Candy Kong

Candy Kong is a tall female Kong from the Donkey Kong franchise and the girlfriend of Donkey Kong. She first appeared in Donkey Kong Country, being the only female Kong in the franchise until the game's sequel, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, which introduced Dixie Kong, who has made a lot more appearances than Candy. Candy has mostly appeared in Rare's Donkey Kong games, although she has appeared in the television series and other tie-in media based on the games as well as the games produced by Paon.

Donkey Kong Country
Candy has a different role in each version of Donkey Kong Country, but is a supporting character with her own location in every world, like Cranky Kong and Funky Kong. In every version, Candy's location resembles a wooden fruit kiosk, with a red and white-striped pattern on the front of the bottom stand as well as the roof, which is held up by two poles. The name of Candy's location is displayed in yellow letters on a red sign on top of the roof.

In the original Super Nintendo Entertainment System version, Candy operates a stand named Candy's Save Point where she allows Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong to save their adventure progress by jumping into her Save Barrel. By extension, this saves the actual game's progress. Like the other characters, Candy appears in the Cast of Characters at the end.

The instruction booklet calls Candy Kong the "banana of Donkey Kong's eye" and mentions that everyone assumes they will marry one day, although it is Candy's opinion that Donkey is not ready to settle down yet.

In the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance remakes, Candy no longer operates a Save Point, because the game progress can be saved from the world map. In the Game Boy Color version, Candy hosted Candy's Challenge, where the active Kong must complete a challenge for a Banana Coin. Her establishment was changed again in the Game Boy Advance remake, to Candy's Dance Studio, where she hosts a -type minigame in each world.

Donkey Kong 64
Candy reappears in Donkey Kong 64, where she runs Candy's Music Shop, which is found in every area except Jungle Japes, Fungi Forest and Hideout Helm. Here, Candy sells the Kongs powerful musical instruments which can defeat foes and cause certain events to occur if used on a Music Pad. Candy also gives the Kongs an extra watermelon on two occasions, increasing the amount of damage the Kongs can sustain. A picture of Candy Kong also appears behind the hammock in DK's Tree House.

In the ending after Chunky Kong defeats King K. Rool, Candy appears and distracts King K. Rool with her beauty, which is surprising considering that K. Rool hates the Kongs. While she does this, Funky Kong appears from behind and shoots him with a gun loaded with a big shoe, which sends him to where K. Lumsy is located. She also appears in the two endings where she is seen riding K. Lumsy, alongside all the Kongs, and in the second one she is seen sitting outside of Donkey Kong's house. In the secret ending, she appears three times. The first time she is seen, she gasps and then laughs, and the second time she appears she only laughs. The third time she appears, she is seen posing with Tiny Kong and the Mermaid, as two Kritters are watching them; the Candy's Music Shop theme plays during this segment.

Diddy Kong Pilot (2001)
Candy was intended to be a playable character in the 2001 version of Diddy Kong Pilot. Some time after E3 2001, Candy was in the process of replacing Redneck Kong, and her placement in the sepia backdrop of the character selection menu is where Redneck was originally placed. However, highlighting Candy instead shows a graphic of Redneck being highlighted.

Candy makes a minor appearance in the main menu, in the animated icon for the "Dog Fights" mode, in which she is piloting a pink and white plane with a windshield. Candy also has a Dog Fights icon, although it is never loaded within the game, making it unused or yet to be implemented at the time.

Donkey Kong Country 2 (Game Boy Advance)
Candy makes a cameo appearance in the Game Boy Advance remake of Donkey Kong Country 2 as Swanky's assistant at Swanky's Bonus Bonanza. She does not affect the gameplay and simply points out the option corresponding to the star panel that Diddy and Dixie Kong are standing on. Candy, along with the rest of the Kong Family, later appears in Cranky's Hut during the ending's "Cast of Characters."

Donkey Kong Country 3 (Game Boy Advance)
In the Game Boy Advance remake of Donkey Kong Country 3, Candy briefly appears in the "Protect" mission of Funky's Rentals. Here, Candy is swimming in the water with some of the other Kongs, and Dixie and Kiddy Kong must use their boat to protect Candy and the other Kongs from being taken away by the Kremlings.

