Mole Miner

Mole Miners are enemies first appearing in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D.

Donkey Kong Country Returns / Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D
Mole Miners first appear in Donkey Kong Country Returns and its 3DS port, where they only appear in Crazy Cart and the Cave area of Donkey Kong Island, but they are very common in this area. They are the ones who constructed all of the rails and mine carts in the Cave, and they can frequently be found riding these carts. They also sometimes tie balloons to themselves so they can ride in the air. Mole Guards are Mole Miners that throw bombs at the player(s), sometimes destroying tracks with their bombs. Mole Guards are often seen in a mine cart on a different track than the player.

They later appear during the boss level The Mole Train, where they assist Mole Miner Max. In this level they either throw pickaxes or bombs at the player until they reach the train, where they dig inside the bananas in the train, later emerging from the train in order to swipe their claws around them. Once they swiped their claws they can be jumped on the head, sometimes dropping a Heart when defeated. At the beginning of the level, Mole Miners are found loading bananas into the Mole Train, where one of them is eating a sandwich.

As their name suggests, they heavily resemble real moles. They are all brown in color and have pink paws. Their headlamps cover their eyes, and they appear to have freckles on the sides of their faces. They also have stubby little tails and one large tooth sticking out of their mouths.

Mole Miners carry axes, which they use to attack. They are only a small threat and are easy to avoid. In the mine cart levels, their only attack they have is to simply go towards the player(s) in a mine cart, where the player(s) must jump over (or on top of) them. In Mole Patrol, where they attach balloons to themselves, the only attack they have is to swing a pickaxe which can harm the player(s) if they touch them or their pickaxe. However, the balloon can be popped when touched.

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.