King K. Rool (SSBU)

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King K. Rool in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Donkey Kong
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Blast-O-Matic

“	King K. Rool Comes Aboard!	”
—Introduction Tagline

“	With long-distance special moves like the Blunderbuss, and counter moves like Stomach Attack, he is a versatile fighter. His Final Smash, Blast-O-Matic, was apparently a weapon created to destroy DK Island...	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

King K. Rool (キングクルール, King K. Rool) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. A long-running nemesis of Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and the rest of the Kong clan, he was the main antagonist of the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy and several subsequent games in the broader Donkey Kong series. He was announced as a newcomer alongside Simon, Richter, Chrom, and Dark Samus in the Ultimate-centric Nintendo Direct on August 8th, 2018.

Rather than being voiced by Toshihide Tsuchiya, who has voiced the character since 2007's Donkey Kong Barrel Blast, King K. Rool bellows like a real crocodile, similar to how Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Diddy Kong emit realistic animal sounds.

Attributes

NOTE: SmashWiki is not speculative. Please refrain from adding detailed data values derived from pre-release gameplay footage, such as the E3 demo. Such data (damage values, launch trajectories, frame data, etc.) are subject to change before the official release.

• K. Rool's design is based on his appearance in the original Donkey Kong Country, with his cape going down to his waist instead of stopping at his middle back and his belly being plated in golden armor. His scales are also more pronounced than in any other appearance. However, his smaller crown, shortened tail, blue gem at the front of his cape, lack of a vertical indentation on his stomach, and more expressive eyes come from Donkey Kong spinoff developer Paon's post-Donkey Kong 64 redesign of the character.
  • He also has his pirate hat as a reference to Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest akin to his alter ego, Kaptain K. Rool.
• K. Rool's idle pose resembles his idle from Donkey Kong Country.
• K. Rool dashes on all four limbs, akin to real-life alligators and crocodiles thus making him a lot more intimidating, though he performs his walk animation on two legs.
• Certain belly-based moves in King K. Rool's moveset grant armor. However, taking damage with these moves cracks his stomach armor, with K. Rool getting dazed upon it breaking completely after three armored hits. The armor regenerates when not using belly attacks.
• King K. Rool's victory theme is a flourished orchestration of the first few bars of "Gang-Plank Galleon", his boss theme from the original Donkey Kong Country.

Known moveset

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack - A sumo-esque palm strike, followed by a claw swipe, followed by a front kick.
• Forward tilt - A frontal clap, similar to Donkey Kong's forward smash.
• Up tilt - A quick uppercut.
• Down tilt - A burying stomp resembling a sumo stance.
• Dash attack - A belly-first lunge. Based on an attack from Donkey Kong Land.

Smash attacks

• Forward smash - A straight punch with a boxing glove, based on his persona from Donkey Kong 64. The boxing glove materializes on the hand that performs the punch.
• Up smash - A headbutt followed by a plank. The plank animation meteor smashes.
• Down smash - A leaping belly flop.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial - Inflates his stomach and performs a splash, similar to King Dedede's.
• Forward aerial - An aerial dropkick.
• Back aerial - An overhead punch, similar to if Ganondorf's forward aerial was performed while turning around; it will meteor smash if sweetspotted.
• Up aerial - A headbutt that goes straight upward. Does less damage if K. Rool does not have his crown.
• Down aerial - A double foot stomp; it will meteor smash if sweetspotted.

Grab attacks

• Grab - Reaches out.
• Pummel - A headbutt.
• Forward throw - Lifts the opponent over his head before slamming them into the ground, sending the opponent flying forwards.
• Back throw - Drags the opponent on the ground and throws them upwards.
• Up throw - Heaves the opponent over his head, leaps past the upper blast line, and performs an Argentine backbreaker upon landing, blasting the opponent upwards. Similar to Kirby's and Charizard's up throws.
• Down throw - Slams the opponent into the ground, burying them.

