Puftup

Puftups are enemies that inhabit the waters of Crocodile Isle and the bog in Ghost Island. They first appear in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. Puftup's name is a reference to its ability to get "puffed up". A similar enemy, Pufftup, appears in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Puftups appear in many underwater levels. When Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong approach a Puftup, it inflates itself up. Depending on their tail color, some Puftups explode after puffing up and release spikes in four direction; if a blue-tail Puftup explodes, its spikes are unleashed in every cardinal direction, and if a green-tail Puftup explodes, its spikes are unleashed in every ordinal direction. The Puftups with a red tail do not explode, and they deflate themselves shortly after inflating. Puftups can be defeated by Enguarde the Swordfish, although he is still vulnerable to Puftup's spikes.

During the end credits' cast of characters, Puftups are featured under the "Submerged Seadogs" category.

Donkey Kong Land 2
Puftups make a second appearance in Donkey Kong Land 2. Unlike their previous appearance, Puftups rarely explode to attack. They commonly swim up and down puffing in and out.

Donkey Kong 64
Puftups return as underwater enemies in Donkey Kong 64 and were changed to purple. Puftups are usually stationary and act more like hazards than enemies: if the active Kong approaches a Puftup, it explodes like an aquatic mine. Puftoss, the boss of Gloomy Galleon and fourth overall boss, is a large Puftup. During the boss fight against King Kut Out, a few Puftups appear in the surrounding water, though unlike in other levels, they are mobile.

DK: Jungle Climber
In DK: Jungle Climber, Puftups were changed to silver. When a Puftup is deflated, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong can perform a charge attack to defeat it.

Trivia

 * Puftups were originally going to appear in Donkey Kong Country, with blue tail and fins, but were removed from the final version.
 * In the Rareware game Banjo-Tooie, the Donkey Kong 64 Puftups were recycled into the Swellbelly enemy. The Swellbelly almost acts exactly the same as Puftups from Donkey Kong 64: its only difference is that it is orange and is fought slightly differently, swelling larger but not exploding.