Diddy Kong’s redesign gets a new Nintendo render, is praised by Donkey Kong Country artist

A new render on the Nintendo website gives users a better look at Diddy Kong’s redesign.

The render, which can be seen on the Characters page of the Store section of the US Nintendo website, shows Donkey Kong running and Diddy holding onto his shoulder.

It’s been known for some time that Donkey Kong has been given a redesign, but all we’ve seen of the new Diddy until now is a separate low-resolution render which was added to the Nintendo site last week. This new render gives a better look at the new Diddy Kong.

When the low-res render was released, Kevin Bayliss – who came up with the original design for Diddy Kong when he worked at Rare – gave his blessing, saying on X: “Thank you Nintendo for improving your Diddy Kong character, and being sympathetic towards my original design. They both now look better than ever. I can now rest in peace.”

Other aspects remain unknown, however. Last week’s low-res render appeared to show that Diddy’s cap now has a round badge on the side with his own logo on it, rather than the Nintendo logo emblazoned on the front of the cap (as was also the case in his cameo appearance in The Super Mario Bros Movie). Neither that render or this new one give a proper look at the cap in full, however.

Donkey Kong’s redesign was first seen back in January, when Nintendo first announced the Switch 2. Its short teaser video included footage of what would later be confirmed to be Mario Kart World, including a brief glimpse of the redesigned Donkey Kong.

Nintendo then officially announced Donkey Kong Bananza in April, along with the official reveal of Donkey Kong’s new design, which appears to be a cross between the version seen in the Super Mario Bros Movie, and that seen in pre-Donkey Kong Country artwork in games such as the Game Boy version of Donkey Kong.

As with any redesign, some players have welcomed the new look while others disapprove, but Bayliss, who was also responsible for redesigning Donkey Kong during his time at Rare, gave his approval when the new Donkey Kong was revealed in April.

Bayliss, who was in charge of the 3D computer-generated look first used for the characters in Donkey Kong Country, took to X to say he saw no reason why anyone should be angry with the character’s latest makeover.

“I don’t understand why there’s any debate to be had,” Bayliss wrote. “It’s still DK, only better looking. People need to embrace change more! All good things get better with age (I would say that though, since I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years now). Everyone give a big warm welcome for the new DK!”