DKC Atlas Forum

So I was wondering about this recently: who exactly was responsible? Mobygames credits both Steve Mayles & Kevin Bayliss as character designers but surely only one was ultimately responsible:



Has this ever been confirmed?

When you first posed this question, I honestly wasn't sure, but I've long wondered who created "Rare's initial sketch".

It took quite a bit of sleuthing, but I think I have an answer for you; Kevin Bayliss was the man behind DK's Rare-era redesign:

On the description of his deviantART piece "Kongysmall", Kevin Bayliss wrote:One of my favorite games that I created graphics for was Donkey Kong Country, for the Super Nintendo. I was lucky enough to be asked to 'Re-design' Shigeru Miyamoto's Ape character from the hit 1980's Arcade game, 'Donkey Kong'. So, the Donkey Kong Character you see running around in all his 3D glory today, is the design I sketched and built back in the early 90's at Rare Ltd. [link]

Here's the artwork that description belongs to:


And just for warm fuzzies, here's another lovely sentiment from that artwork's description:

Since leaving the Games Industry, I have been more and more involved in music, and so this is a quick cartoon to show I could never forget 'DK' and his crew from the fantastic video game we made back then.

Ah yeah, man, good show! Thanks!

Geez, DK looks a bit Battletoads-ish there, doesn't he?

Glad to help.

I can see what you mean about the Battletoads-ish look, here... no surprise that Bayliss was the man behind their design, too, eh?

Honestly, these guys are basically just a quiff, some body hair and a necktie away from a striking DK likeness:


Speaking of which, I find it interesting that the monogrammed necktie is such an icon of DK's modern look, but neither of Rare's (KB's) early designs in that sequence you posted featured it, despite it being present in Miyamoto's sketch.

I think it was always a Miyamoto addition, see the earlier DK'94:



I have no doubt that they were released close enough to share overlapping dev-time, but I wouldn't be terrible surprised if the sketch Rare received was originally intended for the '94 team.

Miyamoto is openly fond of Western animation, and characters like Yogi Bear sporting little else but a tie (so the animators only have to animate the head, natch.) may have inspired him. But on DK, it seems to make him more personable. Take it off of him in that Baliss picture and he's plain ol' fierce.

Oh, and apropos of nothing: