Donkey Kong Jr.

 

Donkey Kong Junior
Junior 3D render in the style of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Full Name	Donkey Kong "Jr." Junior
Alias(es)	D.K. JR. D.K. the 2nd Fedora Kong (Disguise; he also generally likes wearing his fedora as his main hat and part of his Standard Appearance) Daddy Kong
Residence(s)	Donkey Kong Island
Family	Donkey Kong (Son) Cranky Kong (Father) Wrinkly Kong (Mother; Deceased) Diddy Kong (Grandson) Baby Kong (Grandson) Kong Family (Possible other children) Unknown Female Monkey (Wife; was either killed or went missing during The Great Ape War)
Species	Kong
Gender	Male
Powers/Abilities	Brains/Wits/Wisdom/Tactician/Logistics/Strategic/Trickster Planning (as he's a Pacifist that likes Peace and Fighting for the Fun Sport but hates serious war/mindless violence/killing) Power of Math Artist/Drawing/Painting Skills (talented enough to perfectly use Markers with his feet) Able to verbally communicate/talk with other people and speak English or Japanese Encyclopedic Knowledge of Video Game History Skillful Swiftness Superb Jumping Swinging and Climbing skills Tremendous Strength (knows "Jungle Judo", a Martial Art involving powerful Hand Chops also knows Sumo Wrestling/Boxing) A pair of Cymbals Keys Fruit (like Apples Strawberries Blueberries Cherries Oranges Nuts and Bananas) Whip/Ivy Vine/Rope Snapjaws Poison Mushrooms Spring-board Trampolines Nitpickers Umbrella Parachute
Enemies	Mario (Only in "Donkey Kong Jr." (Fomerly))
Game(s)	Donkey Kong Jr. (game) Donkey Kong Jr. Math Donkey Kong '94 Various Spin-offs Mario Kart Series Mario Tennis Series Ralston Super Smash Bros. Melee Super Smash Bros. Brawl Donkey Kong Country Returns Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
First Appearance	Donkey Kong Jr. (game) (1982)
Latest Appearance	WarioWare Gold (2018)

Donkey Kong Jr. in Mario's Tennis

Mario Kart Double Dash!!

Donkey Kong Jr. Math

Junior in Game & Watch Gallery 4

Donkey Kong Jr.'s cameo in the background at the end of Aqueduct Assault

Prima Games' Playing With Super Power: Nintendo Super NES Classics eGuide, Super Mario Kart 16 Bits Tab revealing Junior's place in the official Donkey Kong Lineage as the present Donkey Kong's father

For the game Donkey Kong Jr., see Donkey Kong Jr. (game).

Donkey Kong Jr. (also known as DK JR. or Junior for short or DK II or Donkey Kong the Second) is known to be Donkey Kong Sr.'s calm and collected, respectful, responsible, mature, civilized, sophisticated, level-headed, intuitive, insightful, optimistic, helpful, chivalrous, dutiful, and pure of heart playful boy-scout of a son. He may have slight dwarfism and be a bit on the chubby side but DK JR. prides himself in his heroism and actively performs heroic acts showing his sense of justice, but he has not been in many games as a playable character, however he still makes numerous playable roles and cameos such as Mario spin-offs, Super Mario Maker, Super Mario Bros. remakes, Donkey Kong remakes, Punch-Out!!, NES Remix, WarioWare, Animal Crossing, Tetris DS, and the Game & Watch Gallery series.

His first appearance was in the game Donkey Kong Jr., where he makes it his own task to rescue his father from Mario, as he is more innocent, nice, happy, curious, heroic, selfless, cautious, patient, well-mannered, somewhat reserved/quiet/soft-spoken, can get a little shy/embarassed, well-versed in social customs, and the Voice of Reason contrasting his violent, selfish, petty, hot-tempered/loud-mouthed, standoffish, clumsy/goofy, empathy lacking, obsessive, aloof, and narcissistic dad shows that JR. has got the humanistic brains to match his dad's animalistic brawn (demonstrated when he is solving tough Math problems and he at least wears outfits like a White Leotard/Singlet and White Shoes (while regularly using a hand-mirror to check on his looks) making him much more fashionable and gentleman-like than the original DK). The two still have a deep love and mutual respect for each other with Cranky being proud of his son and JR. is forever loyal to him.

He is heavily implied to be the father of the current Donkey Kong which was later confirmed on page 112 in the 2017's Playing With Super Power: Nintendo Super NES Classics eGuide, Super Mario Kart 16 Bits Tab, an official book by Prima Games. Gregg Mayles on Twitter in 2017 also confirmed that modern DK is Cranky's grandson, and the statement in DK64 was a mistake and an outlier not to be construed as literal, since "son" is short for "grandson" and is used by older people towards any younger males as a form of endearment whether they're biologically related or not.