Club Nintendo
Candy Kong made a brief appearance in the Club Nintendo comic "Donkey Kong Country". Like in the game of the same name, she was found at her Save Point, where Donkey and Diddy Kong decided to tell her about their journey. Candy, instead of letting Donkey and Diddy Kong save their progress, provides them with Squawks to aid them on their journey.

Candy briefly appears at the end of the comic "Donkey Kong in: Banana Day 24," celebrating together with the other Kongs.

Donkey Kong Country television series
In the Donkey Kong Country television series, Candy had been drastically changed from her in-game appearances, more so than any other character. On the show, Candy had a completely different personality with a particularly short temper. She appeared to be the sole employee at Bluster Barrelworks, where she seemed to be the quality inspector. Candy and Donkey Kong were also actively dating in the cartoons, much to the annoyance of her boss, Bluster Kong, who wanted Candy all to himself.

In a few episodes, Candy has a robotic clone named Candy Clone, who was created by King K. Rool.

Super Mario-kun
Candy Kong appears briefly in volume 23 of Super Mario-kun, where she sports her look from the Donkey Kong Country television series.

Picross NP Vol. 8
Candy Kong's face with her Donkey Kong Country design appears in Picross NP Vol. 8 as one of the figures obtained by completing puzzles. When the puzzle is completed, she winks and kisses at the screen.

DK: King of Swing
Candy returns in the game DK: King of Swing. Despite having artwork, Candy only makes brief cameos in the game itself, and she appears in the opening cutscene. Candy and Cranky are the only two Kongs who are not playable.

DK: Jungle Climber
Candy reappears in DK: Jungle Climber, where she appears in the opening cutscene with the other Kongs on their vacation to Sun Sun Island. She has a larger role that in DK: King of Swing, as she now hosts the minigames, giving a brief description of each one before they are played.

Donkey Kong Barrel Blast
Candy appears in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast, where she is the only non-playable Kong. Here, Candy has her own mode, Candy's Challenges, in which she gives Donkey Kong different challenges to complete in order to unlock certain characters. She appears in the cutscene which is shown when the cursor passes over the Candy's Challenges options.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Candy Kong appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a trophy, obtained at random in one of the game's single-player modes.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U
Candy also has a trophy in both Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. The trophy description mentions that Funky Kong has a crush on her as well as Donkey Kong, something which is not mentioned in any of the other games. In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, the trophy is unlocked by clearing the The Jungle in Chaos event and having Falco unlocked.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Candy Kong also makes an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an Advanced-class support spirit, depicting her DK: Jungle Climber artwork. Her spirit battle uses a red palette swap of Bayonetta equipped with a Banana Gun on Kongo Falls, with her spirit offering increased stats at critical health. In World of Light, the spirit is located in the DK Island sub-world of The Light Realm, specifically in the spot that represents Candy's Save Point on the Kongo Jungle map in Donkey Kong Country.

Super Mario Odyssey
A store named "Candy's Cafe" appears in New Donk City from Super Mario Odyssey.

Physical description
Candy Kong's design was changed throughout her appearances, although she is consistently shown to be a tall Kong with blonde hair just beyond shoulder length and a blue eye color. For many years, Candy was the only Kong who wore makeup, up until Tiny Kong's redesign in Diddy Kong Racing DS.

In Donkey Kong Country, Candy's clothing consists of a pink one-piece maillot and a pink bow with white polka dots. Her eye shadow was pink, and her hair was shoulder-length, had a short fringe with curls on the sides, similar to Dixie Kong's current hairstyle. Candy also lacks her pink nail polish, but has an exposed belly section like the other Kongs, and her neck is entirely exposed. This was the design used for Candy's cameo in Donkey Kong Country 3's Game Boy Advance version.

In Donkey Kong 64, Candy had the same physical features as her future appearances, apart from the exposed neck and belly sections, but wore different clothing. She wore a pink crop top with her name written on it in purple writing and pink shorts with a black belt and silver buckle. Candy also wore pink and white trainers in this appearance, as well as a gold necklace. As she ran a music shop in the game, Candy wore a pair of blue headphones with a white "C" on either side, with the blue and gray attachment on the right of her belt. Candy's appearance in the 2001 Diddy Kong Pilot as well as in Paon's Donkey Kong games are more closely based on this design. The trophies in the Super Smash Bros. series are designed after Candy's appearance in DK: Jungle Climber.

