Expresso the Ostrich

Expresso the Ostrich is an Animal Friend in the Donkey Kong franchise. He first appears in Donkey Kong Country and makes another playable appearance in Donkey Kong Land.

Being an, Expresso has the appearance of a normal one, complete with black and white feathers. Expresso only wears a pair of sports sneakers. He has the ability to run fast and glide through the air by flapping his wings. Expresso's name is a portmanteau of "express" and "espresso", a type of coffee drink.

Donkey Kong Country
In his debut appearance, Donkey Kong Country, Expresso only appears in a few of the later levels. He cannot defeat enemies even if he jumps on them. Expresso is able to travel the farthest distance compared to Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and the other Animal Friends. Expresso is unaffected by Klaptraps, which pass through his long legs.

Like the other Animal Friends, Expresso has his own bonus stage (named Expresso Bonus! in the Game Boy Advance version), and the player can enter it by obtaining three Expresso Tokens. The bonus stage is set in a jungle-themed area, and like other Animal Friend stages, Expresso has to collect as many Mini Animal Tokens within the time limit in exchange for extra lives.

Levels:
 * Temple Tempest
 * Orang-utan Gang
 * Ice Age Alley
 * Misty Mine

Donkey Kong Land
Expresso makes his second appearance in Donkey Kong Land as one of the two Animal Buddies, the other one being Rambi the Rhino. Like Donkey Kong Country, Expresso also appears in four levels, although he mostly appears in Bonus Levels. Expresso's abilities are largely the same as in his first appearance, e

Expresso reappears in Donkey Kong Country's semi-sequel Donkey Kong Land. He is one of the game's two Animal Friends, the other being Rambi. In this game, Expresso's abilities remain largely the same as before, except he can defeat enemies by jumping on them, even Zingers.

Levels:
 * Deck Trek
 * Mountain Mayhem
 * Landslide Leap
 * Collapsing Clouds

Donkey Kong Country 2 (Game Boy Advance)
Expresso only reappears in the Game Boy Advance remake of Donkey Kong Country 2, as the starring and titular character of the minigame, Expresso's Racing. Prior to the game's events, Cranky Kong uses the "vast fortune" he made from his "starring role" in Donkey Kong Country to buy Expresso as a pet. Both Cranky and his pet Expresso are at Cranky's Hut.

Cranky wishes to raise Expresso as a racing bird, although his Expresso is too small and weak. Cranky requests Diddy and Dixie Kong to find and obtain a Golden Feather in every level. The Golden Feathers enhance Expresso's stats for the Expresso's Racing challenges. Each Golden Feather increases a bar of Expresso's Power, Speed, Acceleration, or Boost. Expresso progressively gets larger for every Golden Feather the Kongs apply to him. If Expresso gets first place in Expresso's Racing, he wins a gold trophy.

When the Kongs and Expresso obtain all six trophies, Cranky rewards them with a photograph of himself for their scrapbook. The Kongs can obtain a photograph of Expresso from Animal Antics, and Expresso's photo appears under the thirteenth page of the scrapbook.

In the original Super Nintendo Entertainment System release, a golden statue of Expresso appears in the background inside the Monkey Museum.

Donkey Kong in: Banana Day 24
In the German Club Nintendo magazine comic "Donkey Kong in: Banana Day 24", Diddy and Dixie Kong are briefly seen riding Expresso to an airport.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
In the Donkey Kong Adventure story of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Expresso makes a cameo appearance as one of Rabbid Cranky's Boombow weapons, the Expresso Atomizer. The weapon is described as officially licensed Expresso the Ostrich merch. The description also mentions that it has double for authenticity, referencing how bird legs are composed of two intermediary articulations, although they only have one kneecap for each leg.

Super Smash Bros. series
Expresso has a trophy in both Super Smash Bros. Brawl and later Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. He is also a spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Other appearances
A stampede of Expressos appear at the start of the trailer for the canceled Nintendo GameCube title, Donkey Kong Racing.

An Expresso appears in the Banjo-Pilot course, Jinxy's Dunes. This was a leftover from the Plain Pursuit stage from the 2003 Diddy Kong Pilot.

A street name in New Donk City from Super Mario Odyssey is "Expresso Street". One of the store signs on the side of the buildings reads "Expresso Espresso".

Trivia

 * Cranky Kong references Expresso in the Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest instruction manual by saying, "A more tragic looking bunch of useless no-hopers you'll never see! I liked Expresso and Winky--where have they gone?," as well as in the Donkey Kong 64 instruction manual with, "I just hope they've included poor old Winky and Expresso this time instead of that bone-brained rhino that always seems to get in the games."
 * In the original Donkey Kong Country, the sound effect for when Expresso hits an enemy is the same as that of a Mini-Necky being defeated.

Expresso