Moments after her rescue in the original Donkey Kong, Pauline’s lovelorn simian abductor plummets three stories to the cold steel below, scuffling on his brawny shoulders and watching helplessly as a nameless hero saves the day.

The mighty had fallen. Unfortunately, his beloved franchise would soon follow.

Covered in matted brown hair, a fashion faux pas he’d later amend with a sharp red tie, the iconic ape was named Donkey Kong. His legendary 1981 platform game, consisting of just four levels and taking roughly two minutes to finish, was a groundbreaking arcade masterpiece—no game before it had used such a diverse range of environments or told such a strong narrative.

Indeed, Donkey Kong was special, and audiences knew it. From Tokyo to New York, the game guzzled coins and created a juggernaut, earning Nintendo $180 million in its first year alone.

With the mischievous monkey’s breakthrough success, Nintendo became a leviathan of the blossoming gaming industry, and as it made more games, the company’s flagship mascot was emphasized. The Donkey Kong series expanded the following year with Donkey Kong Junior, an interesting sequel which cast the original game’s incognito hero in an antagonist role.

Only now, the red-capped paisano had a name. And he was about to steal the show.

Soon after the disappointing Donkey Kong 3 released in 1983, Nintendo would crown a new leader—and it wasn’t Donkey Kong. As Mario sold millions of games in the coming years and new franchises such as the Legend of Zelda emerged, Donkey Kong went into hibernation.

Ports of arcade classics to the NES aside, he stayed there for more than a decade.

His original series outdated amidst an evolving gaming landscape, Donkey Kong’s sabbatical might have become a retirement without Rare Ltd., a British studio which proposed a new vision of the iconic character to Nintendo. With the company’s consent, Rare redesigned Donkey Kong and created 1994’s Donkey Kong Country for the Super NES, a platform-gaming opus which sold more than 9 million copies and helped Nintendo land a decisive blow to rival SEGA.

The franchise had been resurrected, but it wouldn’t last. Though the 1995 follow-up Diddy’s Kong Quest was a worthy successor, it sold barely half the copies of the original, and by the time Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble released in 1996, most had moved on to new consoles.

Donkey Kong had again tumbled from the top, shoved aside by the 3D movement.

Unlike his first fall from grace, however, Donkey Kong wouldn’t fade quietly into antiquity. To bring the series into three dimensions, Rare released the monstrous Donkey Kong 64 in 1999. Critics were floored by the game’s magnitude—IGN called it a “500-billion hour” game—and it sold more copies than any Donkey Kong game since the original Donkey Kong Country.

But something wasn’t right. Many fans were divided over the game’s fetch quests, a mixed reception which would define its legacy and, ultimately, change everything for the series.

Donkey Kong 64 would be Rare’s final proper Donkey Kong opus, setting the franchise down the unfortunate path upon which it currently treads—a road of spin-offs, cameos and obscurity relative to its golden years of old. Indeed, since parting ways with Rare in 2002, Nintendo has been reluctant to put the ape in the spotlight, and the once-elite franchise has suffered.

In fact, judging by sales, “suffered” may understate Donkey Kong’s dramatic decline.

Donkey Kong still has his moments, but considering how much the industry owes Nintendo’s hairiest luminary, it’s unfortunate those moments are relegated to low-key handheld titles.

As game developers breathe life back into bygone series, however, there has never been a better time to restore the gorilla’s reputation. As games like New Super Mario Bros. and Mega Man 10 dominate the industry, those who remember when Nintendo’s greatest mascot was a barrel-tossing baboon pine for a New Donkey Kong Country—or at least something like it.

Not long ago, a new Donkey Kong meant something. Now, sadly, it doesn’t mean much.