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Donkey Kong


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"I've been waiting a long time for this moment. Soon, Donkey Kong and his pretty little island, will be no more."
—King K. Rool, Donkey Kong 64

King K. Rool is the main antagonist of the Donkey Kong franchise and the arch foe of Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. He is a large Kremling crocodile with a gold crown, he rules over the Kremling Krew and tries to take over Donkey Kong Island. King K. Rool attempted to steal Kong Family members along with Donkey Kong's Banana Hoard. He went by the alias of Kaptain K. Rool being pirate themed in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Land 2 while in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! and Donkey Kong Land III he went by the alias of Baron K. Roolenstein, which is mad scientist themed. Originally, K. Rool was a pirate on a Kremling Galleon that got wrecked in Krem Quay, that explains his accessory and piracy knowledge. K. Rool's "King" persona appears when he established his reign on Crocodile Isle itself and making himself feel powerful.

Profile[]

Creation and development[]

"Never expected old K.Rool to make it out of DKC, let alone turn up in #SmashBros nearly 25 years later. Maybe I should have spent a bit more than 5 minutes coming up with his slightly rubbish name."
Gregg Mayles on King K. Rool's name

During early production of Donkey Kong Country, the character that would become King. K Rool was named "Krudd".[2] Another proposed idea had the character named "King Klinker" and have him paired with a female Kremling named "Queen Krapp".[3] Later in development, "Kommander K. Rool" was considered as the character's name.[4] This planned name was given a brief nod in the fake credits during his boss fight, which mentioned him as being the "Kommander" of the game.

When asked what the K in "K. Rool" stands for, Gregg Mayles replied "Nothing! It was just a way of making him seem more important, that he'd added it to inflate his ego. In hindsight, it could have been something tonal like 'Kremling', or something deliberately out of character like Keith. What do you reckon it should stand for?"[5]

His Baron K. Roolenstein alter ego was designed by Mark Stevenson.[6]

Family[]

King K. Rool mentions having a wife in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! Specifically, after KAOS is defeated a second time, Baron K. Roolenstein appears, stating he built KAOS from his wife's best pots and pans. It is unknown if K. Rool is telling a joke, or if he actually has a wife. In a December 23, 1999 edition of the Scribes section of Rare's website, Leigh Loveday stated that K. Rool's "my wife is going to kill me" line was merely "a typically throwaway reference."[7]

In the episode "The Big Switch-A-Roo" of the Donkey Kong Country animated series, King K. Rool mentions his mother, and in "The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights" he mentions his "slithering siblings".

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, K. Rool's trophy information erroneously states that Kaptain K. Rool is the brother of King K. Rool, which lead to some fans theorizing that King K. Rool and Kaptain K. Rool are separate characters in the Japanese versions. However, Japanese material (such as the intro of the Japanese Game Boy Advance version of Donkey Kong Country 2) also portray Kaptain K. Rool as a disguise, and thus the trophy description is merely an error.

In the Japanese version of Donkey Kong 64, K. Lumsy is said to be King K. Rool's little brother.[8]

According to the Nintendo Magazine System, K. Rool is a descendant of Kremlantis' former residents.[9]

Profile[]

Physical appearance[]

King K. Rool is an extremely obese Kremling who, in older games, encases his belly in golden armor. However, in more recent games such as Mario Super Sluggers, K. Rool's belly has no gold on it and simply has a fleshy texture. His face consists of having a large, crocodile-like snout with 8 top-teeth, each one being bigger the closer they are to his nose. his 4 bottom teeth are smaller than any of his top teeth and remain the same size. His two eyes are different from each other, as his right eye is simply a cartoony-looking oval shaped eye with a dotted pupil. His left eye though is much larger and is bloodshot, giving it a much redder appearance. On top of his head, King K. Rool wears a golden crown with circular figures on the tips. His crown was much larger in the older games with much more tips, but in recent games, his crown is smaller with less tippings. He also wear's a large, red cape with a yellow pattern on it. Strangely, in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, his cape is torn. Is cape is attatched to him by a greenish-blue hexagonal gem. His wrists have golden bands on them.

