Mole Miner

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Mole Miner
Mole Miner riding on a Minecart
First appearance Donkey Kong Country Returns (2010)
Latest appearance Mario Kart Arcade GP DX (December 12, 2018 update) (2018)
Variants
Notable members
“And remember, just because it can't see you doesn't mean it can't hurl a pickaxe right at your head.”
Cranky Kong, Donkey Kong Country Returns

Mole Miners are enemies that appear in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D.

As their name suggests, Mole Miners are based on real world moles. Every Mole Miner is brown, has pink paws, and wear a headlamp which covers their eyes. They appear to have freckles on the sides of their faces. Mole Miners have a stubby tail and a large bucktooth sticking out of their mouth. One of Cranky Kong's lines in the game suggests that they're blind, much like real-life moles. They also have a bomb-throwing variant, Mole Guards.

History[edit]

Donkey Kong Country Returns / Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D[edit]

In Donkey Kong Country Returns, Mole Miners only appear in Crazy Cart and the Cave area of Donkey Kong Island, but they are very common in this area. Mole Miners are the ones who constructed all of the rails and mine carts in the Cave.[citation needed] Mole Miners frequently ride around in a mine cart, often on a separate track from Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong.

Mole Miners are weak enemies and are easy to avoid. The mine cart-riding Mole Miners do not attack the Kongs directly except for attempting to drive into them. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong can avoid the Mole Miner by either jumping over or onto it. The only two mine cart levels that Mole Miners are not in are Roasting Rails and Prehistoric Path. Mole Miners often carry around an axe as its weapon.

In Mole Patrol, there are Mole Miners who attach balloons to themselves to move around in the air. Their only attack is swinging a pickaxe at the Kongs. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong can pop their balloon by touching it.

Mole Miners appear during the boss level The Mole Train, where they assist the boss Mole Miner Max. In a cutscene at the start, the Mole Miners are loading bananas into the Mole Train, and one is eating a sandwich that it pulled from its lunchbox. During the battle, Mole Miners throw either pickaxes or bombs at the Kongs until reaching the train, where the Mole Miners dig into the bananas and later emerge to swipe their claws around the Kongs. After doing so, the Kongs must quickly stomp on the Mole Miner to defeat it, although sometimes the Mole Miner fakes out the Kongs and immediately disappears back into the bananas. A Mole Miner sometimes drops a Heart upon being defeated.

Mario Kart Arcade GP DX[edit]

Mole Miners in the track Bananan Labyrinth in Mario Kart Arcade GP DX.
Mole Miners in Mario Kart Arcade GP DX

Mole Miners reappear in Mario Kart Arcade GP DX in the track Bananan Labyrinth, where they are seen riding mine carts in the cave section of the track.[1]

Gallery[edit]

Names in other languages[edit]

Language Name Meaning
Japanese モグリャー[2]
Moguryā
Corruption of「モグラ」(mogura, mole); same as Mole Guard

Chinese (simplified) 鼹鼠矿工[3]
Yǎnshǔ Kuànɡɡōnɡ
Mole Miner

Chinese (traditional) 土撥礦工[4]
Tǔbō Kuànggōng
From「土撥鼠」(tǔbōshǔ, marmot) and「礦工」(kuànggōng, miner)

French Taupe Mineur
Taupe Minière[5]
Mole Miner
Mole Miner
German Maulwurfkumpel
Mole Miner
Italian Minatore Grottalpa
Cave-mole Miner
Portuguese (NOA) Toupeira Mineira[6]
Mole Miner
Spanish (NOE) Topo Minero
Mole Miner

References[edit]