King K. Rool

For fighter info, see King K. Rool (SSBU).

King K. Rool
Official artwork of King K. Rool from Donkey Kong 64 and DK: Jungle Climber.
Universe	Donkey Kong
Debut	Donkey Kong Country (1994)
Smash Bros. appearances	Melee Brawl SSB4 Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Mario Super Sluggers (2008)
Console/platform of origin	Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Species	Kremling
Gender	Male
Place of origin	Crocodile Isle
Created by	Steve Mayles Gregg Mayles
Designed by	Steve Mayles
Article on Super Mario Wiki	King K. Rool

King K. Rool (キングクルール, King K. Rool) is the main antagonist of the Donkey Kong series. The arch-nemesis 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. 4, as well as a Mii Costume in SSB4, King K. Rool made his debut as a fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Origin

King K. Rool is the leader of the Kremling Krew, and King of the Kremlings. 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 — though he is noticeably an even goofier and more cartoonish character than Bowser is in most games that he appears in, even at his most threatening.

K. Rool is the main antagonist of most games in the Donkey Kong Country 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. Donkey and Diddy must traverse through from the jungle they call home to K. Rool's factories, and then finally challenge him on his pirate ship, the Gangplank Galleon.

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. Upon being freed, Donkey Kong uppercuts him into the ocean where he is attacked by piranhas. 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. Both of these games have secret worlds where K. Rool is fought a second time - The Lost World in Kong Quest, which hosts the Krocodile Core, the power source of Crocodile Isle, and is sunk into the sea and presumably destroyed alongside Crocodile Isle when K. Rool is launched into the Core, and Krematoa in Double Trouble, where you fight him in his sub Knautilus, before chasing his hovercraft down with the Banana Queen, who will trap him in an egg. 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). While 64 has an even more comedic tone than the already-witty Country games, K. Rool is arguably at his most intimidating in this game, with a deep, bestial voice, foreboding theme song for all cutscenes where he appears (most of which are parodies of the James Bond villain Blofeld) and a game over cutscene where his Blast-O-Matic is implied to have destroyed Donkey Kong Island — however, his final boss fight is in key with the irreverent tone of the rest of the game, with the player having to outsmart him by covering his head with the boxing ring's lights then placing banana peels for him to trip over and shrinking down to tickle his toes, followed by his ultimate defeat from Funky Kong firing a giant boot at him while Candy Kong distracts him by flirting.

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. In Mario Super Sluggers, his only appearance to date in a Mario title, he dons an Egyptian inspired outfit. In Donkey Konga, he appears as a cameo, both in the main rhythm mode where dances to Donkey Kong's music, and in a whack-a-mole-style mini-game known as "Bash K.Rool"^[sic]. 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 trophy.

Trophy

King K. Rool's trophy in Melee

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.

Donkey Kong Country (11/94)

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

King K. Rool appears as both a trophy and a sticker.

Trophy

The King K. Rool trophy is unlocked by clearing Target Smash level 4 with all characters.

King K. Rool's trophy in Brawl

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 64

Sticker

Name	Game	Effect	Fighter(s)
King K. Rool	Donkey Kong 64	AttackThrowing+029 Attack +29	All characters

King K. Rool (DK64)

In Super Smash Bros. 4

As a costume

Mii Brawlers dressed as King K. Rool.

King K. Rool is the basis for a paid downloadable Mii Costume. 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 modern designs, much like his later design in Ultimate.

Trophy

The King K. Rool trophy appears in both versions of the game.

King K. Rool's trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

King K. Rool's trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

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)

This guy is to Donkey Kong what Bowser is to Mario. This crowned Kremling has a serious attitude problem. If only he could have been one of DK's Animal Friends instead... Maybe with just a little change of heart, he still could be! On second thoughts...nope. Never gonna happen.

: Donkey Kong Country (11/1994)

: Donkey Kong 64 (12/1999)

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

As a playable character

King K. Rool, as he appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

King K. Rool appears as a newcomer in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, 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 modern 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 modern 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 costume

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

Spirits

Fighter spirit

• 

  136. King K. Rool

Primary spirits

No.	Image	Name	Type	Class	Slots	Base	Max	Base	Max	Base	Max	Ability	Series
162		Kaptain K. Rool		★★★★	2	4232	10583	2243	5609	1989	4974	No Effect	Donkey Kong Series
163		Baron K. Roolenstein		★★★	3	2933	8826	1584	4766	1349	4060	No Effect	Donkey Kong Series

Gallery

• 

  Costume of King K. Rool for the Mii Brawler

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	キングクルール, King K. Rool	—
English	King K. Rool	—
French (PAL)	King K. Rool	—
French (NTSC)	Roi K. Rool	King K. Rool
German	King K. Rool	—
Spanish	King K. Rool	—
Italian	King K. Rool	—
Chinese (Simplified)	库鲁鲁王, King K. Rool	—
Chinese (Traditional)	庫魯魯王, King K. Rool	—
Korean	킹크루루, King K. Rool	—
Dutch	King K. Rool	—
Russian	Кинг К. Роль	"К. Роль" is a wordplay with Король (king)

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.
• 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 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.
• King K. Rool's trophy in Brawl erroneously states that Kaptain K. Rool is his brother, rather than his alter-ego.