Personality[]

As his name (a pun on "cruel") may imply, K. Rool is often bossing his minions through threats and intimidation, often punishing them severely when they fail. K. Rool's personality could be best described as: extremely manipulative, highly insensitive, very hateful, sadistic, baleful, cunning, wrathful, power-hungry, tyrannical, brutal, greedy, truculent, pompous and failure intolerant. Even his most powerful followers seem to fear his wrath, as displayed in Donkey Kong 64 when his subtle display of anger results in Army Dillo fainting on the spot. He doesn't seem to respect his henchmen, particularly the Kritters due to their incompetence, although he does seem to have significantly more respect for his Klaptraps and uses them to push his minions around despite them being smaller. In Mario Super Sluggers, he calls brown Kritter "the dirty under-belly of the Kremling Krew". Despite all of this, however, he and the Kritters have good chemistry with each other in Mario Super Sluggers.

K. Rool is also a somewhat dirty and dangerous fighter. He fakes defeat, often collapsing in the middle of combat and making it seem like he has been defeated, only to rise seconds later and begin fighting again.

He seems to hate the Kongs, calling them "filthy apes" and "monkey brains". Because of his greed, he doesn't treat his own soldiers better, whom sometimes appear to be loyal to him regardless.

Both Donkey Kong 64 and Super Smash Bros. Melee imply that K. Rool is somewhat insane and demented. This instability might have been shown in Donkey Kong 64 when the Kongs made it to Hideout Helm. The level intro cutscene shows K. Rool panicking and starting the countdown to fire the untested Blast-O-Matic, despite warnings that the machine could backfire, thus killing the Kremlings and K. Rool himself as well. The final battle of Donkey Kong 64 also showed him to be somewhat of a showboater, constantly showing-off and making taunting gestures, usually whenever he lands a hit on one of the Kongs.

K. Rool's greatest weakness is his own incompetence. It is very common for him to be defeated simply because he keeps making the same mistake in a fight, such as in Donkey Kong Country, when he keeps throwing his crown, allowing Donkey and Diddy to jump on his head. However, he does gain more competence later in his canonical appearances, such as when he became powerful enough to destroy an island.

The reasons for stealing DK and Diddy's Banana Hoard and kidnapping DK are not fully understood or consistent. According to Gregg Mayles (designer of Donkey Kong Country and the Banjo-Kazooie series) on Rareware.com's former "scribes" column, K. Rool's motivation for stealing the Banana Hoard is that he wants Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong to starve to death so that he can occupy their treehouse, though why he wishes to do so is even less fully understood since a small treehouse is nothing in comparison to his numerous lairs and hideouts (although it could be an example of his deep insanity), or the true reason could be is that he wishes to occupy the treehouse as an example of his conquest over Donkey Kong (the current ruler of Donkey Kong Island) and he now considers himself its new ruler by residing in the treehouse. Since Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest he seems to be motivated to destroy all Kongs and their island as revenge for what they did to his island kingdom of Crocodile Isle.

Gregg Mayles also states that K. Rool simply just likes bananas, whilst this is backed up by the manual of the first game stating the Kremlings wanted the Bananas as food, this explanation is later contradicted in DK: Jungle Climber, where K. Rool claims he despises bananas. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Viridi also believes that he and the rest of the Kremlings enjoy eating bananas just as much as the Kong family but given that Super Smash Bros. as a whole is non-canon, the legitimacy of this remains in question.

As of now, Nintendo themselves have not made any comment on the subject. But it is possible K. Rool originally liked Bananas, but came to hate them due to his numerous defeats to the Kong family.

Despite his cruel ways, King K. Kool does have some respect for the Kongs, saying their baseball skills are impressive, and he is also willing to team up or play with them.

Strangely, K. Rool appears to no longer speak using words in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Instead, he communicates through roars and animalistic grunts though he still retains most of his arrogant, boastful demeanor. Additionally, he now prominently uses his overweight shape and bulkiness as a weapon in battling as many of his attacks involve ramming his opponents with his stomach, which is aided by his body armor.

