In Super Mario Odyssey, The reveal trailer begins in a Mario universe version of New York City. What is notable is that the mayor is Pauline, and there are multiple shout-outs to Donkey Kong, including the infamously bad scaffolding, finally bringing Donkey Kong's back story into the main canon of the Super Mario series!
To put it into perspective, by Mario Bros., Donkey Kong's impact on Mario's background was forgotten, with Bowser taking over as Mario's nemesis, and Donkey Kong eventually retired and completely forgot Mario was even involved in Donkey Kong's past(!), with only limited references, in the semi-canon Mario vs. Donkey Kong games, to them ever meeting. Odyssey, however, with New Donk City, establishes both Mario's REAL home and his links to Donkey Kong!
Even with the above being true, it's hard not to give Mario's old nemesis some credit for being one of many Breakout Characters in the series. Granted, it's the grandson of the original, but it's something else to see the ape go from chucking barrels down buildings to braving an entire island to beat up anthropomorphic crocodiles. Some even consider the Donkey Kong Country games to be among the best on the SNES, even surpassing Super Mario World in some eyes.