History

Donkey Kong Jr. Math

The intelligent Donkey Kong Jr. solves math problems with his cleverness, level-headedness, and the original Donkey Kong. He can also compete with his re-colored palette swap, "Pink Donkey Kong Jr.". DK JR. gets extra advanced learning compared to Pink Donkey Kong Jr. such as with the +-x/ exercises (and possibly calculus).

Mario Kart Series

Donkey Kong Jr. has appeared in the original Super Mario Kart for the Super NES as a playable character. He is one of the heaviest characters in the game along with Bowser and like Bowser is a rival to Mario.

Contrary to popular belief, JR. was not replaced with his son the current Donkey Kong for the future games, in Mario Kart 64 JR. was actually replaced by Wario. Kamek replaced Koopa Troopa and was originally going to appear in Mario Kart 64 but in fact Kamek was the one that was replaced by modern Donkey Kong for the final game for unknown reasons.

In Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, JR. was originally going to be the partner to current Donkey Kong but was replaced by Diddy Kong, however JR. still makes a cameo appearance in Waluigi Stadium. Music from Donkey Kong Jr. appears during the first part of the DK Mountain/Dino Dino Jungle theme.

Mario Tennis

Donkey Kong Jr. also appeared in Mario's Tennis for the Virtual Boy (where he wears tennis shoes) and Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64 as a unlockable character. He is considered a power character along with Donkey Kong, Wario, and Bowser.

Ralston

Donkey Kong Jr. had his own fruit flavored cereal made by Ralston. Each box contained a free PEZ or 4 baseball cards inside.

Super Smash Bros. series

Donkey Kong Jr. is not playable in the Super Smash Bros. series but he does make some form of appearances. Mr. Game & Watch's Down Aerial is a Key from Donkey Kong Jr..

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Donkey Kong Jr. appears as a trophy in the GameCube game, Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Donkey Kong Jr. appears as two stickers. JR.'s trophy was going to be in Brawl, but it was scrapped.

Donkey Kong Country Returns

Although Donkey Kong Jr. does not appear, he is referenced in the Golden Temple world where the theme that plays in the sky area is a remix of the Donkey Kong Jr., ending, stage and title themes. Additionally the Fruit from his game including the Bananas appear as platforms. The K-Temples and the Golden Temple have depictions of the original Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Donkey Kong Jr. appears as a cameo at the end of the Aqueduct Assault level in the background in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze inside a Wii U GamePad held high by the original Donkey Kong. He is referenced in the Secret Seclusion world where the theme that plays in the sky area is a different cover of the Donkey Kong Jr. music.

Donkey Kong Jr. and Donkey Kong Sr. character design sheets

Donkey Kong Junior sitting down

DK JR. trophy in Melee

Donkey Kong Junior's Cereal

Unnamed Hat Kong/Fedora Kong: potentially an all-grown-up/adult Donkey Kong Jr. in disguise from Donkey Kong Land

Fedora Kong/Donkey Kong Jr. from a side view in the Donkey Kong Land promotional advertisement

