Tuff Tucks

Tuff Tucks are common Snowmads enemies appearing in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and its Nintendo Switch port. They are penguin-like members of the Snowmads that wear leather belts and wrists - the former displaying the Snowmad insignia - as well as broad orange helmets protecting their head. Similar helmets are displayed on other "Tuff" Snowmads from the game, like Tuff Fluffs and Walnuts. Tuff Tucks have a relative species, Tenacious Tucks, who have the qualities of Speedy Tucks.

Tuff Tucks slowly walk from side to side, and flip over on their backs when stomped on, leaving them stunned momentarily. During this state, Donkey Kong can pick up the Tuff Tuck and throw it like a projectile, thus defeating them. Tuff Tucks can be thrown into other enemies to defeat them, or hurled into feeble walls to destroy them and reveal secrets. Although Tuff Tucks cannot be directly defeated from a stomp, they can still be defeated from any other attack.

According to Kensuke Tanabe, several gameplay elements from Super Mario Bros. 2 were correspondingly implemented into Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze; he respectively served as the director and producer of each title. One of the implemented features is the ability to pick up and throw enemies, as well as using them against other enemies. As such, Tuff Tucks can be considered analogous to Shy Guys from Super Mario Bros. 2.