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.

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. By crossing the No Animal Sign, the Animal Friend disappears, and an item, such as an Extra Life Balloon, is released. When the Kongs cross a No Animal Sign as an Animal Friend, they transform back into themselves.

Animal Friends introduced in Donkey Kong Country

 * Rambi the Rhino
 * Expresso the Ostrich
 * Enguarde the Swordfish
 * Winky the Frog
 * Squawks the Parrot

Animal Friends introduced in Donkey Kong Country 2

 * Rattly the Rattlesnake
 * Squitter the Spider
 * Glimmer the Angler Fish
 * Clapper the Seal
 * Quawks (unconfirmed as an Animal Friend)

Animal Friends introduced in Donkey Kong Country 3

 * Ellie the Elephant
 * Parry the Parallel Bird

Animal Friends introduced in Donkey Kong 64

 * Lightfish

Jungle Buddies introduced in Donkey Kong Jungle Beat

 * Hoofer
 * Flurl
 * Orco
 * Helibird

Animal Friend introduced in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

 * Tawks

Table of Animal Friends by game

 * 1 — The character is not fully confirmed as being an Animal Friend.
 * 2 — The character is only present in remakes of the game, and not the original game itself.
 * 3 — The character is present in the game, but does not have a full fledged Animal Friend role.

Trivia

 * A concept artwork in Donkey Kong Country Returns dubs the elephant, zebra, giraffe, and squirrel species of Donkey Kong Island "Animal Friends"; however, unlike the Animal Friends of previous installments, these animals only have a background role in the game due to being hypnotized into stealing the banana hoard by the Tiki Tak Tribe, and are not helpers of Donkey Kong.
 * Donkey Kong Land was originally going to introduce another Animal Friend, a ram named Ram Bunkshus.