Cranky Kong

Cranky Kong in DK: King of Swing
Cranky Kong
Species	Kong
Hair color	Balding Gray
Eye color	Black
Relatives	Donkey Kong (grandson)
Debut	Donkey Kong Country (as Cranky)

Cranky Kong is a supporting character from the Donkey Kong games. He is infamous for his tendency to break the fourth wall to talk about the "good old days" of video games (at least in his original appearances) and has also been referred to as being the original Donkey Kong from the arcade game..

Background

Donkey Kong

See Also: Donkey Kong#Classic Donkey Kong

While some sources have been contradictory on the subject, it seems that Cranky Kong was the original "Classic" Donkey Kong in his youth. In this role, he acted as the villain of the original Donkey Kong arcade game and kidnapped Pauline, which led to Mario pursuing him. They battled at a construction site in New Donk City. In the Game Boy remake, they also fought in a variety of other locales, with Donkey Kong receiving occasional help from Donkey Kong Jr., before having one last showdown atop a tower. Donkey Kong became a giant for that battle, but he was still defeated by Mario.

The Classic Donkey Kong only had two more appearances. In Donkey Kong Junior, he was held captive by Mario in the jungle and had to be rescued in his son, and in Donkey Kong 3 he acted as the villain again and terrorized a greenhouse until he was defeated by Stanley the Bugman. That seemed to be the end of his glory days.

Cranky Kong

Donkey Kong Country

In the years since the arcade series, he aged heavily and became a cantankerous old ape known as Cranky Kong. Cranky was known to constantly complain about modern video games and yearned for his simpler arcade games, being among the first video game character to break the fourth wall. He still was wise and knew a lot of secrets about Donkey Kong Island and the Northern Kremisphere, which he shared for a price: whether it be enduring his dragging speeches or a more material price in the form of Banana Coins. This was the role Cranky played as he oversaw the adventures of the modern Donkey Kong, his grandson. He often berated his grandson and accused him of being lazy.

The new series started when Donkey Kong's banana horde was stolen by the Kremlings in Donkey Kong Country. In that game, Donkey and Diddy could visit Cranky's hut for advice. He also made extra appearances after each boss fight in the Game Boy Advance remake, where he made some remark about the defeated boss and told the Kongs which area of the island to go to next. Afterwards, Cranky was not satisfied with that adventure because he felt that its success relied too much on the advanced graphics of the Super NES. He went on to dare Donkey Kong and Diddy to repeat the feat on the Game Boy, without any fancy graphics to help them. Cranky even called King K. Rool and asked the tyrant to steal the bananas again, setting the events of Donkey Kong Land into motion.

When Donkey Kong was apenapped by the Kremlings and held captive on Crocodile Island in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Diddy volunteered to save him with his friend Dixie. Cranky doubted them and so hid 68 DK Hero Coins throughout Crocodile Island for them to collect, which was quite a feat for one of his age. Cranky was also found in huts (referred to as Monkey Museums in the original version) located across Crocodile Island, from whence he gave advice to the youngsters and used Expresso in ostrich races in the remake. This game was also notable for introducing his wife, Wrinkly Kong.

When Dixie was featured in the Game Boy Advance version Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie's Double Trouble, Cranky saw that an adventure starring himself was inevitable (the instruction manual, seemingly supporting him being the arcade Donkey Kong, mentions he is training for a "comeback"). He opened up various dojos across the Northern Kremisphere to train for "Cranky Kong Country". He also allowed Dixie and Kiddy to aid him in his training, but charged them in the form of "those coins with the freaky bear heads on them". If the Kongs did well enough, Cranky gave them rewards in the form of a Banana Bird or just normal Bananas. In the original Super NES version of the game, Cranky instead appeared as a rival in the Swanky's Sideshow minigames.

Afterwards, Wrinkly Kong passed away, though her spirit still remained on the island. In Donkey Kong 64, Cranky was shown to have been studying chemistry and developed many potions which gave the Kongs new powers to help them in their latest adventure, after he was paid in Banana Coins. Cranky also let them play his classic Jetpac game, granting them the Rareware Token if they passed.

Post-Rareware Era

In following appearances, Cranky was portrayed as less aggressive and had more tutorial roles: explaining the bongo drums in the Donkey Konga games (being playable in Donkey Konga 3) as well as the art of swinging in DK: King of Swing. He also followed Donkey Kong in DK: Jungle Climber after they discovered Xananab, an alien banana who had his Crystal Bananas stolen by King K. Rool. Although Cranky himself did not get in on the action, he accompanied Donkey and Diddy, and he provided them with instructions on how to accomplish several things, usually by showing these actions to Donkey on a Nintendo DS. After K. Rool was defeated, Cranky enjoyed the feast of bananas with DK and Diddy before returning home. Cranky later appeared in Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast, where he ran a tutorial mode known as Cranky's Flight School and could be unlocked as a playable racer by completing Challenge 24 of Candy's Challenges, which involved beating Cranky in a race. In this appearance, his designated rival was K. Rool, and he had his own level called Cranky's Temple.

