Donkey Kong Island

Donkey Kong Island (referred to as Kongo Bongo Island in the Donkey Kong Country television series, and also known as Donkey Kong Country,  DK Island,  DK Country,  Kong Island, and Kong Isle) is primarily inhabited by Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and the rest of the Kong Family. It is a key location from the Donkey Kong franchise, and it first appears in Donkey Kong Country. Just like the Mushroom Kingdom, Donkey Kong Island is frequently invaded, often by the Kremlings.

Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Island is first seen in the game Donkey Kong Country, for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. While Diddy Kong is guarding the banana hoard one night, a group of Kremlings led by a Klump (or a Krusha in the Game Boy Advance remake) appear and steal all of the bananas to menace the Kong Family. Setting off at once, Donkey frees Diddy from a barrel and begin a long quest to take back Donkey Kong's Golden Banana hoard from the thieves, leading them through the island's many areas. The journey sends them through jungles, caves, glaciers and a large factory operated by the Kremlings before the two heroes finally locate the source of the problem. Finding a ship docked in the waters near Donkey Kong Island, the Kongs board the vessel and defeat King K. Rool, allowing them to take back the banana hoard while driving the Kremling Krew from the island.

Every time the Kongs complete a world, the Gang-Plank Galleon slowly approaches Donkey Kong Island. It is not shown on the map until after the Kongs complete the first world, Kongo Jungle. By doing so, the Gang-Plank Galleon is faintly depicted in the horizon. By the time the Kongs complete Chimp Caverns, the Gang-Plank Galleon is docked right next to Donkey Kong Island, allowing the Kongs to go aboard.

The Donkey Kong Island map also shows a head icon of Donkey Kong located just before Kongo Jungle. At the start of the game, Donkey Kong walks from it to Kongo Jungle. It represents the starting point of the Kongs' adventures instead of a world itself. The head icon before Kongo Jungle is not shown in both the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance remakes.

In the the in-game map is based on, there are a few locations that differ in position from the game itself, likely to make them easier to see in the game, or to adjust the order they are traveled to. Notably, Kremkroc Industries, Inc. is behind some trees in between Vine Valley and Gorilla Glacier in the render, but on top of the DK head's eyebrow ridges between Gorilla Glacier and Chimp Caverns in-game.

In the Game Boy Color remake, during the Crosshair Cranky mini-game, Donkey Kong travels to some smaller islands located west of Donkey Kong Island.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Donkey Kong Island appears only sparingly in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. In the SNES version, it can be seen from Crocodile Isle in the distance, specifically while on the maps of Gangplank Galleon and K. Rool's Keep. These cameo appearances were removed in the Game Boy Advance version, as the maps are now viewed from a top-down perspective. However, the opening cinematic of the Game Boy Advance version takes place on a beach on Donkey Kong Island, where Donkey Kong retires to relax from the previous adventure before he is kidnapped and flown to Crocodile Isle by the Kremlings.

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!
While Donkey Kong Island does not appear in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, it is mentioned in the instruction manual, where Dixie traveled to the southern shores of Donkey Kong Island and swam to the nearby Northern Kremisphere in search for Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong.

Donkey Kong 64
Donkey Kong 64 featured a return of Kong Isle as the primary location of the game's levels, also featuring several different environments similar to its portrayal in previous games. The island is revealed to be part of an archipelago consisting of smaller islands known collectively as DK Isles, several of which are accessible as a part of the story. At the beginning of the game which King K. Rool appears in a mechanized version of Crocodile Isle with a plan to destroy the homeland of the Kongs.

Tired of his constant defeats at the hands of the Kong Family, King K. Rool pilots his metal monstrosity into the archipelago with his new secret weapon, a giant, island-destroying laser cannon named the Blast-o-Matic. He plans to use the device immediately, but a malfunction caused by his incompetent underlings short-circuits his plans and delays the machine's activation. In a bid to distract Donkey Kong while they repair the Blast-o-Matic, the Kremlings invade the island in force and kidnap Donkey Kong's friends, stealing his Golden Bananas and blocking off several locations on the island in order to further impede the hero's progress. After another quest, Donkey Kong frees his friends and reclaims the banana hoard. With the help of the Blast-o-Matic's inventor, a crafty weasel named Snide, the Kong Family deactivates the doomsday weapon and saves their home from destruction.

