DK's Tree House

DK's Tree House, or Donkey Kong’s Treehouse , is Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong's place of residence and a starting point in several Donkey Kong Country titles. It is located in the jungle portion of Donkey Kong Island and is built above the Banana Hoard, a basement where the Kongs keep their stash of bananas. Originally portrayed as a wooden cabin perched on top of a tree trunk, more recent stances picture it as a hut raised on stilts high above the ground. The house is generally furnished with a television, a bed or hammock, a rug and various pictures on walls. The tree house is also commonly associated with tires, appearing both in and around it as simple furniture, as a swing or as a means of bouncing up to the house.

Outside of the Donkey Kong franchise, the tree house has become a recurring backdrop element in scenarios that involve Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong Country
DK's Tree House first appears in Donkey Kong Country, where it appears as a simple-looking wooden shack from the outside. DK's Tree House appears on both the Donkey Kong Island map and the Kongo Jungle map. DK's Tree House directly appears at the start of the first level, Jungle Hijinxs, and upon starting the level, Donkey Kong automatically launches out of the treehouse.

DK's Tree House is designed after a regular cabin pattern, being constructed of wooden planks in its entirety. It is directly above the Banana Hoard, and DK's Tree House has a few steps for going up to the treehouse itself. DK's Tree House is decorated like a home; it has a bed, a picture of two sailboats above it, a portrait of Candy next to the door, a table with a blue vase containing flowers, and banana peels scattered around. A beach ball and a two large tires also appear in the background. An official artwork shows Donkey Kong inside a tire swing outside of DK's Tree House; the tire swing does not appear in the game.

In the Game Boy Advance version, the interior layout for DK's Tree House is different. There are more items scattered on the floor. The portrait of Candy Kong, a table with a vase, and the bed are against a wall straight across from the entrance, rather than at the top-left corner. The vase on the table is light green and does not have flowers in it. A framed picture reading "HOME SWEET HOME" is in the background. A large bunch of bananas is in the foreground.

DK's Tree House does not have much of a role, although the Kongs can bounce from half of a tire on the ground to collect a Red Balloon above. The Kongs are only able to enter DK's Tree House one time for each time they play Jungle Hijinxs. In the Game Boy Advance version, the Kongs can re-enter DK's Tree House more than once for each time they play Jungle Hijinxs. In the same version, once the Kongs collect the Red Balloon, it does not reappear for the rest of the game. A photograph is hidden behind the bunch of bananas, and it depicts a group picture of Donkey Kong and Diddy swinging from a rope in the eleventh page of the scrapbook.

After defeating Really Gnawty, if Donkey Kong and Diddy enter DK's Tree House, they encounter Very Gnawty inside. It turns around at the Kongs, pants, and hops out of the house in fright. This only occurs once per save file.

Donkey Kong 64
DK's Tree House next appears in Donkey Kong 64 where it is, once again, the starting point of the game.

In this game, DK's Tree House has many differences compared to the one in Donkey Kong Country. Instead of a bed, this tree house has a hammock. It also has much memorabilia in it, such as Cranky Kong's phonograph from Donkey Kong Country and a red girder from the original Donkey Kong arcade game. The tree house also has several barrels and crates in it, along with old banana peels.

Early screenshots of the game showed that there was going to be a shower stall in DK's Tree House with a poster of Banjo and Kazooie on it. The shower and posters were removed in the final version of the game.

Diddy Kong Pilot (2003)
In the cancelled 2003 version of Diddy Kong Pilot, DK's Tree House makes a cameo appearance in the background of jungle-themed races.

Donkey Kong Country 3 (Game Boy Advance)
The interior of DK's Tree House is the background of the ending credits in the Game Boy Advance version of Donkey Kong Country 3. The area is considerably tidier and lacks the Candy Kong portrait. A tire swing is also present inside the house.

Diddy Kong Racing DS
Donkey Kong's Treehouse briefly appears during the opening cutscene of Diddy Kong Racing DS. Diddy is sitting outside the treehouse, and Squawks gives a letter to him written by Timber. In the letter, Timber asks for Diddy's help to kick out Wizpig from Timber's Island. DK's Tree House appears to have an entirely empty interior, and unlike other games, a wooden ladder is connected to DK's Tree House.

