Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング, Donkī Kongu) is a brown gorilla and a recurring character in the Mario series, but is the main protagonist in his own series. The motif of Donkey Kong has been carried by two characters. The original Donkey Kong debuted as a villain in the self-titled Donkey Kong, where he kidnapped Mario's girlfriend, Pauline; it was later stablished to be Cranky Kong. The grandson of this Donkey Kong later take on the motiff for his own Donkey Kong Country series, where he protects DK Island and his banana hoard alongside his nephew and best friend Diddy Kong from certain meneces like the Kremling Krew and their evil leader King K. Rool. Unlike Cranky, he mostly appears to be on friendly terms with Mario. He is a playable newcomer character in Super Smash Flash 2.

Character description
Donkey Kong's grandfather made his first debut in the Donkey Kong for the arcade in 1981. Here, he was the antagonist who held Mario's girlfriend, Pauline, captive over a construction building. Mario had to make his way to the top of the tower to rescue Pauline from Donkey Kong. He would later return in Donkey Kong Jr. which saw his young son rescuing him from Mario. He would once again be featured in Donkey Kong 3 which saw him go up against Stanley the Bugman.

After this, Donkey Kong seemed to be largely forgotten in the video game industry aside from remakes of the arcade classic, until Rareware released Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo, which depicted Donkey Kong's first appearance fighting against his arch-enemy King K. Rool. Donkey Kong Country was such a massive success that it helped the SNES take the lead in the 16-bit console war. The series was followed by two sequels in which Donkey Kong was, surprisingly, not playable due to being replaced by Dixie Kong.

However, Donkey Kong would be featured in Super Smash Bros. which marked his first appearance in a fighting game. He would then finally be featured once again as a playable character in Donkey Kong 64 for the Nintendo 64. He would then be featured in Super Smash Bros. Melee before starring in the Donkey Konga series and Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat.

While he has switched between appearing as a protagonist and as an antagonist, Donkey Kong has never truly been "evil" and he remains a part of the Mario universe appearing in many of the Mario spinoff games. Donkey Kong also appeared as a baby in Yoshi's Island DS; and in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games as Mario's rival.

In Super Smash Flash 2
Donkey Kong makes his debut in the Super Smash Flash series. He was the last newcomer announced in the original trailer, and could only be seen at the very end, after the credits, though his appearance is now different from the one seen in the trailer. His moveset is similar to the one in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. His sprite design is based on his appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl along with voice clips from said game. He is ranked 11th of B+ tier on the current tier list.

Trivia

 * Despite being a regular character in the Super Smash Bros. games, Donkey Kong is absent from the first Super Smash Flash, this was due to him not having any available sprites online at the time the game was being created. Yoshi, Ness, Marth, Falco, Peach and Bowser are also absent for the same reasons.