DONKEY KONG COUNTRY, SEASON ONE
Today, let's cover the first season of the 3D-animated Donkey Kong Country television series, animated using the same type of engine you might know from Beast Wars or ReBoot. It is likewise pretty batshit insane most of the time, but it does stick to the game source material more than the other series we've covered. That said, it does add in the plot element of Donkey Kong being a sort of chosen one designated to protect a magical relic called the Crystal Coconut, which King K. Rool and his minions intend to steal in order to take over the island.
Donkey Kong is our main character. He can for sure talk in this, instead of just being a big dumb ape as he often is in some games here and there, and he has a laid-back, friendly personality. He is considered the strongest on the island, using his strength to punch and beat up the Kremlings and set off a number of booby traps guarding the coconut. Diddy Kong is his main companion, helping him set off the booby traps and is seen being able to shoot bananas from their peels.
A number of secondary characters appear frequently. Cranky Kong is Donkey Kong's mentor and keeper of the Crystal Coconut, and he is seen being able to perform spells, concoct potions, and teleport himself from place to place. Candy Kong is likewise a strong presence in the series, certainly with more of a personality than the games ever gave her (at least, when she's actually being written well and doesn't exist just to be pissed off at Donkey Kong for flimsy and/or massively unfair reasons). She is shown punching, throwing banana pies in people's faces, and working at the barrel factory, running most of the equipment there.
Funky Kong is also a prominent presence, mostly seen flying his plane around or surfing, which makes him pretty handy when the main characters need to get from place to place. Dixie Kong makes sparse appearances here and there, mostly as another member of the friend group. Last but certainly least, we have the single worst character to ever grace any screen, Sexual Harassment Kong (his name's actually Bluster, but I don't care). S.H. is an egotistical idiot who runs the barrel factory, thus being able to use anything in it. He also smashes a cake onto Candy's head, wields a gun, gains super strength with a potion, and at one point . . . creates a love potion to administer to Candy. He is THE worst.
As for our villains, we have King K. Rool and his two minions Klump and Krusha. King K. Rool frequently employs multiple harebrained schemes to try to get the coconut, with several devices included for the job, including a cannon for firing minions attached to a rope. Klump is, frankly, one of my favorite characters ever, every scene of him made the show just that little bit better, and he more than made up for the existence of Ape-who-shall-not-be-named above. He mostly uses everything K. Rool uses, being that he's in charge of setting it all up. I should note here that they have literal guns that shoot hundreds of tiny Klaptraps. Finally, we have Krusha, who is a precious baby and I love him. He is mostly the muscle of the group. I am really glad I went with my gut to add Klump and Krusha to the roster preemptively. Having now seen the show, it would be really empty without them.
Other recurring characters include Captain Skurvy and his pirate crew, basically stand-ins for Kaptain K. Rool of the second game. His crewmates include Kutlass, Green Kroc, and the parrot Polly Roger. Between them, they can fire cannonballs, use cutlasses, wheel out big old cannons, and use barrels. Another common sighting is Eddie the Mean Old Yeti who lives up in the icy mountains, who swings around a stick, makes fire, roars really loudly, bats snowballs like baseballs, and sends giant ice blocks down the mountain by punching them. There's also Inka Dinka Doo, the idol that chose Donkey Kong to become the coconut's protector.
Finally, I'd like to mention two (sort of) one-off characters. One is Kong Fu, a martial arts master who I thought for sure was Sexual Harassment Kong in disguise until the episode ended and he didn't reveal himself. During the episode, he performs a number of martial arts, swings people around, throws them, and performs karate chops. Then, we have Baby Kong, who appears in one episode as Donkey Kong turned into a baby, then in another episode as a completely different character that Donkey has to babysit (my headcanon is that that episode was supposed to debut Kiddy Kong, but probably due to budget constraints, they weren't allowed to create a new character model, so they had to use an existing one and hope nobody noticed. We noticed). Across these two episodes, Baby Kong rides around on a vacuum, throws things, cries loudly, bites, grabs things and throws them, and punches really hard.
