Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong, also known simply as DK or D. Kong, is a major character in the Mario franchise and the main protagonist of the Donkey Kong franchise.

Donkey Kong is a powerful, yet carefree Kong from Donkey Kong Island, Donkey Kong spends his days collecting bananas and spending time with his friends, particularly his best friend Diddy Kong. When trouble arises, Donkey Kong jumps headfirst into the action to help his friends and protect his island. However, he has also been portrayed as a villain on multiple occasions, such as in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series. Despite his name, Donkey Kong is the third known Kong to be named as such; his grandfather Cranky Kong was the original Donkey Kong, while his father Donkey Kong Jr. was the second.

In the Unlikely Heroes Chronicles fics, Donkey Kong is a member of the Unlikely Heroes.

Appearance
Donkey Kong is a Kong who sports a burly physique; in addition to having particularly large pecs, biceps and triceps, he is noted to weigh 800 pounds (363 kg) according to Microbuffer, the talking microphone that serves as the announcer for the fight against K. Rool in Donkey Kong 64. Donkey Kong also has brown fur, with the fur on his head being distinctly shaped to the point of looking like a hairstyle. As of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, his fur has also consistently sported a realistic texture. The shade of brown his fur is colored, however, has been inconsistent between games, being either a lighter shade or its original darker shade. Donkey Kong wears only a single item of clothing: a red necktie with the "DK" logo printed on it in yellow.

Personality
In the games, Donkey Kong, despite his carefree and lazy lifestyle, is a brave hero who highly cares for his friends and Banana Hoard. However, in spite of his laid-back demeanor, he will become enraged when his bananas are stolen or threatened in any way or when his friends are harmed. He is also sometimes depicted as somewhat dimwitted; in Fortune Street, this is referenced by Toad remarking how Donkey Kong is the brawn and Diddy Kong is the brains. Despite this, his intelligence has been portrayed inconsistently: DK speaks fluent English much like the other Kongs (particularly during the Donkey Kong Country series), yet speaks in broken, third-person English for his few lines in Donkey Kong 64.

In the TV series, Donkey Kong's personality is largely the same, albeit depicting him as lazy instead of carefree. Between himself and Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong is shown to have much more common sense when it comes to morality, as shown in I Spy with My Hairy Eye where he was at first against using the Crystal Coconut to wish for more bananas until Diddy manipulated him into doing it. Donkey Kong also seems to get startled much easier and is more sensitive, with an aggressive disposition to King K. Rool, Kaptain Skurvy and their goons.

Abilities
Unlike most characters, who have some kind of special power, Donkey Kong relies mainly on his brute strength. He sometimes has the title of "The strongest of the Kongs", though this claim may refer to his combat abilities instead of strength alone, as some Kongs like Chunky Kong and Sumo Kong are clearly larger and stronger than Donkey Kong. In the original Donkey Kong he had a seemingly unlimited supply of Barrels, and could throw them easily. This carried on to the Donkey Kong Country games, where he can pick up and throw Barrels with ease. Also in Donkey Kong Country, he can destroy certain enemies that Diddy Kong cannot hurt with a single jump. In Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, his strength is shown yet again, it makes him so strong that when he claps, a sound-wave is produced. This is his main attack throughout the game. In the ending of Donkey Kong Country Returns, Donkey Kong is shown to be strong enough to knock the moon out of its orbit and into the planet's atmosphere with a single punch (though the fact he was falling towards it at an alarming speed may have helped with it).

Donkey Kong also appears to either immune or highly resistant to hypnosis since the Kalimba Tiki was unable to hypnotize him when it was easily able to do so to other animals on the island. In Donkey Kong 64, he has a personal weapon, the Coconut Shooter, and has a special ability called Strong Kong which allows him to become invincible and use up more Crystal Coconuts the longer he maintains the form. Donkey Kong is also talented in playing bongos, demonstrated in Donkey Kong 64, where he uses it to solve puzzles and attack surrounding enemies; the ability of playing bongos is also shown in the Donkey Konga games.

Though his size and weight may suggest otherwise, Donkey Kong is deceptively fast and agile. In Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat he's shown to very proficient in hand to hand combat, delivering a vast amount of fast punches and kicks in a few seconds and is quick in countering the attacks he dodges. DK's speed and agility have also been consistently demonstrated throughout his appearances in the Super Smash Bros. franchise. Donkey Kong also has some skill with musical instruments, to the point that he can even weaponize music and song in combat, most notably via Konga Beat.

Trivia

 * DK appears in Nintendo Monopoly. He replaces Marvin Gardens, and costs $280.
 * In Goldeneye 007, a game developed by Rare, Donkey Kong's face can be seen on a mountain in the first mission of the game, the Dam. In both this game and Perfect Dark, both games created by Rare, there is an unlockable cheat called "DK Mode". This cheat will make it so that all characters in those games will have a similar body shape to Donkey Kong, with a larger head.
 * In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, a skeleton monkey named Bink bears an uncanny resemblance to Donkey Kong.
 * Chained Kong, an enemy in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, as well as his stronger variant, Guerilla, look very similar to Donkey Kong. In one of the challenge rooms of Bowser's Keep, he even tosses barrels exactly like Donkey Kong's way of throwing barrels in the original Donkey Kong.
 * Donkey Kong's emblem in various games is his DK logo.
 * Donkey Kong's speech is changed throughout many games. In Donkey Kong Country he spoke with good grammar and proper English. In Donkey Kong 64, he used improper grammar and broken English, and spoke in a third person view, for example saying "Donkey all confused....". In both games, he only has two lines, and speaks in the very beginning of the game. In all later games, Donkey Kong doesn't speak at all and just makes ape noises. However, in the Mario Party games released after Mario Party 4, he spoke with proper grammar, and all Mario Party games before that, he only made monkey noises.
 * A Monster Truck based on Donkey Kong appeared at Monster Jam 2007.
 * Donkey Kong, along with Birdo and a few others, were originally going to appear as playable characters in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, but were scrapped before the final product was finished for unknown reasons.
 * There has been some confusion over the years as to whether the current Donkey Kong is Donkey Kong Jr. or his son. Cranky Kong has been referred to as Donkey Kong's grandfather and Jr. his father in the past, but Rare seems to have entirely retconned this (their statement is now invalid since Rare left Nintendo) while Retro and Nintendo seems to still support the original idea thus making it canon.
 * In the video game, War of the Monsters, a parody of Donkey Kong called "Congar" appears as a character. This is hinted due to the fact that Congar throws large boulders exactly like Donkey Kong's way of throwing barrels.