It is worth noting that the island was smaller in size in this game than in previous installments, although this is likely due to technical issues, such as making it easier to roam the island. The vast locations accessible through portals on the island are different areas of Donkey Kong Island, and what is seen on the surface is not the entire landmass. Since the events of this game, Donkey Kong Island has been missing a boulder in its right ear, as it had been blown off by K. Lumsy.

Donkey Kong Country Returns
The island makes yet another appearance in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, once again acting as the main location. In its most recent appearance, the Kong Family is featured much less prominently as the main population of the island, with only DK, Diddy, and Cranky making full appearances in the game. Several new creatures are also shown to make their home on Donkey Kong Island in this game which were previously unseen in the series. When seen, the island is also under attack by a new antagonist group known as the Tiki Tak Tribe, who attach themselves to other creatures to take control of their hosts. Much like the Kremling Krew before them, these new enemies are eventually defeated by Kong Family and removed from the island.

Strangely, the mountains of Donkey Kong Island do not resemble Donkey Kong's head in this game, but are instead ordinary mountains. However, the worlds and their locations are mostly the same as in Donkey Kong Country.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Donkey Kong Island reappears in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and its Nintendo Switch port. The game features seven islands, which serve as the game's worlds. Donkey Kong Island is the sixth and final "main" island of the game (the seventh island, Secret Seclusion, is a bonus world). During the game's intro, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, and Cranky Kong are celebrating Donkey Kong's birthday. The view then moves far from the island to a fleet of Snowmad ships. A Pointy Tucks watches over the island, locates DK's Tree House, and gives the info to Lord Fredrik; the leader of the Snowmads. Upon the leader nodding their approval, a group of Pointy Tuckses bring him a large enchanted horn. Lord Fredrik blows into the horn, summoning an entity known as an ice dragon. The creature then flies toward the island and the Kongs are blown away by the intense wind. With the only threat to their conquest seemingly disposed of, the Snowmads seize the island for their own as their command ship stations itself on top of the Volcano and the ice dragon turns it into a snowscape.

The Kongs eventually get back to Donkey Kong Island and defeat Lord Fredrik at the top. After this, he falls into the remainder of the ships around the island, and the Snowmads leave. Using the horn that the Snowmad King left behind, Donkey Kong restores Donkey Kong Island to its former climate.

Games
Donkey Kong Island is also where the events of DK: King of Swing and the Donkey Konga trilogy take place. The jungle portion of the island appears as a setting in several Mario sports games, such as Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, Mario Power Tennis, Mario Superstar Baseball, as well as Mario Strikers, and in the Super Smash Bros. series, where it is parted into four playable stages: Kongo Jungle, Kongo Falls, Jungle Japes, and Jungle Hijinxs.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a view of the entire DK Island appears during K. Rool's Final Smash, in which he blows it up with the Blast-o-Matic. In this game, it appears similar to the Donkey Kong Country incarnation in design (though with DK's Tree House in Vine Valley, rather than Kongo Jungle) and the Donkey Kong 64 design in size, and is notably the first time in several games that it is depicted as resembling Donkey Kong's head. Additionally, a recreation of the original Kongo Jungle world map from Donkey Kong Country appears as a subarea in the game's Adventure mode, World of Light, under the name "DK Island."

Television
In several episodes of Captain N: The Game Master, a world named "Kongo Land" was mentioned as the homeworld of Donkey Kong, though it is unknown if the two worlds are related.

Donkey Kong Island was also the main setting of the Donkey Kong Country television series. On the show, Donkey Kong Island was renamed "Kongo Bongo Island" (or just simply "Kongo Bongo") and the island was also shaped differently, similar in appearance to a banana rather than DK's head. Like in the games, Kongo Bongo Island was home to the Kongs, among other creatures. Similar to Dinosaur Land in the Super Mario World cartoon, some of the locations have different names on the show. For instance, Gorilla Glacier was called the White Mountains.

