Donkey Kong

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Donkey Kong in Donkey Konga 2
Donkey Kong
Species	Kong
Hair color	N/A
Eye color	Black
Relatives	Cranky Kong (father); Wrinkly Kong (mother)
Debut	Donkey Kong

Background

Early Years

In Yoshi's Island DS, Baby Donkey Kong was among the many babies kidnapped by Kamek. However, he was freed and joined the Yoshis in their trip to save the other babies. Baby Donkey Kong aided the Yoshis with his great strength and vine-climbing abilities. At the end of the game he is returned to his home (a jungle hut). He is also revealed to be one of the star children, a baby born with one of the seven fallen stars.

Arcade/NES Years

Donkey Kong kidnapped the beautiful Pauline and inadvertantly drew Mario into the first of his many quests. The details behind it are unknown, but Mario beat the ape after a big chase in Donkey Kong. Then the tables turned for Donkey Kong Jr.- Mario became the aggressor and locked up Donkey Kong until his son, DK Jr. freed him. The gorilla's last 'adventure', Donkey Kong 3, involved him being sprayed with pesticide by the never-to-be-seen-again Stanley the Bugman.

The Cranky Question

Beginning with Donkey Kong Country, a new character is introduced known as Cranky Kong. This kong claims to be the original Donkey Kong (and subsequent Donkey Kong games generally support this), with the implication that the Donkey Kong seen in Donkey Kong Country is a now older Donkey Kong Jr.. However, recent games published by Nintendo and Namco have blurred this conclusion, with the implication that the Donkey Kong in recent games is the same as in all the games. Since this confusion still remains vague and is unlikely to be resolved, the contents of this article focus on the character of just Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong Country

He then had to face his own adventures against his new nemesis, the kremling leader King K. Rool. In Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Land he teamed up with his good friend Diddy to stop K. Rool and save his precious banana horde. In 'Donkey Kong Country 2' he himself was captured and had to be rescued by Diddy and Dixie. In 'Donkey Kong Country 3' he and Diddy both had to be saved by Dixie and Kiddy. It was not until Donkey Kong 64 that he was back in action and had to save all the other kongs. In this he proved his skill by using a Coconut Gun, Bongos, and more.

Donkey Kong has been less active recently, but has taken on some adventures - like fighting evil apes in Donkey Kong Jungle Beat and having another battle with K. Rool in DK: King of Swing.

Mario and Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong appeared to become friendler with Mario as time went on. He joined Mario's gang in the Mario Kart, Mario Tennis, Mario Golf and Super Mario Strikers. He was also playable in the first four Mario Party games. Starting with Mario Party 5, however, Donkey Kong became a nonplayable character who held minigames at his space.

Despite the kinship between the two, Donkey Kong and Mario had another bout in Mario vs. Donkey Kong when he decided to steal a bunch of Mini-Mario toys for himself. After a great many battles, he ran out of Mini-Mario toys and was defeated. But, ever the generous, Mario gave him his very own Mini-Mario toy for himself. Another tussle ensued in Mario Vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis.

Personal Life

Donkey Kong enjoys a great deal of music, whether it is on his boombox or playing it on his own bongos. His girlfriend is Candy Kong who he amazingly has never had to save (though she had 'saved' his game before).

Trivia

• The story behind Donkey Kong's name: Shigeru Miyamoto wanted a name that meant "stubborn ape". He got "donkey" from an English dictionary, and Kongs are what gorillas are often called in Japan.
• He also appeared as Donkey Kong in the Donkey Kong segments of the old Saturday Supercade cartoon series. There he was constantly being chased by Mario and Pauline, getting into classic cartoon situations and would often wind up saving Pauline somehow. DK was voiced by Soupy Sales.
• DK has made a few quasi-cameos in other Mario games. For example, in SMRPG there is a chained gorilla called Guerilla that bears a striking resemblance. There is also a skeleton ape in Mario & Luigi obviously based on him.
• The relation to the original Donkey (Cranky) is hard to figure out. Some references point to him as grandfather and others to father. Some have even suggested that the 'Rareware' Donkey Kong is not DK Jr., but in fact his son and a third generation Donkey. This would be further complicated by the appearance of the 'Rareware' Donkey AND Retro style DK Jr. in Mario Tennis 64. However, Baby Mario appears in this game as well, giving any theories related to this very little weight.
• 'Donkey Kong 64' Special Moves: Gorilla Grab (allows him to, uh, grab levers), Baboon Blast (allows him to use some special pads as cannons), Strong Kong (temporary invincibility with special barrel and Crystal Coconuts).
• Although Donkey Kong is mentioned in "Donkey Kong Land III"'s instruction manual story, he is absent from the actual game.
• Donkey Kong also appears as a playable character in both of the Super Smash Bros. games. In Super Smash Bros. Melee he has three unlockable trophies.
• He used to have his own Computer Animated show titled "Donkey Kong Country" that was, of all things, a musical. It ran for two seasons, and in it he was played by Richard Yearwood.