List of Donkey Kong characters

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The main characters in Donkey Kong 64. Top row, left to right: Tiny and Lanky Kong. Bottom row: Diddy, Chunky and Donkey Kong.

The following is a list of characters featured in the Donkey Kong series of video-games made by both Rare and Nintendo, among others.

Major characters

Amy Kong

Amy Kong provides various servicing for the Kongs throughout the different games. She first appeared in Donkey Kong Country she acts as a manager of mini-games, and ran a dance studio minigame.

Baby Donkey Kong

Baby DK is a baby version of Donkey Kong. Instead of a tie that says DK on it, there's a bib. He made his debut in Yoshi Island DS, where he and Yoshi could swing from vine to vine. He is one of the unlockable characters in Mario Super Sluggers.

Candy Kong

Candy Kong provides various servicing for the Kongs throughout the different games. She first appeared in Donkey Kong Country she acts as a manager of mini-games, and ran a dance studio minigame.

The first female character throughout the Donkey Kong Country series, although Dixie Kong was the first playable female character in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. In Donkey Kong Country, she wore a pink bow with white polka-dots and a pink maillot. In later games she appears in from scratch, she ditched the bow. Candy Kong also appeared in Donkey Kong 64; in this game, she provided instruments for DK and company to use against the Kremlings and gives the Kong family more watermelons which increase the player's life. She wore headphones, a pink short-sleeve top, pink short shorts, and some footwear. She also makes a brief appearance in DK-King of Swing, and is seen cheering on the player's characters. She wore a pink bikini top and short shorts, and her torso was redesigned (this appearance has remained in subsequent games). She also makes a brief cameo appearance in the GBA remake of Donkey Kong Country 2 and Donkey Kong Country 3. In Donkey Kong Country 2 she appears in Swanky Kong's Quiz Show, and she wore a purple dress. In Donkey Kong Country 3, she appeared in one of the challenges of Funky's Rentals, as one of the people who had to be rescued from the Kremlings, who were kidnapping the Kongs. She also made a brief appearance in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast in the Mode Candy's Challenges and allowed the players to collect up to a total of 1,000 Bananas and to win the tracks in 1st Place.

Candy was also a regular on the Donkey Kong Country animated series as well. She was voiced by Joy Tanner. However, in the series, she looked completely different from the pink-clad blonde seen in the games. Also, on the show, she worked at the barrel factory run by Bluster Kong, her boss, who constantly hit on her. Candy sometimes had a goal of buying the factory. Time to time, she had lunch with Donkey Kong. This version of Candy also showed off a very quick temper. Once K. rool created an artificial candy kong named kandy kong, to cut donkey kong's hair rendering him weak.

Candy Kong is Donkey Kong's girlfriend, as said in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and also Donkey Kong Country: Legend of the Crystal Coconut. Some hints in the game about their relationship are that in Donkey Kong Country, Candy Kong always blows a kiss at Donkey Kong whenever he comes to save the game [just like she does with Diddy Kong]. Another clue is that you will find a picture of Candy Kong in Donkey Kong's house and a picture of Donkey Kong on a heart shaped rug in Candy's house, as seen in Donkey Kong 64.

