Mugly's Mound

Mugly's Mound is the boss level of Jungle in Donkey Kong Country Returns and the first boss level overall. It is where Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong fight Mugly.

The entire boss level takes place between jungle trees. The battle itself takes place in a colosseum-type arena, where Tikis spectate the fight in the background.

Overview
The Kongs start on a straightforward path, and a DK Barrel is next to the starting point. As the Kongs approach the stone threshold, a cutscene plays. It starts with Mugly discarding banana peels as he eats some bananas, in front of a wooden gate. The Kongs react in anger, and Mugly turns around looking at them as he continues munching on the bananas. Kalimba notices the Kongs and hypnotizes Mugly to fight them. Mugly makes a loud roar and Kalimba goes inside him, thus starting the battle.

Mugly starts by munching his teeth and runs to the left to Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. Mugly slides as he approaches the left wall. Mugly has red spikes on his back, which he retracts while running to the Kongs. While Mugly is running, Donkey Kong must jump on Mugly's back to attack him. If Donkey Kong gets hit by Mugly, he will swallow Donkey Kong whole and forcefully regurgitate him. If Donkey Kong is regurgitated with one heart left, Mugly spits him out the arena, and the Kongs lose an life. Upon being hit, Mugly flashes red for a few seconds. Mugly then runs to the other side, and the Kongs must jump on him again.

Upon taking a second hit, Mugly goes idle for a few seconds, with its spikes out, but then jumps in the air and retracts his spikes again. When Mugly lands, the Kongs must jump onto him. Mugly then moves to the left side of the arena and turns orange. He runs at the Kongs again except at a faster speed. When hit, Mugly does more high jumps except with faster landing. When the Kongs jump on Mugly a fifth time, he continues to do high jumps.

When Mugly is hit a sixth time, he goes to the left side of the arena and turns red. Mugly runs at the Kongs again but even faster than in his previous two phases. The Kongs must jump on Mugly a seventh time, then Mugly starts to perform high jumps, which he also does faster than in earlier phases of the battle. The Kongs must jump on Mugly two more times to defeat him.

Upon taking a ninth hit, a cutscene shows Mugly falling over in defeat, and Kalimba emerges dizzily. Donkey Kong must approach Kalimba and punch the tiki far away to complete the boss level.

Trivia

 * In 2 player co-op mode, if Diddy Kong fires enough peanuts at Mugly, then the boss gets temporarily distracted and starts eating the peanuts, with his spikes retracted. While Mugly is eating, there are hearts surrounding his head, and the Kongs can attack Mugly. After a while or if a hit is landed on him, Mugly burps and focuses back on the Kongs.