Donkey Kong Country Returns
DK's Tree House reappears in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D after a long absence from the Donkey Kong franchise. As in the previous games, it serves as the starting point. Upon starting the first level, the Kongs must repeatedly punch the Kalimba tiki until it is knocked out of the house (as it earlier tried to hypnotize Donkey Kong, to no avail); this occurs every time the level is re-played from the beginning. As in Donkey Kong Country, once the Kongs enter the tree house, they can find and collect an Extra Life Balloon inside.

Starting with this game, the tree house has a brand new design. Its walls are now built of bamboo stems, with the roof being round, thatched and sustained by wooden girders. In spite of all these traits, DK's Tree House still slightly maintains the furniture from Donkey Kong 64, such as the boombox, hammock, and several barrels. However, it also has two of Donkey Kong's ties hanging from the ceiling, two picture frames, and a television which shows the game's title screen (as well as playing the respective music) if activated by ground pounding (in Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, what appears to be the Japanese version's title screen is shown instead).

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
The introductory cutscene for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze shows Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, and Cranky Kong in the tree house celebrating Donkey Kong's birthday. As Donkey Kong prepares to eat a banana, a balloon floats outside the tree house and away from Donkey Kong Island. The balloon is noticed by a Pointy Tucks, who then looks at the island from afar on a boat with other Snowmads. Upon seeing the tree house, the Pointy Tucks panics and notifies its leader, Lord Fredrik. Fredrik then uses the horn to create an ice dragon to cover the island in snow. The resulting wind blows the Kongs off the island to the Lost Mangroves. The Snowmads subsequently declare the island for themselves as a pile of snow now resides on the tree house's roof.

Later in the game, the tree house makes a minor reappearance at the beginning of Homecoming Hijinxs in the background. It is seen again in the epilogue, where, after Donkey Kong uses the horn to return Donkey Kong Island to its usual state (and thus melt the snow present on the tree house), the Kongs form a band on the porch to perform the credits theme.

A [[Media:LostMangroves art1.png|piece of concept artwork]] shows that the tree house was intended to be flung along with the Kongs on the shore of a foreign island.

Donkey Kong Country television series
DK's Tree House also appears in the Donkey Kong Country television series, where it is relatively unchanged except for an elevator that is powered by a strong punch. Sometimes Donkey Kong punches the button too hard, making the elevator slam on entry and startling anyone inside of it. The Tree House additionally appears to be in a savanna, rather than a deep rainforest.

Super Smash Bros. series
DK's Tree House makes an appearance in the background of Kongo Falls in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The reveal trailer for both King K. Rool and Banjo & Kazooie feature Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong (and King K. Rool in the Banjo & Kazooie reveal) lounging in their tree home, until they are disturbed by King Dedede and Duck Hunt pretending to be King K. Rool and Banjo & Kazooie respectively.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong
In Mario vs. Donkey Kong, DK's Tree House makes a brief appearance in the prologue of the game. Donkey Kong is relaxing inside it while channel-surfing on his TV, during which stumbles upon a commercial with Mini-Marios.

Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge
DK's Tree House, borrowing its latest look from Donkey Kong Country Returns, can be seen in Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge in the background of Barrel Blast Jungle.

Mario Party 7
In Mario Party 7, the porch in front of DK's Tree House represents the finish point in the Jump, Man and Vine Country minigames.

Mario Party 10
The Donkey Kong Board from Mario Party 10 contains a miniatural version of DK's Tree House, used for decoration. It resembles its appearance from Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Mario Party: The Top 100
In Mario Party: The Top 100, DK's Tree House reappears in the background of the DK minigames, Jump, Man and Vine Country from Mario Party 7. Of note is that the house retains the older cabin appearance seen in the original minigames.

Yoshi's Island DS
DK's Tree House makes a minor appearance in the introduction of Yoshi's Island DS, when the Toadies capture Baby DK.

Mario Kart series
DK's Tree House reappears in Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart 8, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, as an ornamental feature in the course DK Jungle. It is built on the side of a turn with Tiki Goons, above a pond surrounded by cascades. Its appearance is the same as in Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Trivia

 * All three versions of Donkey Kong Country have a different musical theme for the tree house. The SNES version plays Cranky's Cabin theme, the Game Boy Color remake plays the title music from Donkey Kong Land, and the Game Boy Advance remake plays Bonus Room Blitz.
 * Nintendo of America's product development division, Treehouse, is codenamed after Donkey Kong's residence.