This may sound weird, but with this game coming out, I want to ask something:
Just what IS Donkey Kong?
Not the character -- the series. It shifts around wildly, from platforming to racing to music-based... Only Mario does as much genre-shifting (and maybe pokemon, but those two do genre shifts for OTHER reasons).
To me, it still sort of feels like Donkey Kong as a franchise is still trying to find its niche amongst the Nintendo lineups. Donkey Kong is basically a vessel for whatever game Nintendo wants to make but just doesn't feel like using Mario for whatever reason.
There is no consistency in what the DK games entail -- Nintendo gets on a bongo drum bent, then they go for racing, and now a platformer. We know Mario games are primarily platformers, Pokemon games are primarily RPGs, etc. But Donkey Kong games have no primary genre or gameplay type. It's very odd.