Remember my change of plans? Well, of all characters, here comes one of the most surprising candidates for Pure Good. It's the fan favorite of the franchise, Funky Kong!
What's The Work?
The Donkey Kong franchise is the beginning of Nintendo's status as THE icon in video game history (along with the Mario franchise). It originally started with an ape named Donkey Kong (the original Donkey Kong, who is now known as Cranky Kong) who fought against Mario to secure his capture of Pauline from him, then got a sequel, where his son saves him from being caged by Mario, and then another where he makes bugs attack Stanley the Bugman's flowers. The franchise only had Game & Watch entries and NES ports in lieu of the Mario franchise. That changed during 1994 during the days of the SNES, where Cranky's grandson, the new Donkey Kong was featured, along with his nephew Diddy Kong, where the franchise was redefined as a group of apes and monkeys called the Kongs fighting against villains that threaten their bananas or even their entire island (usually King K. Rool, but in later games, he was omitted in exchange for new villains like Tiki Tong and Lord Fredrik).
Who Is He?
Funky Kong is a major protagonist in the Donkey Kong franchise. While he mostly plays supporting roles related to transportation, he becomes very admirable in a specific game I'm talking about.
Admirable Standards?
Three words. Donkey Kong 64. Sure, he mostly played a supporting role there (although he was even more helpful than usual by helping the Kongs by giving them actual weapons that help them in their journey), but at the end of the game, he ends up being the one to defeat K. Rool. And Donkey Kong 64 is the crowned crocodile's most heinous appearance, as he threatened the survival of the entirety of DK Island.
There's also Funky Mode from Tropical Freeze, where he does seemingly save DK Island from the Snowmads, but that's not canon, because at the end of Funky Mode, the cutscene still shows Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, and Cranky Kong celebrating, with no Funky Kong involved. This may seem like it goes against my point that he passes the admirable standards, but it supports my argument that he doesn't have much canon screentime compared to the other Kongs. This makes the fact that he was the one to defeat K. Rool in his most heinous appearance even more admirable and makes him pass even compared to the Banana Queen, who may have defeated K. Rool in DKC3 with minimal screentime, but that wasn't his most heinous appearance in the entire franchise. In fact, none of his actions in DKC3 are baseline passing.
Corrupting Factors?
Yeah, no, he's not the worst when it comes to Nintendo businessmen (remember that there's one that instantly kills you for shoplifting in Link's Awakening), but that's not important. He can insult you pretty badly if you don't have enough coins to pay for his flights in DKC2, but it can be argued as mostly a business persona. Even if that's a possible corrupting factor, he doesn't insult you anymore in Tropical Freeze when you don't have enough coins to pay for the items in his shop.
Speaking of Tropical Freeze, remember how I said that Funky Mode isn't canon because his actions were not accounted for in the ending cutscene of Tropical Freeze? This also applies to his "arrogant" moments towards the bosses of the game. Sure, he may seem like he has a hubris towards the bosses of Tropical Freeze, but saying Funky Mode is canon is like saying Amy Rose helped Sonic stop Eggman from taking over the world during the Angel Island incident, so this corrupting factor does not count.
Final Verdict
It's your choice as always, but for me, it's an easy yes for being the one to ultimately defeat King K. Rool in DK64, which was the Kremling King's most heinous appearance and Funky Mode not being canon. Didn't have to write that much because I felt it was easy to get a lot of my points across.
Not playing a guessing game this time, but I finally have an idea for my next candidate! It's Longclaw from the Sonic Cinematic Universe. All I have to say about that candidate for now is that she's literally DEAD by the time the Sonic Movies' events occurred, which means she couldn't do as much as the main cast.