King K. Rool (SSBU)

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. King K. Rool is classified as fighter #67.

Instead of using the voice of 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.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches, with King K. Rool being the 16th character to be unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Link, being the first character in his unlock tree.
• Have King K. Rool join the player's party in World of Light.

With the exception of the third method, King K. Rool must then be defeated on Jungle Japes.

Attributes

King K. Rool is a character that, despite his archetype, is quite different from some of his heavyweight peers in many aspects. King K Rool has powerful punishes with average framedata, a great recovery, and other valuable tools with a gameplan that focuses on him capitalizing on mistakes.

He has several efficient projectiles; the Blunderbuss is useful for edgeguarding purposes and throws out a cannonball that can be sucked back in and aimed in a few directions, and Crownerang covers a large distance and grants him super armor in the beginning frames of the move. His recovery goes a remarkable distance for a heavy and is hard to intercept vertically due to its respectable hitbox, and he has some early percentage combos to rack up damage.

One of his advantages that allows him to win more exchanges than he would normally is that his belly armor can block incoming attacks as long as they are not too powerful, with it being more reliable on some moves than others. However, if he takes repetitive blows to his armor, he will enter a pseudo shield break and be rendered helpless until the belly recovers, which is avoidable by using moves that cover less of his armor. Overall, the mechanic helps his approach and defense heavily, even with the downsides.

King K Rool has potent ground and aerial offense and approach, including his grab game which is also very powerful: at higher percents, his down throw can lead up to guaranteed tilts, aerials, or possibly even smash attacks depending on mash. He also has two meteor smashes with down aerial and back aerial, the former of which is actually quite fast, yet weak.

However, King K. Rool has his helpful benefits come at a cost. His slightly below average speed spells trouble for him in certain matchups, and can make him easier to zone than others. Contributing to this, he is the 2nd heaviest character in the game, he is easily comboable, and he has difficulty escaping certain situations because of his large size. King K. Rool has a counter named Gut Check, but this is not particularly very powerful or useful for him, only works from when a move makes contact with his belly, and has long ending frames, making it situational. Whilst his recovery is good, it is still exploitable horizontally. In general, just like how he capitalizes heavily on mistakes, he has to make sure he does not land up in ones himself.

At the local and regional levels King K. Rool has seen moderate success and plenty potential, but how he will pan out in the future meta is currently unknown.

Moveset

• K. Rool has a large and tall hurtbox while standing, walking, and jumping. However, he dashes on all four limbs, akin to real-life alligators and crocodiles, which makes his hurtbox smaller.
• Certain belly-based moves in King K. Rool's moveset (forward tilt, dash attack, up smash, down smash, neutral aerial, up aerial, down aerial, and side taunt) grant super armor. Each move grants varying durations of this Belly Super Armor. However, taking damage with these moves cracks his stomach armor, with K. Rool getting dazed upon it breaking completely after sustaining too much damage. The armor has 14.01 HP, but since the incoming damage is split 50/50 between K. Rool and his belly, it is practically 28.02 HP. It regenerates at 0.08 every 16 frames (about 0.3 per second) when not using belly attacks. Attacks that hit K. Rool's belly super armor make a loud, distinct clanging sound as an audio cue.

• King 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.
  • When using his neutral special, he also dons his pirate hat as a reference to Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest akin to his alter ego, Kaptain K. Rool.
  • When using his up special, he equips his propeller backpack that is seen in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! where he goes by his other alter ego, Baron K. Roolenstein.
• K. Rool's idle pose resembles his idle from Donkey Kong Country.
• K. Rool is a super heavyweight with slow mobility and average falling speed.
• 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.

Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			2.5%	A three hit combo consisting of a sumo-esque palm strike (comes out on frame 4), a claw swipe (frame 3), then a front kick (frame 5). The first hit can jab reset.
			2.5%
			7%
Forward tilt			13% (sweetspot), 11% (sourspot)	A frontal clap, similar to Donkey Kong's forward smash. Gains Belly Super Armor when he rears back to clap. Sends at a semi-spike angle and is decently fast for its power (comes out on frame 12), KOing at 107% at the edge of Final Destination.
Up tilt			11.5% (early), 8.1% (middle), 6.8% (late)	An uppercut. Has a wide hitbox, covering the front of K. Rool, and starts low enough to reach prone enemies. Almost as fast as his neutral attack. Loses power the longer it is out, with the sweetspot dealing diagonal knockback, and the sourspot dealing mostly vertical knockback. Like his forward tilt, it is decently fast for its power (comes out on frame 5).
Down tilt			8% (bury), 13% (non-burying), 7% (quake)	A delayed sumo-esque stomp. K. Rool's foot buries grounded opponents, though it cannot do damage to an already-buried enemy. Much stronger on aerial opponents, and can KO at 104% at the edge of Final Destination. The stomp causes a shockwave near his foot, which deals weak vertical knockback to nearby opponents. Starts with the non-bury hitbox on Frame 13, before the bury comes out at Frame 14.
Dash attack			15%, 11% (late)	A belly-first lunge based on an attack from Donkey Kong Land. It covers a good distance and has good start-up (comes out on frame 7), but has very high ending lag, and deals less damage later into the attack. Has Belly Super Armor and can KO, allowing it to tank opposing hits as a risky approach. KOs at 102% at the edge of Final Destination.
Forward smash	↗		19.9% (sweetspot), 17.3% (close)	Dons a boxing glove, referencing his "King Krusha K. Rool" persona from Donkey Kong 64, and throws a strong, straight punch. The sweetspot is located at the boxing glove. Can be angled and deals more damage if angled up or down. It is somewhat slow with a short-lasting hitbox (comes out on frame 19), but is extremely powerful, KOing at 53% at the edge of Final Destination.
	→		19% (sweetspot), 16.5% (close)
	↘		19.5% (sweetspot), 16.9% (close)
Up smash			15.3% (headbutt), 8.1% (late headbutt), 10% (plank); 3% (meteor smash)	A quick upward headbutt followed by a comical plank. The headbutt has a small hitbox, but has very fast start-up (frame 6) and can KO from medium to high percents. The plank comes out much later and has a bigger hitbox, but deals less damage and knockback, making it suited for covering the headbutt. It can essentially act as a faster, weaker forward smash. The plank animation weakly meteor smashes opponents, though this is ineffective for edgeguarding due to its low knockback. Each hitbox is situated on K. Rool's head and body respectively, meaning it can miss entirely in certain situations. Additionally, the move has extremely high ending lag. The headbutt and plank KO at 100% and 162% at the edge of Final Destination, respectively. This move has Belly Super Armor shortly after K. Rool hops and before he flops onto the ground.
Down smash			18.3%, 4.1% (quake)	A leaping belly flop, which causes a quake. Has Belly Super Armor during the leap, and deals heavy shield damage. As K. Rool physically leaves the ground when using the move, his hitbox gets shifted into the air, allowing it to dodge ground or belly-level attacks to deal a hard punish. It is extremely powerful, being one of the strongest down smashes in the game, KOing at 50% at the edge of Final Destination. However, the move is very laggy overall, with its strongest hitbox coming out on frame 22. The quake is extremely weak, making its use limited.
Neutral aerial			12%, 8% (late)	Inflates his stomach and performs a splash. Very fast (comes out on frame 7), acts as a sex kick and has Belly Super Armor, making it excellent for contesting with aerials or approaching.
Forward aerial			14% (full hop), 12% (sourspot)	A dropkick, similar to Bowser's back aerial. Its sweetspot is at K. Rool's feet. Also acts as a sex kick, allowing it to be used for approaching or edgeguarding. The sweetspot KOs at around 100% near the edge of Final Destination. Hitbox comes out on frame 11.
Back aerial			19% (sweetspot), 14.5% (sourspot)	Turns around and does a delayed downward punch behind him, similar to Mario's forward aerial. It is very slow (comes out on frame 18), but it powerfully meteor smashes opponents if K. Rool's fist hits. It has noticeable landing lag.
Up aerial			14%, 10% (late)	A headbutt that goes straight upward. Causes K. Rool to float slightly, giving it more reach. It is one of K. Rool's fastest aerial attacks (comes out on frame 7), and deals less damage if hit slightly later. However, it has extremely high ending lag, preventing K. Rool from acting even if performed out of a double jump, making it risky to use offstage. The hitbox also doesn't extend beside K. Rool's head. The early hitbox KOs at around 120%. The move has Belly Super Armor while K. Rool stretches his head out, but only for a very limited period of time.
Down aerial			12% (sweetspot), 9% (sourspot)	Does a quick flip before performing a double foot stomp in a Superman pose. The hitbox is situated on K. Rool's legs. Decently fast (comes out on frame 14) and meteor smashes if sweetspotted. Has Belly Super Armor after K. Rool stretches his feet out.