Chunky Kong

Chunky Kong is a lowland gorilla weighing 2000 lbs and is one of the playable Kongs in the game Donkey Kong 64. Chunky is the older brother of Kiddy Kong and cousin of Dixie Kong and Tiny Kong. He was freed by Lanky in the level Frantic Factory. Before he was freed, he indicates that he doesn't like heights. Despite his brawny build, he acts somewhat cowardly and childish. One example of this is when the player selects him in the barrel, he gets scared, shakes his head 'no' and tries to convince the player to choose Tiny Kong instead (although, when not highlighted in the 'select spotlight', strangely he is shown to be more enthusiastic about being selected). His weapon is the Pineapple Launcher, his instrument is the Triangle Trample, and the potion enables him to do Hunky Chunky, turning gigantic, Primate Punch, unleashing a very powerful punch which can smash down some doors and walls, Burp Skill, in which he releases a giant belch and pats his stomach, and Gorilla-Gone, turning temporarily invisible. He can carry boulders and other heavy items that the other Kongs cannot carry. It should be noted that it was Chunky, with a combination of the "Hunky Chunky" and "Primate Punch" abilities, who defeated K.Rool in the last boxing match in Donkey Kong 64. He appears as a sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He also made a brief cameo appearance in the GBA remake of Donkey Kong Country 3, in the third challenge of Funky's Rentals, where he was one of the Kongs that he had to be rescued from the Kremlings' kidnapping threat, along with other characters such as Candy, Tiny and Cranky Kong. Since then, he never appeared in other Donkey Kong titles, and is said to have been cut off the series. In Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast his weapon, the Pineapple Launcher, is an item that can be obtained in an item balloon and follows the player ahead of you until it hits them.

Cranky Kong

Cranky Kong is an elderly and extremely grouchy ape introduced in Donkey Kong Country who is characterized as an elderly version of the original Donkey Kong character from the original Donkey Kong game.^[1] Cranky Kong was initially established as the grandfather of the current Donkey Kong from Donkey Kong Country^[1], although later sources and dialogue imply that Donkey Kong is actually Cranky's son,^[2] Donkey Kong Jr., grown up.^[3] Cranky often breaks the fourth wall in his commentary and is overly critical of modern video game trends and graphics compared to "his days".

In Donkey Kong Country, Cranky sat in a rocking chair in his shack and offered hints about upcoming levels. In Donkey Kong Country 2, he ran a museum where he sold advice in exchange for Banana Coins. In Donkey Kong Country 3, He was the player's opponent in Swanky Kong's ball-toss games, responding angrily whenever he lost. He has also appeared in Donkey Kong Jungle Climber and more. He is a playable character in the Wii game, Donkey Kong Barrel Blast.

Diddy Kong

Diddy Kong (ディディーコング, Didī Kongu^?) is described as the "nephew" of Donkey Kong, who wishes to become strong just like him. During the events of Donkey Kong Country, he is placed in charge of Donkey Kong's banana hoard, and after the bananas are stolen, he helps Donkey Kong defeat K. Rool and get them back. He stars in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, where he and Dixie Kong go in search of Donkey Kong after he is kidnapped by K. Rool. He is kidnapped by K. Rool, along with Donkey Kong, while they are on vacation in the Northern Kremisphere during Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, and they are eventually saved by Dixie and Kiddy. He also stars in Diddy Kong Racing and Donkey Kong 64, and he appears in a number of other games in the series. He appears as a playable character in Mario Power Tennis, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Superstar Baseball, Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Mario Strikers Charged, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Super Sluggers, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Diddy Kong appears in the Donkey Kong Country animated series, where his role as Donkey Kong's sidekick remains relatively the same as in the games. He is voiced by Andrew Sabiston.^[4] Diddy Kong has also appeared in various comics featured in official Nintendo magazines. Some of the stories he appeared in include adaptations of Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong 64, as well as original stories.

Dixie Kong

Dixie Kong is Diddy Kong's girlfriend, who first appeared in Donkey Kong Country 2 as Diddy Kong's sidekick. Dixie later made the starring role of Donkey Kong Country 3. While she didn't return in Donkey Kong 64, her sister, Tiny Kong, served as her replacement. Her next time featured as a playable character was in Donkey Konga 2 on the Nintendo GameCube, a bongo rhythm game. She appeared once again in the Japan only Donkey Konga 3. She is also a playable character in Diddy Kong Racing DS and DK Jungle Climber for the Nintendo DS, Mario Superstar Baseball for the Nintendo GameCube, and Mario Super Sluggers and Donkey Kong Barrel Blast for the Wii. Dixie is remembered by her ability to twirl her hair to float downwards. Dixie Kong has secured her place as one of the main Donkey Kong characters and appears 3rd only to Donkey and Diddy. Like Diddy she also appears in the TV series.

Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong Junior

Donkey Kong Junior, also known as DK Jr. or simply Junior, is the protagonist of the 1982 arcade game of the same name and the son of the original Donkey Kong. In terms of character design, Junior is essentially a child version of his father, but wears a white singlet with a red letter "J" written over it. His objective in the game is to save his father, who is being kept in a locked cage by Mario. He returns in the 1994 Game Boy remake of Donkey Kong, where he teams up against Mario with his father, who is once again holding Pauline captive. Junior has also appeared as a playable character in the original Super Mario Kart and Virtual Boy game Mario's Tennis, as well as a hidden character in the Nintendo 64 version of the similarly named Mario Tennis. He also got his own education game in the form of Donkey Kong Jr. Math for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Other appearances by Junior includes the Game & Watch games Donkey Kong Jr. (in wide-screen, tabletop and panorama versions) and Donkey Kong 2, as well as the Game & Watch Gallery series compilations for Game Boy. He also appears as the physical appearances of the transformed king of World 5 in the Super NES and Game Boy Advance versions of Super Mario Bros. 3. Donkey Kong Junior had his own segment in the first season of Saturday Supercade and was voiced by Frank Welker. Like his father, he even had his own cereal.

According to Rare, the developers of Donkey Kong Country, there are multiple Donkey Kongs, with the modern one who appears from Donkey Kong Country and onward is actually a grown-up version of Junior himself.^[5] However, in the actual in-game dialogue, Cranky refers to the current Donkey Kong as his "grandson". In Super Smash Bros. Brawl a codec conversation between Solid Snake, and Otacon, says that the current Donkey Kong is the original Donkey Kong's grandson.

The character Diddy Kong was going to be an updated version of Donkey Kong Junior. However, Nintendo did not like this idea, suggesting either to give him his old look or make him a new character. Rare chose the latter and Donkey Kong Junior became Diddy Kong.^[6]

Dread Kong

Dread Kong is a boss in the first game in Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.

Funky Kong

Funky Kong usually supplies services to the Kongs such as allowing them to go back to worlds they have previously completed in the game. However, in Donkey Kong Country 3, he took on a different role as a watercraft merchant, allowing Dixie Kong and Kiddy Kong to reach new areas of the game world. In Donkey Kong 64, Funky switched jobs yet again to become the ammunitions expert of the group. He supplied various weaponry and upgrades to the Kongs, and donned camouflage clothing, goggles and a large rocket on his back in favor of his old board shorts and sunglasses. He took back on his "surfer" appearance in later games. He is also a playable character in Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast, as well as in multiplayer modes of DK King of Swing and DK Jungle Climber.

Funky was also a regular on the Donkey Kong Country cartoon, where he was voiced by Damon D'Oliveira. An obvious difference one might notice is that the cartoon version of Funky had tan fur as opposed to the brown fur his video game counterpart had. He was also given a Jamaican accent. However, like his game counterpart, Funky is keen on surfing (although we never see him doing it), and like in the first game, he runs his own airline service. He often talks about karma and is the best dancer on the island. Funky is obviously not fond of adventuring or fighting the Kremlings. Nor is he keen on doing very much work; he often tries to take the easier way out of a situation, or just leave it up to DK and Diddy. Funky is more peace-loving than the other Kong family members. Ironically, in Donkey Kong 64 he used a rocket launcher to blast King K. Rool away after he regained consciousness seconds after Chunky Kong knocked him out.

Funky also appears as an unlockable heavyweight character in Mario Kart Wii, his first appearance in a Mario game. He also appears in Mario Super Sluggers and Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast for the Wii.

