Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers

Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers is a canceled puzzle game for the Game Boy Advance and a planned spinoff title within the Donkey Kong franchise. The game was developed by Rare Ltd. but was canceled shortly before Microsoft bought out the entire company. Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers was reworked into a different title, It's Mr. Pants, which released in late 2004.

Some of the planned modes included various challenges around Donkey Kong Island, challenges from Cranky Kong, and a multiplayer mode.

History
Even before changing into a Donkey Kong game, Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers went through many different iterations: Splonge, Nutcracker, Animal Cracker, and Sunflower. At the time, the reason for choosing Donkey Kong was due to marketability and the ease of implementation. Some time after becoming a Donkey Kong title, one of the working titles was Donkey Kong Puzzle Paint.

The game was originally shown off at E3 2001, and there were plans to release the game in November 2001. It was likely postponed ahead of timedue to the forthcoming acquisition from Microsoft in 2002.

After the game was canceled, Rare removed all Donkey Kong-related elements from it. Some time before releasing It's Mr. Pants, Rare considered reworking the game into either a Banjo-Kazooie game titled Banjo's Jiggy Juggle, which had an animation of Banjo juggling jigsaw pieces, or a Sabreman title.

Trivia

 * The main artwork for Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers made a cameo appearance in the original  trailer.