Tiki Tong
| Tiki Tong | |
|---|---|
 Artwork from Super Nintendo World | |
| Species | Tiki |
| First appearance | Donkey Kong Country Returns (2010) |
| Latest appearance | Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (2025) |
- “Keep your eyes open for the big boss, Tiki Tong, ya hear? That bongo-brained bozo can hypnotize ya. One look into his eyes'll have ya squawkin' like parrot!”
- —Cranky Kong, Super Nintendo World[1]
Tiki Tong is the main antagonist of Donkey Kong Country Returns and its Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch ports. He is the eighth and final boss of the game, residing in the Tiki Tong Tower inside the Volcano and fought during the level Tiki Tong Terror. Tiki Tong is the leader of the Tiki Tak Tribe, who take over Donkey Kong Island and hypnotize animals to steal all of its bananas. Tiki Tong's existence is kept secret from the player for the vast majority of the game, as he does not appear in the game's opening cutscene like other major members of the Tiki Tak Tribe and the transition for being defeated in levels of the Volcano uses a question mark in place of Tiki Tong's silhouette until he is encountered for the first time.
Tiki Tong is a large head-like Tiki bearing a resemblance to a drum. He has a serrated mouth with the bottom mandible having orange paint in addition to a purple stripe along the bottom. He has a flat nose and a pair of huge, spherical and uneven eyes that have red pupils with black sclera. His right eye has the same orange and purple paint seen on his bottom mandible with pointed eyelids while his left eye is bare with normal eyelids. The former is notably larger, similarly to King K. Rool. Tiki Tong has red markings around his eyes and has three red leaves where his "ears" are. He wears a wooden crown with the outer ring having purple paint with orange triangular markings on the front. He also has pair of hands that he made his commanders out of with orange and purple paint on the backsides. As seen in the image gallery, the hands were originally going to have four digits.
History[edit]
Donkey Kong Country Returns[edit]
Tiki Tong appears inside the Tiki Tong Tower, lowering into view after the player arrives. The other high ranking members of the tribe pick up bundles of bananas from a large pile within the Tower. Tiki Tong opens his head and the other members throw the bananas inside. Once full, Tiki Tong closes the head and spins around to blend them all, then opens his mouth to pour the resulting juice onto the other Tikis. After being coated in the substance, four of them form a clump, three of them form another clump, and each clump turns into a hand for Tiki Tong. Tiki Tong engages the Kongs in battle. This takes place against a multicolored space within the tower. No other members of the Tiki Tak Tribe spectate, as they normally do.
Tiki Tong initially attacks with his hands, but they explode into bananas after taking enough damage. Without the hands, Tiki Tong continues to fight with his head. Once defeated, Tiki Tong explodes into more bananas, with enough force to launch the Kongs into space. DK and Diddy soon fall back down but knock the moon down to the island, which lands on the tower and shoves it back into the volcano. Shortly after, the volcano erupts bananas, which sends the moon flying back into orbit. With the defeat of the Tiki Tak Tribe, the effects of the hypnosis on the island's animals are undone.
When Tiki Tong has both hands, he generally performs three attacks:
- Laying his hands flat in the air and quickly sweep them across the stage. This can be avoided by simply ducking. During this attack, the palms of his hands can face up or down. If the hands face up, a Heart may appear on one of them. Even if there is a heart, the Kongs should not attempt to jump on the hands. If they do, Tiki Tong will close his hands, squishing Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. If the hands face down, however, jumping on them will cause damage to Tiki Tong.
- Slamming his hands on the floor. Sometimes, he quickly removes his hands, but other times, he leaves them there for a longer period of time, leaving an opportunity to deal damage to the exposed back of the hand. Tiki Tong may also only attack with one hand, instead of both.
- Moving his hands to both sides of the stage, and then quickly clap them together. If Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are caught in the middle, they will take damage. This can be avoided by jumping over either hand before Tiki Tong moves them. Whenever he does an attack, a flash of light appears from the buttons on his hands.
When his hands are hit twice, regardless if it was the same hand twice or once on each hand, he does the same attacks, except much faster. He can also fake out a hand slam or a clap, laughing for a few seconds before resuming the attack, except the attack happens almost instantly, leaving very little time to avoid the attack.