Aliases[]

King[]

King K. Rool's most common form, the King form which is used on all of the games he appears in except for Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble, Donkey Kong Land 2, Donkey Kong Land III, Diddy Kong Pilot where he takes on the forms, Kaptain and Mad Scientist. He has a red cape and a sharp crown in his King form.

Pirate[]

King K. Rool's second form is as a pirate where he is referred to Kaptain K. Rool. Him, along with many of his minions, are dressed up like pirates. He appears as this form in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Land 2. In this form, King K. Rool has a brown cloak on, a black pirate hat, a cannon shooting cannonballs, and a belt with a skull in it. Kaptain K. Rool uses the cannon as a weapon in the game. His name is derived from the word captain which is replaced by a K, explaining that K. Rool is a Kremling.

Mad Scientist[]

King K. Rool's third form is a mad scientist and he is referred to Baron K. Roolenstein. He has black wig, a jetpack with helicopter blades, and a white lab coat. He also has black gloves on. He mainly uses his jetpack as a weapon. King K. Rool takes on this form in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! and Donkey Kong Land III. This name comes from a famous monster, Frankenstein.

Boxer[]

King K. Rool's fourth and most recent form is a boxer, naming himself King Krusha K. Rool, and acts as the final boss of Donkey Kong 64. However, this is the only instance where King K. Rool is introduced as himself in the beginning of the game, only to change into this form during the final boss.

Aviator (unreleased)[]

King K. Rool's planned fifth form is an aviator where he is referred to Kamikaze K. Rool (unofficial). He has brown jacket, a black hat with goggles. He appears as this form in unreleased Diddy Kong Pilot.

Mario Super Sluggers[]

K. Rool's first appearance in a Super Mario game is in Mario Super Sluggers. He can only play as a team player, and is, ironically, on Donkey Kong's team, despite the fact that he hates DK and the Kongs. The explanation for this is that he was impressed with their skills, and said he's only going to team up when they're playing baseball. In Challenge Mode, he will try to stop Mario and the gang in Donkey Kong's stage by using his green, red, blue, and brown Kritters to challenge them. When the player wins, he will be unlocked, as well as all 4 Kritters. They join the hero's to take down Bowser Jr. and save baseball island.

K. Rool is one of the most powerful batters in the entire game (tied with Bowser and Petey Piranha). Of course he's the strongest right-handed batter in the game; Bowser and Petey Piranha are left-handed batters. His pitching is also a bit above average. But K. Rool is at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to fielding (tied with the Purple Toad), and he is one of the slowest runners in the game (tied with the Red Magikoopa). He also has extremely poor stamina, but he does manage to make more good pitches than Petey Piranha, whose stamina is much worse.

K. Rool himself has great chemistry with all four Kritters and King Boo. But he happens to have bad chemistry with the Kongs (for obvious reasons), as well as Bowser (possibly because they consider themselves rival kings). He uses his scepter with a large gem to bat, and has a brand new pharaoh-like clothing style that only appears in this game. The artwork of King K. Rool shows him striking the same pose as in his DK: Jungle Climber artwork. Additionally, unlike the Kongs, he and his Kritter minions do not speak in animal noises in Challenge Mode.

Super Mario Odyssey[]

A minor reference to King K. Rool is made in Super Mario Odyssey, as a street in New Donk City is named "KROOL St."

Super Smash Bros. series[]

A trophy of King K. Rool can also be obtained in Super Smash Bros. Melee, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, one of the names that appears when players press the "Random Name" button when naming their custom stage is KROOL. He also appears as a sticker, which grants a large throwing boost to all characters.

One of the downloadable costumes for the Mii Fighters in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS is based off King K. Rool.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]

King K. Rool makes his debut as a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Outside minor cameos, this marks his first physical appearance in a decade since Mario Super Sluggers. Many of his moveset is based on his attacks from previous Donkey Kong games (such as throwing his crown like in Donkey Kong Country, utilizing his blunderbuss and copter-pack from Donkey Kong Country 2 and Donkey Kong Country 3 respectively, throwing punches with his boxing glove from Donkey Kong 64, etc). For his final smash, he boards his mechanical island from Donkey Kong 64 and then uses the Blast-O-Matic to blast his opponents and destroy Donkey Kong Island in the process.

