Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong () is a brown anthropomorphic gorilla and a recurring character in the series, but is the main protagonist in his own series. The motif of Donkey Kong has been carried by two characters. The original Donkey Kong debuted as a villain in the self-titled , where he kidnapped Mario's girlfriend, Pauline; it was later stablished to be Cranky Kong. The grandson of this Donkey Kong later takes on the motif for his own Donkey Kong Country series, where he protects DK Island and his banana hoard alongside his nephew and best friend Diddy Kong from certain menaces like the Kremling Krew and their evil leader King K. Rool. Unlike Cranky Kong, he is depicted as more of a friendly rival to Mario, than an enemy. He is a returning playable veteran in Super Smash Flash 2.
== Character description ==
Donkey Kong's grandfather made his first debut in the arcade game in 1981. Here, he was the antagonist who held Mario's girlfriend, Pauline, captive over a construction building. Mario had to make his way to the top of the tower to rescue Pauline from Donkey Kong. He would later return in which saw his young son rescuing him from Mario. He would once again be featured in which saw him go up against Stanley the Bugman.
After this, Donkey Kong seemed to be largely forgotten in the video game industry aside from remakes of the arcade classic, until Rareware released for the Super Nintendo, which depicted Donkey Kong's first appearance fighting against his arch-enemy King K. Rool. Donkey Kong Country was such a massive success that it helped the SNES take the lead in the 16-bit console war. The series was followed by two sequels in which Donkey Kong was, surprisingly, not playable due to being replaced by Dixie Kong.
Donkey Kong would later be featured in which marked his first appearance in a fighting game. He would then be featured once again as a playable character in for the Nintendo 64. He would then be featured in before starring in the series and .
While he has switched between appearing as a protagonist and antagonist, Donkey Kong has never truly been "evil" and he remains a part of the Mario universe appearing in many of the Mario spinoff games. Donkey Kong also appeared as a baby in Yoshi's Island DS; and in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games as Mario's rival.
== In the Super Smash Flash series ==
=== In Super Smash Flash 2 ===
 
Donkey Kong makes his debut in the series. He was the last character announced in the original teaser for the game, though his appearance has since changed. His moveset is similar to the one he has in . His sprite design is based on his appearance in and retains his realistic gorilla grunts as his voice clips from said game.
== Trivia ==
*Despite being a regular character in the games, Donkey Kong is absent from the first Super Smash Flash, this was due to him not having any available sprites online at the time the game was being created. Yoshi, Ness, Marth, Falco, Peach, and Bowser are also absent for the same reasons.
*Donkey Kong, along with Yoshi and Ness, are the only characters that appeared on the original Super Smash Bros. to be absent in the original Super Smash Flash.
Category:First-party characters
Category:Super Smash Flash 2
Category:Super Smash Flash series
Category:Nintendo