Cranky Kong

Cranky Kong (クランキーコング) is an elderly grumpy gorilla, known for his scathing, fourth wall-breaking commentary. Introduced in Donkey Kong Country, he has appeared in a number of Donkey Kong games, primarily as a reluctant adviser to Donkey Kong and his various simian pals (in game and in the instruction manuals), as well as running minigames and tutorials. His wife was Wrinkly Kong.

The Donkey Kong Country instruction manual states that Cranky is the original Donkey Kong character featured in the 1981 arcade game.

A small amount of evidence indicates that the current Donkey Kong (introduced in Donkey Kong Country) is his grandson, making him Donkey Kong III However, in Donkey Kong 64, Cranky directly refers to the current Donkey Kong as his son in their first conversation but was changed back to grandson in later games such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Donkey Kong Country Returns.

As his name implies, Cranky is perpetually bitter about many things and complains about them to anyone who gives him even the slightest acknowledgment. He is mostly angry about the state of modern video games, once going so far as to complain about how many bits and bytes are used up to simply animate his swinging beard. Every time he sees any such thing he seems to fondly recall his heyday in which he was an 8-bit character with only three frames of animation.

In Donkey Kong Country on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Cranky's main purpose was to distribute helpful hints about the game's many stages to Donkey Kong and his sidekick Diddy Kong whenever they dropped by his cabin. Donkey Kong Country 2 saw him play a similar role, although this time the player would have to provide enough banana coins to buy specific hints. In Donkey Kong Country 3 he was the player's opponent in a throwing minigame at Swanky's Sideshow; in the Game Boy Advance versions of Donkey Kong Country 2 and Donkey Kong Country 3, he hosted several minigames, and was briefly playable in one of them.

Donkey Kong 64 saw Cranky deal out potions that granted each of the five playable Kongs special abilities and could be purchased at Cranky's Lab. He also hosted the Jetpac game, and would let you play it after earning 15 Banana Medals. Achieving 5,000 points in Jetpac earned you the Rareware Coin, which was required to beat the game.

Cranky also made cameo appearances in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, as well as appearing in Donkey Konga and its sequels. His most recent appearances have been dispensing tips in DK King of Swing and DK Jungle Climber, in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast where he served as a fully playable character for the first time (aside from the Dojo minigame of Donkey Kong Country 3 ' s Game Boy Advance port), and in Donkey Kong Country Returns and its 3DS remake, where he runs various shops that sell items and helps the player by giving hints and tips when they leave his shop.

In Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Cranky becomes a playable character for the first time in a Donkey Kong platformer. His moveset is based around his cane.

Cranky was a regular on the Donkey Kong Country animated series. He was still as senile as in the games, but without his fourth wall-destroying comments. His cabin was where the Crystal Coconut, the mystical bauble that made DK the future ruler of Kongo Bongo Island (as DK Island was called on the show), was kept. Often, Cranky mixed potions, somewhat prefiguring his Donkey Kong 64 role. He was voiced by Aron Tager, and in the Japanese dub by Ryūsei Nakao.