K. Rool also appears as three Spirits based on his forms through the series. His regular spirit is obtained by clearing his Classic Mode campaign. Kaptain K. Rool appears as a legendary class primary attack type, who's Spirit Battle is a Stamina Battle against K. Rool with increased power to his Blunderbuss and he has the ability to temporarily become invisible. Baron K. Roolenstein is an ace class primary shield type, exclusive to being summoned from the cores of Dr. Crygor, Kritter, and The Creature & Flea Man.


Classic Mode route[]

King K. Rool's Classic Mode route has him fight against some of the heaviest characters in the game, including his arch-nemesis Donkey Kong and fellow Super Mario villain Bowser. The title of the route uses boxing terminology, referencing the final fight of Donkey Kong 64.

Super Heavyweight Class
Round Opponent(s) Stage Song
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 RRidley Brinstar Depths (Battlefield) Vs. Ridley
5 Ganondorf Bridge of Eldin Calamity Ganon Battle - Second Form
6 Donkey Kong Kongo Jungle Crocodile Cacophony
Final [Galleom Boss Battle - Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Donkey Kong Country series[]

Donkey Kong Country[]

K. Rool makes his first appearance in Donkey Kong Country as the game's main antagonist. He is the seventh and final boss in the game. K. Rool and his gang of minions, the Kremling Krew, come to Donkey Kong Island one stormy night with the intention to steal Donkey Kong's fabled Banana Hoard. King K. Rool sent his Kremlings to steal the bananas but they encountered a little resistance from Donkey Kong's nephew and apprentice Diddy Kong, who was the only person guarding them at the time. Although Diddy put up a fight, The Kremlings capture and imprisoned him inside a DK Barrel while they steal entire supply of precious bananas. The next morning, Cranky Kong tells Donkey Kong that his hoard has been stolen and Diddy Kong was missing. DK sets out to search and is soon reunited with Diddy Kong before the pair start their adventure to get the Banana Hoard back from King K. Rool.

Finally, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong manage to reach K. Rool's ship, the Gangplank Galleon, where they face the tyrannical crocodile in battle. K. Rool tries to ram them and throw his crown like a boomerang at them three times, with him progressively throwing his crown faster after each hit. If the Kongs successfully jump on him, he tries to ram into them by running in straight lines. If hit two or three times, he runs in a straight line two or three times, and each run he dashes quicker.

If he is hit four times, he makes cannonballs fall from to sky that fall in a straight line to try to attack Donkey and Diddy. If King K. Rool fails to use his crown attack and becomes hit for the fifth and sixth time, the cannonballs fall out of the sky in a straight line two and then three times in a row after the Kongs. When K. Rool is hit seven times, the fake credits show up on the screen saying that the game was made by the Kremlings.

After the fake credits are done. King K. Rool jumps in the air and tries to stomp on the Kongs by jumping in a straight line. He then throws his crown at the Kongs. After eight and nine hits, K. Rool jumps in the air in a straight line for two and three times. Each time he jumps in the air for a second and a third time, he progressively jumps less further. After K. Rool uses his crown attack for the tenth time and the Kongs manage to attack him, he is defeated and Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong get all their yummy bananas of their precious Banana Hoard back. The cast of the game and the real credits roll in DK and Diddy's Treehouse, or at Gangplank Galleon in the Game Boy Advance remake.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest[]

Kaptain k rool 1

As Kaptain K. Rool.

