Talk:Donkey Kong's animal buddies

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This has a bit of an interesting story behind it, following the histories and links.

1. Separate pages were set up for individual animal buddies (like Enguarde the Swordfish; check its history.)
2. People decided to merge them into Minor characters in Donkey Kong. That I can buy, but the page was not very thorough or well-put-together.
3. Someone not-so-cleverly (IMHO) decided to merge the above page into the page called Donkey Kong.
4. Someone (correctly, IMHO) recognized that the information was not relevant to the Donkey Kong character page, and removed it... leaving the info totally removed from the Wikipedia.

So, may I request right now that no one attempt to merge this with Donkey Kong? Moving/renaming/merging the page in more relevant ways doesn't bother me, but moving it to DK's character page will just cause it to be deleted again. --HeroicJay 04:26, 12 October 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 Image advice 2 Flurl, Hoofer & Orco 3 Nibbla an Animal Buddy? 4 Flapper the parrot? 5 Blue and Purple Parrots 6 Define "Animal Buddy" 7 Capital Idea 8 Something fishy 9 Clapper in DK64 10 Brothers Bear Question 11 Flapper & Squeaks 12 Yoshi 13 Rambi, Enguarde and Squawks 14 Nid 15 The Stork 16 Expresso 17 Capitalization

[edit] Image advice

I'm not really sure about the rules for official video game character images around here (the standards don't really clear it up to me); I know that other video game characters' official images have been used on the Wikipedia, but I don't want to risk pulling them from the wrong place or in the wrong way. The pictures for Rambi and Enguarde were pulled from a website that said that it was okay to use their images as far as they cared, though. I also have pictures of all other DKC1 and 2 (but not 3) buddies from the same site, but won't upload them until I'm a little more sure on the standards.) --HeroicJay 03:25, 13 October 2005 (UTC)

Yes you can upload those images as it qualifies under fair use (as long as they are official Nintendo pictures)--TBC^{??? ??? ???} 07:56, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Flurl, Hoofer & Orco

Flurl, Hoofer and Orco. Can somebody please clarify where these names are coming from? The British game manual clearly states that these characters are actually called Ressar, Mooshin and Shachee respectively. However, whenever this adjustment was made to the page (whilst it was, for some reason, a part of the 'Donkey Kong' page), it was changed back again. Now, assuming the names Flurl, Hoofer and Orco are not all the brainchild of someone who is being extremely stubborn, which seems unlikely to me, these names must be being used officially, perhaps by the American or Japanese manuals. So, any ideas? It's something that's been bothering me a little.

I can't say one way or another (never played Jungle Beat), but I checked GameFAQs; one listed them with your names, while the other listed them with the names currently on the page. PS. I hope you don't mind that I corrected what I assume was a typo in your post. --HeroicJay 20:13, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

Hey... maybe it's just an error in the British manual. After all, translations of manuals from Japanese to English have never exactly been good... (think Birdetta!)

More likely, Ressar, Mooshin, and Shachee are (more-or-less) direct translations, while Flurl, Hoofer, and Orco were invented by Nintendo of America to be more in line with the sorts of animal buddy names Rare came up with. But that's just guessing on my part. --HeroicJay 23:45, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Nibbla an Animal Buddy?

Why is Nibbla on this list? He doesn't belong here. He's an enemy, and is not even close to being an animal buddy. Can somebody please remove him?

Because he has a "No Nibbla" sign and does assist you in one level. --HeroicJay 18:15, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

He deserves a mention certainly, but I agree; he isn't an animal buddy. How about putting him at the bottom of the page under a new heading?

I could do with that (originally, he WAS at the bottom of the list; I didn't add the Jungle Beat characters because I've never played that game.) --HeroicJay 23:25, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Flapper the parrot?