Given the limited nature of the animation, the series only had a handful of locations that most episodes took place on. These include: Cranky's Cabin, where the Crystal Coconut is kept (my pick for a single stage rep if there ever was one); Donkey Kong's cabin in a separate location; King K. Rool's Lair (another good single stage rep); Bluster's Barrel Works; the boardwalk where Funky and Candy both live; Captain Skurvy's galleon; the Mellow Yellow Banana Plantation; the White Mountains where Eddie lives; the Forbidden Forest; and the Temple of Inka Dinka Doo.
Here's what we've got so far:
Characters:
TV Mario: plungers, wrenches, plumber's snakes, climb with plungers, pizza cutters, pizzas, spaghetti, fire flowers, fireballs, growing giant, invincibility, raccoon tail, frog suit, handstands, toss, chisels, fire flower, spring, cape, inflate, tennis
TV Luigi: plungers, wrenches, plumber's snakes, climb with plungers, pizza cutters, pizzas, spaghetti, fire flowers, fireballs, growing giant, invincibility, raccoon tail, frog suit, handstands, toss, chisels, fire flower, spring, cape, inflate, tennis
Donkey Kong: punch, beat up, booby traps
Diddy Kong: shoot bananas, booby traps
Tommy Treehugger: roller blade, yo-yo, throw trash, golf, destroy set, remote
Co-MC: roller blade, yo-yo, throw trash, golf, destroy set, remote
Cranky Kong: spells, potions, teleport
Princess Toadstool: flowers, sled, vegetables, float, shrinking wand, surfing, paraglider, P-Wing, tennis
TV Toad: flowers, snowboard, biker, hat parachute, vegetables, surfs, disguises as plant, powerful wand, giant pipe creatures, P-Wing.
Candy Kong: punch, banana pie, barrel works
Yoshi: tongue, wings, breathe fire, extendable tail, eat everything.
Oogtar: swing, rope, wheel, berries, hoe, club.
Funky: surf, plane
Dixie Kong
Bluster Kong: barrel works, cake, super potion, love potion
King Koopa: snowmobile, cage, Piranha Plant gun, door potion, magic carpet, net, vampire, turn people to stone, flies a plane, freezes people, hat shield, catapult, pesticide, grow gigantic, giant shoe, magic, Klown Kar, Ratso.
King K. Rool: schemes, traps, cannon
General Klump: mostly the same, Klaptrap guns
Krusha
Cheatsy: magic wand, transform, pull things from TV, booby traps.
Big Mouth: tornado breath, bo staff.
Kootie Pie: tantrum, throws things, wrap in a scarf.
Bully: nunchaku, fire hose, garbage.
Kooky: time travel machine, rain machine, Lame Brainer, nice spray, Koopa Doopa raiser-upper, Goopa, Mega Mechanisaur
Hip and Hop: ball.
Robo Koopa: bullet bills, bombs from the toe, laser cage, stomp, fist from the chest, rocket pack.
