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For fighter info, see King K. Rool (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate).

King K. Rool (キングクルール Kingu Ku Rūru?) is the main antagonist of the Donkey Kong series, appearing in most of its games. He is the king of the Kremling Krew and the archenemy of Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. King K. Rool usually seeks to plunder the Kong Family's Banana Hoard in order to starve them to death and/or to satisfy his own love of bananas.

After making cameos as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, as well as a Mii Costume. King K. Rool finally made his debut as a fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Origin[]

King K. Rool is the ruler of the Kremling race as well as the pirate captain of the Kremling Krew. He is a sinister, boisterous, burly reptile who antagonizes Donkey Kong, much like how Bowser antagonizes Mario. However, while Bowser is generally benevolent to his minions and has wavered between ally and foe to the Mario Bros., K. Rool often mistreats and berates his minions, and is consistently presented as a threat to the Kong family's safety and way of life — aside from one instance where he teams up with them in Mario Super Sluggers, due to being impressed with their skills.

K. Rool is the main antagonist of most games in the Donkey Kong series and the archenemy of Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, making his debut in Donkey Kong Country as the final boss. In that game, he steals Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong's banana hoard for unknown reasons. Two official reasons given are either that he likes bananas, or he stole them in order to starve Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong and occupy their treehouse to be the ruler of DK island

King K. Rool made his return in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, albeit under his pirate alter-ego "Kaptain K. Rool", where he kidnaps Donkey Kong and demands the Kongs' banana hoard for ransom. In response, Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong travel to his home island, Crocodile Isle, in order to rescue Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! has K. Rool assume the alias of a mad scientist named "Baron K. Roolenstein", as well as kidnap both Donkey and Diddy in order to use them to power his robot, KAOS, in his bid to control the Northern Kremisphere. However, Dixie and her younger cousin Kiddy Kong stop these plans, and free Donkey and Diddy. In the Donkey Kong Land games, his role is much the same as in the Donkey Kong Country trilogy, owing to them being handheld counterparts to the series.

In Donkey Kong 64, he reappears in a new mechanical version of his old island, plotting to destroy DK Island with his Blast-O-Matic, but it gets damaged on arrival. He thus has Diddy, Lanky, Tiny, and Chunky captured, as well as Donkey and Diddy's banana hoard stolen again, to buy time to repair the weapon. Once the Kongs disable it, K. Rool flees, but crashes his airship on DK Island, where the final battle takes place: an extended boxing match where he goes by "King Krusha K. Rool" (with a typical champion boxer getup).

He also appears in the Paon-developed titles DK: King of Swing, DK: Jungle Climber, and Donkey Kong Barrel Blast. In these games, his design underwent some changes, the most notable of which were a smaller crown, his tail being removed entirely, and the removal of his golden breastplate in favor of a tan underbelly. He did not appear in either game of the revived Donkey Kong Country series developed by Retro Studios (Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze), and neither do the Kremlings. Instead, they have been succeeded by the Tiki Tak Tribe and the Snowmads, respectively.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee[]

King K. Rool appears as a collectible trophy.

Trophy description[]

KingK
King K. Rool
The demented head of the Kremlings and big boss in the Donkey Kong series. K. Rool is a giant, greedy glutton with a serious eye tic. While he fits the evil boss mold nicely, he's just enough of a bumbler to have gained a few fans over the years. His plan to blow up the DK Isles with his Blast-o-Matic shows how unbalanced he is.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl[]

K. Rool appears again as a collectible trophy and a sticker.

Trophy description[]

King K
King K. Rool
The supreme commander of the Kremling Krew. King K. Rool steals bananas from Donkey Kong and ends up kidnapping Diddy Kong. He is so good at playing dead that sometimes the credits even roll as he lies there, feigning defeat. His brother, Kaptain K. Rool, made an appearance in the game Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest.
  • Donkey Kong Country
  • Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast

In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U[]

K. Rool appears again as a collectible trophy. He is also included as a DLC costume for the Mii Brawler. Although the King K. Rool Hat can be worn by any type of Mii Fighter, only Mii Brawlers can wear the King K. Rool Outfit. The costume features aesthetics from K. Rool's Rare and Paon designs, much like his later design in Ultimate.

Trophy description[]

KingKRoolTrophyWiiU
King K. Rool
Whereas Mario often squares off against Bowser, Donkey Kong must fight against King K. Rool. He's a big croc with a big attitude...and a tiny crown. He probably could have been Donkey Kong's most trustworthy animal friend. Think he'll ever have a change of heart? Not likely.
Donkey Kong Country (11/1994)
Donkey Kong 64 (11/1999)

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]

As a playable character[]

King K

King K. Rool makes his playable debut in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an unlockable character and was formally announced alongside Simon, Richter, Chrom and Dark Samus during the Super Smash Bros. Direct on August 8th, 2018. According to Super Smash Bros. series creator Masahiro Sakurai, he used the Super Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot as a list of candidates to potentially include in a playable role for Ultimate. Due to King K. Rool having "received a ton of votes" on the Fighter Ballot, he was chosen to become a playable character in Ultimate. As the first character unlocked in Link's unlock tree, King K. Rool can potentially be the first character unlocked.

King K. Rool has a composite design: his bestial voice, pronounced scales and golden breastplate are from his Rare design, while his clawed fingers, smaller crown and slightly modified cape are from his Paon design. In addition to this, King K. Rool has a short tail, which can be seen as a composite between the long tail from his Rare design and the complete absence of a tail from his Paon design. However, Sakurai also admitted that K. Rool's overall size was slightly shrunken compared to his usual depictions (similarly to Ridley), which is humorously referenced at the end of his reveal trailer.

