Tiny Kong

"I’m off to the tag barrel - ready to kick reptile butt!"

- Tiny Kong

Tiny Kong is a character from the Donkey Kong franchise. She first appeared as a young child in Donkey Kong 64 as Dixie Kong's taller, younger sister, (much like Luigi is Mario's slightly younger but taller brother) before being redesigned into her current "teenage" appearance in Diddy Kong Racing DS. As Dixie's sister, she is the cousin of Kiddy Kong and Chunky Kong. She is known for being both nimble and fast and using her two ponytails to accomplish different tasks.

Following her first appearance she hasn't had any important roles in any other platform game, but was given cameo appearances in the Donkey Kong Country Game Boy Advance remakes of the Super Nintendo games. Since her older redesign in Diddy Kong Racing DS, where her name "Tiny" went from literal to ironic, she has played a larger role in spin-off adventures such as Donkey Kong Barrel Blast and has even appeared in Mario Super Sluggers. With a few exceptions, she is generally playable in the games in which she appears.

Donkey Kong 64
In Donkey Kong 64, Tiny is one of the four Kongs imprisoned by the Kremling Krew at the start of the game. She is imprisoned in the second level, Angry Aztec, and can only be released by Diddy Kong. He can release her by performing a Chimpy Charge on the wall switches, each with a letter of the word "KONG".

Once Tiny is released, she is able to collect purple bananas, Banana Coins and blueprints. Like the other Kongs, she can perform Simian Slam and exclusively on Kong Switches that depict her. Tiny's weapon is the Feather Bow, which she can purchase at Funky's Store, to shoot at Feather Switches and Banana Balloons. At Candy's Music Shop, Tiny can purchase her personal instrument, the saxophone. Once Tiny learns Mini-Monkey from Cranky's Lab, she is able to jump into a Tiny Barrel, causing her to shrink and access small openings, including an opening to the Banana Fairy Princess on Banana Fairy Island. The Pony Tail Twirl allows her to glide across areas.

In Angry Aztec, Tiny can enter from the top of the temple to race the Beetle; to do so, she must use her Mini-Monkey ability and perform Saxophone Slam from a Music Pad for Squawks to carry her up to the temple. She can find a Banana Fairy and a few more Golden Bananas in other temples.

In Frantic Factory, Tiny can find more Golden Bananas by shrinking from the Mini-Monkey ability. She can race the Mini Car to obtain a Golden Banana. At Troff 'N' Scoff, the boss door selects Tiny to fight the boss, Mad Jack.

In Gloomy Galleon, Tiny meets the mermaid, whose pearls were stolen. After Tiny recovers them from a sunken treasure chest, the mermaid rewards her with a Golden Banana. Tiny later opens an underwater door in a large sunken ship, and she can recover two more Golden Bananas from different sides of the ship. Tiny can obtain another Golden Banana from a sunken submarine.

In Fungi Forest, Tiny's first Golden Banana is located inside of a large tree stump with Purple Klaptraps. After defeating them, Tiny obtains a seed, which she can plant in a loamy patch of soil for it to grow into a beanstalk, who gives her another Golden Banana. During the night, Tiny can enter the barn to fight a mini-boss, the Giant Spider, and defeat it for another Golden Banana.

In Crystal Caves, Tiny can learn the Monkeyport ability from Cranky Kong. There are two pairs of Tiny Pads in the level, each with their own objective. Tiny can use one of the Tiny Pads to teleport to an igloo-like crystal with the Golden Banana. She can use another Tiny Pad to go to a high area and might another mini-boss, Giant Kosha.

In Creepy Castle, Tiny can rematch the Mini Car for another Golden Banana. Tiny can also follow a trail of purple bananas and a trash can. With her Mini-Monkey ability, Tiny can bounce on a mushroom and enter into the trash can, which is filled with flies. Tiny is the second Kong to fight the boss King Kut Out, if Lanky Kong accidentally shoots out the area. Tiny is the only Kong who can reach the Hideout Helm lobby, as her Monkeyport ability is required to reach it. In Hideout Helm itself, the Kongs have a limited time to deactivate the Blast-o-Matic. Tiny has to complete two Bonus Stages to deactivate the purple current flowing in the Blast-o-Matic.