I remember reading somewhere that the blue/purple color scheme for Squawks was called Flapper. If I remember correctly, this bird also behaves differently than Squawks. Am I wrong or did this character actually show up in a game with its own name? Kidicarus222 19:29, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

I've heard the name before, but don't have the slightest idea where it came from; it is never, ever used within the games themselves or their instruction manuals. Also, as the two alternate parrots are different colors (albeit slightly), it was never cleared up which of the two "Flapper" was supposed to be from the single source from which I heard the name. --HeroicJay 04:27, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Blue and Purple Parrots

Okay, really. I've looked up sprites. The blue parrot from DKC2 is not purple, and the purple parrot from DKC3 is not blue. They are different colors. Okay? --HeroicJay 09:55, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

And, while we're on the subject, while I know nothing of this "Flapper", neither one is Squawks - Squawks is green. The purple parrot is vaguely mentioned in the DKC3 manual (not by name) as being related to Squawks, which means he isn't "purple Squawks." I intentionally went out of my way to avoid that name on the page. --HeroicJay 10:00, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Define "Animal Buddy"

I realised today that Glower had been ommitted from the list, and hastily added him. Now, though, I'm not so sure he counts. After all, he doesn't introduce himself or interact with the player in any way as far as I can remember. Most people who notice him count him as an animal buddy, but when you consider that he doesn't come from a barrel or crate, and can't be controlled or rode, he sounds more like a piece of the scenery (Parry was controllable, sort of, by the way - he mimicked the Kongs). Even Nibbla had a "No Nibbla" sign, and Glower doesn't even have that, poor guy. What are the criteria for differentiating between regular supporting characters and animal buddies?

In this case, my criteria is... who the heck is Glower? {looks up what you wrote} Oooh. No problem with that, but where does the name "Glower" come from, anyway? --HeroicJay 23:43, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

I'm afraid I have to ask this again: where does the name "Glower" come from? I Googled it and can only find maybe two fansites, and quite a few Wikis (or websites that clearly plagiarize Wikis), without references. As with Flapper, I'm not sure this is sufficient. --HeroicJay 19:26, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

Oops - I have no idea where I got the name. I checked and the only source I could find was dkvine.com's "encyklopedia", a website that I don't often visit. It's got a pretty good profile of Glower, but I knew the name from before I'd even heard of the page, and I've no idea where I found it. It must have come from somewhere. I can distantly recall reading the official guide for DK64, so it may have come from there, but I have no way of checking that as I can't get hold of a copy. Other than that there's the game itself, but I don't think it's there. I did check, by the way. Sorry not to have been any more help. 4:53, 13 January 2006

No, with some work, the entry still fits, just needs a little NPOVization. Actually, I did some poking too. In addition to my Google search, I asked the people at the GameFAQs Donkey Kong 64 forum. So far, all I have is "Whoa, you mean it isn't Glimmer?" (paraphrased.) --HeroicJay 21:19, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

Done. I also rewrote parts of the Squawks guide. Now, until official sources are found, I hope this makes everyone happy. --HeroicJay 21:28, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Capital Idea

This isn't really intended as a criticism, but isn't this page's title a little over-capitalised? I'd change it, but the fact that it's a page heading makes me hesitant to do so. Is 'Animal Buddy' (sic) really a proper noun?

{looks at it} Huh. Guess I did get a little carried away with the caps. Well, it'll cause a lot of double-redirects, but as it was my fault in the first place, it's fixable. --HeroicJay 10:38, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Something fishy

What kind of fish is Nibbla?

I'm not sure. Some people say he's a Piranha, probably because of his carnivorous tendencies, but he doesn't look much like one. --HeroicJay 03:01, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Clapper in DK64

This is one of those awful, Squawks-Squeaks-Flapper, Glower the Tadpole, Ressar the squirrel-esque controversies. I was checking the edit pages and I noticed what might possibly be termed a 'minor edit argument' (as opposed to an edit war) regarding the prescence of Clapper in DK64. Perhaps people would be willing to settle diputes here. First, however, I present the truth:

Donkey Kong 64 featured several (a minimum of two) seals (seen in the opening movie) which were clearly modelled on Clapper but dressed as pirates. Later, in the Gloomy Galleon, an (as far as I can remember) unnamed seal made an appearence. He'd been locked in a cage by those Kremlings, and wanted to be freed. After freeing him, Donkey Kong was challenged to a boat race against the seal. After that, the seal sat on a wooden plank, occasionally barking and clapping, and wouldn't talk to the player any more.

