Report: DK 3D spotted for pre-order; EB Games says "huh?"

Nintendo has gotten a nice boost from its 3DS remakes of Ocarina of Time and Star Fox 64, while Mario has had his own game, and even Kid Icarus is getting a comeback. One of the company's as-yet unrepresented franchises may be getting a 3DS installment too. The big, hairy kind.

A user on the DK Vine forum (via IGN) spotted a row of boxes at EB Games touting "Donkey Kong 3D" for pre-order. The boxes are mock-ups, sitting next to similar mock-ups for Super Smash Bros. 3DS. We knew about SSB, but neither name is official. Nintendo hasn't announced a Donkey Kong game coming for the 3DS, and the retailer's "2012" release for Smash Bros seems unlikely. The team behind the game has been working on Kid Icarus.

We called EB Games customer service and the representative was surprised, saying that no SKU exists for the game and no one could pre-order the game without a SKU in the EB Games computer system. If anyone has pre-ordered the game, they would get a receipt with the name of the game and the SKU number of the title ordered. He also could not tell us what store might have such mock-up boxes on its shelves.

Even with suspect release dates, it would make sense for Nintendo to release a DK game in some capacity. If the company follows the pattern set by Ocarina and Star Fox, DK 3D will be a remake of Donkey Kong 64. You know what that means: 3D DK rap.