Tiny is the fourth Kong to fight King K. Rool in the boxing arena. For the fourth round, she must use her Mini-Monkey ability to enter a hole in K. Rool's shoe and shoot feathers at his toes.

Tiny appears in all three endings. In the first ending she is playing with Chunky, until he throws her very high by mistake, causing Tiny to get annoyed at him. In the second ending she is riding K. Lumsy with the other Kongs while sitting in Chunky's hand. In the 101% ending, she first uses her Pony Tail Twirl to fly, but ends up crashing. She is later seen posing with Candy Kong and the mermaid, as two Kritters are watching them. She is lastly seen walking up to Donkey Kong, who has trouble pulling a lever using his Gorilla Grab. Tiny helps DK by gently tapping it with her hand, which sends DK flying away. She then skips away from the lever.

Tiny is also playable in the Multiplayer mode. She has three alternate color schemes besides her default one. Her alternate color schemes change her overalls to either red, green, or purple.

N-Gang
She appeared in a comic from the N-Gang series. Her appearance was in the comic "Freeze Frame", where she didn't have a big role. Her appearance was at the very end where she is seen at the celebration held after King. K. Rool was defeated.

Donkey Kong in When the Banana Splits
Her second appearance in a comic was in Donkey Kong in When the Banana Splits, where the golden bananas are stolen again by the Kremlings. Unfortunately for King K. Rool, the Kremlings he sent stole the Golden Bananas at a bad time, as Tiny Kong and the other Kongs were home. Tiny Kong, along with all the playable Kongs from Donkey Kong 64, track King K. Rool easily through the jungle. After passing all the Kremlings' traps and beating all of the enemies, they have a final showdown against King K. Rool and the Kremlings. The Kongs win and get their Golden Bananas back.

Through the quest Tiny Kong showed some of her abilities she got in Donkey Kong 64 from Cranky's potions, such as the Pony Tail Twirl. Her Pony Tail Twirl worked slightly differently in the comic, as her ponytails rotate vertically instead of horizontally, but still have the same use. Also, like in the games, she attacked with her ponytails.

Donkey Kong Country 2
Tiny Kong makes a cameo appearance in the Game Boy Advance remake of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. She is present in several of Funky Kong's minigames, namely "Kongnapped" and "Kongnapped 2", where Diddy or Dixie has to save her from Zingers. Actually, not only one, but more characters that look like Tiny must be rescued in each of the minigames; however, Funky Kong claims that these characters form the Kong family, and thus implies that their appearance is only representative.

Donkey Kong Country 3
She also cameos in the Game Boy Advance remake of Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, this time as an uncloned individual. She is present in Funky Kong's "Protect" minigame, where she, along with the rest of her family, swims in a restricted body of water and is exposed to Kremlings that purpose to kidnap her and the other members of the family. The player needs to prevent the Kremlings from taking away the Kongs by shooting and sunking their boats.

Diddy Kong Racing DS
Tiny makes a full return appearance in Diddy Kong Racing DS to replace Banjo, a character from the original Diddy Kong Racing. This game is her spin-off debut. Her acceleration and handling are both medium but she has below average top speed. This is also the first game were she is available from the start.

Tiny, along her sister, was first called by Diddy Kong; he explained that Timber from Timber Island asked him to help him defeat Wizpig, and also help to find out what happened to Drumstick, who was turned into a frog by Wizpig.

This is the first game she appears as playable along her sister and also this is her second playable appearance after eight years. Although this was the first racing game in which she appeared, she had previously raced two times against a toy racecar in Donkey Kong 64, in the worlds Frantic Factory and Creepy Castle.

Tiny appears much older in this game, and was given somewhat of a teenage appearance. Her sister, Dixie Kong remained the same size, leading some to believe that their relation was either changed or forgotten. She was the only character to appear in this game that made a debut in Donkey Kong 64, was one of the three female racers and also one of the three playable Kongs.