He returned to a supporting role in Donkey Kong Country Returns, where he ran a shop in each area of Donkey Kong Island. He accepted Banana Coins as payment for goods such as bananas, keys to extra levels and the parrot Squawks. He was back to his cantankerous old self and continually criticized Donkey Kong and Diddy while also occasionally giving out hints. He would also take mercy and dispense some free 1-Up Balloons if the player starts the game with a low amount of lives.

Cranky later appeared as a partner/potentially playable character in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, where he teamed up with Donkey, Diddy and Dixie to save Donkey Kong Island from an invasion the Snowmads. In this appearance, he had the special ability to use his cane as a pogo stick. Not only was it useful for reaching some high areas, but it could be used to bounce across dangerous areas, such as terrain that was covered in spikes or brambles. At the end of the game, the four Kongs celebrated their victory by playing music together, with Cranky playing a sitar.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• Within the Super Smash Bros. series, Cranky's silhouette was seen in the window of a hut in the Jungle Japes stage, which was first seen in Super Smash Bros. Melee and has reappeared in most of the following games games. Cranky has also been represented by a trophy and a sticker (using art from Donkey Konga 3) in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a trophy in Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 3DS/Wii U and a Ace-rank Primary Spirit (using art from Donkey Kong Country Returns) in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. His Spirit comes with the effect of lowering the player character's speed. In Spirit battles, Cranky's Spirit possesses a white-furred Donkey Kong (possibly in reference to the original concept art for Cranky) and is battled on the Jungle Japes stage with a slumber-inducing floor. Additionally, in Adventure Mode, his Spirit appears on the world map outside of a recreation of Cranky's Hut from the original Donkey Kong Country.
• While he does not directly appear in Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, the Donkey Kong Adventure DLC does include a Rabbid who dresses as him and is known as Rabbid Cranky. Rabbid Cranky acts as one of the main characters of the campaign, and one of his special techniques involves putting other characters to sleep with long-winded stories.

In Other Media

• Cranky Kong appeared in the computer-animated Donkey Kong Country series. The series removed the video game references, but otherwise Cranky remained his cantankerous self. He was also Donkey Kong's father in this version and helped Donkey Kong to grow into his responsibility of protecting the Crystal Coconut. Cranky showed a talent for magic and brewing potions in this portrayal.

Canceled Appearances

• Cranky Kong was going to be included as a playable character in the canceled game Diddy Kong Pilot. He would have hosted a Cranky Challenge in one build of the game, and in the last-known build of the game, he was shown as a formidable racer and the sole member of Team Cranky. He was also seen in leaked concept art for the similarly-canceled Donkey Kong Racing.

Trivia

• In early concepts of Donkey Kong Country, he was known as Grandpa Kong. One piece of artwork depicts him as a white-furred gorilla with a beard who has a crane, but otherwise seems more physically able than Cranky. At one point in the game's development, he was also written with a kinder personality.
• Some appearances created confusion about whether Cranky Kong is Donkey Kong's grandfather or father. The former is most consistently implied or stated in Cranky's appearances, and the primary evidence for the latter is that Cranky Kong refers to Donkey Kong as "son" in Donkey Kong 64. However, "son" can also be used to refer to one's grandson or a younger person in general, and most sources since then have called Cranky his grandfather.
• One element of his being the original Donkey Kong that has confused fans is that he has become elderly while Mario has shown no signs of aging over the course of his appearances. The theoretic explanation that is most commonly accepted is that Kongs, much like real apes, age twice as fast as humans.
• Musically, Cranky Kong has been seen operating a record player (in the introduction to Donkey Kong Country) and playing a sitar (in the ending of Tropical Freeze). In Tropical Freeze, one level contains a record player that plays the introduction music from Donkey Kong Country as an homage.
• Although he was a part of Donkey Kong Land's instruction manual story, he never appeared at all in the game. He was also the only Kong to be left out of Donkey Kong Land 2, despite the game's instruction manual saying otherwise, due to it being mostly copied over from Donkey Kong Country 2's manual, and overall he was also the only Kong from the Country games to never appear in any Donkey Kong Land games.
• His potions in Donkey Kong 64 were inspired by his role in the animated series.
• In Super Mario Odyssey, New Donk City was established as the setting of the original Donkey Kong arcade game and is filled with various references relating to both the original arcade games and Donkey Kong Country. Aside from the various references to the Classic Donkey Kong, the name of Cranky is also referenced in the form of a street named Cranky Avenue.