"I've kidnapped that lumbering fool Donkey Kong and you will never see him again! Har-har-har-har-har!"
—Kaptain K. Rool

In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, K. Rool (under the alias of Kaptain K. Rool) manages to kidnap Donkey Kong and speed him away to the home of the Kremlings, Crocodile Isle, and demands the Banana Hoard in return for Donkey Kong. After discovering that Donkey Kong has been kidnapped, Diddy Kong and his girlfriend, Dixie Kong, rush off to save him from Kaptain K. Rool. After venturing through the swampy Crocodile Isle, Diddy and Dixie managed to reach K. Rool's Keep, where Donkey Kong was supposedly being held. Finding Donkey Kong in a tower, the Kongs were about to rescue him when he was whisked away by K. Rool (in the Game Boy Advance remake of Donkey Kong Country 2, K. Rool also sends the gigantic Kremling Kerozene to battle Diddy and Dixie).

After facing a few more obstacles, the Kongs managed to reach K. Rool's airship, the Flying Krock. Here Diddy and Dixie saw K. Rool in the midst of torturing Donkey Kong. Engaging K. Rool in battle, the Kremling king used a high-tech blunderbuss that could be used as a vacuum, also allowing K. Rool to move at high-speeds, turn invisible, fire spiked Kannonballs and strange, poisonous gases that could affect the Kongs in bizarre ways; reversing the game's controls, making the Kongs move extremely slow, and freezing them in place.

After a long battle in which the Kongs manage to do damage to K. Rool by hurling Kannonballs back into his blunderbuss - Donkey Kong manages to break free of the bonds that held him and uppercut K. Rool out the front window of the Flying Krock. Crashing into the swampy water of Krem Quay, K. Rool gets chomped by sharks. After recovering, he manages to swim ashore to the Lost World.

By collecting enough Kremkoins for Klubba, Diddy and Dixie manage to follow K. Rool into the bowels of the Lost World, into the Krocodile Kore. Here, they battled K. Rool in an ancient temple-like palace the said volcano, and once again, K. Rool is defeated when a Kannonball is hurled into his blunderbuss. This time instead of backfiring, the gun explodes, flinging K. Rool into a nearby geyser that supplied energy to Crocodile Isle. Due to K. Rool clogging the energy geyser, the pressure within it kept building up more and more until it exploded, taking the top of Crocodile Isle with it. The rest of the island sunk into the sea.

At the end of the game, a ship can be seen sailing away from the remains of the island and an ominous laugh can be heard as the ship sails over the horizon, telling the player that K. Rool survived the explosion, making way for another sequel.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, King K. Rool's trophy states that Kaptain K. Rool is actually King K. Rool's brother. However, this is regarded as a mistake by Nintendo.

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble![]

Baron K. Roolenstein.

As Baron K. Roolenstein.

"Well, you may have roasted my robot, but I'M the master chef around here, and I reckon it's about time your goose was cooked!"
—Baron K. Roolenstein

In Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, K. Rool was seemingly replaced as Master of the Kremlings by KAOS, a robotic entity. Under KAOS's rule, the Kremling Krew proceeded to take over the Northern Kremisphere and imprison the Banana Bird Queen, as well as several of her children, the Banana Birds.

Eventually, after a long search for the recently vanished Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong and her cousin Kiddy Kong reach KAOS' base-of-operations, Kastle KAOS. Entering Kastle KAOS, Dixie and Kiddy encounter and begin to battle KAOS, who was determined to destroy them.

It was only after their battle against KAOS that Dixie and Kiddy discover that KAOS was nothing but a puppet leader controlled by King K. Rool, under the moniker of Baron K. Roolenstein. After Dixie and Kiddy discover him, Baron K. Roolenstein began to battle the Kongs, using a helicopter pack on his back to fly and a remote control to send blasts of electricity across the floor of Kastle KAOS. In order to injure Baron K. Roolenstein, Dixie and Kiddy would need to pull down on a particular pipe on the ceiling of Kastle KAOS, while avoiding Baron K. Roolenstein and his electric beams. Pulling on this pipe would cause a barrel to appear, which would need to be thrown at Baron K. Roolenstein's helicopter pack; after being hit by multiple barrels, Baron K. Roolenstein would be defeated.

After Baron K. Roolenstein's defeat, the body of KAOS would drop from the ceiling of Kastle KAOS and crash into the ground. Once on the ground, KAOS' body would release Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, who had been kidnapped by Baron K. Roolenstein to be used as living batteries for KAOS.

