Dixie Kong is one of the playable characters in many of the Donkey Kong games. She was created by Rareware to be the second controllable character in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. Identifiable by her pink beret and long ponytail, Dixie was one of the few female heroes in video games when concepted and instantly became a popular addition to the franchise. Her most famous attribute is the ability to slow her descent by whirling her ponytail like helicopter blades. She also uses this ponytail to lift barrels and other objects over her head.

Origins: 1995 - 1997

The girlfriend of Diddy Kong, she was just as enthusiastic of an adventurer as her boyfriend was. In Donkey Kong Country 2, Dixie and Diddy Kong had to journey to Crocodile Isle to rescue Donkey Kong from the clutches of Kaptain K. Rool. While this was seen more as Diddy's hero quest than a validation of Dixie's worthiness, the female Kong proved herself to be just as capable as her more established partner. At the conclusion of the game, K. Rool was inadvertenly blasted into the sacred Kremling source energy, clogging the flow until it built up in a massive explosion. Crocodile Isle was destroyed and it looked like the Kremlings were finished, but they returned in Donkey Kong Land, as did Crocodile Isle (briefly), to kidnap Donkey Kong yet again. Dixie set off with Diddy once again, and the end of the adventure yielded the same results as the first time, save for the fact that K. Rool's fate was more ambigious.

In Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, Dixie Kong took on the starring role. The storyline of the game revolved around vacationers Donkey and Diddy Kong going missing in the Northern Kremisphere . With no word from the duo for days as well as Kremlings suddenly appearing in the area, Dixie decided to investigate their disappearance. Upon arrival, Funky Kong advised her to take her hulking cousin Kiddy Kong with her for assistance. As it turns out, DK and Diddy were being used as the brains for KAOS, the giant cyborg that was the new Kremling ruler. K. Rool, still alive after the events of Donkey Kong Land 2, was secretly controlling KAOS from behind the scenes and had kidnapped the two Kongs in their sleep to use their cerebral energies to power the robot. Dixie and Kiddy defeated KAOS and K. Rool (under the new mad scientist persona of Baron K. Roolenstein) and liberated DK and Diddy from their mechanical prison. Dixie was now as every bit of a hero as Diddy was. She again partnered up with Kiddy in Donkey Kong Land III. When Donkey and Diddy took off to find the Lost World in a prize-packed contest without asking her to tag along, Dixie decided to try and one-up them by joining with Kiddy once again and beating them to the punch. Unfortantely, the Kremlings were also trying to find it, as was K. Rool himself. Eventually, after a final showdown with K. Rool in the Lost World, Dixie and Kiddy claimed victory in the contest.

Limbo: 1997 - 2004

Amazingly after Donkey Kong Land III, the Dixie character would go on a seven-year hiatus. Most fans thought she would return in 1999's Donkey Kong 64, but Rare decided early on in development that only characters that appeared in the original Donkey Kong Country would appear (this rule would later be broken later in the game's progress, as both Wrinkly Kong and Kremling enemies that appeared in the sequels were put in). Instead, a new character was created in Tiny Kong, the little sister of Dixie. Many fans were outraged at this decision, and Dixie's exclusion would serve as one of the biggest criticisms of the game. Learning how popular the character actually was, Rare made plans to bring her back in the Game Boy Advance title Diddy Kong Pilot .

In 2001, Dixie's likeness was made into a trophy in the GameCube fighting game Super Smash Bros. Melee, but the character never put in an actual appearance. Months later in September 2002, Rare was purchased by Microsoft and all of their Donkey Kong projects were stripped off the characters and elements in favor of characters and environments from other Rare franchises. In the case of Diddy Kong Pilot, Dixie and the others were replaced with Banjo-Kazooie series regulars. Some wondered if Nintendo and the new game developers they would put in charge of making Donkey Kong games would ever use Dixie Kong again.

The GameCube Years: 2004 - Present

Dixie finally returned in the 2004 Game Boy Advance port of Donkey Kong Country 2, which was still developed by Rare (they still had a working relationship with Nintendo to do the remodeled Game Boy Advance versions of the DKC games). After seven years of limbo, the character was introduced to a whole new generation. While DKC2 was a retelling of Dixie's first adventure, it featured several new elements. Ironically, Dixie's return also saw the return of Tiny Kong, who made a surprise cameo in a Funky Kong mini-game.

Dixie will appear in several upcoming games, finally debuting on both the GameCube and in games not developed by Rare. Donkey Konga 2 (already released in Japan) will put Dixie alongside Donkey and Diddy, as will Donkey Konga 3 (to be released in Japan in 2005). On the Game Boy Advance, Dixie will be a character in PAON 's DK King of Swing and will star in Rare's port of Donkey Kong Country 3.

Other media

Dixie was a semi-regular on the Donkey Kong Country television cartoon, where she was voiced by Louise Vallance. Here, she was often losing her pets, such as Crabby the Crab and Thermidore the Lobster. She also seemed to have a crush on Funky Kong sometimes and once brought in K. Rool's general, Klump, after K. Rool had (temporarily) fired him.

Appearances

• Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest - Super Nintendo Entertainment System (December 1995)
• Donkey Kong Land 2 - Game Boy (September 1996)
• Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! - Super Nintendo Entertainment System (November 1996)
• Donkey Kong Land III - Game Boy (September 1997)
• Donkey Kong Country 2 - Game Boy Advance (November 2004)
• Donkey Konga 2 - Nintendo GameCube (TBA 2005)
• DK King of Swing - Game Boy Advance (TBA 2005)
• Donkey Kong Country 3 - Game Boy Advance (TBA 2005)
• Donkey Konga 3 - Nintendo GameCube (TBA)