MarioKong

MarioKong is the slash ship between Donkey Kong and Mario from the Super Mario and Super Smash Bros. fandoms.

Donkey Kong Arcade
In their very first appearances, Mario fights Donkey Kong because the latter had kidnapped Mario's girlfriend Pauline. This ends with Mario chasing him up a construction tower and letting DK fall to his death. The 1994 Game Boy remake has Donkey Kong survive the fall and kidnap Pauline further. At the end of that, Pauline gives Mario a Super Mushroom to throw a helpless Donkey Kong, but he and his son are still willing to take a picture with them.

In Donkey Kong Jr., Mario has captured Donkey Kong and it's up to his titular son to rescue him this time.

The Game & Watch series on Game Boy adds two other games of Mario and Donkey Kong interacting: Donkey Kong Circus and Donkey Kong Hockey. In Circus, Mario watches Donkey Kong juggle, laughing at him when he fails. In Hockey, Mario and Donkey Kong play hockey against each other.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong series
The first game starts with Donkey Kong channel surfing at home, only to stumble across a commercial of Mario Toy Company's new "Mini-Mario" figurines. Completely enamored with them, Donkey Kong promptly breaks into the Company's factory and steals their whole stock, with Mario angrily yelling at him to come back. Now it's up to Mario to save all of his toys that are scattered all over the place. After rescuing all of them, he scolds Donkey Kong after defeating him. But then he sees the big ape crying in shame and decides to give him a free Mini-Mario to cheer him up.

In the second game, March of the Minis, Donkey Kong is now employed at the Mario Toy Company and competes with Mario by creating a "Mini-Donkey Kong", hoping that their guest Pauline will pick his toy over Marios. She picks Mini-Mario, which enraged Donkey Kong so much that he kidnaps Pauline, with Mario needing to rescue her.

Other Mario games
Donkey Kong is a regular character playable in Mario spin-offs.

Super Smash Bros.
Mario and Donkey Kong are both veterans since the first game, neither needed to be unlocked. His official description states that Mario and Donkey Kong used to be rivals, but have made up since then.

In Melee's tenth Event Match "All-Star Match 1", Donkey Kong and Mario are two of the player's opponents. In the twenty-fifth event, "Gargantuants", Donkey Kong is a giant (representing King Kong) and Mario is tiny.

In the fourth game's Event Match "The Original Heavyweights", Mario must defeat both Donkey Kong and Bowser. In the Co-op Event "1988", Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong fight 3 increasingly bigger Marios. In another Co-op Event, "Flat Fracas", shadow versions of Mario and Donkey Kong are two opponents of Wario and Mr. Game & Watch.

In Ultimate's Classic Mode for Mario, "Let's-a Go!", Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are his third opponents. In Donkey Kong's Classic Mode, "Journey to New Donk City", Mario and Luigi are Donkey Kong's sixth opponent. They also fight together as the original Donkey Kong and Jumpman for the Pauline Spirit Battle (with Princess Peach being Pauline herself). In another Spirit Battle for the Hockey Players from Ice Hockey, Donkey Kong, Dr. Mario and Luigi represent the players.

Fanon
Despite their long history with each other, people generally didn't ship Mario with Donkey Kong in the games. Most of the early fanfics for the pairing were somewhat crack.

Then the Mario movie came out, featuring Donkey Kong as a prominent rival to Mario and everything changed. Many were somewhat intrigued by their relationship, having them start out as enemies but removing most of the more questionable content from the games. Namely, Mario never owned a Kong as a pet and Donkey Kong is shown to be of equal intelligence to Mario. Many have joked that they expected to walk out of the movie shipping Bowuigi, only to suddenly see the sparks between Mario and Donkey Kong. Some have even shipped it since the first trailer introducing Donkey Kong, with some joking that they would ship it alongside Bowuigi side-by-side.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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