Donkey Kong Barrel Blast
Tiny Kong's next appearance was in the Wii game Donkey Kong Barrel Blast. She is an unlockable character, unlocked by winning the Sapphire Cup with a Kong character. She is very fast and her rival is Kalypso, a Kremling with identical stats. She has excellent boost and high speed but below average agility. In this game, she attacks her opponents by swinging her ponytails around her like a helicopter, possibly using the Pony Tail Twirl. Like all the playable characters, she has the ability to perform Wild Moves.

She first appears in the title screen along all the other Kongs, except for Wrinkly Kong. In the Single Race cutscene Tiny can be seen, along Lanky, Dixie, and Donkey Kong, standing in front of their rivals, Kalypso, Klump, Kass, and Kritter. In the Records cutscene she can be seen along Kludge, Funky Kong, Dixie and Kip looking at the records on a scoreboard. In the Cranky's Flight School cutscene she is one characters that appears practicing, along Kludge, Kip and Diddy Kong. She also appears in Candy's Challenge # 14: Help Tiny Kong!.

Her winning celebrations include her spinning around when finishing a race in first place, and throwing punches and putting her hands on her waist when finishing a cup in first place. When she does not finish a race in first place, she cries and looks at the ground, disappointed.

Her bongos have green, purple and pink bands in the middle, matching her beanie hat, and have a white flower emblem on them, which matches with her top. This was the second racing game in which she appeared and was also her first appearance on the Wii console. This game also marked the debut of her current voice actress, Kahoru Sasajima, replacing Eveline Novakovic.

Super Smash Bros. series
Although Tiny has never been playable in any Super Smash Bros. game, there are various references to her. She is mentioned in the DK Rap which played in Super Smash Bros. Melee and eventually Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, she has an unlockable trophy and sticker. Her trophy shows her walking happily. Her trophy does not mention that she is Dixie's sister, but instead mentions her high speed in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast and her "helicopter hair" from Donkey Kong 64, as well as describing her as cute. Her sticker, which uses her artwork from Donkey Kong 64, increases the power of arm attacks by four and is only usable by Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong.

In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, she is shown once again as an unlockable trophy. Like with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, her trophy does not mention that she is Dixie's sister, but it does mention "She isn't quite as small as when we first met her", referring to her current appearance. Her trophy is featured in the "Donkey Kong and his friends" trophy box, along Wrinkly Kong, Lanky Kong, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Cranky Kong, Candy Kong and Funky Kong.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Tiny Kong appears as a spirit, using her appearance from Donkey Kong 64 for the first time since the Game Boy Advance version of Donkey Kong Country 3. Her spirit battle involves the player fighting a blue Diddy Kong, who sometimes shrinks, referencing Tiny's own ability to shrink from the game.

Mario Super Sluggers
Tiny Kong appears as a playable character in Mario Super Sluggers. She is a team player, and is also an unlockable character. This is her first appearance in a sports game and also her first appearance in the Mario series. In this game she can play baseball matches against many other characters.

In challenge mode, she has to help Mario and the others beat Bowser and his son Bowser Jr., by playing baseball matches. Tiny can be found in the DK Jungle stadium; after Mario and the others get the three stone tablet pieces and raise the bridge they can access the area where Tiny is being held by Bowser Jr. Mario and the others eventually defeat Bowser Jr. and Tiny offers to join the team. She is part of the DK Wilds.

Tiny Kong's bat is sky blue with a white flower, similar to the one on her top. She is the only Kong character to use a normal bat. Her pitching entrance includes her spinning. When she pitches the ball and the character batting misses three times, she celebrates by turning back and putting her right arm up, and her left arm down. Her batting entrance includes her waving her hand, winking and then preparing to bat. Like with the other team players, Tiny Kong can use Star skills while pitching, which can make the ball go faster or slower. Her sweetspot is the flower on the bat.

She has good chemistry with her sister, Diddy Kong, Funky Kong, Donkey Kong, Baby DK, and a Cyan Mii; she has bad chemistry with King K Rool, Kritter, and Birdo. When the team she is in wins but she does not win MVP, she celebrates by waving her hands and tilting her hip from one side to another. If she does win MVP, she will break into a brief dance and smiles towards the camera. Her only ability is Clamber, meaning she can climb walls to catch the ball and negate Home Runs.

