King K. Rool

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

King K. Rool
File:KRool DK64.png King K. Rool's artwork from Donkey Kong 64.
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 a character from the Donkey Kong series. The arch-nemesis of Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, King K. Rool usually seeks to pillage the Kong Family's Banana Hoard in order to starve them to death and/or to satiate 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

Official artwork of King K. Rool from DK: Jungle Climber. This appearance inspired his trophy's design in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. 4, and elements of it are used as part of his Super Smash Bros. Ultimate design.

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.

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.

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 the latter 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 trophy.

Trophy

King K. Rool 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 trophy in Brawl.

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^[sic], 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	Characters
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 Paon designs, much like his later design in Ultimate.

Trophy

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

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

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

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.
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 (11/1999)

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 capacity 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 clearest 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

• 

  King K. Rool as a Mii Brawler costume

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.
• 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 SSB4.
• 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.
• Sub-universes applied, King K. Rool is one of the four Mario fighters not to have amiibos based on them in the Super Mario amiibo lineup, the others being Piranha Plant, Bowser Jr. and Dr. Mario.
• 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 description in SSB4 states that he could have been a friend to Donkey Kong if he underwent a change of heart, but deems the event not likely. Perhaps coincidentally, Joker's gameplay reveal trailer shows him stealing K. Rool's crown; in Persona 5, Joker changes the hearts of people by stealing their respective treasures. Following this, King K. Rool appears in Banjo & Kazooie's reveal trailer and, as an apparent callback to Joker's thievery of his crown, appears to have reformed: the beginning shows him sleeping peacefully in Donkey Kong's treehouse alongside a lazing DK and Diddy Kong, and he, DK and Diddy celebrate alongside each other when Banjo & Kazooie are fully revealed.
• Out of all the Mario sub-universe fighters, King K. Rool has appeared in Mario games the least, as his only appearance is in Mario Super Sluggers as of 2008. Coincidentally, this game is also his last non-Smash appearance.