If Dixie and Kiddy manage to collect all the cogs in Krematoa and give them to Boomer, Baron K. Roolenstein can be fought again. After Boomer's machine awakens the ancient volcano in Krematoa, a submarine, the Knautilus, will rise from beneath the volcano's lava. Inside this submarine, Baron K. Roolenstein can be found and battled. In this battle, Baron K. Roolenstein would simply remain in the back of his vessel, using electric beams and a fireball launching cannon to attack Dixie and Kiddy from a distance. In order to hurt Baron K. Roolenstein, Dixie and Kiddy would need to throw several Steel Kegs at him through the use of a chute in the ceiling. After being hit multiple times, Baron K. Roolenstein would lose control of his helicopter pack and be left spinning out of control in his submarine.

If players manage to release the Banana Bird Queen from her imprisonment behind the Banana Bird Barrier, a brief cutscene of Baron K. Roolenstein riding away from the Northern Kremisphere in a hovercraft will be shown. As Baron K. Roolenstein drives away, a giant egg, laid by the Banana Bird Queen and being ridden by Kiddy and Dixie, will fall on the Kremling king, trapping a perplexed Baron K. Roolenstein inside.

During their first encounter, Baron K. Roolenstein makes an obvious reference to Scooby Doo, in which he states, "And I'd have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you meddling kids!".

Donkey Kong 64[]

K. Rool returns in Donkey Kong 64, where K. Rool (said to have become somewhat unstable) randomly appears one day on a large Fortress. King K. Rool had planned to blow up Donkey Kong Island with a weapon called the Blast-O-Matic. Fortunately for the island's inhabitants, K. Rool's ship ends up crashing due to the incompetence of the ship's drivers. In an attempt to distract Donkey Kong while he has his ship repaired, K. Rool has several Kongs imprisoned. These are: Diddy Kong, Tiny Kong, Lanky Kong and Chunky Kong. He also steals Donkey Kong's Golden Banana Hoard.

K. Rool appears in several cutscenes with his unnamed pet Klaptrap, who he strokes similarly to the way the James Bond enemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld strokes his cat, an obvious parody. He is much larger in this game than all other games, as huge as Chunky Kong when he steps into his Hunky Chunky Barrel. Throughout the game, he, with ungodly patience, watches the Kongs progress and chastises his own minions' failures. A notable scene shows K. Rool demand that nobody leaves the Blast-O-Matic until it's repaired.

Eventually, K. Rool's henchmen succeed in repairing the the Blast-O-Matic, just as the Kongs break into Hideout Helm, and K. Rool demands that the weapon be fired, despite the warnings that if it isn't fully tested then it could explode. After the Kongs permanently shut down K. Rool's mechanical island and the Blast-O-Matic laser weapon, K. Rool tries to escape in a large airship. Unfortunately for K. Rool, the ship ends up being knocked to the ground and destroyed by a recently released K. Lumsy. Venturing inside the crashed vessel the Kongs found a boxing arena filled with spectators and K. Rool, as his boxer alias King Krusha K. Rool, ready to battle. K. Rool will create multiple shockwaves by slamming the ground, throw his gloves as a boomerang, and uppercut the Kongs after charging at them. Engaging K. Rool in a bizarre series of battles - which include blasting out of barrels into K. Rools face, dropping spot-lights on the tyrant, causing him to slip on banana peels, shrinking down and blasting his toes, and generally pummeling him - the Kongs manage to claim victory.

After Chunky Kong delivers the final blow to K. Rool, a humorous cut scene is shown in which K. Rool gets back up after the fight and is about to attack Chunky from behind, but is distracted by Candy Kong, ends up being blasted over the horizon by Funky Kong and a bazooka that shoots out a boot. When K. Rool lands, it is in K. Lumsy Island, where he meets a very unhappy K. Lumsy who proceeds to beat the Kremling king senseless in retaliation for locking him up.

K. Rool's depiction in this game changes as it goes on. He's initially depicted as cruel and merciless, and even menacing in the opening when he has a voice. However, as time goes on, especially towards the end of the game K. Rool is depicted as far more comical.

