Expresso

Expresso is an Animal Friend in the Donkey Kong franchise, and he first appears in Donkey Kong Country. Expresso is an ostrich who can run fast and glide distances by flapping his wings. Expresso has the appearance of a normal male ostrich, complete with black and white feathers, and he wears only a pair of sports sneakers. Expresso's name is a portmanteau of "express" and "," a type of coffee drink.

Donkey Kong Country
In Donkey Kong Country, Expresso only appears in four levels: Temple Tempest, Orang-utan Gang, Ice Age Alley, and Misty Mine. Expresso cannot defeat enemies by jumping on them, and attempting to do so even causes him to take damage. Expresso is unaffected by Klaptraps, which pass through his long legs.

Like most other Animal Friends (except Squawks), Expresso has his own Token Bonus Area, named Expresso Bonus! in the Game Boy Advance version. It is automatically accessed by obtaining three Expresso Tokens. In Expresso Bonus!, the player controls only Expresso, who must collect as many mini Expresso Tokens within the time limit. At the end, an extra life is received for every 100 mini Expresso Tokens collected.

In Donkey Kong Country for the Game Boy Color, one of the Alphabet graphics, printable from the Game Boy Printer, depicts Expresso holding the letter N. There is also another of Expresso holding an Ñ, but it otherwise has the same depiction.

Donkey Kong Land
Expresso makes his second appearance in Donkey Kong Land as one of the two Animal Friends, the other one being Rambi. Like Donkey Kong Country, Expresso also appears in four levels — Deck Trek, Mountain Mayhem, Landslide Leap, Collapsing Clouds — though is mostly just featured within Bonus Levels. Expresso has largely the same abilities as in Donkey Kong Country, although he can now defeat enemies, including Zingers, by jumping on them. {{br|left}

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, a golden statue of Expresso appears in the background of the Monkey Museum.

Donkey Kong Racing (canceled)
A stampede of Expressos appears at the start of the trailer for the canceled Nintendo GameCube game, Donkey Kong Racing.

Donkey Kong Country 2 (Game Boy Advance)
Expresso was given a substantial role in the Game Boy Advance remake of Donkey Kong Country 2, as the starring and titular character of the minigame, Expresso's Racing. Prior to the game's events, Cranky Kong uses the "vast fortune" he made from his "starring role" in Donkey Kong Country to buy Expresso as a pet. Both Cranky and his pet Expresso are at Cranky's Hut, although the gold Expresso statue no longer appears in the background of the location.

Cranky wishes to raise Expresso as a racing bird, although his Expresso is too small and weak. Cranky requests Diddy and Dixie Kong to find and obtain a golden feather in every level. The golden feathers enhance Expresso's stats for the Expresso's Racing challenges. Each golden feather increases a bar of Expresso's Power, Speed, Acceleration, or Boost. Expresso progressively gets larger for every golden feather the Kongs apply to him. If Expresso gets first place in Expresso's Racing, he wins a gold trophy.

When the Kongs and Expresso obtain all six trophies, Cranky rewards them with a photograph of himself for the Scrapbook. A photograph of Expresso can be obtained from Animal Antics, and in doing so, Expresso's photograph appears under the thirteenth page of the Scrapbook.

Banjo-Pilot
An Expresso appears in the Banjo-Pilot course, Jinxy's Dunes, as a leftover from the Plain Pursuit stage from the 2003 build of Diddy Kong Pilot. In either version, if a character flies into the Expresso, their plane is briefly knocked out.

Donkey Kong in: Banana Day 24
In the German Club Nintendo magazine comic "Donkey Kong in: Banana Day 24," Diddy and Dixie Kong are briefly seen riding Expresso to an airport.

Picross NP
Expresso appears in Picross NP Vol. 8 as one of the images that must be cleared.

Super Smash Bros. series
Expresso has a trophy in both Super Smash Bros. Brawl and later Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. He is also a spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
In the Donkey Kong Adventure story of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Expresso makes a cameo appearance as one of Rabbid Cranky's Boombow weapons, the Expresso Atomizer. The weapon is described as officially licensed Expresso the Ostrich merchandise. The description also mentions that it has double for authenticity, referencing how bird legs are composed of two intermediary articulations, although they only have one kneecap for each leg.

Super Mario Odyssey
A street name in New Donk City from Super Mario Odyssey is "Expresso Street". One of the store signs on the side of the buildings reads "Expresso Espresso".

Trivia

 * Cranky Kong references Expresso in the Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest instruction booklet by saying, "A more tragic looking bunch of useless no-hopers you'll never see! I liked Expresso and Winky--where have they gone?", as well as in the Donkey Kong 64 instruction booklet with, "I just hope they've included poor old Winky and Expresso this time instead of that bone-brained rhino that always seems to get in the games."
 * In the original Donkey Kong Country, the sound effect for when Expresso hits an enemy is the same as that of a Mini-Necky being defeated.