Nintendo is arguably better at reinvention than any other publisher in the game industry. What other company has managed to take a character like Mario, who debuted all the way back in 1981, and keep him relevant across so many console generations it would seem silly to count them all? Mario defined 2D platformers, then 3D platformers, and when other franchises might've hit the doldrums, the plumber was continuing to star in industry-defining hits that defied gravity and put a new spin on open-world action.
But Mario didn't even have a name in that 1981 debut – it was the then-villainous Donkey Kong who was the star of the show. Yet Nintendo has always seemed content to let DK play, er, second banana in the platformer hierarchy. After all, beloved games like Donkey Kong Country weren't even developed by Nintendo internally, instead handed off to the devs at Rare, who put their own spin on Donkey Kong's world.
