Donkey Kong has looked pretty much the same since Rare put out Donkey Kong Country in 1994, but it looks like Mario Kart 9 might be a turning point for the character, as he now resembles his Super Mario Bros.

It was extremely lowkey, dropped on YouTube with no warning, featuring no dialogue, and not even officially confirming Mario Kart 9 despite that being the only game featured. It felt more like Nintendo saying "leave us alone until April" than it did "come look at this cool thing we made!

One notable change that we (and indeed, many of you) caught was the design for Donkey Kong. We knew that Nintendo had sought to recapture the character's more 'retro' look from the days of the NES in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, but it seems as though this decision may well be spreading to the world of gaming, too.