A number of King K. Rool's moves are derived from his various appearances, with most of his special moves being the prominent examples. In addition to the Blast-o-Matic being his Final Smash, K. Rool's side special move involves him throwing his crown like a boomerang as in Donkey Kong Country. His "Kaptain" and "Baron K. Roolenstein" personas are also directly referenced: the blunderbuss from Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is his neutral special move, whereas the Propellerpack from Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! is his up special move.

Aside from these references, K. Rool's breastplate also functions as more than just an aesthetic throwback: it grants passive protection during certain moves, and can function as both a counterattack and reflector via his Gut Check down special move. However, the breastplate has a set amount of durability that slowly regenerates over time and will stun K. Rool once it is fully depleted.

As a sticker[]

The King K. Rool costume for Mii Fighters reappears, albeit as unlockable content instead of downloadable content.

Trivia[]

  • While King K. Rool has a voice actor in his own series, with his current voice actor being Toshihide Tsuchiya, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate does not give King K. Rool a voice actor. Instead, Ultimate gives him realistic crocodile bellows and grunts, similar to his appearances in some Donkey Kong games, such as DK: King of Swing. The same thing happens to Donkey Kong, who is given realistic gorilla grunts instead of reusing Takashi Nagasako's voice clips from other games; Diddy Kong, who uses realistic chimpanzee screeches instead of reusing voice clips from his current voice actor Katsumi Suzuki; Bowser, who uses realistic roars instead of reusing voice clips from his current voice actor Kenny James; and Petey Piranha, who uses monstrous roars instead of reusing voice clips from his current voice actor Toru Minegishi.
  • King K. Rool is the only Donkey Kong fighter to have made a non-playable appearance in the series prior to his debut as a fighter, as he appeared as a trophy in Melee, a trophy and sticker in Brawl, and a trophy and a downloadable Mii costume in both versions of 3DS/Wii U.
  • Although King K. Rool's name is the same between Japanese and English, the announcer pronounces it differently between regions: the English version pronounces it as "King Kay Rool", while the Japanese version pronounces it "King Cruel", which is the basis of the pun on which his name is built.
  • King K. Rool is the only playable Donkey Kong character whose onscreen appearance does not involve him jumping out of a DK Barrel.
  • King K. Rool is the third character in the Super Smash Bros. series to be created outside Japan, and the second character to originate from Europe.
  • While most characters in the Japanese version omit their royal honorifics and titles (such as King or Princess) from their names, K. Rool is an exception, as he keeps the title of King in his name. In the English version, he shares this peculiarity with King Dedede.
Playable Fighters
Introduced in
Smash 64
Captain Falcon  · Donkey Kong  · Fox McCloud  · Jigglypuff  · Kirby  · Link  · Luigi  · Mario  · Ness  · Pikachu  · Samus Aran  · Yoshi
Introduced in
Meleelogo
Bowser  · Dr. Mario  · Falco Lombardi  · Ganondorf  · Ice Climbers  · Marth  · Mewtwo  · Mr. Game & Watch  · Princess Peach  · Pichu  · Roy  · Sheik  · Young Link  · Princess Zelda
Introduced in
Brawllogo
Diddy Kong  · Ike  · King Dedede  · Lucario  · Lucas  · Meta Knight  · Captain Olimar  · Pit  · Pokémon Trainer (Charizard  · Ivysaur  · Squirtle)  · R.O.B.  · Solid Snake  · Sonic the Hedgehog  · Toon Link  · Wario  · Wolf O'Donnell  · Zero Suit Samus
Introduced in
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS & Wii U
Alph  · Bayonetta  · Bowser Jr. / Koopalings  · Cloud Strife  · Corrin  · Dark Pit  · Duck Hunt  · Greninja  · Little Mac  · Lucina  · Mega Man  · Mii Fighters  · Pac-Man  · Palutena  · Robin  · Rosalina & Luma  · Ryu  · Shulk  · Villager  · Wii Fit Trainer
Introduced in
Smash Ultimate logo glow
Banjo & Kazooie  · Byleth  · Chrom  · Dark Samus  · Daisy  · Heroes  · Incineroar  · Inklings  · Isabelle  · Joker  · Kazuya Mishima  · Ken Masters  · King K. Rool  · Min Min  · Piranha Plant  · Pyra and Mythra  · Richter Belmont  · Ridley  · Sephiroth  · Simon Belmont  · Sora  · Steve and Alex / Zombie and Enderman  · Terry Bogard
DKSymbol Donkey Kong universe
Characters Donkey Kong (64  · Melee  · Brawl  · 3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)
Diddy Kong (Brawl  · 3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)
King K. Rool (Ultimate)
Side Characters Boss Giant Donkey Kong
Assist Trophy Klaptrap
Mii Fighter Costumes King K. Rool  · Dixie Kong
Background characters Cranky Kong
Stage Hazards Klaptrap  · Donkey Kong
Enemies Kritter  · Tiki Buzz
Other Funky Kong
Stages Kongo Jungle  · Kongo Falls  · Jungle Japes  · Rumble Falls  · 75m  · Jungle Hijinxs
Items Hammer  · Barrel Cannon  · Spring  · Peanut
Music List List of Music (Donkey Kong series)
Song "Gang-Plank Galleon"
Collectibles Trophies Melee Trophies  · Brawl Trophies  · 3DS Trophies  · Wii U Trophies
Stickers List of Stickers (Donkey Kong series)
Spirits List of spirits (Donkey Kong series)
Masterpiece Donkey Kong
Related universes Mario  · Yoshi  · Wario  · Wrecking Crew
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