.
It should be stressed that there's no official confirmation of any new game featuring Diddy Kong and that all of this is speculation and rumors. Nintendo has had a lot of anniversaries to celebrate this year with Pokémon's anniversary getting plenty of special events and announcements. Donkey Kong's anniversary is certainly one of note, though there haven't been any announcements of new games or remasters coming as of yet.