Skittler Pillar

Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, running under a row of crushing Skittler Pillars

Skittler Pillars are obstacles in Donkey Kong Country Returns and its Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch ports. They are large cuboid structures displaying a carving of a Skittler lowering on a thread. They are only encountered during Muncher Marathon.

Skittler Pillars are usually placed apart from one another. Some of them repeatedly ascend and drop down with crushing power, squashing the Kongs if they stand beneath one, while others face each other vertically, simply rising and lowering simultaneously with a gap between them. The crushing type are introduced early in the stage, shortly before the appearance of munchers, where they cause bananas to fall nearby when they hit the ground; if one of these bananas is collected, another will take its place. The spot on which a Skittler Pillar is going to strike is marked by a chipped wooden panel. Skittler Pillars cannot be destroyed.

A single, hollow Skittler Pillar containing the N Letter exists in the level. It acts the same as a crushing Skittler Pillar, but the Kongs can jump into its hollow space to obtain the letter.