Cranky Kong
| |
| Cranky Kong in DK: King of Swing | |
| Donkey Kong Sr. | |
| Species | Kong |
| Hair color | Balding Gray |
| Eye color | Black |
| Relatives | Donkey Kong Jr. (son); Dixie Kong, Tiny Kong, Chunky Kong, Kiddy Kong (nephews/nieces) |
| Debut | Donkey Kong |
Donkey Kong. This is the legendary ape who 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. After retiring from the arcade scene, he became known as Cranky Kong.
Background
A possible origin for the original Donkey Kong was seen in Yoshi's Island DS. Donkey Kong was among the babies who aided the Yoshi clan in their quest to save all the babies from Baby Bowser. This Kong would be presumed to be Donkey Kong's more popular son; however, this game shows him to be the same age as Mario and his group, making it likely that the baby could have been Donkey Kong Sr. instead.
After his classic arcade adventures, Donkey Kong Sr.'s age caught up with him, so he retreated to his cabin in Donkey Kong Island. There he grew old, bitter and withered. He was now called Cranky Kong by the population of the island, and Donkey Kong Jr. was finally able to drop the Jr. from his name. Cranky always complained about the modern games and yearned for his simpler arcade games (he was possibly the first video game character to break the fourth wall). However, he knew many secrets about the Northern Kremisphere and shared them for a price- whether it be enduring his dragging speeches or a more material price in the form of Banana Coins. The Kongs would need all the advice they could get for their series of adventures which flew at them faster then a rolling barrel.
It started when Donkey Kong's banana horde was stolen by the Kremlings in Donkey Kong Country. Donkey and Diddy occasionally visited Cranky's hut for advice, but Cranky still wasn't content with DK chasing off the Kremlings at the end. In fact, he then dared DK and his sidekick Diddy to repeat the feat on the Game Boy, without any fancy graphics to help them. Cranky even called King K. Rool, and asked the tyrant to steal the bananas again, setting the events of Donkey Kong Land into motion. Cranky lost the bet, but he was able to lend the other Kongs his services once again in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's King Quest.
When Donkey Kong was apenapped by the Kremlings and held captive on Crocodile Island, Diddy volunteered to save him with his friend Dixie. Cranky doubted them and so hid 68 DK Hero Coins throughout Crocodile Island for them to collect- quite a feat for one of his age! This game also introduced Cranky's sweet wife, Wrinkly Kong. Cranky also traveled to his own huts on Crocodile Island, from whence he gave advice to the youngsters and used Expresso in ostrich races.
When Dixie was featured in Donkey Kong Country 3, Cranky saw that an adventure starring himself was inevitable. He opened up various dojos across the Northern Kremisphere to train for "Cranky Kong Country". He also allowed Dixie and Kiddy to aid him in his training, but charged them in the form of "those coins with the freaky bear heads on them". But if they did well, Cranky gave them rewards in the form of a Banana Bird or just normal Bananas.
In a bad turn of luck for the Kong family, particularly Cranky, Wrinkly Kong passed away. Cranky tried to fill the void in his life by studying chemistry and developed many potions which gave the Kongs new powers to help them in their Donkey Kong 64 adventure. Cranky also let them play his classic Jetpac game, granting them the Rareware Token if they passed. He hasn't been too busy since that adventure, and has mostly took on a tutorial role in later games- explaining the bongo drums in the Donkey Konga games as well as the art of swinging in DK: King of Swing.
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.
- In the original version of Donkey Kong Country 3, he appeared as the rival opponant in Swanky's Sideshow minigames.
- His Donkey Kong 64 potions were inspired by the short-lived Donkey Kong Country cartoon.
- Although he's a part of Donkey Kong Land's instruction manual story, he never appears at all in the game. He's also the only Kong to be left out of Donkey Kong Land 2. In fact, he's the only Kong to never appear in any Donkey Kong Land games.
- Cranky's silhouette is seen in one of the Donkey Kong-based levels of Super Smash Bros. Melee.
- 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.