Ellie the Elephant

Ellie the Elephant is an Animal Friend in the Donkey Kong franchise whose main appearance is in both Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! and Donkey Kong Land III. She is the first Animal Friend to be a female.

Ellie has two unique characteristics, both involving her trunk. She has the ability to collect water into her trunk, including from a waterfall, and then fire it at enemies. She has a fear of mice, specifically Sneeks, which is a reference to the popular, albeit untrue myth of elephants being negatively conscious towards mice in the real world.

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!
Ellie debuted in Donkey Kong Country 3, where her first level appearance is in the first one of the game, Lakeside Limbo. She is trapped in an Ellie Crate near the end of the level, and Dixie and Kiddy Kong can optionally ride her through the level. Her next appearance is in Murky Mill, where the Kongs are transformed into her from an Ellie Barrel in most of the stage. Ellie's fear of mice is prominent in this level, as she gets afraid of Sneeks beneath the patches of light. She can only pass them by throwing a barrel at them.

Ellie's third level appearance is in Bobbing Barrel Brawl, where like Murky Mill, the Kongs must play as her for most of the level. Bobbing Barrel Brawl is the first level where Ellie can suck up water and fire it. She can only carry up to seven drops of water, and the current amount is indicated from a meter at the bottom-right of the screen. Ellie cannot suck in water from a waterfall while she is blasting out from a Barrel Cannon. In parts of the stage, she must suck up TNT Barrels to attack the red Buzzes blocking her path. Ellie is also playable for a portion of the Cotton-Top Cove level, Tracker Barrel Trek, and would later fight the world boss Squirt at Squirt's Showdown.

The Kongs can ride on Ellie for a brief portion of Pot Hole Panic. This is the only other stage aside from Lakeside Limbo where the Kongs can ride on her. Ellie's seventh and final level appearance is in Stampede Sprint, where she also plays a main role: after encountering three Sneeks, Ellie gets a large scare and runs uncontrollably through the level.

In the Game Boy Advance remake for Donkey Kong Country 3, Ellie borrows some of Rambi's sound effects from the previous two Donkey Kong Country remakes. She also makes the loud noise of an elephant after being scared by a Sneek.

Donkey Kong Land III
Ellie's role in Donkey Kong Land III was altered. Her limited water supply was bumped up to unlimited, and she can shoot water regardless of which stage she is in. Aside from this, Ellie was repurposed into a generic Animal Friend, as she can no longer drag barrels with her trunk and she is not afraid of Sneeks. She also appears in fewer levels, each at a later part of the game: Footloose Falls, Rickety Rapids, and Rainforest Rumble.

In the Japan-exclusive Game Boy Color port Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong, Ellie's sprite was erroneously recolored to purple, along with some other objects and characters.

Donkey Konga
Ellie reappears in Donkey Konga as a background character in two modes. In "Street Performance", she appears at the bottom-left corner of the screen, next to the coin counter. In "Jam Session", she and the other background characters, including King K. Rool, Cranky Kong, Diddy Kong, Rambi and the Banana Birds, appear on the bottom screen while the player performs a "jam session". Ellie was relocated to the bottom-right corner.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Ellie appears as a spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Trivia

 * The ending of the E3 2001 trailer for Donkey Kong Racing showed Kiddy riding on Ellie, suggesting she would have been a rideable Animal Buddy.

Ellie