Tiny features average pitching, batting, and running skills, along with above average fielding skills (her fielding is a tad weaker than Diddy's, Dixie's and Baby DK's though) and above average stamina. She is the only balanced character from the Donkey Kong series, and she has the highest stat total among all the characters (excluding Miis) who can only play as team players. In this game, her speed is not as notable as in other games; in the Donkey Kong series, Tiny is one of the fastest Kongs, even faster than Diddy. But this time, both Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong are faster than her.

In this game, Tiny Kong had few lines and a conversation with other characters after being saved and before joining Mario and the others:

Before being saved:
 * Tiny Kong: Ookie! Ookie! (Hey, you guys! Help!)
 * Donkey Kong: Ook. Ook. (Tiny Kong! You’ll pay for this, Bowser Jr.!)
 * Donkey Kong: Ooka ooka oooo! (Let’s move! We have to help!)
 * Diddy Kong: Ooooook! (I’m in! Let’s go rescue Tiny Kong!)

After being saved:
 * Tiny Kong: Ook eek! (Thanks, everybody! You saved my bacon!)
 * Tiny Kong: Ook. (So you’re looking for baseball teammates? ...I could join you!)

Online card collection
Tiny Kong is available in the Mario Super Sluggers online card collection. She was one of the first characters to be released. In Double Play she can be combined with Funky Kong to get the Great Clambering Kongs video, in which she appears.

The front part of the card features a new artwork, it has the Yoshi Park stadium background and her name is displayed in white letters surrounded by a purple outline with a yellow background.

The back part of the card is mainly purple with stars, it features an in-game image of her, her player abilities, her rookie year, the card description for her and stats.

Her Rookie Year is 1999, which means she debuted in that year, Donkey Kong 64 was released in the year 1999. Her card appears in the Collection wallpaper and appears randomly in the Flipping Frenzy screensaver. It also appears in the Collection Complete Poster, between Dixie Kong and Birdo.

Her card description describes her as the smallest of the Kongs, possibly meaning the smallest of the female Kongs in age that are playable in the game, as Tiny is not the smallest sized Kong. Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong are smaller and in age Kiddy Kong and Baby DK are younger.

Card Description: ''Tiny Kong is the smallest of the Kongs and doesn't boast the power of her bigger friends. But she is by no means the weakest player in the game. Great team chemistry with the Kongs make her a valuable pick.''

Canceled appearance
Tiny Kong, in her original design was to appear in the unreleased Nintendo GameCube game Donkey Kong Racing. The game was canceled because Rare was sold to Microsoft, although a trailer and a small number of screenshots were released prior.

Concept and creation


Early concept art for Donkey Kong 64 depicted Tiny with a notably different design where she wore a fez and a vest, with nothing indicating her being female.

When asked why Tiny was created for Donkey Kong 64 instead of featuring Dixie Kong as a player character, the game's character designer Mark Stevenson replied that he could not recall clearly why but that "I guess we just loved creating new Kongs! I would say it would be because we wanted a character that fitted with the shrinking ability."

Past
In her first appearance in Donkey Kong 64, Tiny Kong had light brown fur and blonde hair stylized in two ponytails. Her eyes were blue, but they were also bigger. She was depicted with four fingers, but since Diddy Kong Racing DS she has five. Her clothes consisted of blue overalls with a flower on it, a white T-shirt and white shoes, and the same multicolored beanie hat as her current appearance, except with a red top instead of purple. She also had bangs in this design. She was smaller at this time, but she was a head taller than Diddy Kong. Tiny's voice and demeanor is hinted at being sarcastic (acting similar to that of Kazooie).

After Donkey Kong 64, this design was used in the remakes of Donkey Kong Country 2 and Donkey Kong Country 3. It was going to appear in Donkey Kong Racing, but the game was canceled. The design was also used for some comics, and also made an appearance as one of Tiny Kong's stickers in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and was recently reused as a Spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

During the development of Diddy Kong Racing DS, Tiny was going to appear in the game with this appearance before Nintendo decided to change her appearance and gave Tiny her current design.

