When it comes to Nintendo’s deep bench of classic characters, few are as humble as Donkey Kong. While Mario is a jack of all trades, bouncing between his day job as a plumber, party planner, and kart racer, DK is more of a journeyman. His origins saw him play the foil in the original 1981 arcade game, but he’s also a hero — or at least is occasionally heroic. Throughout his many appearances, he molds to fit whatever role is required; sometimes he’s the bad guy, other times good. Mostly, he just wants to be left alone to tend to his banana hoard.

But like Mario and even the pink puffball Kirby, he’s able to adapt to any genre he’s thrust in. While most of the titles that bear his name are platformers, DK has headlined everything from racers to rhythm games. There’s even a math-based edutainment entry in his résumé.

Yet despite being one of Nintendo’s oldest characters, DK’s reputation is often overlooked. He doesn’t just star in a couple of good ones; there’s a ton of Donkey Kong games that stand tall as some at the peak of their genre — if not among the greatest of all time. The best Donkey Kong titles are technologically and mechanically pioneering; often pushing the boundaries of what Nintendo hardware can do visually, while also bearing a distinct musicality woven into the gameplay.

Nintendo’s keeping faith, too, having given DK the premiere spot as a flagship launch title for the Switch 2 console. With Donkey Kong Bananza, the ape finally leads the charge on an entire generation of new software, and the stellar results show what diehard fans already know: Donkey Kong is king.

With the release of Bananza, there’s no better time than to go back through DK’s history to highlight his many genre-defining adventures (although we’ll be skipping his minimalist Game & Watch entries, as well as the co-billed Mario vs. Donkey Kong series to keep it simple). From coin-op classics to beat-based jukes, here are all the Donkey Kong games, ranked from worst to best.