Grab			—	Reaches out quickly with great range. However, his dash and pivot grabs are slower than his standing grab.
Pummel			1.6%	Headbutts the opponent.
Forward throw			10% (throw), 7% (slam)	Lifts the opponent over his head before slamming them into the ground, sending the opponent flying forwards. The slam damages nearby opponents. Decent knockback.
Back throw			11%	Drags the opponent on the ground and throws them behind him. KOs at 124% at the edge of Final Destination.
Up throw			16%	Heaves the opponent over his head, leaps high into the air, and performs an Argentine backbreaker upon landing, blasting the opponent upwards. It is the most damaging up throw in the game, but KOs late at around 180%. Stages with low upper blast lines and/or high platforms help mitigate this issue. Can follow up with up tilt or aerials at low percents. With the assistance of soft platforms, this throw is notorious for leading into Propellerpack, which is lethal with incorrect DI.
Down throw		Piledriver	5%	Lifts the opponent overhead before slamming them into the ground head-first, burying them. Has the lowest damage output of K. Rool's throws, but this is compensated by its followup potential. K. Rool's most versatile throw overall, as well as one of his most versatile tools in general. Down throw follows up to numerous moves depending on the opponent's percent, including jab, up tilt, forward tilt and up air at lower to mid percents, as well as forward and down smash at higher percents, making it useful both for racking up damage and potentially setting up very early kills (forward and down smash can kill as early as 60%). However, some followups can be avoided if the opponent mashes out (especially since the throw itself is slow and gives plenty of time to react), making its kill setups unreliable at much higher percentages, with only forward and up tilts being able to follow up at 120% and above.
Floor attack (front)			7%	Swipes his claws from back to front.
Floor attack (back)			7%	Swipes his claws from back to front.
Floor attack (trip)			5%	Swipes his claws from back to front.
Edge attack			10%	Swipes forward with one claw.
Neutral special		Blunderbuss	13% (kannonball), 12% (throw), 17% (relaunched kannonball)	Pulls out a blunderbuss and fires a Kannonball forward, while donning the pirate hat worn by his alter-ego "Kaptain K. Rool" in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. Only one Kannonball can be in play at one time. After a Kannonball is fired, the special button can be held to use the blunderbuss's vacuum function, sucking in nearby enemies or the Kannonball itself (though the move will eventually cancel after several seconds). K. Rool can drop through soft platforms while vacuuming with his blunderbuss, and he also can move left and right as well while airborne. Once it sucks something in, K. Rool will immediately launch it out at a slight angle upward in front or behind him, or directly upwards, depending on the held direction. The blunderbuss "throw" KOs at 100% near the edge of Final Destination, though it deals lower knockback upwards or if reversed. A launched Fighter or re-lanched Kannonball is capable of KOing as early as 70%, with the Kannonball lingering while doing minor damage after the first hit. These factors make it a great ledge trapping tool, aiding his kit overall.
Side special		Crownerang	9% (projectile), 7% (returning), 10.3% (thrown item), 10.8% (smash thrown item), 7.7% (z-dropped item)	Takes off his crown and flings it forward, similar to Boomerang. Has normal, non-belly armor while K. Rool is throwing his crown. Deals less damage when returning. Unlike Boomerang, it cannot be smash thrown. The crown will attempt to return to K. Rool while flying, though it will slowly lose altitude. Only one crown can be thrown at once. If K. Rool fails to catch it, the crown will drop as an item for anyone else to use, and will reappear on his head after 12 seconds or if K. Rool touches it again (does not count if the crown hits him as a thrown item, or if the crown is from another K. Rool).
Up special		Propellerpack	3% (propellers)	Equips the Propellerpack and flies upward. Even for a heavyweight, this recovery covers an excellent amount of distance, allowing K. Rool to fly from one end of Final Destination to the other, though changing direction is difficult. Upon reaching peak height for a moment, K. Rool will slowly drift down while helpless. The propellers above K. Rool deal multiple weak hits, protecting him from edgeguards while even allowing him to drag opponents to the top blast line, though this can be DI'd out of.
Down special		Gut Check	12-42% (based on damage countered)	Puffs out his stomach and retaliates against attacks. It works like a counterattack and can also reflect projectiles. However, the counter hitbox is centered on K.Rool's stomach, making the rest of his body vulnerable, much like the Melee and Brawl versions of Toad.
Final Smash		Blast-O-Matic	3% (stomp), 10% (tackle), 25% (laser)	K. Rool stomps, stunning any nearby opponents, and lunges forward while catching those in his path. If at least one opponent was caught, a cutscene plays in which K. Rool sits on his throne on Crocodile Isle before firing a massive laser from his Blast-o-Matic cannon. The laser then fires through Donkey Kong Island, destroying the island and dealing massive damage on the victims.