Kaptain K. Rool also makes a small cameo appearance in the game. Portraits of him can be found in some of Gloomy Galleon's sunken ships, several log cabins in Crystal Caves and in Creepy Castle's Museum.

DK: King of Swing[]

One of King K. Rool's more recent appearances was in DK: King of Swing where he once again appears as the main antagonist. In DK: King of Swing, King K. Rool steals all the medals that were supposed to be rewards in the upcoming Jungle Jam competition and crowns himself king of the jungle in the process.

As the end boss of DK: King of Swing, K. Rool must be defeated in two battles. First, he summons a huge field of pegs, which Donkey Kong must race him through. If Donkey Kong succeeds in defeating K. Rool, he will promptly stutter that "that was practice" and challenge Donkey Kong to a battle on another peg field. If Donkey Kong beats him again, K. Rool will be vanquished and the medals relinquished as Donkey Kong flies off in K. Rool's hovercraft and destroys the K. Kruizer III.

King K. Rool is also playable in DK: King of Swing's Jungle Jam mode, where he is the largest playable character and the most powerful. His partner is, oddly, Bubbles, the hero of the game Clu Clu Land. This was the first time King K. Rool was playable in a game.

Donkey Kong Barrel Blast[]

In Donkey Kong Barrel Blast, K. Rool makes an appearance as a secret playable character, riding in a vehicle resembling a rocket-powered barrel and using his claw as his attack. He is unlocked by playing Challenge 31 of Candy's Challenges, and winning; his main rival in the game is Cranky Kong. He is the only character in the game who does not ride with barrels attached to him (he rides on a TNT Barrel, but his controls are still the same).


Timeline[]

Title Description Release date System/format
Donkey Kong Country Main Antagonist, Final Boss 1994 Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Donkey Kong Land Main Antagonist, Final Boss 1995 Game Boy
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest Main Antagonist, Final Boss 1995 Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Donkey Kong Land 2 Main Antagonist, Final Boss 1996 Game Boy
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! Main Antagonist, Final Boss 1996 Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Donkey Kong Land III Main Antagonist, Final Boss 1997 Game Boy
Donkey Kong 64 Main Antagonist, Final Boss 1999 Nintendo 64
Donkey Kong Country (GBC Port) Main Antagonist, Final Boss 2000 Game Boy Color
Super Smash Bros. Melee Cameo as trophy 2001 Nintendo GameCube
Donkey Konga Non-playable character 2003 Nintendo GameCube
Donkey Kong Country (GBA Port) Main Antagonist, Final Boss 2003 Game Boy Advance
Donkey Kong Country 2 (GBA Port) Main Antagonist, Final Boss 2004 Game Boy Advance
Banjo-Pilot Playable character 2005 Game Boy Advance
DK: King of Swing Boss/unlockable playable character 2005 Game Boy Advance
Donkey Kong Country 3 (GBA Port) Main Antagonist, Final Boss 2005 Game Boy Advance
Donkey Kong Barrel Blast Unlockable playable character 2007 Wii
DK: Jungle Climber Main Antagonist, Final Boss 2007 Nintendo DS
Super Smash Bros. Brawl Cameo as trophy and sticker 2008 Wii
Mario Super Sluggers Unlockable playable character 2008 Wii
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U Cameo as trophy 2014 Nintendo 3DS, Wii U
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Unlockable playable character, spirit 2018 Nintendo Switch

Gallery[]

Hat mario To view King K. Rool's
image gallery, click here.

