Popgun

The popgun is a type of weapon commonly used in the Donkey Kong franchise. Originally appearing in Donkey Kong 64, they are small, ranged weapons that shoot various types of projectiles, such as peanuts or bubble gum.

Donkey Kong 64
A pair of Peanut Popguns is Diddy Kong's personal weapon in Donkey Kong 64. It can be bought from Funky's Store for 3 Banana Coins. Its appearance is that of two small pistols made of wood, appearing to be hollowed out logs. They are used, among other things, to shoot enemies, Peanut Switches, and Banana Balloons. While on the ground, Diddy Kong can equip or put away the popguns at the player's command; when using his jetpack, Diddy Kong always has the popguns equipped.

As with all the other guns in the game, the Peanut Popguns can be upgraded in Fungi Forest to use homing ammo, in exchange for 5 Banana Coins.

Donkey Kong Country Returns / 3D
The Peanut Popguns can be used yet again by Diddy Kong in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, although they are less effective than in previous appearances and can only be used during multiplayer. When Diddy is controlled independently, he can perform the Popgun Pound, an ability which involves shooting peanuts along with ground pounding. Diddy can also shoot peanuts without performing this move, by jumping and shaking the controller or by simply doing the latter if he is mounted on Donkey Kong. Launched peanuts will bounce on the ground quickly and will break when they hit a wall or an enemy; shooting an enemy will stun it for a moment, usually making it briefly dizzy or confused. However, certain enemies, like bosses, are not affected whatsoever by projectiles.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Along with the returning Peanut Popguns, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze introduces the Bubblegum Popgun and the Denture Popgun, used by Dixie Kong and Cranky Kong respectively. These popguns have the same effect as the Peanut Popguns, and can all be used as in Donkey Kong Country Returns. Their use is not limited to multiplayer sessions anymore, as players can also make use of them during Hard Mode, where Diddy, Dixie, and Cranky can be controlled independently. In order to shoot the weapon, the character has to jump and press the ground pound button.

Dixie Kong's popgun shoots bubblegum instead of peanuts, which is a reference to Dixie's idle animation in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble, where she would blow bubblegum. Cranky Kong's popgun shoots, alluding to his old age.

Super Smash Bros. series
Diddy Kong's standard special move in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U involves using a Peanut Popgun, and can be charged up. When charged up, the peanuts fired are much faster, and will have a better chance at hitting the opponents. Charging it for too long, however, leads to the popgun exploding in Diddy Kong's hands, stunning him; in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U the explosion can also damage opponents. The attack occasionally releases peanuts that can be eaten as food. If Diddy Kong's powers are copied by Kirby, he will also be able to use Peanut Popgun. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U this move has two custom variants: Exploding Popgun, which doesn't fire peanuts and can only deal damage by exploding, doing it more quickly; and Jumbo Peanuts, which fires larger peanuts that do not travel as far and deal more damage. Diddy Kong also uses two Peanut Popguns when using his Final Smash, the Rocketbarrel Barrage.

Trivia

 * In beta screenshots of Donkey Kong 64, the Peanut Popguns originally looked like real guns.