Kiddy Kong

Kiddy Kong, known as Dinkey Kong (ディンキーコング, Dinkī Kongu^?) in Japan,^[7] is a young gorilla that was created by Rareware. He was introduced in Donkey Kong Country 3 as Dixie's sidekick and toddler cousin. Their mission was to solve a series of mysteries in the Northern Kremisphere and find their missing friends Donkey and Diddy. He is a sturdy toddler with lots of strength and is said to be a lot like Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong in a way as he seems to always get in trouble. He was also playable in Donkey Kong Land III where he joins Dixie in her quest to prove herself worthy by finding the fabled lost world before DK, Diddy, and the Kremlings. He did not appear in Donkey Kong 64 but was mentioned in the manual as being the baby brother of Chunky Kong. He was slated to appear in Donkey Kong Racing before it was canceled and so far has yet to appear in any games since then. His abilities included water skipping, being able to roll farther to make longer then average jumps, and throwing Dixie high out of normal jump reach, with Dixie being able to throw him and guide his fall to break platforms and unveil hidden secrets.

Lanky Kong

Lanky Kong is a Sumatran orangutan who is a distant cousin to the Kong family. Lanky's first appearance was in Donkey Kong 64 as one of the game's five playable Kongs. He was freed by Donkey Kong in the Angry Aztec level in the Llama's Temple. His weapon is the Grape Shooter, his instrument is the Trombone Tremor, and the Potion enables him to do OrangStand, walking on his hands to climb steep slopes. Baboon Balloon allows him to inflate himself to reach higher areas, and OrangSprint allows him to run really fast on his hands. In the level, Gloomy Galleon, he can transform into Enguarde the Swordfish when he enters the Enguarde Crate.

Lanky Kong also makes a cameo in the GBA port of Donkey Kong Country 3 in one of Funky's minigames.

Lanky appears in his spin-off debut, Donkey Kong Barrel Blast as one of the Kongs. He is one of the unlockable characters.

Note that in Donkey Kong Country there was an orangutan enemy called Manky Kong similar to Lanky in both appearance and name. It is unknown if they have any relation or if Lanky Kong was based on Manky Kong.

Lanky Kong appears as a trophy in the game Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Ninja Kong

Ninja Kong is a bosses into the first game in Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.

Tiny Kong

Tiny Kong is a character in the Donkey Kong games who first appeared in Donkey Kong 64. She is a tail-less monkey that has blonde hair and pigtails. She is Dixie Kong's younger sister and is a cousin to Chunky Kong and Kiddy Kong, as stated in the manual for Donkey Kong 64. In Donkey Kong 64, she was voiced by Kevin Bayliss. In Diddy Kong Racing DS and all later games, she is voiced by Jen Taylor. This actress also voiced Dixie in Mario Superstar Baseball. She is now depicted taller than Dixie.

In Donkey Kong 64, her clothing was a beanie hat, blue overalls, a white T-Shirt, and white shoes. She was freed by Diddy Kong in the Angry Aztec level in the building near Candy's Music Shop. Her weapon is the Feather Crossbow, her instrument is the Saxophone Slam, the Potion enables her for Mini-Monkey, Pony-Tail Twirl, and Monkey-Port. She can shrink when she jumps into her special barrel, allowing her access to areas other Kongs cannot go. She can do a helicopter-spin, equivalent to Dixie's, to slow down her descent. And she can teleport virtually anywhere when standing on a blue pad.

Tiny was one of the confirmed characters in Donkey Kong Racing for the Nintendo GameCube with Donkey Kong, Diddy, Kiddy, and Taj, but the game was cancelled as Microsoft purchased Rare, Ltd. in September 2002.

She makes a cameo appearance in the GBA port of the SNES games, Donkey Kong Country 2 and Donkey Kong Country 3. In Donkey Kong Country 2, Diddy, Dixie, or both must rescue her from the Zingers in a mini-game called, Kongnapped, and the objective is to rescue six of her in order to win. In Donkey Kong Country 3, she appears in one of Funky's Motorboat challenges. These two games she appeared in are the only games where she is not a playable character.

In her spin-off debut, Diddy Kong Racing DS, she seems to have grown more mature, making her both taller and more physically developed than her older sister, Dixie. Her clothing now consists of a beanie hat, sweat pants, a midriff revealing spaghetti-strap top, sandals and fur wristbands, as well as earrings that she did not wear in the previous games. She is one of the first eight playable characters. Her acceleration and handling are slightly below average, and she has a medium top speed. In the game's commercial, she was using a Hovercraft and instead of being in the usual position in the game, she was standing, leaning forward.

