Diddy Kong

Diddy Kong is one of the main characters from the Donkey Kong games and the Mario franchise.

Diddy is Donkey Kong's sidekick. He is the fastest and most agile member of the Kong Family.

Appearance
Diddy Kong shares several traits to a spider monkey. He has versatile feet, and a prehensile tail (the only Kong to possess one), which he uses most of the time to hold certain small items or also hang on objects. Diddy Kong's face is somehow similar to Donkey Kong; however, Diddy Kong has big eyes and a less frowned space between the eyebrows, covered in fur, as opposed to Donkey Kong's. His ears are a bit big, the same size of his eyes. Diddy Kong's eyes are usually depicted as black, although Diddy Kong Racing and Donkey Kong 64 reveals blue eyes. On the other hand, Super Smash Bros. Brawl gives him brown eyes. The color of his eyelids varies depending on his appearances; sometimes they are either brown (like in Donkey Kong 64 and Diddy Kong Racing DS) or tan (like in Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and the Super Smash Bros. series) and mostly he has no eyelids at all (though he still blinks but his eyes remain open).

Diddy Kong's clothing consists of a red cap showing the logo of Nintendo on its front, and a red tank top, with yellow Stars on it (the details on his clothes were first introduced in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest).

In Donkey Kong Country, an alternate Diddy Kong's clothing was a yellow tank top and a yellow cap. It appeared when two players wished to play independently. In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Diddy Kong appears with another alternate costume as well. In the sequel, Diddy Kong wears a blue costume. In Mario Strikers Charged, Diddy Kong wears armor, protecting him against hazards set in the game. He wears a pair of wristbands, shoulder-pads, and a cuirasse over his tank top to protect his chest. The armor is mainly yellow, but it turns to purple in case that his opponents wear a similar color scheme. Later in Donkey Kong Country Returns, when the Super Guide mode is activated and Super Kong breaks a DK Barrel, Super Diddy Kong appears. Super Diddy Kong has white fur instead of brown, and his red cap and tank top have become blue.

Throughout the Super Smash Bros. series, Diddy Kong has had eight alternate costumes to choose from, including his default appearance. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Diddy Kong has 6 costumes, while in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, he has 8 costumes. Diddy Kong's first alternate costume consists of a yellow tank top with red stars and white cap, while his fur is dark brown, resembling his alternate color in Donkey Kong Country 's Two-Player Contest mode; his second alternate costume gives him golden brown fur, while his cap and tank top turn pink (the stars also turn white), resembling Dixie Kong; his third alternate costume gives him dark brown fur and a purple tank top and cap, resembling his appearance in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest 's Two-Player Contest mode; his fourth alternate costume gives him reddish-brown fur and a green tank top and cap, resembling one of his alternate colors from Donkey Kong 64 's multiplayer mode; lastly, his fifth alternate costume gives Diddy Kong a blue tank top and cap, resembling Kiddy Kong. In 3DS / Wii U, Diddy Kong gains his sixth and seventh alternate costumes: the former gives him black fur with a brown tank top and yellow cap, resembling a chimpanzee; the latter gives him light brown fur with a cyan tank top and fur, resembling Donkey Kong Jr.'s design in Donkey Kong Jr. Math.

Personality
Diddy Kong is a friendly and adventurous character, willing to help out his friends during times of need, evidenced by the Donkey Kong Country series. Diddy Kong is somewhat of a peace seeker, which is an offset to Donkey Kong's more aggressive behavior against his enemies, since he asks a Kremling to "show himself if he was friendly" in Donkey Kong Country. Diddy Kong's defining personality trait is his energy and gaiety, to the point of childishness (in a similar vein to Toad, though he is less humble than the mushroom himself). Diddy Kong always shows excitement in various competitive sports (the Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, and Mario Baseball series) and kart races, as evidenced by his idle and victory animations, which see him cartwheeling, backflipping, sideflipping, jumping up and down, or clapping his hands while yelling and screeching in happiness and enjoyment. Diddy's boisterous, slap-happy personality comes into play in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where he's constantly smiling or showing toothy grins. Diddy Kong's victory animations show him holding his head with both his hands, or firing a peanut from the Peanut Popgun, further showing how excitable he is. However, despite his energetic, excitable nature, Diddy Kong becomes sad when he loses to a boss in the Donkey Kong Country games or his opponents in various Mario spin-offs and Super Smash Bros. games, thus showing that he does not like to face defeat.

Abilities
In almost every appearance he makes, Diddy Kong has been shown to be quick and nimble to offset Donkey Kong's great strength. As a result, Diddy, while more more agile, has more trouble defeating larger enemies. In many games he has appeared, such as in Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong 64, he is able to use his cartwheel to attack opponents but also to jump farther in Donkey Kong Country. Diddy Kong is shown to have a strong skull; he has a special dashing ability in Donkey Kong 64 called Chimpy Charge where he ram into switches, walls, and gongs with a head-first charge and in Donkey Kong Country Returns, after defeating Tiki Tong, he brings the moon down with just his head.

While teamed up with Dixie Kong during the events of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Diddy Kong is able to pick up his partner and throw her to high areas or enemies. He can also throw her at collectibles that float above pits.

In some games, Diddy Kong can also use his Jetpack to fly to hard-to-reach areas. However, in Donkey Kong 64, this Jetpack is only given to him after entering one of Cranky's Kong Barrels, and it can only be used in certain areas. During the time Diddy Kong uses his Jetpack, he is also equipped with Peanut Popguns, which allow him to defeat or stun distant enemies and activate switches. During Donkey Kong Country Returns, Diddy Kong can use his Jetpack in order to carry Donkey Kong over pits. It's revealed in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, that Diddy Kong has a prehensile tail due to the fact he can hang onto hooks with it. Additionally, in Donkey Kong 64 he is able to use his tail to attack enemies or use it as a spring to reach higher areas. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he is able to combine his Jetpack and Peanut Popgun for his final smash.

In Mario Superstar Baseball, Diddy Kong, with his good running stat, also possess the ability to climb on walls and catch balls that are otherwise fair. He also has Super Catch ensuring that he does not fumble any routine fly balls. His pitches and batting involve curving the ball in the shape of a banana. This ability is also present in Mario Power Tennis. In Mario Striker Charged, Diddy Kong displays some supernatural abilities such as summoning a beam of light that subdue his opponents into the sky and psychic abilities during his Mega Strike. In Mario Sport Mix, his special move is throwing a banana like a boomerang which stuns opponents after being hit by it.

Diddy Kong is capable of juggling, which he does in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest if he does not move for a while. Also, his artwork for Mario Super Sluggers portrays him juggling three baseballs. Just like Dixie Kong in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, he is also capable of playing an electric guitar in Donkey Kong 64, which he uses to solve puzzles and destroy surrounding enemies.

Trivia

 * Diddy Kong appears on Mario Kart Wii Trading Cards as a normal and foil card. On the back of his card, there is a description of him but with a spelling error saying "...he his one fun driver", instead of saying "...he is one fun driver".
 * Diddy Kong has appeared more times as a playable character in the Donkey Kong Country series than Donkey Kong has.