Donkey Kong Jr.

"Monkey Muscle!"

- Donkey Kong Jr.

Donkey Kong Jr. (sometimes referred to as DK Jr. or just Junior) is the son of the original Donkey Kong. He first debuted in Donkey Kong Jr., an arcade game first released in 1982. He has yet to make any playable appearances since Mario Tennis. Donkey Kong Jr. may be the modern Donkey Kong from the Donkey Kong Country series, or the father of the modern Donkey Kong, while Junior's father assumed the name Cranky Kong.

Donkey Kong Jr.
Donkey Kong Jr.'s premier appearance is in Donkey Kong Jr.; a game named after him. He is the star of the game and the only playable character. It follows the events of the original Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr.'s father, Donkey Kong has been locked up by Mario. Donkey Kong Jr. must travel through four stages, climbing vines to ascend them and then watching as Mario hauls his father further on through the game.

There are numerous enemies that Donkey Kong Jr. must avoid. However if he drops a fruit on the enemies, they will be defeated. Once Donkey Kong Jr. has put a key into the cage, Mario will move further on. When Donkey Kong Jr. beats Mario at last in Stage 4, Donkey Kong and Mario both fall and Donkey Kong Jr. catches his father and then walks off-screen with his newly-freed dad.

Donkey Kong Jr. Math
One year later, Donkey Kong Jr. made another playable appearance in the game Donkey Kong Jr. Math. His father stood at the top of the stage, holding a sign with a random number placed on it. Donkey Kong Jr. had to climb amongst multiple vines to gather the correct numbers and mathematical signs to create the number on his father's sign.

This game also starred a pink-colored ape that could be playable in a two-player game; however, Donkey Kong Jr. was still brown in color, and could be played as in both one- and two-player modes.

Donkey Kong
In Donkey Kong on the Game Boy, Donkey Kong Jr. aids his father in kidnapping Pauline, and Mario must defeat both of them before rescuing her. For most of the game, Donkey Kong Jr. usually stays in areas inaccessible by Mario, activating and deactivating levers in ways that can either help or harm Mario. Sometimes, Donkey Kong Jr. even appears out in the open and throws Poison Mushrooms. He kills Mario instantly if he touches him. Finally, Mario got to stop him for good in Stage 9-4, where he locked him in a cage in a fashion similar to Stage 4 of the original Donkey Kong Jr.

Saturday Supercade
Donkey Kong Jr., voiced by Frank Welker, is featured as the main protagonist of the cartoon short Donkey Kong Jr. from the animated series Saturday Supercade. Here, Donkey Kong Jr., after discovering his father is missing from the circus, decides to track him down with the help of a clumsy biker named Bones.

"Doors to Doom"
Donkey Kong Jr. makes an appearance in the Nintendo Adventure Books "Doors to Doom". In the book, Mario and Luigi find themselves in Donkey Kong Jr.'s jungle after entering one of the doorways created by Dr. Sporis Von Fungenstein. Upon seeing Mario and Luigi, Donkey Kong Jr. attacks them, forcing the two to flee. Eventually, after a vine-swinging chase, the Mario Bros. escape Donkey Kong Jr.

Super Mario Kart
In 1992, Donkey Kong Jr. appeared as a playable character in Super Mario Kart for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. He was classified as a heavyweight character, along with Bowser. His preferred item was the Banana, with which he would litter the racecourses. His kart had maximum top speeds; however, if he were to drift away from the main course, its speed would decrease greatly. In every Mario Kart title since Mario Kart 64, he has been replaced by the modern Donkey Kong. He also appears as a cameo in the background of Waluigi Stadium in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

Mario's Tennis
In 1995, Donkey Kong Jr. appeared as a playable character once more – this time in Mario's Tennis. He appeared as the only large character in the game, for Bowser was not playable.

Mario Tennis
Donkey Kong Jr. made his final playable appearance in 2000, in the Nintendo 64 adaption of Mario Tennis. He was classified as a Power Character, who could be secretly unlocked (alongside, Shy Guy). In this game he had an alternate color scheme that made him identical to Pink Donkey Kong Jr..

Game & Watch Gallery Series
Donkey Kong Jr. appeared many times in the Game & Watch Gallery installments. Donkey Kong Jr. appears in the first two games with role as a "damsel in distress" in several of the minigames. However, Donkey Kong Jr. is the star of his own mini game which is a small remake of the original Donkey Kong Jr. game. The same minigame from the third game also appears in the fourth installment of the series.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
Donkey Kong Jr. also has a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, though he does not make a playable appearance.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, unlike in Super Smash Bros. Melee, he does not have a trophy. Instead, he has a sticker. The sticker shows Donkey Kong Jr. with a key over his head; the sticker is only referred to as Junior. It raises launch resistance by twenty-one in the Subspace Emissary adventure mode of the game. His other sticker shows him holding a tennis racket from Mario Tennis. Additionally, one of the names that appears when the player presses the "Random Name" button when naming their custom stage is DKJR, which is his name.

Punch Out!!
In the first game in the series, in arcades Donkey Kong Jr. could be found watching the fight in the audience along with his father, Mario and Luigi.

Super Punch Out!!
In the second arcade (and second overall) game in the Punch Out!! Series Donkey Kong Jr. could be found in the audience again, along with Mario, Luigi and Donkey Kong, this time however with different color scheme.

Donkey Kong Jr. as a Species
Oddly, several games in which Donkey Kong Jr. cameos have him as a species rather than a character. These include the Game & Watch Gallery series and Game & Watch Gallery 4. He also makes a cameo in the 16-bit remake of Super Mario Bros. 3, as one of the Mushroom Kings was turned into a creature that looked exactly like him. Another hint is the existence of the Pink Donkey Kong Jr. in Donkey Kong Jr. Math who could be a pink one in a species of Donkey Kong Jr. or a different person completely.

Concept and Development
Additionally, Diddy Kong of the Donkey Kong Country series is somewhat comparable to Donkey Kong Jr., as a minuscule monkey who aids the older Donkey Kong. In fact, Rare, Ltd. first intended for Diddy to be a redesigned DK Jr., but Nintendo, not liking the extreme changes they made to the character, ordered that he be made different, and Diddy Kong was born.