Captain Skurvy: cannon, cannonballs, dig, barrels, Kutlass, Green Kroc, Polly Roger
Mouser: bombs, Cobrats, BMX bike, mace, spinning hat, dinosaur
Tryclyde: spits fireballs, poison, net, trident, sword, BMX bike
Koopa: spin in shell, BMX bike, Werekoopa
Wizenheimer: lightning, fog, create bombs, hypnotize, vanish, egg transformation
Dino Riders: motorcycles, graffiti, throw bowls, stink bob-omb
Evil Eric: knock out, tie up, puppets, same as Co-MC
Tammy Treehugger: knock out, tie up, puppets, same as Co-MC
Eddie the Mean Old Yeti: stick, fire, roar, snowballs, giant ice block
Birdo: wings
Flurries: ski, ice skate, carve up blocks of ice, ice wands
Beezos: fly, spears, lances, swords, rope, nets
Rex: spears, pies, other things from the previous games
Mervin the Magician: teleport, vanish, see the future, golden plunger, plumber's snake
Genie: trampoline, stink spell, flying spell, lamp, magic carpet
Mark Twang: steamboat, rope, cannon
Brutius Maximus Grouchimus: throws shells, lions
Queen Rotunda: strength, love potion
Captain Clump: peg leg, parrot, barrel, club, rigging launch
Bunsen: hacks into computers, drills, Plumbinator, plunger sword, flyswatter, shoots eggs
Sheldon the Witch Doctor: brews potion
Mermushroom: swim, whale
Hercufleas: great fireball, launch fire, race really fast, swing a pillar
Salvado Drainaro: plumbing focus
Hooded Robin: flies, shoots plunger arrows
Flab Boys: throwing discs, zapping, boosting, bouncing on their large bellies, exploding disc launcher, rolling around
James Blonde: wrench phone, explosive drain cleaner, atomic screwdriver, laser drill, plumber missiles, pummel gun, hose nozzle with a mini plunger
Vampa White, fireballs, fangs, turn into bat, werekoopa
Zero: whip, rapier, fly with cape, cacti, turnips
Captain Abidab: harpoon, plunger shooter, rope, bucket, catapult, divers' suit
Mugga the Medicine Woman: bone, torch, brews potions, swings on vines, dropes bones
Misaki: punches, kicks, jumping kicks, throws, chops, staffs, plunger staff, nunchaku
The Three Mushrooms: pie catapult
Pronto: plumber gun, lasso, Ostro
Sergeant Kooperman: also plumbing focus
Waldo the Wizard: shrinking potion, growing potion, floats, disappears, uses magic, enchants a flying boot
Old Gray Wolf
Quirks: horns, strong sounds, fly spaceships, shoot lasers, use magnets
Queen Mushroomkhamen: staff, stomps, wrap up in tape, smash through wall
The Wizard King of the West: powerful wand, snail steed, pipe monsters.
Junior: dropping vase, boomerang, other messes, boulder catapult.
Mighty Plumber: plunger rope, wrench, burst of water, plumber's snake, rafting on a grate, pipe battering ram
Crime Wave Clyde: tuck into a basketball, bob-omb chain, see some Koopalings above.
King Windbag: dog
Kong Fu: martial arts, dance, swing around, karate chop, throw
Baby Kong: vacuum, punch, grab and throw, cry, bite, throw objects
Stages:
Snow Land
Wild West
Cramalot
Forest of Perpetual Night and Terrible Dangers
Sultan's Palace
River World
Sinister Star
Linguini Empire
Beanstalk
Rotundaland
Kingdom of Youth
Planet Quirk
Pirate Ship
Roboland
Chateau Koopula
Jungle Land
Aqualand
Mythus
Sayonara
Land of Romance
Lava Land
Snow World
Victoria
Sherwood Forest
Carland
Pasta Land
Rap Land
Spyland
Fort Hardknox
Tunnel of Doom
Cloudland
Shamrock Kingdom
Toadstool Castle
El Desert Land
Ocean World
Mighty Peapod
Koopalus
Delawide River
Swiss Cheese Alps
Caveman Land
Crime Land
Sockhop Land
Parsley Land
North Pole
Pyramid Land
Red Sauce Sea
Double Cross Ranch
Plumbers Academy
Down Under Land
King Koopa's Summer Castle
Kooplyn
Temple of Koopa
Koopatraz
Far Off Woods
Castle Koopa
Doomship
Giant Land
Desert Land
Pipe Maze
Dark Land
Sky Land
Mushroom House
Ace Magic Wand Factory
Temple of Gloom
Mertropolis
Hawaii
Brooklyn
Hollywood
Miami
Venice
Paris
Dome City
Neon Castle
Lava Pits
Enchanted Forest
Haunted House
Star Path
Club Mario
King Koopa's Kool Kartoons
Cranky's Cabin
Donkey Kong's cabin
King K. Rool's Lair
Bluster's Barrel Works
Captain Skurvy's galleon
Mellow Yellow Banana Plantation
White Mountains
Forbidden Forest
Temple of Inka Dinka Doo
Thanks for reading! Next up, let's cover the series' second season!
