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.

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.

The newly unveiled Mario Kart 9 game for Nintendo Switch 2 sports the first sign of the Donkey Kong redesign from the movie.