Trivia

• Donkey Kong Jr. is mostly seen walking on his two hind legs/feet and keeping his arms to his sides just like a human (he has two buck teeth and has even worn tennis shoes and he still has his dwarfism) and his jumps are aesthetically identical to Mario. This suggests that Junior is really good at imitation and impressions considering his cartoony expressions and human-like mannerisms appear to be inspired by cartoons such as Looney Tunes or Popeye.
• Donkey Kong Jr. throughout the video games and other media has made a tremendous amount of feats and achievements.
• DK JR. was originally going to have a music game for the NES but it was cancelled (his instrument would have been a pair of Cymbals). His sprite/assets can be found in Donkey Kong 3 suggesting a role he might have had with original Donkey Kong and Stanley the Bugman.
• Donkey Kong Jr. first appeared as the son of the original Donkey Kong that kidnapped Pauline. This was Cranky Kong. Cranky Kong has alternatively been described as the Grandfather or Father (the latter is only said in DK64) of the current Donkey Kong appearing in the Donkey Kong Country games. This means that JR. could either be DK's father or DK. However Nintendo likely believed that the new Donkey Kong's design is too different than that of JR. (different head shape, face, and fur color) (theoretically JR. would look more like original DK (except incredibly shorter) rather than modern DK), seeing Junior as a relative arcade icon and viable/relevant property, and with the debut of Baby Donkey Kong they took the opportunity to disprove that they are the same character, it is also stated in a majority of the games that the current Donkey Kong is Cranky Kong's grandson and most recently in the DKC GBC/GBA remakes, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. This heavily suggests that Donkey Kong Jr. is actually the current Donkey Kong's father.
  • Jr. being Cranky's son as well as being the father of the modern Donkey Kong was also later further confirmed in 2017 on page 112 in the Playing With Super Power: Nintendo Super NES Classics eGuide, Super Mario Kart 16 Bits Tab, an official book by Prima Games as the true official familial interpretation, whereas the section on page 192 with the "Donkey Kong Jr., all grown up" statement is meant to be written as a metaphor of the older Donkey Kong games to the more modernized Donkey Kong Country games and having the playable Kong role be redesigned (i.e. modernized) rather than to be taken as literal. It should also be noted that there is no in-game text nor manual/instruction booklet that ever explicitly states that DK is JR., debunking the fan misconception.
• Real-life Gorillas reach the age to desire a child at 6-10 years old, and mature at 11-13 since they age faster than humans, by the time of Donkey Kong Jr. JR. would have already been older than Mario, and already old enough to have a son of his own, that would later become modern Donkey Kong who would be a tad younger than Mario.
  • Mario is Age: 24 while Donkey Kong is around Age: 11-20, in Tropical Freeze he is celebrating his 20th birthday as Donkey Kong Country came out in 1994.
• In an advertisement for the game Donkey Kong Land, it shows a mysterious Kong who wears a fedora (Fedora Kong) and was planned to appear in the game but was later cut (heavily implied that he would have appeared in Big Ape City; an area filled with arcade Donkey Kong references). He looks very similar to Donkey Kong except with darker and jagged fur, slightly more pink skin tone, and more sophisticated. Men who wear fedoras in the earlier days of film aside from being very dapper and lady-attractive (like from the well-mannered polite gentleman who slightly condescendingly says "m'lady" and does a hat tip and a small bow) this demeanor and fashionable hat are used to depict the father, or at least a mature, sophisticated, level-headed, and civilized fatherly figure/"The Man's Man"/"The Everyman" who always brings many forms of respectable wisdom and intellectual advice and almost completely void of any type of mean-spirited attitude, while slightly stern, they are still good, casual, and fun-loving.
  • Fedora Kong is possibly an adult Donkey Kong Jr. who is in disguise and hates violent/serious confrontation/conflicts. To add, Fedora Kong's artwork shows him in a pose that bears a resemblance to DK JR.'s forward facing sprite from Donkey Kong Jr.. He's also round and pudgy like JR. is, along with a wider face and thicker limbs.
    • In Donkey Kong Jr., one of JR.'s sprites presents him as sad, hinting he is scared of the mission he's having to save his father from Mario, which could partially explain why he's not shown going on dangerous/life-risking missions in later games (unless he's forced to), he's willing to help others and likes fun/light-hearted, and peaceful adventures, but it could be that's he's secretly a little shy and also hint at his self-doubt as he might be unable to believe he has courage even if he has had courageous moments, thoughts which he tends to keep to himself. It's unlikely for JR. to just vanish from Donkey Kong Island, he would most definitely want to be there in his son's and family's lives.
      • However perhaps JR. himself or a harsh traumatic reality changing event out of his control has forced him to disappear (but he is likely still alive/suriving) such as his wife being either killed or missing, preventing him from being a part of his son's and the Kong Family's lives, leading Donkey Kong to be raised by his grandfather Cranky Kong, but not his grandmother Wrinkly Kong (since her and DK's relationship was somewhat weak). The Kongs had faced prior conflicts with the Kremlings on Donkey Kong Island between the events of Donkey Kong 3 and Donkey Kong Country, Wrinkly confirmed that at Kong Kollege the only thing the Kremlings wanted to learn was how to defeat the Kongs, JR. may have had to (and possibly still) stress-fully deal with them, perhaps to the point of physical/mental suffering, some insecurities, introversion/lack of social interactions, and inability to handle loss as he struggles to be able to open up more to others.
• An idea for Donkey Kong Country was for Diddy Kong to be an updated version of Donkey Kong Jr. however Nintendo didn't like it thinking that the redesign looked too different and asked for JR. to appear in his original design or make an entirely new character, the latter was chosen thus Diddy Kong was born. Diddy did inherit some of JR.'s smarts (Junior is reminded of a younger version of himself when he sees Diddy) and became the Red Oni to JR.'s Blue Oni.
• Donkey Kong Jr. in the Saturday Supercade had a personality somewhat like Scrappy-Doo from Scooby-Doo, complete with his catchphrase MONKEY MUSCLE!!. Diddy Kong however in the main series seems to have fully adopted JR.'s cartoon counterpart's traits barring the catchphrase while Junior became more of a Mario/Mickey Mouse type character.
• It's possible Junior was made relatively bigger (bigger than Mario) for games such as Super Mario Kart and Mario's Tennis as an artistic choice, likely so it would be easier for player's to see the character (aside from his White Leotard contrasting his fur) and contrast the stage/background. In later games Junior returned to and kept the small/slightly dwarf size that he's always had (same short height as Mario's).
• Cranky Kong, Wrinkly Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Diddy Kong have conjoined eyes whereas modern Donkey Kong doesn't.
• JR. is the only Kong that has never been shown using a Barrel.
• Donkey Kong Jr., the original Donkey Kong, and Wrinkly Kong are the only known Kongs who know how to do math correctly.