It's time for the Donkey Kong Challenge, a contest where DK's position of future-ruler is the prize. However, there are two problems; One, King. K.Rool has hired a martial artist named Kong Fu to act as his ringer, and two, DK has gotten out of shape from eating too many bananas!
Tropes
- Antagonist Title: You think at first the title is just a Kong pun, until you learn that's his actual name.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Kong Fu, natch.
- Convenient Eclipse: A textbook example, which allows DK to win the contest at exactly the right moment.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Kong Fu beats the out-of-shape DK silly in a straight fight, with DK only winning in the end because of the Convenient Eclipse.
- Foreshadowing: The Convenient Eclipse is established to happen early on in the episode. Similarly, when we first see the villains, they're fixing the power to get the lights in the mines back on. Another outage is how Diddy learns Kong Fu is scared of the dark.
- Graceful Loser: While K. Rool is understandably livid when his plan fails. Klump and Krusha happily follow him back to base, since K. Rool had planned to have Kong Fu replace them as his general and bodyguard respectively had the plan worked.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: There are three contests in the Challenge; A test of the body, mind, and heart. Kong Fu clearly has DK beat in Mind and Body, but it's the Test of the Heart, which DK passes by not taking advantage of Kong Fu's moment of weakness, that allows DK to prevail.
- Heroic BSoD: When he sees what Kong Fu is capable of, DK is on the verge of giving up hope of winning, knowing that he has no chance of beating Kong Fu because of his slacking off.
- Honor Before Reason: When the eclipse arrives, Kong Fu, scared of the dark, is petrified with fear. While the other Kongs urge DK to attack, he refuses to take advantage of the situation, which nets him the Test of the Heart.
- "I Am Great!" Song: Kong Fu's "I'm The Kong Fu Master" has him brag about his various accomplishments.
- Karmic Jackpot: During the Contest of the Body, an eclipse casts the island in darkness, leaving a nyctophobic Kong Fu vulnerable enough for DK to get a shot in. DK decides not to take the cheap shot, arguing that it is dishonorable to Kick Them While They Are Down. The Crystal Coconut rewards him a point for the Contest of the Heart for this.
- Lyrical Dissonance: "Don't Lose Heart" is a love ballad between DK and Candy. While Candy sings about how she has faith in him, DK's lyrics are about how hilariously beaten Kong Fu will leave him, made even funnier by how soulful his singing is.
- Misery Builds Character: Why the Challenge exists; Cranky thinks that DK will get sloppy without a serious threat to his title.
- Never My Fault: Invoked. After their latest plan fails, K. Rool outright tells Klump and Krusha that he'll find a way to pin the blame on them while they head back to base.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Zig-Zagged somewhat. Donkey Kong slacks on training for this year's Donkey Kong Challenge, assuming nobody would ever challenge him. While he wasn't wrong to think so, given that nobody had at that point, Cranky rightly points out that the Challenge exists to keep him on his toes in case somebody did. Thus, when a legitimate threat to his rule shows up in the form of Kong Fu, DK is in serious danger of losing his title due to his negligence.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Kong Fu is beating DK handily, but when the eclipse arrives and he's left frozen by his fear of the dark, K. Rool and his minions mock him for it. Thus, once the eclipse ends, Kong Fu, rightfully pissed at the Kremlings for their insults, forfeits the match, allowing DK to win the challenge by default.
- One-Shot Character: Kong Fu appears only in this episode and nowhere else.
- Pet the Dog: Cranky usually scolds DK silly whenever he messes up, but when the poor ape was having a Heroic BSoD, Cranky clearly feels bad for him after "Don't Lose Heart".
- Secret Test of Character: The Contest of the Heart seems to act as this, DK winning a point for not attacking Kong Fu in a helpless state to win the Contest of the Body.
- Stating the Simple Solution: For the Contest of the Mind, Cranky asks how many pieces of string does it take to reach the moon. DK guesses "one gazillion, three hundred and forty-two million, seven hundred, and sixty-five." Kong Fu guesses that only one is fine if it were long enough. Kong Fu wins the challenge.
- Swiss-Cheese Security: Diddy is able to waltz right into K. Rool's lair because nobody was standing guard. K. Rool was busy making an announcement about making Kong Fu his new General and bodyguard after his victory in The Donkey Kong Challenge.
- Total Eclipse of the Plot: Diddy tries to schedule DK and Kong Fu's duel at the time an eclipse will take place and trigger the Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy's fear of darkness. Like most eclipses in real life, it only lasts a few minutes.
- We Have Become Complacent: The Donkey Kong Challenge was designed to keep Donkey Kong on his toes, and to prove that he will be a good ruler when he finally takes over. Of course, no one has ever actually challenged DK, since he's the biggest, strongest ape on Kongo Bongo, and as a result, he's been slacking on training for it that year. This bites him in the ass when Kong Fu is hired as K. Rool's proxy.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Kong Fu is a martial arts master who could outthink and out-fight Donkey Kong from every direction... and he's afraid of the dark. Cue Convenient Eclipse.