When Tiki Tong loses both his hands, he attacks by slamming his head into the ground, causing shockwaves. This will reveal his weakness: the button on his head. When it is damaged once, he can swoop his head down, which can be dodged by ducking. He can also send out four Flaming Tiki Buzzes that will chase the Kongs. When it is damaged once more, he can rain down Flaming Tiki Buzzes.
Tiki Tong's mode of combat makes him a hands and head boss. During Tiki Tong’s first phase, Donkey Kong must step on the red button on the hands when it slams them on the stage. After each hand is damaged twice, they will be destroyed. During the second phase, the Kongs must jump on the button-like weak spot on top of Tiki Tong's head to cause it damage. After Tiki Tong is damaged three more times, he is defeated. Unlike all the other boss fights, the Tiki Tak Tribe members do not spectate during the Tiki Tong battle.
If the player defeats Tiki Tong with only Diddy Kong, he is sent into space, but unlike with Donkey Kong, he panics and desperately tries to save himself from crashing into the moon using his Barrel Jet. It malfunctions however and Diddy flies into the moon and bangs his head on it, making it fall onto the volcano like usual. He falls down to the ground unconscious, but DK catches him in his arms before the duo celebrate their victory.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U[edit]
Tiki Tong appears as a Donkey Kong series trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. It is unlocked by purchasing it from the trophy shop.
Profiles and statistics[edit]
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U[edit]
| Trophy Tiki Tong | ||
| ||
| Category: Series Related | ||
( ) Appears in:Wii Donkey Kong Country Returns (11/2010) 3DS Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (05/2013) | ||
| () Trophy Box: 19: Donkey Kong Country Returns
| ||
| How to unlock: Purchase at the Trophy Shop. | ||
| In the scorching hot lava of the Volcano area, Tiki Tong waits for Donkey Kong to arrive. It may look like he's enjoying a nice banana snack, but really he's just preparing his next attack: spitting banana juice on the Tikis! That's gross. Gotta get over how nasty that is, though, as the soaked Tikis join with Tiki Tong to attick—I mean attack! (American English) | ||
| In the lava-filled Volcano region awaits Tiki Tong, the leader of the Tiki Tak Tribe. He liquefies a whole pile of bananas into goo, and then – instead of eating it – spits it all over his minions and fuses them to him! Ew! The Kongs'll have to hold off on complaining about how disgusting it all is – taking Tiki Tong out takes prioritiki. (British English) | ||
Gallery[edit]
Model of Tiki Tong
Model of Tiki Tong with his hands
Tiki Tong along with his commanders
The battle's first phase
The hand sweep attack
Tiki Tong slamming his hands into the ground.
Tiki Tong claps his hands together.
Tiki Tong loses one of his hands.
The battle's second phase
Tiki Tong exposes his weak spot.
Tiki Tong releases a bunch of Flaming Tiki Buzzes.
Tiki Tong dives down in attempt to ram into the Kongs.
Tiki Tong is defeated.
Tiki Tong's silhouette for when the Kongs lose a life in the Volcano's levels following his reveal.
A statue of Tiki Tong
Super Nintendo World
Super Nintendo World
Super Nintendo World
Super Nintendo World
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Names in other languages[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ティキトング[?] Tiki Tongu |
Tiki Tong | |
| German | Großer Tiki[?] | Great Tiki | |
| Italian | Tiki Tong[?] | - | |
| Spanish | Tiki Tong[?] | - |
Notes[edit]
- The background music for Tiki Tong's battle battle is "Tiki Tong Song". It is one of three songs for boss battles that can be unlocked for the game's music gallery, the others being "Savory Stu" for Stu and "Mangoruby Rush" for Mangoruby.
- The sound clip of Tiki Tong's laughter is used throughout the level Meltdown Mayhem in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, though it was slightly changed to sound more like Lord Fredrik, the main antagonist of the forementioned game.
References[edit]
- ^ Universal Studios Japan Official (December 9, 2024). 【Mine Cart Madness - Cranky Kong’s Message】. YouTube (English). Retrieved December 12, 2024.