In Donkey Kong Barrel Blast, Tiny is one of the Kongs in this game. It is the first game on the Wii she appears in. It is also the second racing game for her character. She is one of the unlockable characters in this game. She was unlocked by completing Sapphire Mode on a Rookie Setting.

Tiny Kong also appears as a playable character in Mario Super Sluggers. This is also Tiny Kong's debut in the Mario franchise.^[8]

Wrinkly Kong

Wrinkly Kong is an elderly gorilla, mother of Donkey Kong, and the wife of Cranky Kong. Wrinkly first appeared in the game Donkey Kong Country 2 for the SNES, where she ran Kong Kollege. She gave the player advice and allowed the player to save his or her game. She appeared again in Donkey Kong Land 2, and again in Donkey Kong Country 3. This time, she resided in Wrinkly's Save Cave, where the player could both save their game and deposit Banana Birds, which were found throughout the game. This concept remained sans birds in Donkey Kong Land III, where she resided in Wrinkly's Refuge. In the Game Boy Advance version of Donkey Kong Country 3, Wrinkly was portrayed as a spiritual follower of the Banana Birds.

Wrinkly next appeared in Donkey Kong 64; she had apparently passed away at some point after Donkey Kong Country 3, as she was now a spirit. Every world lobby in the game, with the exception of Hideout Helm, featured five doors with Wrinkly's face on them; each door presented a hint for the level that applied to the Kong that corresponded to the door color (yellow for Donkey Kong, red for Diddy Kong, blue for Lanky Kong, purple for Tiny Kong,and green for Chunky Kong). When the player begins meeting her in Donkey Kong 64, she says "Don't be afraid of me young ones! It's only me, Wrinkly Kong," and then she gives the player advice on how to win a Golden Banana on the corresponding level.

Her first playable appearance was in DK King of Swing she would later return so for DK Jungle Climber and as an unlockable character in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast.

Young Donkey Kong

Young Donkey Kong are Young Monkey into the Donkey Kong's is a Young Island.

They also appeared in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast. Are Kritters appear as playable character's for the team DK Wilds.

Major Rool series characters

K. Rool

King K. Rool is an obese anthropomorphic, crocodilian being, who is the main villain of the series. He is the psychotic king of the Kremlings who constantly antagonizes the Kongs, referring to them as "filthy apes" and "monkey brains", and steals Donkey Kong's banana hoard. His most distinguishing features are the tic in his left eye and his golden belly. In King K. Rool's most common appearance, he wears a red cape and a gold crown, but he is fond of adopting many other looks and costumes as well, such as the pirate "Kaptain K. Rool", the mad scientist "Baron K. Roolenstein", and the boxer "King Krusha K. Rool. He is voiced by Kevin Bayliss in Donkey Kong 64, Ben Campbell in the Donkey Kong Country TV cartoon, and Jūrōta Kosugi in the Japanese adaptation.

Kremling's

Kremling's are crocodile like creatures, King K. Rool is their leader. They were first introduced in donkey kong country when King K. Rool stole donkey kong's banana hoard. The most popular are Kritter's and Klap Trap. Others include Kroc Rock, Krusha, Klump, Krash, Gnawty, Slippa Chomps, Chomps Jr., Bitesize, Squidges, and Croctopus

They also appeared in Donkey Kong 64 and Donkey Kong Barrel Blast. In Super Mario Sluggers, Kritters appear as playable character's for the team DK Wilds.

Animal buddies

In the Donkey Kong Country games, the Donkey Kong Land games, and Donkey Kong 64, the Kong family is assisted by a number of friendly animals who allow the Kongs to ride on their backs or perform various tasks for the Kongs. The most common of these are Rambi the rhinoceros and Enguarde the swordfish, who both originated in Donkey Kong Country. Others include Squawks the parrot, Squitter the spider, Expresso the ostrich, Winky the frog, Rattly the rattlesnake, Glimmer the anglerfish, Clapper the seal, Quawks the parrot (A purple version of Squawks that doesn't spit eggs),Ellie the elephant and Parry the parallel bird .