Current
Tiny, as her name belies, is a tall ape, slightly taller than Donkey Kong and Princess Peach but not as tall as Candy Kong. She has blond hair that is tied up in two large ponytails and has blue eyes, unlike her sister who has green eyes. Her eyes have one thick eyelash each, and she also wears dark red eye makeup. Her fur is brown, although in Diddy Kong Racing DS, it was slightly darker. Her current accessories consists of jumbo earrings and white fur wristbands.

Her clothing consists of sky blue sweat pants with a sky blue belly baring spaghetti-strap top with her belly button exposed. Her top has a flower on it and has purple borders, wears orchid sandals and also wears a beanie hat, that is green in the bottom, purple in the middle, pink on the top and has pink borders around the green color. She has pink nails.

This appearance was used in Diddy Kong Racing DS and all games that came afterward, such as Donkey Kong Barrel Blast and Mario Super Sluggers. An exception is her sticker from Super Smash Bros. Brawl where she uses her debut appearance.

It was confirmed in Rare’s Scribes that Nintendo was the one that decided to change her design. Although her redesign makes her appear older than her elder sister Dixie Kong, in Japan this relationship was never officially stated, which may explain the radical change in design. They have never been referred to as sisters since Donkey Kong 64.

Personality
As she has only had one major role there's little known about her personality. Tiny's voice and demeanor is hinted at being somewhat sassy and tomboyish, with a confident demeanor similar to her sister Dixie Kong, albeit more boisterous. She is also very brave, attacking even if her opponent is way bigger than her as shown during the DK Rap where she attacks a Klaptrap after she has used her Mini-Monkey ability. She is very gymnastic and flexible in her movements, able to perform the splits with ease.

In more recent games she is depicted in a similar fashion, but shows less of a tomboyish streak and more of a focus on dance-like movements. In Mario Super Sluggers she regularly sways her hips when walking, after successfully making a nice play and when scoring an RBI or a home run. She breaks out into a brief dance and smiles when she successfully clears a mission, minigame or wins MVP. She is still shown to be very acrobatic as seen in Mario Super Sluggers when she successfully wins a close play. She jumps up high into the air and does a backflip before landing on the baseman.

Abilities
Much like her sister she uses her ponytails for attacking enemies, slowing and controlling her descent to the ground and can also extend her jump by rotating her ponytails. In Donkey Kong 64 she was the fastest Kong, she had a very high jump, she could also attack enemies by jumping on them and she is good at swimming and could breathe underwater; however she had the weakest physical attacks of all the Kongs. In Donkey Kong Barrel Blast she once again used her ponytails to attack and break things open. She, like all the other racers, could also perform Wild Moves in this game. In Mario Super Sluggers she had the ability Clamber.

In Donkey Kong 64 her abilities were:
 * From Cranky's potions:
 * Simian Slam: She can press green buttons that are marked with her face.
 * Super Simian Slam': She can press blue buttons that are marked with her face.
 * Super Duper Simian Slam: She can press red buttons that are marked with her face.
 * Mini-Monkey: With the help of her special barrel she can shrink and enter small places. In conjunction with the Saxophone Slam, Squawks can pick her up and carry her to unreachable areas.
 * Pony Tail Twirl: Rotates her ponytails like a helicopter and can extend her jump, she can also make her fall slower.
 * Monkeyport: With the help of her Kong Pad she can teleport to another Pad with her face on it.


 * From other Kongs:
 * Saxophone Slam: She uses a saxophone to defeat enemies and can make secrets appear when using it on a Music Pad with a saxophone on it. She got this from Candy's music shop.
 * Feather Bow: She uses a feather bow to defeat enemies, activate Feather Switches and pop purple Banana Balloons. She bought this from Funky's store.


 * From the Banana Fairy Princess:
 * Shockwave Attack: She makes a purple shockwave around her by rapidly spinning her ponytails that can defeat almost any enemy. She got this from the Banana Fairy Princess after visiting her for the first time.

Portrayals

 * In Donkey Kong 64, she was voiced by Eveline Novakovic.
 * Starting with Donkey Kong Barrel Blast, she is voiced by Kahoru Sasajima, who also does the voice of Dixie Kong.

