I know we've kinda all joked and chatted about the possibility of a Donkey Kong Warriors, but we've never overly gone into detail feasibility, well I've played a few of the warriors games(2 licensed and orochi), and I think I know enough I could put together a feasibility list, even if I sadly think its kinda unlikely for other reasons(A DK party game would be cool though)
Gameplay: Well, the base of all warriors games is combat, and all of the games no matter what they are based on have a weapons system. At first you would think that DK would be at a disadvantage, since he and his family(and a number of his enemies) are all melee fighters, however its not. The Kongs since DK64, and their enemies all have secondary weapons, so unlike standard Warriors games, each character's main moveset is only linked to experience and upgrades, while their secondary weapons can be replaced and augmented for various purposes such as group suppression or heavy strikes against tougher enemies, such as the Coconut gun
Characters: With over 12 Kongs from over the series' histories, animal buddies, and K.Rool and at least 5 feasible Kremling commanders(yes that includes Kalypso), oh and that Fredrick guy there's plenty of playable options, and grunts, well Kremlings, Tikis, Snowmads, and various island creatures, there's plenty... other than the Kongs' who don't have grunts, but perhaps the game could take a one man army approach, which brings me to
Locations: The series has it all, rivers, mountians, islands, fortresses and factories, etc, the only challenge is most of these are one sided layouts, but hey, there's ways around that
Viability: Overall, not bad, the DK series has the characters, the locations, and weapons that could make for an interesting combo, and other than the Kong's not having grunt troops, it's actually got all the proper elements for a warriors game(heck they did one with Gundam for goodness sakes), and it actually having a viable weapons system for that part of the upgrade mechanic of the warriors series makes it much more likely than a Mario warriors game
My Opinion: Honestly, it would be cool, and has a ton of stuff that could make a unique and cool game, and DK could definitely use a good batch of new spinoffs, and this wouldn't be a bad option, but there are some options that would be better, party could be cool, or a racing game that's in a 3D environment centered around the actual abilities of the kongs instead of vehicles
Well, see, as far as DK Warriors goes, I don't think its TOO likely, but its among the more likely Warriors type of thing that could happen. The reason I say this is because DK has been on the more controversial side, its a bit darker and more realistic than Mario, and would fit a little better than Mario would. Mario would seem to be the #1 most likely, but... we got Hyrule Warriors instead. Why? Because Zelda fit better.
Mario would be a controversial choice for a new game. If we go on the same lines of Zelda (fantasy medieval style of game), the most popular franchises after that, in order, would be Fire Emblem, Golden Sun, and Kid Icarus (well, KI is more popular -at the moment- due to Uprising and GS's last game being 2010).
Of those, GS and KI are way to small to be considered for a valid option. GS could be a valid option if GS4 is announced soon. Fire Emblem would work, but we've already got a spinoff FE, and even FE is way low on Nintendo's top franchises. Donkey Kong is one that would work, isn't as controversial as an option as Mario and would probably be more likely to be greenlit by Nintendo, and popularity and sales-wise its only one step down from Zelda. That's why I feel DK is a good plausible option.
I have numerous ideas on how such a thing could work as well.
Gameplay: As far as weapons are concerned, I think they'd just cut out multiple weapons and each character has one moveset, but could have various other tools at their disposal with slightly different quirks; everyone gets a gun, everyone gets an instrument (maybe; it could be that instruments are merely a Musou for the characters that have them). There'd be an option to jump, and certain sections where you can jump around. There'd also be some aerial attacks available to complement Hyrule Warriors' strong attack system; probably replacing it.
The secondary weapons like the various guns could definitely do different things. Coconut Gun is good against stronger enemies. Blunderbuss could shoot different things or leave a persistent spiked kannonball. Bubblegum shooter could leave a sticky section on the ground.
Another thing I like is the option for having items to pick up and throw. For example, animal crates to hold animal buddies (all of which can be ridden and have different effects). When riding an animal buddy you'll only have access to shooting. Barrels could also be lying around and be thrown, as well as steel kegs which bounce around.
Characters: The Kong ally units can be the animals that were brainwashed in DKCR. Since they were just brainwashed they could be viable candidates for Kong allies. Otherwise yeah, there's more than enough Kongs and Kremlings to make a good roster of playable characters. A DK Warriors game need not have keeps, though, that's something of note.
Locations: I'm not sure if we can handle underwater regions, but overall I think there's plenty to cover and handle. One thing that may need to be considered is that there'd need to be a cutoff of either mountains/trees to prevent you from exiting the arena, or a pit (cliff, chasm, or water). An underwater arena is probably not possible. Enguarde is likewise only possible if he is only available at the top of the water. Making proper arenas isn't a problem, though. They'd just be based on existing DK levels/themes. I'd bet there'd be 6-8 levels set on DK Isle and several on Krocodile Isle.
But yeah, I think DK is more likely than people think.
