I see people talk about how "Sakurai doesn't care about Donkey Kong" a lot. Here's the problem, Donkey Kong, the character is iconic, Donkey Kong, the series is not. Sure, Donkey Kong himself might be an icon of gaming, but outside of Donkey and Diddy, there really isn't a whole lot to work with in Smash Brothers. Sure, you all as Donkey Kong fans can see a lot from the series to use in Smash, but to an outside observer it doesn't really work. The animal companions for instance are to many people "generic rhino" or "generic swordfish". And while there are many elements from series like Fire Emblem and Kid Icarus that may seem generic to an outside observer, they come from recent games in the series, and thus are more well known to people.Man it's really obvious taht Sakurai gives a flying you no what for the DK Franchise. Look how little fanserive we got this SSB compare to other franchises:
- DK has only got one! One freaking new stage and this time we had a Handheld and a freaking console version! KI nad FE both got one new stage for each version adn DK only one in a whole!
- Second it's again a freaking jungle stage! How unimaginative can this guy get. Fire Emblem also didn't get just castles for stages or Super Mario also didn't always get the Mushroom Kingdom everytime as a temöate for a new stage. Why DK always has to stick with those boring jungle levels? Some of them aren't even locations from the original Games. Look at those two generic jungle stages in Melee. Why not something more original like a pirate ship, of a factory or if they have to use something with a jungle environment why not soemthing that takes place in some jungle ruins or Frozen DK Island from TF?
- DK has compare to other series a ridiculous low amount of playable characters. Only two. They didn't even scratched the surface. FE has 5 freaking characters. 5 characters! KI has 3 and Pokémon had ove rthe years 9 playable characters! What vthe hell Nintendo?
- DK does not even have one freaking AT and KI got 2 and FE I think also 2. Zeldas has 4 and even F-Zero has got at least 1. DK has nothing. Why?
- Same goes for the Smash Run enemies. Look how much enemies we have from KI? allmost 15 and DK only 2?
- DK also has got no Items form his series in the Smash Bros. Series.
It's really clear for me, that DK along with F-Zero is the franchise that Sakurais ignores the most.
KKR better get in this time.
To specifically address some of your points though.
-Jungle Hijinx is one of the most unique stages in the game, and showcases types of battles and environment interaction shown nowhere else in the game.
-Stages are generally what shows off what a game is most known for. So yeah DK get's jungle stages, just like Star Fox gets spaceship stages or F-Zero gets racetrack stages. And both of the new FE stages are in arenas, and Castle Siege is literally a generic castle, it doesn't come from any game. Also, 75m, although it's terrible, is a DK stage not in a jungle.
-Again, there isn't much in the way of character material besides K. Rool and maybe Dixie Kong. Both Fire Emblem and Pokemon provide a huge amount of unique and battle-ready characters. And we can't really count Lucina and Dark Pit, because they were meant to be alts for Marth and Pit.
-What assist trophies would even work? Maybe one of the animal companions, but I can't see more then one working well. DK has no assist trophies because the other series provided more characters that worked gameplay wise and had personality.
-I can not think of a single enemy that fills a slot gameplay wise and is unique enough from Kritter and TIki Buzz that would warrant being a Smash Run enemy.
-Donkey Kong doesn't really utilize any items on his adventures outside of barrels, and the Hammer and Spring are both credited from the Donkey Kong universe.
I understand that you guys might feel like you're getting ignored, but a lot of the stuff that might seem obvious to include to you guys doesn't look like that to others. I still fully believe that King K. Rool would work wonderfully in Smash, but outside of that there really isn't that much that appeals to people who aren't DK fans.