Karbine

Karbines are small owl-like creatures that are encountered in the games Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! and Donkey Kong Land III. They are named after s, which are firearms similar to a rifle or musket.

Karbines first and only appear in the Donkley Kong Country 3 level "Fire-Ball Frenzy", found in the area Mekanos, where they are the main obstacles. Karbines carry large cannons similar to that Bazukas have, using them to shoot fireballs at Dixie Kong and Kiddy Kong. As they hang around the background and do not place themselves in the Kongs' way, Karbines cannot be defeated in any way, and as such, they can only be avoided. However, they can be pests, as they follow the Kongs almost everywhere. The Game Boy Advance remake makes some of the Karbines harder to avoid (i.e. providing less escape time between their shots).

In Donkey Kong Land III, Karbine appears in "Karbine Kaos", "Bazuka Bombard", "Kuchuka Karnage", and "Barrel Boulevard". Also, in this game, Squitter is not affected by Karbine's fireballs as long as he is on the ground, which can be seen in Karbine Kaos.

Karbine's fireballs share the exact same sprite as Bleak's snowballs in Donkey Kong Land III. In the Game Boy Color port, this includes the color palette, which is why they are both a faint purple color.

Trivia

 * The Karbine originally had the appearance of a chrome-plated robotic primate with a glowing red visor and helicopter propellers, as seen at page 33 of the 89th issue of Nintendo Power.

Reference
Karbine