Kackle

A Kackle is a ghostly, skeletal Kremling that appears in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. Kackles wear eyepatches and bandannas, and hover around similar to Kloaks, and share an entry in the games' manuals; Kackles are only seen in the level Haunted Hall. Kackles are absent from Donkey Kong Land 2, as the game replaces Haunted Hall with a generic rollercoaster level, Krazy Koaster.

Four Kackles appear in Haunted Hall, each with a uniquely colored bandanna, and are encountered in their own gated sections of the level; each zone progressively becomes more challenging as the Kackles become more difficult to avoid. In the SNES release, the first Kackle has a blue bandanna, the second one wears green, the third wears yellow, and the last one wears a red bandanna; in the Game Boy Advance remake, every Kackle wears a blue bandanna like the first one. The first two Kackles appear before the Star Barrel, and the other two appear afterward.

When Diddy and Dixie enter a Kackle's zone, a timer appears at the top of the screen, tracking how much time they have left to leave the zone. Each Kackle is invincible and will hover closer to the Kongs as the timer ticks down in the SNES release; in the Game Boy Advance version, they instead maintain a consistent proximity to the Kongs. If time runs out, the Kackle becomes tangible and launches an unavoidable attack. Nearly every zone takes more time to clear than the Kongs initially have, meaning that they must use Plus Barrels to extend the timer and prevent the Kackle from attacking while avoiding Minus Barrels that reduce the timer further.

The first Kackle area mostly contains Plus Barrels and a few Minus Barrels, while the second Kackle area only contains Plus Barrels; the third Kackle area only contains Minus Barrels, but the timer is longer than normal to compensate; and the final Kackle area has Plus Barrels and Minus Barrels placed very close to each other, requiring well-timed jumps to avoid the Minus Barrels.

According to the end credits, Kackles are classified under the "Kremling Kuthroats" class.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

 * SNES instruction booklet (page 30): "These ghostly, Kremling spirits haunt many locations on Crocodile Isle."
 * SNES Player's Guide (page 15): "This mean-spirited spooks are on the lookout for any hairy intruders into their domain! Kackle haunts the Kremland amusement park, while Kloak fades in and out of several diferent areas. Dealing while Kloak is especially frustating, since he sometimes conjures up Zingers to block paths or items."
 * Computer and Video Games vol. 170 (page 70): "You can't kill what's already dead, but it can sure have a go at killing you!"
 * GBA instruction booklet (page 23): "These ghostly Kremling spirits haunt many locations on Crocodile Isle."

Trivia

 * In Donkey Kong 64, a demon resembling a giant skeletal Kremling appears to pursue Donkey Kong in a Mine Cart segment, similar to Kackle.
 * According to Steve Mayles, Mr. X is an earlier version of Kackle.
 * During the development of Banjo-Kazooie, when it was known as Dream: Land of Giants, Kackles were used as placeholder enemies.