Red Balloon

Extra Life Balloons (also known as Extra-Life Balloons) are items in Donkey Kong Country and the Donkey Kong series that give the Kongs extra lives. As stated in the manual: "Earn extra lives by collecting balloons. Red balloons are worth one extra life, green are worth two, and blue will give the player three."

The Red Balloons are more common than the other two types of Balloons. Balloons are often given out as prizes for completing a task (such as Swanky Kong's quizzes and Bonus Levels) successfully.

The balloons are shown differently depending on the game. In Donkey Kong Country, they had Donkey Kong's face on them. In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, they had Diddy's, and in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, they had Dixie's. The first two Donkey Kong Land games had the same balloon designs as their DKC counterparts; although Donkey Kong Land III (which mainly recycled sprites from Donkey Kong Land 2) features Diddy's face on the balloons, though he doesn't appear in the game. Donkey Kong Country Returns also has a red variety but without the character's face.

In all three Donkey Kong Land games, balloons pop upon being collected, but in the Donkey Kong Country games, they just float to the life counter on the upper right of the screen (upper left in Donkey Kong Country Returns).

Unlike the Donkey Kong Country series, the Donkey Kong Land series only features the red variety of balloons, most likely due to lack of color.

In Donkey Kong Country Returns, whenever Donkey Kong loses a life in single-player mode, he will float back to the start of the level or a checkpoint by riding on a balloon which will pop at that point, showing how lives are actually consumed. In two-player mode, Donkey and Diddy share their extra lives. If either one of them dies, he will float back onscreen in a DK Barrel hanging from a balloon after hitting the or  button, similar to how characters float around in bubbles in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. If both Kongs die at the same time, or if one dies while the other has been dead, they will return to the start or a checkpoint, although this will cost the duo two lives.

Unlike the original trilogy, Donkey Kong Country Returns only features red balloons, although they can be purchased from Cranky Kong's Shop in groups of one, three and seven. Of note is that three balloons are attached to the roof of the shop; one red, one blue, and one yellow.