In Donkey Kong Country 2's Game Boy Advance version, Candy's appearance is mostly the same as in Donkey Kong Country, but instead of her usual clothing, Candy wears a purple floor-length dress and a purple flower on the right side of her hair. She also has purple eye shadow, like in Donkey Kong 64, but lacked her pink lipstick. In the end credits, the dress is white instead.

Development
Early in the development of Donkey Kong Country, the names "Blondie Kong" and "Honey Kong" were apparently considered as alternate names for Candy Kong. Candy Kong refers to Donkey Kong as "Honey Kong" in the first Donkey Kong Country game, perhaps as a reference to her rejected potential name.

During the development of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, there were worries that the relationship of Donkey Kong and Candy Kong would clash with the relationship of Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong and detract from the game's character and clarity, so it was decided to replace her. Wrinkly Kong effectively usurps her position, running the Kong Kollege.

Personality and traits
Candy Kong usually has a fairly easygoing personality, and often uses affectionate terms to refer to the other Kongs, such as "Honey" and "Sugar." In Donkey Kong Country, she blows kisses to Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. Candy is also shown to have a keen interest in music and dance, as she owns a dance studio in the Donkey Kong Country remakes, and a music shop as well as wearing a pair of headphones and a cassette player in Donkey Kong 64. Her profile on the German Donkey Kong 64 website further reaffirms this, as well as suggesting that she puts a large amount of effort into her appearance and often trains at the fitness centre. She also is not above using her looks to her advantage, as demonstrated by her deliberately using her flirtatious nature on King K. Rool to distract him long enough for Funky Kong to deliver the coup de grace on the Kremling leader in the ending for Donkey Kong 64. Her personality was completely changed in the animated series, however, as she now had a much shorter temper and a stubbornness not usually seen in the games.

Relationships
Candy is shown to be on good terms with most of the Kong family and against the Kremlings. Candy Kong is usually mentioned in various official descriptions to be Donkey Kong's girlfriend or love interest, and often expresses this through the games by using affectionate terms to address him. The instruction booklet that came with Donkey Kong Country, her first appearance, stated that she is presumed to marry Donkey Kong someday and that she is the "banana of Donkey Kong's eye", but she does not think he is ready to settle down yet. In Donkey Kong 64, Candy has a big carpet with the form of a heart with Donkey Kong's face on it as well as a small picture of him, and in both Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong 64, Donkey Kong has a picture of her with hearts in his house. She is also shown to be actively dating him in the cartoons, though her Super Smash Bros. Brawl trophy description implies that their relationship is a rumor, and Donkey Kong is only stated to have a crush on her in her Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U trophy description. To explain Candy Kong's absence in later games, one official review of Donkey Kong Land 2 states that she broke up with Donkey Kong, although the Donkey Kong 64 manual suggests otherwise.

In the Donkey Kong Country cartoon, Candy's boss Bluster Kong is in love with her, although Candy does not retain the same feelings for Bluster, and often gets quite angry at him. Bluster Kong is also shown to be very strict on Candy and often complains about her being late for work and other small things. Funky Kong is also stated to have a crush on Candy in her Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U trophy description, something that has not been shown in any other appearance.

Quotes

 * "Hi, I'm Candy Kong and this is my Save Point!" - Donkey Kong Country
 * "If you want to save your current game, just jump into my spinning save barrel!" - Donkey Kong Country
 * "Hello guys, got anything worth saving?" - Donkey Kong Country
 * "Well, hello, Donkey. You just take it easy and let Candy tell you how she's gonna make you feel real good. Why, for just a few little old coins, you can have my musical instruments and extra Melons too." - Donkey Kong 64

Portrayals

 * Joy Tanner - Donkey Kong Country television series
 * Eveline Novakovic (1999) - Donkey Kong 64
 * Satsuki Tsuzumi (2007) - Donkey Kong Barrel Blast and DK: Jungle Climber

Donkey Kong Country

 * Instruction booklet  (page 26): "Candy Kong is the banana of Donkey Kong's eye, and one of his closest friends. Although everyone assumes that they will be married some day, Donkey Kong's just not ready to settle down yet (in Candy's opinion). Candy is also very fond of Dlddy, ard would pinch his little cheeks at every opportunity, if she had the frames of animation to do it! Donkey and Diddy will meet up with Candy often as they search for their missing bananas. When they do, Candy will give them a chance to save their progress through the game so far. All you have to do to save is jump into Candy's save barrel!"
 * Player's Guide (page 9): "Donkey Kong’s “love interest,” Candy Kong, wants to help out and has taken the initiative to set up Save Points at strategic locations throughout the island. If DK and Diddy make a stop to chat with Candy, she’ll offer to save their progress. It’s a good idea to visit Candy whenever you complete a new stage."

