Wrinkly Kong

Wrinkly Kong's ghost as seen in DK: King of Swing.
Wrinkly Kong
Species	Kong
Hair color	White
Eye color	Black
Relatives	Cranky Kong (husband) Donkey Kong (grandson)
Debut	Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

Wrinkly Kong is a recurring Kong Clan character from the Donkey Kong series. She is known as the kindly wife of Cranky Kong. Wrinkly passed away after her first few appearances and has continued to play supporting roles in the form of a ghost.

Background

Wrinkly Kong initially appeared as the headmistress of the Kong Kollege in various areas of Crocodile Isle in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Land 2. She gave lessons to the island's Kremlings (apparently including even K. Rool himself) and also provided quest advice to Diddy and Dixie. In the GBA remake, Wrinkly also gave Diddy and Dixie a homework project by assigning them to fill a photo album of Crocodile Island's creatures, rewarding them with a DK Coin for every page they filled.

In Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble, Wrinkly had retired. In the original Super NES version and Donkey Kong Land III, Wrinkly lounged around a variety of caves across the Northern Kremisphere that were known as Wrinkly's Save Caves. There, she alternated between working out, playing the Nintendo 64 and saving Dixie's game progress. In the Gameboy Advance remake of the former game, Wrinkly instead spent her days meditating in a temple in the Northern Kremisphere. In both versions of Donkey Kong Country 3, she gained company in the form of the Banana Birds that flocked to her retreat.

Sometime after Donkey Kong Land III, Wrinkly died of unspecified causes. However, her ghost remained on Donkey Kong Island to help the other Kongs. In Donkey Kong 64, the Kongs could communicate with Wrinkly's ghost through special doors located in the lobby of each world. When summoned, Wrinkly would dispense quest advice for each of the Kongs. Wrinkly's ghost later appeared in DK: King of Swing, where she helped Cranky Kong to teach Donkey Kong the art of swinging. She was also playable in the game's Jungle Jam mode as an unlockable character. In DK: Jungle Climber, she was only seen in the opening, where her ghost joined the other Kongs on the vacation to Sun Sun Island. Wrinkly's ghost was also an unlockable playable character in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast, with her rival being Kopter. She was unlocked by completing Candy's Challenge #26, which required the player to let Wrinkly win the race.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In the Super Smash Bros. series, Wrinkly has been represented by a trophy and sticker (from King of Swing) in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and an Advanced-rank Support Spirit (using her Jungle Climber appearance) in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. As a Spirit, her Support effect was to give a player fighter heightened defense at the cost of starting a battle with 30% damage. When fought in a Spirit battle, Wrinkly's Spirit possessed a duplicate of Donkey Kong with white fur that was invisible for the entire battle. She started out the battle with damage, but was powerful, and the battle was also subject to fluctuating gravity.

Trivia

• Her name is simply a play on the wrinkles one gains as they ages. It is unknown if she went by a different name when she was younger, as Cranky Kong had previously been known as Donkey Kong.
• One of the games that Wrinkly plays in the original version of Donkey Kong Country 3 is Super Mario 64.
• She occasionally shows her less gentle side in Donkey Kong Country 3. She refers to Cranky as her "wretched husband", and at different times she expresses displeasure at him for "wasting his money" on Swanky Kong's bonus games, owing her housekeeping money and eating all of her fresh cookies.
• She had a hearing aid, but apparently she rarely used it in order to conserve its batteries.