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. He is the main antagonist of the early Donkey Kong Country games and has a long-running rivalry with Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. 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 have 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, though he performs his walk animation on two legs.

• He uses various moves from his appearances in the Donkey Kong Country games:

Ground Attacks

• A sumo-esque palm strike followed by a claw swipe, similar to Bowser's neutral attack.
• A quick uppercut, presumably his up tilt.
• A burying stomp resembling a sumo stance. presumably his down tilt or down smash.
• A belly-first lunge with armor, presumably his dash attack. Based on an attack from Donkey Kong Land.

Smash Attacks

• One of his boxing gloves from Donkey Kong 64, which appears to be his forward smash. The boxing glove materializes on the hand that performs the punch.
• A burying stomp resembling a sumo stance. presumably his down tilt or down smash.

Aerial Attacks

• A belly flop neutral aerial where K. Rool inflates his stomach, similar to King Dedede's.
• An aerial dropkick forward aerial, similar to Bowser's back aerial.
• An overhead punch back aerial, similar to if Ganondorf's forward aerial was performed while turning around. Does a huge amount of damage.
• A headbutt up aerial that goes straight upward.
• A stomping down aerial, similar to Ganondorf's. Probably spikes.

Throws

• An up throw where K. Rool 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. Does 16%.
• A back throw where K. Rool drags the opponent on the ground and throws them upwards.

Special Moves

• His crown throw from the original Donkey Kong Country, presumably his side special move. 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.
• His Blunderbuss from Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, presumably his neutral special move. 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.
• His helicopter backpack from Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, presumably his up special move. It is similar to Snake's Cypher.
• Stomach Attack, which involves K. Rool inflating his belly as a counterattack, presumably his down special move. Based on certain enemies from the Donkey Kong Country series being invulnerable from certain attacks, most noticeably the Klump and Krusha-type enemies.

Taunts & Idle Animations

• A taunt where K. Rool viciously snaps forward, similar to Bowser's side taunt.
• A taunt where K. Rool does a sumo-esque stomp.
• A taunt where K. Rool slaps his belly once in amusement.
• An idle where K. Rool points at himself and smiles.
• An on-screen appearance involving him dropping from the sky with his arms crossed before chuckling. His pose is based on how he appears in Donkey Konga.
• A victory pose where he flips his cape around before ending in a pose similar to his official artwork.
• 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.

Reveal trailer

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Gallery

• 

  King K. Rool's splash art.

• 

  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.

Character showcase video

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Trivia

• Outside of minor cameos, Ultimate marks King K. Rool's first physical appearance in a decade. He previously 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.
  • In addition, during the ending of the August 8 Nintendo Direct, Sakurai's office was shown quaking and the quakes gradually increasing with louder footfalls as Sakurai was "signing off" the program, foreshadowing King K. Rool's announcement as a playable character in Ultimate.