Funky Kong

Funky Kong in DK: King of Swing.
Funky Kong
Species	Kong
Eye color	Unknown
Voiced by	Toshihide Tsuchiya (2008-Present)
Debut	Donkey Kong Country

Funky Kong is a recurring supporting character from the Donkey Kong series. He is known as a good friend of Donkey Kong and often rides or carries around a surfboard. He is more laidback than the other adventurous Kongs and usually sits out on adventures in favor of lending his support on the sidelines. In most games, he acts as a travel agent and/or mechanic for the Kongs, but on other occasions he runs minigames or sells weapons.

Background

Funky Kong first appeared in Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (as well as Donkey Kong Land 2), where he ran Barrelplane flights throughout Donkey Kong Island and Crocodile Isle, and in the latter game he charged Banana Coins for his services. Essentially, he was needed for Kongs to go back and forth between completed worlds without needing to beat a world's bsos first. The Game Boy Advance remakes changed his roles, due to new gameplay features making the Barrelplane feature redundant. In the Donkey Kong Country remakes, he hosted fishing minigames on his hut, while in Donkey Kong Country 2, he sent Diddy and Dixie on missions in his Gyrocopter.

In Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble he ran a vehicle rentals shop. At first, the only available vehicle was a motorboat, but Funky unveiled new vehicles as Dixie and Kiddy progressed through the game and brought him new items. By the end of the game, Funky had repaired his Hovercraft, constructed a Turbo-Ski and brought out the Gyrocopter for the Kongs' adventuring needs. Once again, Funky also assigned Dixie and Kiddy on a series of missions to complete with the vehicles in the Game Boy Advance version, after which he rewarded them with a Banana Bird.

Funky Kong later opened his own armory in Donkey Kong 64 and was dressed differently than his past appearances. At his armory, he sold fruit guns to the Kongs and upgrades for each weapon. In the ending, Funky also sent K. Rool flying with a boot-gun while the Kremling was distracted by Candy Kong.

In Donkey Konga 3, he appeared and joined in on the bongo drum-playing craze. He was later playable in the Jungle Jam mode of DK: King of Swing and the multiplayer mode of DK: Jungle Climber (with Dixie Kong as his partner). He also returned in his roots in Jungle Climber by running a Funky's Flights service to take the Kongs across the various islands, but he needed to be given Oil Barrels to power his Barrel Plane. In Donkey Kong Country Returns: Tropical Freeze, Funky ran the game's shop, known as Funky's Fly 'n' Buy. In the Nintendo Switch version of the game, he was also playable in a special easier version of the adventure known as Funky Mode. He was equipped with his surfboard that he could use to move over various surfaces, and he could also use the roll and corkscrew abilities perpetually. He was not included in the game's opening or ending cutscenes, but he did appear in the post-credits scene, where he accompanied the other Kongs in watching as Donkey Kong opened one of his presents.

In Other Mario/Donkey Kong-Related Games

Sports, Racing and Party Spin-Offs

Funky also appeared as a playable racer in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast, where he was unlocked by completing the Diamond Cup with a Kong character, and his Kremling rival in this game was Kudge.

Funk made made his first Mario sports appearance as a playable racer in Mario Kart Wii (unlocked by unlocking 4 Expert Staff Ghost Data in Time Trials). In Mario Kart Tour, he could be unlocked at random through the game's gacha feature during select tours, starting with the Jungle Tour in late May 2020, before becoming regularly available with the Cat Tour in January 2021. He would later be added to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as part of the last wave of the game's Booster Pass DLC in November 2023.

He was also playable in Mario Super Sluggers. Within the Challenge Mode of that game, he was found in the DK Jungle. He was seen being accosted by a paranoid Fire Bro, who assumed Funky was trying to assemble the stone idol, but he was actually just searching for treasure. After the Fire Bro was defeated, Funky decided to join the team to help them in their own search. He also acted as the area's shopkeeper.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Picross NP Vol. 8, Funky's face appeared as an image that had to be cleared. Upon completion, he would show the player his eyes.
• In the Super Smash Bros. series, Funky has 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 Nintendo 3DS/Wii U, a trophy of Funky in the Offroader from Mario Kart Wii in the Wii U Super Smash Bros. and as a Master Spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (using art from Tropical Freeze). In the Adventure Mode of Ultimate, his Spirit was found in an area that was a recreation of the world map of the first world from Donkey Kong Country. Funky's Spirit was battled outside of Funky's Flights, in a Spirit battle where his Spirit possessed Captain Falcon and fought alongside Donkey Kong and Diddy in a battle filled with Bullet Bills. After being defeated, his Spirit opened up a shop within the Funky's Flights building, known as Funky Kong's Shack. He specialized in selling Spirits related to transportation.

Other Media

• Funky Kong appeared as a supporting character in the Donkey Kong Country animated series. This version of Funky had fur that was closer to a golden color and spoke with a Jamaican accent. His role was mostly similar to the games, although he also spoke a lot about spiritual concepts such as karma.
• He appeared in one chapter of the Super Mario-Kun manga that was based on Donkey Kong Country, where he let Mario and Donkey Kong's group ride the Funky Barrel.
• In the 2023 CGI film The Super Mario Bros. Movie, a Kong who appeared to be Funky was seen among the many Kongs driving karts in the film. An image of Funky surfing was also seen on the wall of a hut.

Canceled Appearances

• Funky Kong was shown as a playable character in several builds of the canceled game Diddy Kong Pilot.

Trivia

• During development of Donkey Kong Country, the name "Funky Kong" was first proposed as a name for the game's protagonist.
• His original design was made by simply adding accessories (and visible teeth) onto Donkey Kong's model. This was done by Steve Mayles.
• In the Donkey Kong Country 2 instruction manual, he claimed that he hated adventure, as his reason for not taking a direct role in Diddy's battle with the Kremlings.
• According to Candy Kong's trophy description in some of the Super Smash Bros. games, Funky has a crush on her.
• He was absent from Donkey Kong Country Returns, but he was jokingly alluded to when Cranky Kong denied knowing anyone with an airplane and noted how convenient that would be.