Suspiciously Similar Song / Donkey Kong

• Donkey Kong:
  • The music played during Kong's initial climbing resembles the theme from Dragnet. The music while Mario is swinging a hammer less closely resembles Rocky's theme. The main background music resembles the bridge of "Splish Splash".
  • The 25m theme is lifted straight from the bassline of The Beatles's "The Ballad of John and Yoko".
• Donkey Kong Junior: The main action screen theme bears more than a few tonal similarities to the 1960's classic "I Will Follow Him" by Peggy March.
• Donkey Kong Country:
  • The main riff in "DK Island Swing" has the exact same tempo and chords as the verses to "I Wanna Be like You" from The Jungle Book—a song that, tellingly, also involved apes.
    • "[1]" from Donkey Kong 64 sounds even more so, even right down to the added chorus.
  • The Ice Cave theme sounds similar to "Sweet Child of Mine".
• Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest:
  • The title theme sounds a lot like the theme from Hook.
    • Continuing the influence from Hook, “Klubba’s Reveille” bears a resemblance to the track “Hook-Napped”. At least the opening bit. It also sounds a bit like Prokofiev’s “Dance of the Knights”.
  • Despite predating the film by three years, Klomp's Romp is quite similar to A Girl Worth Fighting For.
  • The swamp level BGM "Bayou Boogie" sounds a lot like Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight", which inevitably led to this. The composer, David Wise, confirmed that the similarity was intentional.
  • The ice cave level BGM, "In a Snow-bound Land," is based on "Theme of Antarctica" by Vangelis.
  • The Rickety Race theme, "Disco Train," bears a strong resemblance to Deadly Sins' "We Are Going On Down" — perhaps not coincidentally, since the Deadly Sins video is mostly roller coaster footage.
  • Funky Kong’s theme, “Funky the Main Monkey”, bears a strong resemblance to the Commodores’ “Brick House”. Both very funky tunes indeed.
  • The Haunted Hall theme, "Haunted Chase," is based on Night on Bald Mountain.
  • "Cranky's Theme" from the first Donkey Kong Country is a straightforward remix of the Nintendo Entertainment System Donkey Kong's title theme. In an odd move, "Cranky's Conga" from the sequel replaces the parts quoted directly from the NES Donkey Kong with an original motif using the same chord progression, despite otherwise being a remix of "Cranky's Theme."
• Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!:
  • The Lakeside theme in the SNES version is 50% a remix of the theme to "Last of the Summer Wine."
  • Inputting the "MERRY" cheat code replaces the background music in the bonus stages with "Jangle Bells"^note Look closely at the name. It's not the song you think it is., which bears a striking resemblance to "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree".
  • The song "Mill Fever" from the mill levels is very obviously based on "Fever" by Peggy Lee. The title is even a reference to it.
  • The tune Pokey Pipes bears a resemblance to Aphex Twin’s “Ageisopolis”.
• From the Game Boy entry, Donkey Kong Land, "Big Ape City" is a soundalike of Rob Hubbard's Thing on a Spring theme for the Commodore 64. And both of them sound a whole lot like "Lady Madonna".
• The first part of the Creepy Castle theme from "Donkey Kong 64'' bears more than a passing resemblance to Dauði Baldrs by "Music/Burzum".
• In Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Mangrove Cove sounds very similar to Jack Johnson’s “Upside Down” from the film adaptation of Curious George. Fitting as they’re both about fictional primates. Also, Mountaintop Tussle sounds similar to "One-Winged Angel" from Final Fantasy VII, as demonstrated here by SiIvaGunner.
• In Diddy Kong Racing:
  • TT's theme bears more than a passing resemblance to Kool & the Gang's hit song "Celebration".
  • Then there's the Secret Song, which sounds like a screwed-up version of "Jib Jig" from Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest.
  • The winter-themed tracks in the Snowflake Mountain hub courses borrow heavily from Christmas songs. Walrus Cove has pieces of "Here Comes Santa Claus" ("Bells are ringing, children singing...") and "Winter Wonderland" ("In the meadow we can build a snowman..."). Frosty Village has "Winter Wonderland" right off the bat, combined with the bridge from, of all things, the Andy Griffith Show theme.
    • Snowball Valley is a blatant ripoff of the Chicken Dance and almost copies the entire second part verbatim, and there's a part of that song that sounds exactly like The Brady Bunch theme, of all things.
  • The Spaceport Alpha theme is suspiciously similar to the Thunderbirds theme.
  • The lobby theme is essentially the intro to Huey Lewis and the News' "It's Hip to Be Square" in a slower tempo and with some synths added.

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