Golden Temple
| Golden Temple | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Donkey Kong Country Returns (2010) |
| Latest appearance | Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (2025) |
The Golden Temple is a location in the Donkey Kong franchise. It is host to a Golden Banana and features murals and statues depicting Kongs.
History[edit]
Donkey Kong Country Returns / Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D / Donkey Kong Country Returns HD[edit]
The Golden Temple first appears in Donkey Kong Country Returns. After defeating the Tiki Tak Tribe and causing bananas to rain over the island, one falling banana causes a statue to activate. The statue emits a laser and causes three other statues to rise from the ground, ultimately linking together and causing the Golden Temple to rise from the ground.
After the Golden Temple is unearthed, it becomes accessible on the world map. Entering it brings Donkey Kong to the entrance of the temple, where he must insert all eight Rare Orbs into a door to access the interior. A Golden Banana found inside grants access to the sky area of the level.
In the ports Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D and Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, the role of the Golden Temple is altered. Rather than serving as the entire level, after the Golden Banana is eaten, the Golden Temple is renamed the Cloud Gateway and serves as the entrypoint to a newly-added world, Cloud.
Mario Kart series[edit]
In the Mario Kart series, the Golden Temple appears in the DK Jungle race course, which was introduced in Mario Kart 7 and based on Donkey Kong Country Returns. It has a simplistic interior consisting of a single route, allowing drivers to race through the interior and pass by a giant Golden Banana statue before exiting through a Glide Ramp.
In the Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe incarnation of the course, the route through the Golden Temple is now an anti-gravity section. Accordingly, the turn within the Golden Temple is now set at a much steeper angle.
Super Nintendo World[edit]
At the Super Nintendo World theme park, the Golden Temple appears as a major setpiece of the Donkey Kong Country area. It is also host to the Mine-Cart Madness ride, in which the Tiki Tak Tribe steal the Golden Banana residing within the temple.