Unlike most other Nintendo franchises, Donkey Kong has never been strictly tied to a single genre. The 400 pound gorilla has served as Mario's enemy in run and jump challenges, starred in his own highly successful platformers, taken part in excellent puzzlers, raced (with mixed results), and made peripheral-based rhythm games years before a certain instrumental protagonist started dominating the genre. While Donkey Kong maintains a fairly prominent presence in Nintendo, he's become the Fidel Castro (I never pass on the opportunity to use this video) of the company: respected amongst his subordinates, yet he acts as more of a figurehead. Plus, he's totally a commie.
It's certainly not definite, but it's hard to picture the return of a core Donkey Kong series. While his past exploits focused on platforming, Nintendo's resident mustachioed Italian tends to handle those duties exclusively these days. It took (at the time) second-party developer Rare to reinvigorate the series with Donkey Kong Country. Perhaps we'll have to wait for another capable second party to give Kong a shot in the arm.
