Diddy Kong

Diddy Kong (, Diddy Kong), often shortened to Diddy, is the secondary main protagonist of the series and a recurring character in the  series. He debuted in Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. He was created by Rare and has starred in many other titles, such as , also for the SNES. He also has his very own racing games, ' for the Nintendo 64, and its Nintendo DS remake sequel '. He is Donkey Kong's best friend, sidekick and surrogate nephew, and is known for his fast speed, incredible agility, high jumps, great strength and super climbing.

Origin
Originally, Diddy Kong was conceived by Rare as a redesign of Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong's son from the original incarnation of the Donkey Kong franchise who had already starred in his own game, and had proven popular enough to spawn a cereal and segment on the variety cartoon series Saturday Supercade, but Nintendo felt the new design was too different from the original. They advised Rare to either change the design back or make this new design an entirely new character, to which Rare opted for the latter, deciding on the name "Diddy Kong", derived from "diddy", a British slang term meaning either "fool" or "small". Nintendo would continue to use Donkey Kong Jr. in titles such as the Game & Watch Gallery and Mario Tennis franchises, and 1994's Donkey Kong, while Rare used Diddy Kong in their Donkey Kong titles for the duration of the two companies' partnership. Diddy Kong is a young monkey who is Donkey Kong's best friend and sidekick (stated by some sources in the late 1990's to be his nephew, likely as a play on the term "I'll be a monkey's uncle") in the Donkey Kong series, although he has held protagonist roles on two occasions. He wears a red cap and a red shirt, with a star pattern being present on his shirt since Donkey Kong Country 2, and a Nintendo logo printed on his cap starting in Donkey Kong 64 (though this design element would be absent in games published by other companies, such as the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series). He has a girlfriend named Dixie Kong.

In Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong hires Diddy to guard the Kongs' banana hoard from the Kremlings who might want to steal it. Overhearing this, King K. Rool sends an attack on Diddy, who is tossed in a barrel and thrown into the bushes. Donkey Kong soon finds and frees him, and the two set out on an adventure to get their bananas back. In the game, the player could switch between Diddy Kong or Donkey Kong. As long as either Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong were alive, a life would not be lost when hit, though the player character would run off, forcing the player to switch to the other Kong (or in the case of 2-player modes, forcing the other player to tag in as the other Kong). The missing teammate could then be retrieved by breaking open a DK Barrel, similar to the one Diddy was initially trapped in. Compared to Donkey Kong, Diddy was more agile, but in return was not able to defeat certain large enemies like Krusha. At some point, Donkey Kong and Diddy make a bet with Cranky Kong that they can't do their original adventure again on weaker hardware, which leads the the events of Donkey Kong Land.

Prior to the events of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, the Kremling Krew, led by Kaptain K. Rool, captured Donkey Kong and took him to Crocodile Isle. Diddy calls upon Dixie Kong and they go after the Kremlings, eventually defeating Kaptain K. Rool in his Flying Krock airship and rescuing Donkey Kong. In Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble, Donkey Kong and Diddy later get captured again on a fishing trip and get contained within the robot, ostensibly the new leader of the Kremlings but in reality controlled by K. Rool under his Baron K. Roolenstein persona. Dixie and Kiddy Kong end up rescuing both. Diddy continues to be a valuable partner to Donkey Kong, especially as a member of the DK crew in Donkey Kong 64 and a pseudo-powerup in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.

In Diddy Kong Racing, Diddy Kong would go on another adventure without Donkey Kong; rather than established characters from the Donkey Kong Country series, this game used an original cast of characters created by Rare, notably including Banjo and, who would later star in their own series. In the story of the game, Diddy is called to help by his friend Timber in order to defeat the evil alien Wizpig in a series of racing competitions and prevent him from taking over his island. A remake was released for the Nintendo DS, once again developed by Rare, but Conker and Banjo were replaced by Dixie Kong and Tiny Kong respectively due to Microsoft's acquisition of Rare from a few years earlier, as well as Conker's transition into an adult-themed character.

Following Microsoft's acquisition of Rare, Diddy has also become a recurring cast member in many pieces of spin-off media, replacing Donkey Kong Jr., including various entries in the Mario Kart, Mario Party, and sports series, as well as The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and has been featured in a variety of snack food and toy merchandise lines alongside Mario characters.

In Super Smash Bros.
Diddy Kong is briefly mentioned in 's biography.

In an official poll held on Smabura-Ken (the game's official Japanese website) regarding characters for a potential sequel to the first game, Diddy Kong placed 16th with 15 votes, tied with Sukapon.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee
Diddy Kong is briefly mentioned in Dixie Kong's trophy description. Also, he is mentioned in the DK Rap, which plays on the stage. However, despite his prominence within the Donkey Kong series as the secondary main protagonist, he lacks a trophy of his own.

