Animal Crate

Animal Crates are quite literally a prison containment for Animal Buddies. Animal Crates were a signature feature in Donkey Kong Country and it's sequels, and are found first in the very beginning level. Players are usually encouraged to release them (by jumping on the crate itself) to free the buddy and utilize them for the rest of the level. Some other animal buddies can be found in Animal Barrels.

Description
The buddy the Animal Crates hold depends on the symbol on the crate. A swordfish would indicate Enguarde the Swordfish, a snake would be Rattly the Rattlesnake, etc. Animal Crates are usually placed in areas where the buddies would be useful, for example in Gusty Glade, Rattly was used to safely cross gaps. A more general example would be practically every Enguarde crate, which eases underwater exploration by being able to defeat foes underwater.

The crates only appeared in the Donkey Kong Country trilogy. These crates were also exclusive to the first Donkey Kong Land, the latter games did not due to hardware and configuration limitations. Oddly, in Donkey Kong 64, they work as the Animal Barrels. The Animal Buddies can't be released and when a Kong jumps into it, he will transform into an Animal Buddy.

Animal Crates make their most recent appearance in Donkey Kong Country Returns but with only a Rambi crate, to open these crates the player has to ground pound on top of them or roll into them.