Gangplank Galleon

Gangplank Galleon is the name of King K. Rool's ship, which first appeared in the game Donkey Kong Country. In Donkey Kong Country the Gangplank Galleon is only visible from the overworld map, but after Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong make their way through the Chimp Caverns area they gain access to the ship. Going onboard they encountered and fought the demented Kremling ruler King K. Rool. After a long fight, K. Rool was defeated and Donkey Kong's coveted banana hoard was returned to him. In this game, it was simply depicted as around the size of a real galleon, while in later games it's depicted as far larger since it's a set of stages.

In Donkey Kong Country's Game Boy sequel, Donkey Kong Land, the Gangplank Galleon, called Gangplank Galleon Ahoy!, is the game's first area. In this game, the Gangplank Galleon is docked on the coast of Donkey Kong Island, along with traveling through the ship itself, Donkey Kong and Diddy must travel on the terrain around it as well. Instead of King K. Rool, a large Flotsam, conjecturally named Wild Sting, is the boss of the Gangplank Galleon.

Later, in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and its pseudo-port Donkey Kong Land II, Diddy and Dixie Kong ventured to Crocodile Isle in order to rescue a kidnapped Donkey Kong. The first the Kongs traveled through were the remains of the Gangplank Galleon, which had become beached on the rocky shore of the island. Diddy and Dixie had to venture through the ship's remains to reach the area's guardian, Krow, who fittingly resided in the ship's crow's nest. The Gangplank Galleon is much larger in this game, having five levels, while in the previous game it was only large enough for the fight with K. Rool. After defeating the giant bird the Kongs ventured to the nearby Crocodile Cauldron. At the end of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest the Gangplank Galleon sank to the bottom of the ocean, along with the rest of Crocodile Isle.

What is presumably the remains of the Gangplank Galleon appear in the Donkey Kong 64 stage: Gloomy Galleon.

The Gangplank Galleon stage itself does not appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but a remix of its theme song, however, does. It can be heard at Rumble Falls and one of the stages of the Subspace Emissary.

Levels (Donkey Kong Country 2)

 * Pirate Panic
 * Mainbrace Mayhem
 * Gangplank Galley
 * Lockjaw's Locker
 * Topsail Trouble

Appearances in Other Media
Though the Gangplank Galleon was never named as such, it did appear on the Donkey Kong Country television series. Here, the ship was owned by the dreaded pirate Kaptain Skurvy instead of King K. Rool. On the show the ship often met with disaster, such as being eaten by Junior the Giant Klaptrap in the episode "Booty and the Beast" and accidentally being blown up by Klump in the Christmas-based episode "The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights".

The Gangplank Galleon, though only referred to as "King K. Rool's ship", also appeared in the Club Nintendo comic "Donkey Kong Country". Like in the game of the same name, it served as the location for the fight between the Kongs and K. Rool. Besides the latter, several other Kremlings can be seen on the ship.

Trivia

 * In Donkey Kong Country, the final level is called Gangplank Galleon which is the final boss battle.
 * Although the Gangplank Galleon is crashed on rocks, on the world map, the ship is away from the island with no rocks to be seen around it.
 * In the Game Boy Advance remake of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest the Gangplank Galleon is docked on the right side of Crocodile Isle and not the left like in the original Super Nintendo version.
 * In Donkey Kong 64, although the bow and midsegment of the sunken ship are seen, the stern is nowhere to be seen.
 * Due to the German translation of the level Lockjaw's locker, the Gangplank Galleon has been believed to be a reference to The Flying Dutchman, a ship whose captain was cursed to roam the seas forever on that ship. The ship in fact comes extremely close to matching the ghost ship.