As a playable character
Diddy Kong debuts as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, available to play as from the beginning, accompanying Donkey Kong as representatives of the Donkey Kong francise. He uses many unique special attacks, such as his Rocketbarrel Boost, and Peanut Popgun attacks, both of which are used in his Final Smash, the Rocketbarrel Barrage. His small size and power, combined with the use of weaponry offer a completely different fighting style than, despite their alleged familial relation. Due to the strategic use of his banana peels, great combo potential, great speed, great agility, great acrobatics, great jump, great strength, and an overall impressive amount of tournament wins, he is currently in 4th position on the official tier list.

According to Masahiro Sakurai, Diddy Kong was initially planned to be teamed with Dixie Kong, where the two could swap out with each other in the midst of battle, emulating their tagging out mechanic in Donkey Kong Country 2. However, when Sakurai ran into technical difficulties in implementing the idea, he scrapped it, as well as scrapping Dixie Kong as a playable fighter, leaving Diddy Kong as a solo fighter and the lone new playable Donkey Kong fighter.

Trophy
Diddy Kong has a trophy that is awarded each time is completed with Diddy Kong on any difficulty.

As a playable character
Diddy Kong returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4, once again available from the start. His reveal corresponded with the US release of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. His design is based on his appearances in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. His limbs stretch farther in his attacks, significantly improving his reach. Although he was already a top tier character in Brawl, he was heavily buffed with his KOing moves being strengthened and has gained many options to deal with his opponents, but at the cost of his move being significantly nerfed.

Notably and infamously, Diddy Kong dominated the competitive play of SSB4 for the first six months following the game's release. Diddy Kong was easy to use and had quick and powerful attacks, alongside effective combos to rack up damage and KOs, including his infamous down throw to up air combo (christened the name "Hoo-Hah" by competitive players). However, as of patch 1.0.6 that was released on April 15, 2015, Diddy Kong received major nerfs to the damage and knockback of several of his most frequently used moves, causing his overall tournament usage to decline.

Yet, regardless of the above, Diddy Kong ranks 3rd on the current tier list, placing him in the S tier. He still retains his fantastic mobility, and a strong combo game thanks to his generally low knockback, quick frame data, and long reach despite his small size. He also has a few usable finishers, such as his smash attacks and Monkey Flip. His biggest flaw, however, is his recovery: Rocketbarrel Blast. He is required to charge it up to gain any decent distance, leaving him incredibly open to edge-guarding, and the rocket barrels themselves can be detached by any attack, leaving him helpless. Despite his heavy nerfs in updates, Diddy Kong's positives still remain notable, still allowing for excellent tournament representation and results, with his current tier placement possibly being a result of nerfs to other top-tier characters after he himself had been nerfed, such as and, allowing him to rise above them.

As a playable character
Diddy Kong returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, though he is unlockable for the first time in the series. He has a new Final Smash, Hyper Rocketbarrel.

Trivia

 * Unlike in most Donkey Kong games and Mario spin-offs, where Diddy Kong has a cartoonish voice, voiced by, the Super Smash Bros. series has Diddy Kong using realistic chimpanzee screeches. This also applies to Bowser, with realistic roars instead of , Bowser's current voice actor in most Mario games, Petey Piranha, who is giving monstrous roars instead of , Petey’s current voice actor in the Mario games, Donkey Kong, who uses realistic gorilla roars instead of using voice clips from his current voice actor , and King K. Rool, who uses realistic crocodile grunts instead of his current voice actor in the Donkey Kong games,.
 * More specifically, Diddy's voice clips in the Smash Bros. series are sampled from the commonly used "Chimpanzee Screeche PE026201" stock sound effect.
 * Being a Rare creation, Diddy Kong is the first playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series who was created outside of Japan; instead, he was created in the United Kingdom.
 * In addition, he is the first playable character hailing from a Nintendo-created universe to have been created by an external company. He would later be joined by Dark Pit (created by Project Sora), Dark Samus (created by Retro Studios), and King K. Rool (also created by Rare).
 * Diddy Kong is one of only two characters in the Smash Bros. series to have placed at the very top of the tier list and then later lose that position (the other being Sheik), having been at the top of the second SSB4 tier list.
 * Diddy Kong is the only Donkey Kong fighter to never have played an antagonistic role.
 * Diddy Kong is the first fighter to wear a piece of clothing that has a real-life brand on it, preceding Terry.
 * Despite not making a physical appearance until Brawl, Diddy Kong has at least been mentioned in every Super Smash Bros. game to date. In Super Smash Bros. 64, he was mentioned in Donkey Kong's character description, while in Melee he was mentioned in Dixie Kong's trophy description.