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. Amusingly, this taunt also uses K. Rool's Belly Super Armor.
• Does a sumo-esque stomp.

Idle poses

• Angrily bites the air.
• Slaps his belly twice and gloats happily.

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 landing on his feet and slapping his belly with his tongue sticking out.

Classic Mode: Super Heavyweight Class

All of King K. Rool's opponents are some of the heaviest characters in the game with most of them being antagonists.

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music
1	Charizard	Unova Pokémon League	Victory Road - Pokémon Ruby / Pokémon Sapphire
2	Bowser	Find Mii	King Bowser - Super Mario Bros. 3
3	King Dedede	Boxing Ring	King Dedede's Theme (Brawl)
4	Ridley	Brinstar Depths (Battlefield form)	Vs. Ridley
5	Ganondorf	Bridge of Eldin	Calamity Ganon Battle - Second Form
6	Donkey Kong	Kongo Jungle	Crocodile Cacophony
Bonus Stage
Final	Galleom	?	Boss Battle - Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Note: When fighting Charizard, its Pokémon Trainer is absent.

Role in World of Light

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

During the opening cutscene, King K. Rool was present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. He was vaporized offscreen and placed under Galeem's imprisonment along with the other fighters, excluding Kirby.

King K. Rool was one of the many fighters that fell under Dharkon's control upon Galeem's first defeat. He can be found on a ship in the Mysterious Dimension subarea, guarded by the spirit of fellow pirate, Risky Boots.

Alternate costumes

Gallery

• 

  King K. Rool's splash art.

• 

  King K. Rool's amiibo.

• 

  King K. Rool's fighter card.

• 

  On Green Greens.

• 

  Using his Blunderbuss on Pirate Ship.

• 

  Posing on Boxing Ring.

• 

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

• 

  Using Gut Check against Snake on Magicant.

• 

  His purple and blue costumes on Prism Tower.

• 

  King K. Rool starts the battle on Kongo Falls.

• Kroolvictory1.gif

  His first victory pose.

• King K. Rool Victory Pose.gif

  His second victory pose.

• Kroolvictory3.gif

  His third victory pose.

• 

  Using Crownerang on Peach, who's standing behind Toad.

• 

  Using Propellerpack on Yoshi's Island.

• KRoolfinalsmash.gif

  Using his Final Smash.

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, Lucina, and Richter, 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.
• King K. Rool is the second character in the series whose back aerial meteor smashes opponents, 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.
• During early gameplay footage released by Nintendo showing King K. Rool facing off against Snake, the announcer did not say, "wins" after saying King K. Rool's name on the victory screen. This was later fixed.
• King K. Rool is the second character in the series with the ability to counter attacks and to reflect projectiles in his default moveset, the first being Palutena.
• King K. Rool is the only character in the series with a taunt that utilizes armor.