Special Moves

• Neutral special - Blunderbuss: His primary weapon from Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. K. Rool also puts on the pirate hat he wears under his "Kaptain K. Rool" persona in that game. After firing a Kannonball, the Blunderbuss can vacuum up either the Kannonball, other projectiles, or other opponents and shoot them back out at an angle.
• Side special - His crown throw from the original Donkey Kong Country. K. Rool can attack and move after the crown is thrown and it will attempt to return to him, similar to Link's Boomerang. If K. Rool does not catch the crown on its return, it will continue flying off-screen, where it will eventually return to his head. If left alone, it will disappear and reappear on his head. The crown acts as an item, so it can be picked up or pocketed for later use.
  • If the crown is dropped as an item, it will not reappear on K. Rool's head unless he picks it up himself, which also prevents the use of his crown throwing move. In item form, the crown will repeatedly respawn on the stage even if thrown offstage. K. Rool only needs to touch it in order to regain it.
  • The crown has a straight trajectory and travels a set distance, dropping to the floor as an item if K. Rool is not there to intercept it. If a solid object like a wall or a slope is in the way the crown will immediately travel back to K. Rool.
• Up special - His helicopter backpack from Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, his up special move. It is highly mobile and maneuverable, in contrast to many recoveries of similar heavyweights. The propeller has a hitbox.
• Down special - Stomach Attack: A counter move where K. Rool primes his belly with both hands, indicated by a shimmering flash and sound cue. If the opponent hits his stomach during this stance K. Rool's belly will absorb the blow and inflate, bouncing them back as a counterattack. If a projectile hits his stomach during the active counter frames, it will reflect them.
• Final Smash - Blast-O-Matic: Based on the game over screen from Donkey Kong 64. After stomping the ground and dashing into his foes, he uses his Blast-O-Matic to destroy Donkey Kong Island with his victims on it.

On-screen appearance

• Drops from the sky with his arms crossed before chuckling. His pose is based on how he appears in Donkey Konga.

Taunts

• Viciously snaps forward, similar to Bowser's side taunt.
• Slaps his belly once in amusement.
• Does a sumo-esque stomp.

Victory poses

• Flips his cape around before ending in a pose similar to his official artwork.
• Shifts his eyes left and right before ending with a triumphant pose.
• Belly flops on screen and rebounds with a backflip before successfully landing on his feet and slapping his belly with pride.

Role in World of Light

King K. Rool was among the fighters that were summoned to fight against the army of Master Hands.

King K. Rool was present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed its beams of light. He was vaporized offscreen and transformed into a spirit along with the other fighters, excluding Kirby.

Alternate costumes

Reveal trailer

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Gallery

• 

  King K. Rool's splash art.

• 

  King K. Rool's amiibo.

• 

  King K. Rool on Green Greens.

• 

  Using his Blunderbuss on Pirate Ship.

• 

  King K. Rool posing on Boxing Ring.

• 

  Villager taking out K. Rool's pocketed Crown on Tortimer Island.

• 

  Using his Stomach Attack on Snake on Magicant.

• 

  His purple and blue costumes on Prism Tower.

• 

  King K. Rool starts the battle on Kongo Falls.

• Kroolvictory1.gif

  King K. Rool's first victory pose.

• 

  King K. Rool throwing his crown at Peach, who is standing behind Toad.

• 

  King K. Rool using his helicopter backpack on Yoshi's Island.

• KRoolfinalsmash.gif

  King K. Rool using his Final Smash

Character showcase video

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Trivia

• Outside of minor cameos, Ultimate marks King K. Rool's first physical appearance in a decade, as he last appeared in 2008's Mario Super Sluggers.
• King K. Rool is the third playable Smash Bros. character to have been created outside Japan, following Diddy Kong, also created as part of the Donkey Kong Country series by the British developer Rare, and Dark Samus, who was created by the Texas-based Retro Studios.
• King K. Rool is the third of four newcomers to be announced in Ultimate that was previously featured as a Mii Fighter costume in Super Smash Bros. 4. The other three are Inkling, Chrom, and Isabelle.
• One of the poses King K. Rool strikes in his victory animations is the same one he poses in his official artwork.
• According to Masahiro Sakurai, King K. Rool's inclusion in Ultimate was a result of his popularity in the Super Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot.
• Like King Dedede and Lucina, K. Rool's name is pronounced differently between the different international versions of Ultimate. It is pronounced "King Kay-Rool" in English and "King Kruel" in Japanese.
  • This is the first time that the English name is spoken verbally in a game. The first time it was spoken verbally was in the pilot episode of the Donkey Kong Country animated series, although it was alternated with the pronunciation "King Kuh-Rool" before the pronunciation of "King Kay-Rool" was dropped entirely.
• In King K. Rool's trailer, King Dedede disguising himself as King K. Rool is similar to the Donkey Kong Country episode "Just Kidding", in which Diddy Kong and Candy Kong make Donkey Kong use a King K. Rool costume to pull a prank on Cranky on All Fool's Day, but backfire when they accidentally bring the real King K. Rool to Cranky's house and the Crystal Coconut.
• King K. Rool is the second character in the series whose Back-Air attack has a Spike/Meteor Smash hitbox, the first being Lucas.
• King K. Rool is the only character who debuted in Ultimate to be shown in multiple character reveal trailers in CGI form: he appeared in both his own and Incineroar and Ken's reveal trailer.