King K. Rool

King K. Rool (, King K. Rool) is the main antagonist of the series. The arch-nemesis of Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, King K. Rool usually seeks to plunder the 's in order to starve them to death and/or to satisfy his own love of s.

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, and King of the s. 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 , 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  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 , 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.  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,, in his bid to control the Northern Kremisphere. However, Dixie and her younger cousin 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  games, his role is much the same as in the Donkey Kong Country trilogy, owing to them being handheld counterparts to the series.

In , 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 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 ', ', and . 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 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 (' and '), and neither do the Kremlings. Instead, they have been succeeded by the and the, respectively.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee
King K. Rool appears as a trophy.

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.

As a costume
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, only s 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.

As a playable character
King K. Rool appears as a newcomer in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and was formally announced alongside, , and  during the Super Smash Bros. Direct on August 8th, 2018. According to  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 '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 being his Final Smash, K. Rool's side special move involves him throwing his crown like a boomerang as in . His "Kaptain" and "Baron K. Roolenstein" personas are also directly referenced: the from ' is his neutral special move, whereas the  from ' 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 s 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, 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 . The same thing happens to Donkey Kong, who is given realistic gorilla grunts instead of reusing 's voice clips from other games; Diddy Kong, who uses realistic chimpanzee screeches instead of reusing voice clips from his current voice actor ; Bowser, who uses realistic roars instead of reusing voice clips from his current voice actor ; and Petey Piranha, who uses monstrous roars instead of reusing voice clips from his current voice actor.
 * 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.