So, is this Clapper? Who can say for sure? I for one believe it to be Clapper, partly because most people on the Internet seem to think so, but also partly because we've already had one seal character in Donkey Kong and adding another makes things over-complicated. Either way, however, I don't think it's true to say he appeared as an animal buddy, any more than the hare, the worm, the mermaid or the scarab were animal buddies. 07:53 16 April 2006 (UTC)

Should we say Clapper made a cameo in DK64, or just leave it? 15:19, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Brothers Bear Question

In the instruction manual to D.K.C. 3, there is a picture of the bears on one of the pages, and it looked like one of them was smoking a cigar. Is this true? (Note: I asked this question on the Donkey Kong Country 3 discussion thing, but no one ever answered me.)

Thought it was a pipe, but I don't have the image handy right now. Why does it matter anyway? --HeroicJay 04:35, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

Because it's funny!

I want to see that picture!!! 15:15, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Flapper & Squeaks

In fanon, the blue parrot from DKC2 is named Flapper, whilst the purple one from DKC3 is Squeaks. Neither of these names have been officially confirmed. They come from a quiz question in DKC3 (Who's your parrot buddy: Squawks, Squeaks or Flapper?) but they aren't as unlikely to be genuine as it might seem, as many of the wrong answers to quiz questions in Banjo-Kazooie became characters in the sequels. Obviously, that's not grounds for assuming that they are official, but is it worth mentioning that fans use those names? RobbieG 17:17, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

I've never heard "Squeaks" before. "Flapper" I've heard, and I do believe it's already on the page as a fanon name (actually, what happened was that people kept trying to make the blue and purple parrots the same and name BOTH of them "Flapper". I compromised.) And the quizzes were in DKC2. ;) --HeroicJay 17:47, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

That's odd, because I knew the name Squeaks for years, but I'd never heard of Flapper until I saw the name on this page. The above information comes from dkvine.com. Sorry about the mistake - I've never played DKC2 or 3 but for some reason I assumed Swanky's Sideshow was from DKC3, and that's where that quiz question comes from. RobbieG 15:23, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

Swanky's Sideshow was in DKC3; the quizzes were Swanky's Bonus Bananza in DKC2 (minor detail). And just to complicate the matter, dkvine.com made the same mistake that many have made here and confused the blue parrot from DKC2 with the purple one from DKC3 - apparently, whoever wrote those articles believes that both are both. I've compared sprites of the two, however, and they are clearly different colors, though close enough that anyone who didn't see them side-by-side might be confused. --HeroicJay 18:40, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Yoshi

Surely Yoshi ought to be here? I know he's not an animal buddy, but he is similar enough to them to be described as an almost animal buddy. I mean, I can see why Deathawk removed him, but Deathawk also removed the list of Mario characters. Based on that, I suspect Deathawk to be either (please forgive me if I'm wrong) someone who knows very little about the series, or one of those 'hardcore retro-gamers' who insist that the Mario and DK series should be kept separate. However, I'm pretty sure most people nowadays would assume the DK in Yoshi's Island 2 to be either baby DK or baby Cranky, rather than a Mario-exclusive character, so I think he deserves at least a passing mention. RobbieG 11:16, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

In his defense, I think that his removal of the Mario character template was a mistake. I don't have a problem with Yoshi on the page, either, actually, in the "Almost Animal Buddies" category. Poor Nibbla is all by his lonesome right now. :p --HeroicJay 20:26, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

In that case, I've put Yoshi back where he belongs, if only so that poor old Nibbla won't have to be rechristened "Larry the Fish" ;) RobbieG 20:52, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Yikes... did I do that? I'm sorry about the categories, it was a stupid mistake to make. RobbieG 07:39, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rambi, Enguarde and Squawks

I think they should all recieve their own pages as they have more than enough for one and play a huge role in the Donkey Kong series these are the only Animal buddies that at this point deserve a page. Guess who i am 05:55, 11 September 2006

I'm not sure how much material they'd get on their own pages. You can create pages for them and link to them from this page, but don't complain if they get deleted... --HeroicJay 16:47, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

I just want to wait and see what people think first Guess who i am 11:24, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

To be totally honest, I don't think there's a heck of a lot of point. After all, there isn't really all that much to say about them. They are still relatively minor characters.

