Animal crate



An Animal Crate is a box that Animal Friends are stored in before being released by the Kongs, although some come in Animal Barrels. When leaped on, the box breaks, exposing the animal. The friend inside can be identified by the image on the side of the box.

While Animal Crates appear in Donkey Kong Land, they do not appear at all in Donkey Kong Land 2 or Donkey Kong Land III. This is most likely because in the latter two games, most Animal Friends have special moves that they didn't have in Donkey Kong Land (for example, Rambi can charge), which requires an extra button (Select). Due to the limited amount of buttons on the Game Boy, this would leave no buttons to dismount from an animal.

In Donkey Kong 64, Animal Crates act more like Animal Barrels, transforming a Kong into an Animal Friend instead of just allowing them to ride one.

Animal Crates are seen again in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D. Here, each of them displays a carved rhinoceros head symbol, which indicates it contains Rambi, the only rideable Animal Friend of these games. The said Rambi boxes are rather solid and must first be hopped on and then pounded in order to break them open and free the animal inside. The very same crates return in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, where they are renamed Rambi the Rhinoceros Boxes, strictly referring to the only rideable Animal Friend in the game.

Trivia

 * In Donkey Kong Country, when the Kongs break open the crate, it makes a sound that normally plays when breaking open a crate, which continues to play until the Kongs (especially riding on the Animal Friend) move away and come back. In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!!, the crate makes a different sound when the Kongs break it open, and vanishes right after the Animal Friend appears.