Donkey Kong Jungle Action Special

 * Page 18: "Candy Kong is the banana of Donkey Kong’s eye, and one of his closest friends. Although everyone assumes that they will get married some day, Donkey Kong’s just not ready to settle doen yet (in Candy’s opinion). Candy is also very fond of Diddy, and tends to pinch his little cheeks at every opportunity. Needless to say this drives the little guy crazy; he wants to be taken seriously. Candy is thrifty and saves everything she thinks might come in useful one day."

Rarewhere: DKC Trilogy Cast List
APPEARS IN: DKC 1

DK's sweetheart since early apehood and his possible future wife - though Candy takes this undying adoration in her stride, hoping he'll overcome his endless enthusiasm for adventure and general lack of table manners before even attempting to settle down. But she does have a great deal of affection for DK and his whole family, particularly Diddy and even, on occasion, miserable old Cranky, who no doubt has some choice comments to make about her dress sense when she's not around. Candy ran the Save Points in the original DKC before Wrinkly opened the doors of Kong Kollege to the public, leaving her free to return to far more worthwile [sic] pastimes like shopping and all-day sunbathing.

Donkey Kong 64

 * Instruction booklet bio from Professor Cranky Kong (page 9): "That darn Donkey has all the luck! His girl Candy waits around in her hut, always willing to offer her musical help to that undeserving son of mine and his fancy polygonal friends. Pah!"
 * Player's Guide (page 7): "Combining her two chief loves—music and money—Candy offers to sell musical instruments to the Kongs. It’s too bad she doesn’t give them lessons. If they play on the right Music Pads, however, the Kongs can trigger something special, such as the opening of a hidden door. The music scares away groups of enemies, all for the price of just one Headphone. As an added bonus, Candy offers her chums upgrades including extra melons and more Music Energy."
 * Prima Games guide (page 13): "This alluring ape is Donkey Kong's girlfiend. She's got a musical ear and a shop full of devastating instruments. Tunes from Candy's wares will knock out every Kremling in earshot. Visit her in each level. She, too, offers upgrades as the game goes on. And she'll recharge your instrument's power if you step inside her shop."
 * German website: "Everything that Tiny dreams of has come true for Candy. With her long legs, her sweet pouting lips and her silky blond hair, she makes every ape heart beat faster. But she really puts a lot of effort into her beauty. Hours of training sessions in the fitness center are an integral part of her daily schedule. Apart from that she also has considerable musical talent. The Kongs can get various musical instruments from her. After short instruction by Candy they play these with such virtuosity that they literally knock over a Kremling once in a while." "Played on special boards, the instruments develop an even greater effect. Gates open, complex mechanisms are set in motion, and even the biggest sleepyhead is catapulted from dreamland. A visit with Candy is always worthwhile, because she always recharges the power of the musical instruments absolutely free of charge, and treats her visitors to an extension for the melon strip once in a while, too."

Donkey Kong Country (Game Boy Color)

 * Instruction booklet (page 14): "Candy Kong is the banana of Donkey Kong’s eye. She’ll send DK and Diddy to bonus areas where they’ll have a chance to find extra Multiplayer games."

Donkey Kong Country (Game Boy Advance)

 * Instruction booklet (page 19): "Candy Kong is the banana of Donkey Kong's eye. She'll send DK and Diddy to her bonus areas where they'll be challenged to dance for extra items and rewards."
 * Player's Guide (page 9): "Candy Kong likes to dance almost as much as she likes a certain heroic ape. Candy has set up a dance studio in each region. You can access her dancing challenges at any of the studios or by choosing Extra from the main menu. Dance with Candy to win prizes like bananas and cameras. Each region’s dance challenges are tougher than the last region’s."
 * Prima Games guide (page 12): "Clad in a leotard and waiting for your arrival with a tapping toe, Candy Kong offers you sanctuary in her hut that doubles as a dance studio. Here (in one of the six different places) she allows you to groove with her, and if you're particularly good at keeping time to the beat, you're rewarded with items. Pay her a visit, and practice those twinkle-toed steps!"