Expresso

Expresso the Ostrich is a large ostrich wearing sneakers and friend of the Kongs.

Expresso's first appeared in the game Donkey Kong Country as one of the game's four rideable Animal Buddies. Expresso can run at fast speeds and glide through the air by flapping his wings rapidly. Interestingly Expresso has no offensive capabilities at all meaning he has no way to defend himself against threats; though some small enemies may pass under Expresso's legs leaving Expresso unharmed.

Expresso reappears in Donkey Kong Country's semi-sequel Donkey Kong Land as one of the games two Animal Buddies (the other buddy being Rambi the Rhino). In this game Expresso's abilities remain relatively the same as before, except he can now defeat enemies, even Zingers.

Aside from Donkey Kong Country's various remakes Expresso has yet to reappear, though an identical ostrich, also known as Expresso (or Expresso II to some) appears in the GameBoy Advance version of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest.

Though Expresso, along with several other ostriches, appeared in the trailer for the apparently cancelled game Donkey Kong Racing, it is unknown if Expresso was going to be a ridable character or not.

In the Club Nintendo comic "Donkey Kong in: Banana Day 24", Diddy and Dixie Kong are briefly seen riding Expresso to an airport.

Appearances in Donkey Kong Levels
Donkey Kong Country


 * Temple Tempest
 * Orang-utan Gang
 * Ice Age Alley
 * Misty Mine

Donkey Kong Land


 * Mountain Mayhem
 * Collapsing Clouds

Trivia

 * An ostrich that resembles Expresso can be found in Jinxy's Dunes in the game Banjo-Pilot.
 * Cranky Kong expressed desire in the Donkey Kong 64 players manual that poor Winky and Expresso will appear in the game, not that swordfish or that "dumb" rhino.
 * Real life ostriches can't fly at all, but they can be ridden.