Donkey Kong 64

 * Potions:
 * Pad Move: Monkeyport
 * Barrel Move: Mini-Monkey
 * Special Move: Pony Tail Twirl
 * Weapon: Feather Bow
 * Instrument Ability: Saxophone Slam
 * Color: Purple
 * Boss:
 * Name: Mad Jack
 * Location: Frantic Factory
 * Bio: "Dixie's VERY little sister brings a big dose of flower power to the Kong's campaign. You'll find her pigtails perfect for pugilism and not too bad for a helicopter ride from the treetops. Tiny never shrinks from her responsibilities - even when she shrinks herself physically for a mouse's eye view of the action. "

This Kong's got style, so listen up dudes She can shrink in size, to suit her mood She's quick and nimble when she needs to be She can float through the air and climb up trees If you choose her, you'll not choose wrong With a skip and a hop, she's one cool Kong!
 * DK Rap segment:


 * Instruction booklet bio from Professor Cranky Kong: I thought this was Dixie Kong until she told me she is Dixie's younger sister. Bah, kids these days all look alike! You'll probably recognize Dixie's trademark hair spin technique, but Tiny can also shrink in size - although I reckon that one's nothing more than a marketing gimmick and won't even be in the game!

German Donkey Kong 64 website

 * Name: Tiny Kong
 * Occupation: Tax Official
 * Hobbies: Tooting the saxophone, Fashion
 * Favorite dish: Watches her weight, only extra-light meals!
 * Favorite movie: Bananic
 * Greatest hero: Kongia Schiffer

''Tiny Kong has long been known as a multi-talent and wonder child. Her greatest wish is a career as a super-model, but unfortunately Tiny is much too short for this occupation. Besides, she would have to leave the island, and that is out of question for Tiny. Instead she prefers to juggle numbers and manages the banana coins savings and the financial system of the island.''

''While doing this she never loses sight of her dream, though, and often presents her own fashion collections to the islanders. Despite her multifarious talents Tiny is always trying to follow the footsteps of Dixie Kong, who together with Diddy has made a name for herself as an adventurer. One day, when she observes how Diddy is attacked by cunning Kremlings, she sees her big chance. Unfortunately she has overstimated her abilities and is now in captivity, just like Diddy.''

Diddy Kong Racing DS

 * Speed: 2/5
 * Acceleration: 3/5
 * Handling: 3/5

Quotes

 * "Sorry, guys, I'm afraid they got me too..." - ''Donkey Kong 64
 * "Hurry up! I want out of this dingy cell!" - ''Donkey Kong 64
 * "Nice work, Diddy! Right then, I’ll grab all the purple bananas I see. I’m off to the tag barrel – ready to kick reptile butt!" - ''Donkey Kong 64
 * "Calm down Mrs. Fairy. My friends and I will look out for them on our adventure." - ''Donkey Kong 64
 * "Hmmm... Now that I've collected all these pearls, maybe I should go see the Mermaid?" - ''Donkey Kong 64
 * "Ookie! Ookie! (Hey, you guys! Help!)" - ''Mario Super Sluggers
 * "Ook eek! (Thanks, everybody! You saved my bacon!)" - ''Mario Super Sluggers
 * "Ook. (So you're looking for baseball teammates? ...I could join you!)" - ''Mario Super Sluggers

Trivia

 * In Mario Party 3, in the Mini-Game M.P.I.Q., one of the three possible answers (but an incorrect answer) to the question about what Donkey Kong's necktie initials read includes "TK" which may imply it stands for "Tiny Kong", however Tiny Kong's name has never been officially abbreviated.
 * Tiny Kong's Mario Super Sluggers baseball card describes her as the smallest of the Kongs, despite that her redesign since Diddy Kong Racing DS had already been established.
 * Tiny Kong is mentioned at section 18 in the digital manual of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, along with Candy Kong and Lanky Kong; specifically, their names are shown in a screenshot of a custom made Time Attack rank of an unspecified level in the game.
 * A store titled "Tiny's Piroshkis" can be found in New Donk City among other Donkey Kong references in Super Mario Odyssey.