Ever since his first appearance inDonkey Kong Countryfor the SNES, Funky Kong has embodied the cool standard to which 90s kids and single uncles have aspired. This bandana-clad bad boy started just wanting to help you out on your journey, but his adventures weren’t far behind.
In the years since Funky has slowly moseyed his way into several playable roles in games. Now, rather than making a quick buck ferrying you around, he takes the spotlight for his own, often keeping that helpful streak by making the game easier. But which games let you take control of the most fly ape this side of King Louie?
9DK: King Of Swing
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Funky had already been an established presence in the Donkey Kong games for years when DK: King of Swingfor the Game Boy Advancecame around. But this was the first time you could play as him in some form, though he was only available in the game’s Jungle Jam challenge mode.
DK: King of Swing features a rather unconventional control scheme, where you control your character’s movement largely with the shoulder buttons, swinging around on various handholds. Odd hook for a whole game? Sure. Odder than a surfer ape with sunglasses and cutoff shorts running his airline? Debatable.
8Donkey Konga 3 (Japan)
Keeping with the more niche games in the Donkey Kong series, Funky’s second playable appearance played up the obscurity. The rhythm game series Donkey Konga uses specialized bongo drum controllers, sort of like Rock Band without the band.
Funky appears as a playable character only in Donkey Konga 3 for the Nintendo GameCube, which was exclusive to Japan. Even then, you have to stick to multiplayer to play as him. Hard to say if he’s worth jumping through so many hoops just to play as him, but it’s a nice bonus for getting to smack things in rhythm with your buddies.
7Donkey Kong Barrel Blast
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The GameCube wasn’t done with its nonstandard Donkey Kong games after Donkey Konga. Sure, DK himself was already sowing his brand of chaosin the Mario Kart series, but it was only a matter of time before he got his own racing game.
That’s where Donkey Kong Barrel Blast comes in. Nintendo looked at that Bongo controller and decided hitting things was the ideal steering mechanism because that’s the controller this game uses. Funky is one part of a rather robust roster of racers in this game.
Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber
Either some players couldn’t get enough of the shoulder button controls in DK: King of Swing, or Nintendo had a very confusing focus group. That game got a Nintendo DS sequel in DK: Jungle Climber, using the same concept but adding just a bit more. That is the definition of a sequel.
Funky remains absent from the game’s story mode, but he’s thankfully playable in multiplayer. It’s a shame because the main plot involves aliens, and who would make a better first impression on an extraterrestrial race than this smooth tank-top champion?
Funky finally made the jump to the mainstream with Mario Kart Wii, which must have been vindicating after being snubbed for Mario Kart: Double Dash. Imagine losing out on a spot in a game that features Koopa and Paratroopa as separate characters. They’re different levels of cosplay at best.
But maybe this was meant to be. Mario Kart Wii introduced the trick system that would eventually become a substantial part of the series. It makes perfect sense that this stylish rogue would help usher in theage of Mario Kart stuntsand every character yelling way too much.
Mario Super Sluggers
You know the old saying. What do you do when you’ve already done everything else? Baseball. Never mind the source on that quote. Mario Super Sluggers on the Wii includes Funky in its already stacked cast of colorful compadres. But even then, he has to stick out.
Funky hits the ball with his surfboard because of course, he does. The players have to adhere to the classic baseball rules like 3 strikes and the rest, but much like the Air Bud phenomenon, there’s technically no rule that says a surfboard can’t be used as a bat.
20 years after his debut in 1994’s Donkey Kong Country, Funky finally entered the world oftraditional-ish 2D platformerswith the Nintendo Switch port of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. It took them long enough, but then again, maybe it takes exactly 20 years to figure out how to render that much pizazz.
While the game itself features Diddy, Dixie, and Cranky as helper characters with distinct abilities, the gloriously meme-ed “Funky Mode” lets you play as the man himself whose surfboard can mimic all three of them. See? You’re not disappointing your parents by becoming a surfer dude. You’re being efficient.
, the series' foray into the mobile market earned an assortment of reactions, with many apprehensive about its gacha-style systems. On the other hand, those gacha-style systems helped result in a remarkably eclectic range of playable characters, and somehow Funky is among the least surreal.
While not exactly as eye-popping as the 16-bit version of Donkey Kong Jr., Funky remains his bodacious self in Tour. Granted, the game’s touch and motion controls might make it a touch difficult to use him to his fullest potential, but true radness never comes easy.
While not present in the initial release of the Wii U’s Mario Kart 8, Funky made a rather delayed entrance after the game was ported to the Nintendo Switch asMario Kart 8 Deluxe. Showing up in the final wave of the game’s Booster Course Pass DLC, fashionably late is an understatement.
Funky is a heavyweight racer, as one might expect from his physique. But that mass probably mostly comes from his ego, and also maybe the giant surfboard he somehow lugs along with him in every kart. Respect for maintaining the brand.
