Donkey Kong Jr. (character)

Donkey Kong Jr. (sometimes referred to as DK Jr. or simply Junior) is the son of the original Donkey Kong. He first debuted in Donkey Kong Jr., an arcade game first released in 1982.
== In the Donkey Kong franchise ==
===Donkey Kong Jr.===
Donkey Kong Jr. made his first appearance in Donkey Kong Jr.; he was the star of the game and the only playable character. Donkey Kong Jr. must save his father, Donkey Kong, who has been imprisoned in a cage by Mario. In this game, Donkey Kong Jr. had to climb on vines, avoiding several enemies in order to complete his quest. If Donkey Kong Jr. had to defend himself, he could do so by dropping fruit on top of his enemies. Donkey Kong Jr. had to find keys in order to unlock the cage with his father imprisoned within. Once Donkey Kong Jr. had collected the keys, he had to work his way up to the cage; once he had unlocked it, he would move on to the next stage. Once Donkey Kong Jr. had completed his entire quest, his father was no longer Mario's captive – Donkey Kong was free.
===Donkey Kong Jr. Math===
One year later, Donkey Kong Jr. made another playable appearance in the game Donkey Kong Jr. Math. His father stood at the top of the stage, holding a sign with a random number placed on it. Donkey Kong Jr. had to climb amongst multiple vines to gather the correct numbers and mathematical signs to create the number on his father's sign.
This game also starred a pink-colored ape, Junior (II), who could be controlled by a second player in two-player mode. Donkey Kong Jr. remains playable in both single-player and two-player modes.
===Donkey Kong (Game Boy)===
In this enhanced remake of the original Donkey Kong arcade game, Donkey Kong Jr. aids his father in kidnapping Pauline, and Mario must defeat both of them before rescuing her. For most of the game, DK Jr. stays in areas inaccessible by Mario, activating and deactivating switches in ways that can either help or harm the hero.
== In the Mario franchise ==
===Mario Kart series===
====Super Mario Kart====
Donkey Kong Jr. is a playable racer, and is classified as a heavyweight character, just as Bowser was. His preferred item was the banana, with which he would litter the racecourses with. His kart had maximum top speeds; however, if he were to drift away from the main course, his speed would decrease greatly. Since Mario Kart 64, he has been replaced by the modern Donkey Kong.
==== Mario Kart Tour ====
Since the Super Mario Kart Tour, Donkey Kong Jr. has been a playable character within Mario Kart Tour. He was designed directly after his appearance within Super Mario Kart, and is named Donkey Kong Jr. (SNES).
===Super Mario Bros. 3 (remakes)===
Donkey Kong Jr.'s first cameo appearance in the Super Mario All-Stars version of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, in which the Mushroom King of Giant Land had transformed into Donkey Kong Jr..
===Mario Tennis series===
====Mario's Tennis====
Donkey Kong Jr. makes a playable appearance where, like in Super Mario Kart, he does not appear alongside the modern Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong Jr. is the only large playable character.
====Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64)====
Donkey Kong Jr. reappears as a playable character in Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64. Since then, Donkey Kong Jr. has taken a very long hiatus from playable appearances. He is an unlockable playable character, along with the modern Donkey Kong, and is classified as being of the Power type.
==Crossover appearances==
===Super Smash Bros. series===
Donkey Kong Jr. has his own trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, although he does not make a playable appearance.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, unlike in Super Smash Bros. Melee, he does not have a trophy. Instead, he has a sticker. The sticker shows Donkey Kong Jr. with a key over his head; the sticker is only referred to as Junior. It raises launch resistance by twenty-one in the Subspace Emissary adventure mode of the game. His other sticker shows him holding a tennis racket from Mario Tennis. Additionally, one of the names that appears when the player presses the "Random Name" button when naming their custom stage is DKJR, which is his name.
== Appearances in other media ==
=== Television ===
Donkey Kong Jr., voiced by Frank Welker, is featured as the main protagonist of the cartoon short Donkey Kong Jr. from the animated series The Saturday Supercade. Here, Donkey Kong Jr., after discovering his father is missing from the circus, decides to track him down with the help of a clumsy biker named Bones.
=== Literature ===
Donkey Kong Jr. makes an appearance in the Nintendo Adventure Book Doors to Doom. In the book, Mario and Luigi find themselves in Donkey Kong Jr.'s jungle after entering one of the doorways created by Dr. Sporis Von Fungenstein. Upon seeing Mario and Luigi, Donkey Kong Jr. attacks them, forcing the two to flee. Eventually, after a vine-swinging chase, the Mario Bros. escape Donkey Kong Jr.
==List of appearances==
*Donkey Kong Jr. (Arcade) - 1982
*Donkey Kong Jr. Math (Family Computer / Nintendo Entertainment System) - 1983
*Donkey Kong Jr. (Nintendo Entertainment System) - 1986
*Donkey Kong Jr. (Intellivision) - 1988
*Donkey Kong Jr. (ColecoVision) - 1988
*Donkey Kong Jr. (Atari 7800) - 1988 
*Donkey Kong Classics (Nintendo Entertainment System) - 1989
*Super Mario Kart (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) - 1992
*Super Mario All-Stars (Super Mario Bros. 3) (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) - 1993 (cameo)
*Donkey Kong (Game Boy) - 1994
*Mario's Tennis (Virtual Boy) - 1995
*Game & Watch Gallery (Game Boy) - 1997
*Game & Watch Gallery 2 (Game Boy) - 1998
*Game & Watch Gallery 3 (Game Boy Color) - 1999
*Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64) - 2000
*Super Smash Bros. Melee (Nintendo GameCube) - 2001 (cameo)
*Animal Crossing (Nintendo GameCube) - 2001 (within the Donkey Kong Jr. and Donkey Kong Jr. Math furniture items)
*Game & Watch Gallery 4 (Game Boy Advance) - 2002
*Donkey Kong Jr. (e-Reader) - 2002
*Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (Game Boy Advance) - 2003 (cameo)
*WarioWare: Twisted! (Game Boy Advance) - 2005
*Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) - 2008 (cameo)
*Super Mario Maker (Wii U) - 2015 (Costume Mario)
==Trivia==
*Rare originally intended for Diddy to be a redesigned Donkey Kong Jr., but Nintendo, not liking the extreme changes they made to the character, ordered that he be made different, leading to the creation of Diddy Kong.Retro Gamer Volume 43, The Making of Donkey Kong Country, page 69.
*Oddly, several games in which Donkey Kong Jr. cameos have him as a species rather than a character. These include the Game & Watch Gallery series and Mario Kart: Double Dash!!; in the latter, several Donkey Kong Jrs. can be seen amongst the audience members in Waluigi Stadium.
==Gallery==
==References==
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Category:Kongs
Category:Male characters
Category:Heroes
Category:Allies
Category:Playable characters
Category:Characters in Mario Kart Tour
Category:Characters in Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64)
Category:Characters in Super Mario Kart