>>713026816
Except this lore is mentioned outisde of DKC and it's even taken into account for Mario vs Donkey Kong 2 which has it's japanese manual confirm that was modern Donkey Kong's first meeting of Pauline.

The entirety of Donkey Kong Country is based on the meta that real time has passed from the Arcade days and the new Donkey Kong was not around for that, it's why Cranky belittles him and why in Donkey Kong land DK had to prove himself by being an 8-bit hero.