Diddy Kong's creator praises Nintendo's "sympathetic" redesign of the character

Nintendo has been steadily looking to adjust and tweak the appearance of some of its famed characters, with the most notable change revolving around everyone's favourite ape, Donkey Kong. The change was first noticed in The Super Mario Bros. Movie and since then we have seen the character's appearance in video game format be adjusted too, both for the upcoming Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza.

When this redesign was revealed, original creator Kevin Bayliss, who designed the version of Donkey Kong and a list of his allies that we have known for around three decades, took to social media to praise and support the change, something he has done once more now that the updated Diddy Kong has also been presented.

In a post on X, Bayliss states: "T H A N K Y O U @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."

The main difference between this new version of Diddy Kong and the former one seems to also see the character more closely fall in line with the Movie version, as he now also wears a hat that has a DK pin on it, stepping away from the former Nintendo cap he wore, as Nintendo Life explains.

Bayliss signs off by noting that all Diddy Kong needs now is a "racetrack, and a massive PIG in a purple cape to challenge him to a race!"

What do you think about this new iteration of Diddy Kong?