Extra Life Balloon

Extra Life Balloons are collectible and quite useful items in the Donkey Kong Country series. When a Kong gets one, they will get up to three extra lives, depending on the color of the balloon, from most to least common: They are usually found in secret places in levels or rewards for winning bonus games. In Donkey Kong Country Returns, they are also on sale in Cranky Kong's Shop. One balloon cost the Kongs three Banana Coins, three cost seven banana coins, and seven cost fifteen Banana Coins.
 * Red balloons are worth one life
 * Green are worth two extra lives
 * Blue balloons, the rarest, will give the player three.

The face on the balloon varies per game (see gallery below). In Donkey Kong Country Returns, the balloons do not have a face. In the first two Donkey Kong Land games, they had the same balloon designs as their DKC counterparts. Oddly, Donkey Kong Land III features Diddy's face on the balloons, despite the fact that he doesn't appear in the game. The Donkey Kong Land series only features the red variety of balloons, due to lack of color. DKCR also features only red balloons. Green Balloons return in Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, but instead of granting the player two lives, they can be purchased from Cranky's shop, and are used to automatically recover from a pitfall without losing a life.