Animal Friends

Animal Friends, also known as The Good Guys, Animal Buddies, or First Class Friends, is a term relating to friendly creatures that aid Donkey Kong and his friends and family on their various adventures. Animal Friends help the Kongs by defeating enemies, finding items, and reaching Bonus Levels. Animal Friends first appeared in the game Donkey Kong Country and have appeared in most subsequent Donkey Kong franchise games. There is also a separate yet similar group of allies known as Jungle Buddies.

When an Animal Friend is injured by an enemy or obstacle, it runs away, just like Yoshis in the Super Mario series. The Animal Friend continues in a single direction usually until hitting into a wall, where they change direction. The Kongs can continue riding the Animal Buddy when they jump back on it. None of the Animal Friends have the ability to use ropes.

In Donkey Kong Country, the Kongs can jump onto an animal crate to free the pictured Animal Friend and ride it. Animal crates also appear in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, which also introduces Animal Barrels, which Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong can enter to transform into the depicted Animal Friend. The game also introduces the No Animal Sign, a signpost that the Animal Friend cannot pass. Whenever an Animal Friend travels across one, they disappear, and an item, such as an Extra Life Balloon, appears in their place. When the Kongs cross a No Animal Sign as an Animal Friend, they transform back into themselves.

Trivia

 * In Donkey Kong Country Returns, the elephant, zebra, giraffe, and squirrel seen throughout the game are dubbed "Animal Friends" in one of the unlockable concept artworks; however, these animals only have a background role in the game due to being hypnotized into stealing the banana hoard by the Tiki Tak Tribe.
 * Donkey Kong Land was originally going to introduce another Animal Friend, a ram named Ram Bunkshus.