That said, look at Klaptrap! I don't think there'd be a point in giving them individual articles, but go ahead if you want... I'd love to be proven wrong (in this case). RobbieG 20:56, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Nid

While it's hardly more than an unnotable edit, I figured it'd be better to discuss this instead of just removing it.

I'm not supportive of including Nibbla in this list, but I can accept it as long as its inclusion as a fan theory is made clear. However, Nid was recently added by an unregistered user, and I say that's an enemy with no eligibility to be there. I can understand why it would be included, and it just so happens that I've said myself elsewhere that "I'd rather argue for Nid being an animal buddy than Nibbla", but in this case it is not so acceptable. The true animal buddies are usually controllable characters that give the Kongs special abilities. There are several exceptions to this classing, but those exceptions are actual helpers and acknowledged as animal buddies in-game (save for Glower, but I won't touch that subject). As for "Almost animal buddies", Yoshi is very much valid, as he fits well with the true definition, Nibbla doesn't fit in with any definition, but the recurring debate that resulted from the No Nibbla-Sign at least qualifies it for a mention. Nid however... well, I'll just get to the point. If the almost animal buddy section starts including any enemy or non-Kong/Kremling/Bear character that helps out the Kongs in one way or another (which is a very big lot), the section will be very cluttered, and it will reduce the whole article from a relevant and informative article on video-game characters into a meaningless piece of fancruft. This is not "List of characters that help out Donkey Kong", it's "Donkey Kong's animal buddies", and "animal buddies" have a clear definition to seperate them from just assisting characters. I know I make a big fuss for nothing, but I wanted to get this out as a precaution. -Fearnavigatr, 27:th September 2006.

It doesn't bother me that much whether Nid stays or goes, but I thought I'd throw this out: unlike most of the animal buddies (including Nibbla to an extent), Nid doesn't generally seem to be intentionally helping the Kongs; it just jumps around and the Kongs can take advantage of it. Similar situation with the stuck-in-the-wall version of Swoopy the woodpecker (there are two types of Swoopy; one can be used as a stepping stone and the other can't be and is strictly an obstacle.) --HeroicJay 05:53, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Agreed, good point also (I could use it to argue against Nibbla, but I'll resist). I'll remove Nid then, at least until someone objects and/or provides a good reason for it to stay. - Fearnavigatr, 28:th September 2006.

In Nibbla's defense, he does follow the Kongs very deliberately (in "Fish Food Frenzy") and eats anything they get close enough to. This can be viewed as intentionally helping the Kongs, albeit not in the most selfless of ways. He doesn't eat the Kongs until his hunger gets the best of him. Nid just seems to be going about his hopping business and not caring much whether the Kongs are there or not (especially the magenta variety.) --HeroicJay 16:07, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Stork

Should the stork from Yoshi's Island DS be counted as an animal buddy. It does appear throughout the game and it's cutscenes aiding Yoshi and the babies (including Baby D.K.) -- Lord Crayak

I personally think that one's pushing it. --HeroicJay 07:01, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

I guess your right, probably shouldn't do the Kangaroo that shows up a few times in the game either. -- Lord Crayak

[edit] Expresso

I'm pretty sure that the Expresso in DKC2 Advance isn't the same one from DKC. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Lord Crayak (talk • contribs) 01:52, 8 December 2006 (UTC).

• That falls under the category of speculation as I see it. There are some oddities, but they look exactly the same and have the same name. One may as well argue that the Rhinoceros in Donkey Kong 64 isn't the same one as Rambi in Donkey Kong Country. --HeroicJay 21:03, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

But Cranky actually says that he bought this Expresso with the "large fortune" he makes in Donkey Kong Country also Cranky oddly decides to name the ostrich Expresso after hes done talking about how he got it. Plus when this ostrich is first seen it is about the size of a chicken. -- Lord Crayak

[edit] Capitalization

Are we really sure the animals should only be capitalized in name and not species? They're more like titles than references, and having the species capitalized is how they're referred to in both the manuals and official strategy guides (although that's possibly because it's in the section headings). Fearnavigatr 14:42, 26 January 2007 (UTC)