Red Balloon



Extra Life Balloons (also known as Extra-Life Balloons) are items in Donkey Kong Country and the Donkey Kong series that give the Kongs extra lives. In the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy, red balloons are the most common and provide single extra lives, while the much-rarer green and blue ones grant two and three extra lives, respectively. Due to being monochromatic, the Donkey Kong Land games only has single-life-granting Extra Life Balloons. Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze only have red Extra Life Balloons, while the green and blue balloons were repurposed to grant new features. A yellow balloon also appears attached to the roof of Cranky Kong's Shop in Donkey Kong Country Returns along with a red and blue one, but this color never factors into gameplay.

In the original games, Extra Life Balloons had to be found within the levels or earned by successfully completing tastes such as Swanky Kong's quizzes and Bonus Levels. In the modern games, if the Kongs jumps on enemies eight times in a row, the Banana Coins they receive, will change to the balloons. They can also be purchased from Cranky Kong's Shop in groups of one, three and seven, and sometimes, before selecting a file, if the Kongs are low on lives, Cranky gives them extra balloons.

The balloons are shown differently depending on the game. In Donkey Kong Country, they had Donkey Kong's face on them. In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, they had Diddy's, and in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, they had Dixie's. The first two Donkey Kong Land games had the same balloon designs as their DKC counterparts; although Donkey Kong Land III (which mainly recycled sprites from Donkey Kong Land 2) features Diddy's face on the balloons, though he doesn't appear in the game. Donkey Kong Country Returns also has a red variety but without the character's face.

In all three Donkey Kong Land games, balloons pop upon being collected, but in the Donkey Kong Country games, they just float to the life counter on the upper right of the screen (upper left in Donkey Kong Country Returns).

In Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, whenever Donkey Kong loses a life in single-player mode, he will float back to the start of the level or a checkpoint by riding on a balloon which will pop at that point, showing how lives are actually consumed. In two-player mode, Donkey and Diddy share their extra lives. If either one of them dies, he will float back onscreen in a DK Barrel hanging from a balloon after hitting if the remote is held sideways or  if the Nunchuk is attached to the remote, similar to how characters float around in bubbles in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. If both Kongs die at the same time, or if one dies while the other has been dead, they will return to the start or a checkpoint, although this will cost the duo two lives.

Trivia

 * Dixie Kong's Extra Life Balloons from Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! are the only ones where the eyes are visibly white, as opposed to colored over like Donkey Kong's and Diddy Kong's Extra Life Balloons from Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, respectively.
 * For the icons with the remaining lives on the upper right hand corner of the game screen in each of the first three games, Donkey Kong's in Donkey Kong Country is shaped like an Extra Life Balloon but in his real colors, and animated; although Diddy Kong's and Dixie Kong's icons in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! respectively are just simply heads and are non-animated.
 * The Extra Life Balloons in the the GBA version of Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! are in fact based on prototype designs from the original game.
 * An Extra Life Balloon makes a small appearance in Super Mario-Kun as a small drawing at the end of a chapter.