K-O-N-G Letters

"Keep an eye out for those Kong letters! They might be worth something!"

- Cranky Kong

K-O-N-G Letters are found in every level of the Donkey Kong Country series. They also appear in DK Jungle Climber.

Description
These letters would spell out "KONG", the species of monkeys in the games. There were four in every level, in order from K through G, and in most games, when all are found, the player is rewarded with a free Extra Life Balloon. In Donkey Kong Land, they instead allow the player to save the game. These letters are found often right along the way through the level, though some require a timed jump or some other obstacle to get. K-O-N-G Letters are entirely optional, as they do not affect the game's % complete, but are a nice bonus. The letters also serve as a way to show the player how far he or she has gotten in a level, given the "O" letter is usually located halfway through the level, and the "G" is near the end. Similar letters of the K-O-N-G letters sometimes appear in Bonus Levels in the original Donkey Kong Country. These mini-games required the player to jump and collect the letters in a certain order, to spell something. For example, the first bonus level of Vulture Culture, of Vine Valley, the letters would spell out "RARE" (a reference to the company, Rare, Ltd.). A few more letters were used in different mini-games, though the game appears to have the entire alphabet left in the game's coding, despite certain letters not being utilized. The spare letters were likely left for reference for the developers.

In the level Kong Krazy in Donkey Kong Land, there are many K-O-N-G letters instead of the typical four, which are used as platforms (except for the very last four at the end of the level). These platforms are needed to progress through the level, although typically not all the letters are needed.

In Donkey Kong Country Returns, K-O-N-G letters are now mandatory for completion percentage, only counting if all four are collected in one run of the level. Collecting all the letters in a world unlocks the -K level and completing all the -K levels unlocks world 9; the letters are not found in these levels.

In Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, K-O-N-G letters operate the same as in Returns. In addition, blue variants appear in Hard Mode, and collecting all four of them also counts towards completion percentage.