Books
Donkey Kong Island is the main setting of both the Donkey Kong Country novel and Donkey Kong Country: Rumble in the Jungle. In both books, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong pass through Tree Top Town at the edge of the jungle, before reaching a snowy mountain location. In Donkey Kong Country, the Kongs continue through a circuit of underground mines before reaching the Kremlings' factory, whereas in Donkey Kong Country: Rumble in the Jungle, the Kongs travel through the caves of a mountain in order to reach the factory in Big Ape City, which appears to be located near the island's center.

In Donkey Kong Country: Rescue on Crocodile Isle, Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong borrow a sailing ship at the docks of Donkey Kong Island, before arriving at Crocodile Isle after a full day of sailing.

Donkey Kong Country

 * Kongo Jungle
 * Monkey Mines
 * Vine Valley
 * Gorilla Glacier
 * Kremkroc Industries, Inc.
 * Chimp Caverns

Donkey Kong Land

 * Gangplank Galleon Ahoy
 * Kremlantis
 * Monkey Mountains & Chimpanzee Clouds
 * Big Ape City

Donkey Kong 64

 * Jungle Japes
 * Angry Aztec
 * Fungi Forest
 * Crystal Caves

Donkey Kong Country Returns

 * Jungle
 * Beach
 * Ruins
 * Cave
 * Forest
 * Cliff
 * Factory
 * Volcano
 * Golden Temple
 * Cloud (Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D only)

Neighboring islands

 * Northern Kremisphere
 * Banana Fairy Island
 * Crocodile Isle
 * Kremlantis
 * Juicy Jungle
 * Secret Seclusion

Inhabitants
The Kong Family are the governing species of the island. Donkey Kong is the leader of the clan, and the other Kongs often turn to him for leadership. The Donkey Kong Country cartoon states that Donkey Kong has not yet become the ruler of Donkey Kong Island, but is slated to be its future ruler. Cranky Kong appears to be the patriarch of the family, and his main role is to give advice and orders to the Kongs. A lot of Donkey Kong Island's architecture is themed after the Kongs.

The Kremlings are another prevalent species on Donkey Kong Island and the main rivals of the Kong Family. The Kremlings have established several outposts and an industrial plant known as Kremkroc Industries, Inc. The ancient temples in Monkey Mines and Vine Valley depict visages of Kremlings, suggesting that they constructed the temples. Many other species on Donkey Kong Island are enemies to the Kongs, such as Gnawties, Zingers, and Neckies.

Several other groups have taken over Donkey Kong Island. During the events of Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, the Tiki Tak Tribe and the Snowmads respectively have represented significant parts of the population, the former planting several bases of operations and the latter claiming it as their territory. The Kongs eventually exiled each group from Donkey Kong Island.

Geography
Donkey Kong Island was originally shaped like Donkey Kong's head, complete with features such as his ears and hair swirl. In Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, the frozen mountaintops and the giant Donkey Kong head are replaced by a huge volcano. The island has many climates, with some areas being jungle, frozen wasteland, or a desert. There are several mysterious ruins on the island resembling ancient South American architecture.

Starting with Donkey Kong Country Returns, the fauna and geography of Donkey Kong Island has been changed. There is also a larger variety, with groups of animals living in select habitats. The Jungle is mainly inhabited by bird species such as Awks and Rawks, as well as Frogoons, while the Beach is occupied by crustaceans like Snippys and Pinchlys. The Cave hosts a population of Squeeklys and is also home to a large demographic of sapient Mole Miners. The Forest commonly houses spider-based creatures such as Skittlers and munchers, but Wiggles are also present.

The species that are closer to the summit have a less organic appearance. The Cliff area of the island is populated by live dinosaur skeletons, although fossils inlaid within the rocks hint at prehistoric inhabitants such as enormous lookalikes, gastropods,, and s, which suggest that Donkey Kong Island was once underwater from the Cliff beneath. The Factory has various types of robots, and the Volcano typically contains fire-based creatures such as Char-Chars and leaping flames.

Trivia

 * In Donkey Kong Country Returns, if one were to move from an earlier world to a later world using the map, Donkey Kong will be positioned at the first level of the later world. However, if one were to move from a later world to an earlier world, Donkey Kong will be positioned at the boss level of the earlier world. The only world that breaks this rule is the Jungle. Being the first world, it does not have an earlier world. In order for DK to be placed at the first Jungle level, he will have to move from the final world (Golden Temple) to the Jungle.