Trivia[]

  • His name may be an alternate form of the word “cruel.”
  • K. Rool's persona, Kaptain K. Rool, is referenced in only one other game beside Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest, albeit obscurely; in Donkey Kong 64, inside the sunken ship off to a corner, there is a book entitled "Kaptain K. Rool's Log Book".
  • Cranky Kong mentions in the Donkey Kong 64 instruction booklet that K. Rool had given up his silly disguises. While he has not seriously gone incognito since Baron K. Roolenstien, for the final fight he went by the moniker "King Krushaaaa K.Rool" as a boxer.
  • Strangely enough, King K. Rool was originally depicted with a tail. The last time he physically had it was in Donkey Kong 64 - inexplicably, it is completely missing in subsequent appearances. This may have something to do with the implied brutal injuries he suffered at the end of the game.
    • His tail is referred to in DK: Jungle Climber where he says "But you lose for being a pain in my tail."
  • According to Gregg Mayles (designer of Donkey Kong Country and the Banjo-Kazooie series) on Rareware.com's former "scribes" column, K. Rool's motivation for stealing the banana hoard is either that he wants Donkey Kong to starve to death so that he can occupy his treehouse or simply just the fact that he likes bananas. The latter explanation is contradicted in DK: Jungle Climber though, as K. Rool states he despises bananas.
  • King K. Rool was also featured as the main villain of Nintendo's 2003 version of Camp Hyrule. King K. Rool caused chaos in Camp Hyrule by creating a massive earthquake.
  • Interestingly, King K. Rool's name is pronounced two different ways during the first episode of the Donkey Kong Country television series. First, he was referred to as "King Kay-Rool" and then "King Kuh-Rool" shortly afterwards. However, after that episode, the former pronunciation was never used again.
  • Tiki Tong seems to have a few similarities with King K. Rool; they both have an eye that's different from the other, and they both have reasons for stealing Donkey Kong's banana hoard.
  • In nearly all the games in the Donkey Kong Country series, King K. Rool has been the final boss. However, in Donkey Kong Country Returns, he makes absence whatsoever, thus making it the first game in the Donkey Kong Country series where he is not the final boss. This has surprisingly been the case in the three latest games.
  • King K. Rool also resembles King Koopa from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show.
  • K. Rool's Baron K. Roolenstein persona is based on a combination of Frankenstein's Monster as portrayed by Boris Karloff in the Universal Horror movie Frankenstein and the character of Baron Victor von Frankenstein (played by Peter Cushing) from the Hammer Horror Frankenstein series. Additionally it may also be a play on Albert Einstein, who is a real life scientist.
  • King K. Rool's alter-egos in the last two instalments of the original SNES Donkey Kong Country trilogy is very similar to King Koopa's alter-egos from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show.
  • In the game Mario Super Sluggers, K. Rool pitches with his left and bats with his right, meaning he is likely ambidextrous.

References[]

  1. Donkey Kong 64 Character Page 2 on Nintendo Japan (retrieved on April 22, 2012)
  2. Ghoulyboy (September 6, 2015). "Found a couple more #DKCrevealed Kremling concepts by James Ryman, where Krudd is starting to look like K.Rool." Twitter. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
  3. Gregg Mayles (November 21, 2019). "What about a reptilian revelation from the #DKCArchives for #5? Some early Kremling thinking shows that #KRool could have been called 'King Klinker' and he might have had a partner named 'Queen Krapp'. Not the best names I came up with! #WorldDonkeyKongDay #DKC25". Twitter. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
  4. Ghoulyboy (August 10, 2018). "Never expected this tweet about #KingKRool in #SmashBros to be so popular. As a moderately interesting bonus follow up, an early naming sheet shows K. Rool was going to be 'Kommander' and #DKC was going to be called 'Monkey Mayhem'". Twitter. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
  5. Chris_Costy (August 8, 2018). "What's the "K" stand for?" Twitter. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  6. Mark Stevenson talking about Baron K. Roolenstein
  7. December 23, 1999. Rareware.com. August 23, 2000 snapshot via Wayback Machine.
  8. Character page. Nintendo.co.jp. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  9. Donkey Kong Land Nintendo Magazine System, page 13. "KREMLANTIS Rock hewn and rock solid is Kremlantis, ancient home of K. Rool's masterful predecessors. Slight worse off for water than the good ship Gangplank, seeking as the entire kingdom is submerged! The majority of Kremlantis' wards have survived through being trapped in air pockets, though mutant winds roam freely about so beware! Of course it's inevitable that some areas are flooded by ice-water too, and it is here that DK and Diddy encounter the worst of their fears..."

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