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat also has its own set of animal buddies, separate from the older ones, that had not been seen before or since, such as Hoofer the wildebeest and Orco the killer whale.

One of Donkey Kong's karts in Mario Kart DS resembled Rambi. It was named the "Rambi Rider". Additionally, Rambi and Enguarde also appeared in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast as alternate "vehicles" in certain tracks.

Adventures of superstars series characters

Conker the Squirrel

The protagonist Conker is a greedy, heavy drinking, red squirrel. Conker, though highly materialistic and never afraid to insult, always approaches new characters with a positive outlook. Conker's adventures occur because he gets drunk and wanders in the opposite direction to his home. In the XBLA version of Banjo Kazooie, his picture is seen in the Rusty Bucket Bay level where Berri's originally was. He is voiced by Chris Seavor. See Diddy Kong Racing.

Banjo

Banjo is a brown honey bear, who is one of the two main characters of the series. He has a younger sister named Tooty, who plays a big part in Banjo-Kazooie but is absent in Banjo-Tooie and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. He is polite and well-mannered, and is always seen wearing yellow shorts with a belt, a shark tooth necklace, and a bright blue backpack. The backpack usually contains his good friend Kazooie. He was first seen in Diddy Kong Racing where he started his career. His arch-nemesis is Gruntilda the witch. He can also play his namesake instrument (a Banjo). See Diddy Kong Racing.

Racing series characters

Character select screen. Top row from left to right: Krunch, Diddy Kong, Drumstick, Bumper, Banjo; bottom row from left to right: Conker, Tiptup, T.T., Pipsy, Timber

Bumper

Bumper is a badger from the game Diddy Kong Racing. He drives a yellow vehicle with a blue stripe down the center.

Drumstick

Drumstick is a large overalls wearing rooster and one of the best drivers on Timber's Island. During the events of Diddy Kong Racing Drumstick attempted to challenge the invading alien wizard, Wizpig. This was the last that was seen or heard of Drumstick. After a while of adventuring and after gaining four gold trophies and thirty-nine Golden Balloons Diddy Kong and his friends came upon a frog, who oddly had a red rooster's comb on its head. Running over this frog the heroes were surprised to discover that the frog was in actuality Drumstick. It seems instead of racing Drumstick, Wizpig had simply transformed him into a frog. After the heroes freed Drumstick from his frog form he joined the heroes in their quest.

Krunch

Krunch is a Kritter and member of the Kremling Krew, he is also surprisingly a friend of Diddy Kong. Krunch's first appearance is in the game Diddy Kong Racing. Here Krunch is sent by King K. Rool to investigate why Diddy Kong and several of his friends are at Timber's Island and to see if they are hatching some sort of anti-Kremling plot. Instead of antagonizing Diddy and his friends though Krunch ends up aiding them in their battle against the evil alien hog, Wizpig. Krunch has the worst acceleration and handling in the game, but has a very high top speed, making him the 3rd fastest racer.

Pipsy

Pipsy is a small, yellow mouse. She drives a pink vehicle.

T.T.

T.T. is the fastest driver in Diddy Kong Racing. He appears to be a stopwatch with some clock details (like the hand)

Timber

When his parents left Timber in charge of the Island, he couldn't have been happier, until the evil Wizpig came and cast a spell on everyone. He races with green vehicles and is middle class speed and acceleration. It is unknown what his parent's reactions were when they heard about the invasion, but they probably weren't good.

Tiptup

Tiptup first appeared in Diddy Kong Racing. He is a clumsy turtle who often gets stuck on his back—hence the name; 'Tiptup', a play on the phrase 'tipped-up'. He also appears in some Banjo-Kazooie games.

References

See also

• List of Mario series characters