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. 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.

Attributes

• 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.
• K. Rool's idle pose resembles his idle from Donkey Kong Country.
• K. Rool is a super heavyweight with slow mobility and a fast falling speed
• 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 sustaining too much damage. 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 much like Bowser, followed by a claw swipe, and finishing with a front kick. The first hit is the quickest of the group of attacks.
• Forward tilt - A frontal clap, similar to Donkey Kong's forward smash. Has Super Armor that uses his belly for a few frames and is decently fast for its power.
• Up tilt - An uppercut. Has a clean and late hitbox. Like his forward tilt, it is decently fast for its power.
• Down tilt - A burying stomp resembling a sumo stance if sweetspotted. The sourspot sends foes upward. Decently fast.
• Dash attack - A belly-first lunge having super armor. Based on an attack from Donkey Kong Land. Just as fast as his up aerial, and has clean and late hitboxes, similar to his up tilt.

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. While it is somewhat slow, it is very powerful and can be angled.
• Up smash - A headbutt followed by a plank. The plank animation meteor smashes, the upper hitbox comes out at an incredibly quick speed and does a decent amount of damage, and the second hitbox from his belly does much lower damage.
• Down smash - A leaping belly flop, similar to King Dedede's dash attack. Has super armor. While it is King K. Rool's weakest smash attack, it is a good shield-breaking option.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial - Inflates his stomach and performs a splash. Very fast.
• Forward aerial - A dropkick, similar to Bowser's back aerial. Has a sweetspot that deals more damage.
• Back aerial - A slow overhead punch, similar to if Ganondorf or Mario's forward aerial was performed while turning around; it will meteor smash if sweetspotted.
• Up aerial - A headbutt that goes straight upward and also slightly moves him upward. While it has the fastest start-up out of King K. Rool's aerial attacks, it has a long amount of ending lag. Deals more damage if his crown is on his head.
• Down aerial - A decently quick aerial double foot stomp. It will meteor smash if sweetspotted.

Throws/other attacks

• Grab - Reaches out quickly with great range. However, his dash and pivot grabs are slower than his standing grab.
• Pummel - A headbutt.
• Forward throw - Lifts the opponent over his head before slamming them into the ground, sending the opponent flying forwards. Decent knockback.
• 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, and is very powerful for an up throw.
• Down throw - Slams the opponent into the ground, burying them. Has the lowest damage output of King K. Rool's throws.

Special Moves

King K. Rool's special moves

Neutral special	Blunderbuss
Side special	Crownerang
Up special	Propellerpack
Down special	Gut Check
Final Smash	Blast-o-Matic

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.

Classic Mode: Super Heavyweight Class

All of King K. Rool's opponents are some of the heaviest characters in the game.

Round	Opponent	Stage
1	Charizard	Spear Pillar
2	Bowser	Find Mii
3	King Dedede	Boxing Ring
4	Ridley	Brinstar Depths (Battlefield form)
5	Ganondorf	Bridge of Eldin
6	Donkey Kong	Kongo Jungle
Bonus Stage
Final	Galleom	?

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.

Alternate costumes

Reveal trailer

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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.

• 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

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, 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.