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. He was announced as a newcomer during the August 8th, 2018 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct. 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 ostensibly fits the mold of a super-heavyweight, being the second-heaviest character in the game and possessing a large array of powerful attacks, along with below-average mobility. However, he has some characteristics that notably set him apart from his heavyweight peers, such as decent frame data in some of his moves, a great recovery, and other valuable tools with a gameplan that focuses on punishing mistakes.

King K. Rool's greatest strength is the immense utility of his moveset. Though many of his attacks are typical of a super-heavyweight for hitting very hard, his attacks that lack brute strength offer many different ways to punish opponents, making his playstyle unique and punish-oriented. This is best shown through his character-specific perk, Belly Super Armor: attacks with this property gain short periods of this super armor, which can block incoming attacks during their duration. This mechanic gives him an advantage that allows him to win more exchanges than he would normally, as it can grant him an immediate opening during an otherwise vulnerable state (such as while being juggled). Additionally, it affects a large amount of his moves, granting more safety on his forward tilt, up smash, down smash, dash attack, neutral aerial, up aerial, and down aerial. As a result, Belly Super Armor heavily helps his approach and defense.

Alongside the utility of his Belly Super Armor, King K. Rool has effective tools for ground and aerial offense. His neutral attack has good range and speed, making it reliable as a quick spacing option. Down tilt is rather fast and can bury opponents or KO airborne ones, making it a potent punishment option. All of his smash attacks are incredibly powerful, and coupled with up and down smashes gaining belly armor and also having unique traits (up smash functions as a quick anti-air and has a second hitbox that punishes ground foes, while down smash lifts K. Rool's entire body off the stage), his smash attacks are all formidable for hard punishes. Neutral aerial grants the longest duration of belly armor in K. Rool's moveset, making it a reliable combo-breaker, while neutral and forward aerials act as sex kicks, making them effective for edgeguarding. Up aerial has belly armor and is a very fast aerial move, and down aerial and back aerial are meteor smashes, with the former coming out relatively fast, while the latter is very slow, but is also one of the strongest meteor smashes in the game.

His special moves have a wide array of uses as well, with several efficient projectiles; the Blunderbuss is useful for edgeguarding purposes and throws out a Kannonball that can be sucked back in and aimed in a few directions. The suction of the Blunderbuss is an effective ledgetrapping tool, especially on stages with platforms, since K. Rool can drop platforms, limiting the opponent's options to get out of the ledge. Crownerang covers a large distance and grants him super armor in the beginning frames of the move, and the late hit can set up combos into numerous moves.

Furthermore, King K. Rool has immense survivability: between his gargantuan weight, above-average falling speed, and armor on numerous moves, King K. Rool has one of, if not the best endurances in the game, as it is not uncommon for him to live past 200%. Additionally, his recovery move, Propellerpack, goes a remarkable distance for a heavyweight and is infamously hard to intercept vertically due to its respectable hitbox, and is part of some early percentage combos that can rack up damage or even KO careless opponents outright.

Finally, K. Rool has arguably one of the best grab games in the game: his up throw is the most damaging throw in the entire game, his back throw has reasonably solid KO potential, and at higher percents, his notorious down throw can lead into semi-guaranteed tilts, aerials, or possibly even smash attacks if the opponent doesn't mash out fast enough. As a result, K. Rool's kit boasts a wide array of options for many situations, allowing him to selectively choose which move to use to punish different situations at any given moment.

However, King K. Rool's numerous advantages come with numerous downsides. His below-average speed spells trouble for him in certain matchups, and can make him easier to zone than others, despite his projectiles: Blunderbuss is laggy, the Kannonball is slow and very easy to avoid, while Crownerang is slow and can backfire very hard when missed, since the picked up crown is a fairly powerful item that can be abused to rack up damage very quickly on King K. Rool. Gut Check is generally inferior to other counters due to having a hitbox only on his stomach, while being significantly laggier than most reflectors, making it unreliable for countering projectile camping.

His massive weight and very large hurtbox size makes him extremely vulnerable to combos, and while his Belly Super Armor can help alleviate this, it is not foolproof: if K. Rool takes approximately 28% of total damage to his armor over a short period of time, he will suffer a pseudo-shield break and be rendered immobile until his belly armor recovers. Its limited HP punishes abuse of this mechanic if used frequently, and competent opponents can actually take advantage of it by forcing K. Rool to use up his armor so he runs out during more desperate times, though its effectiveness varies depending on whether clashing against his attacks are worthwhile. Additionally, due to their brief durations, his belly armor attacks are more reliable on quick, single-hit moves than long, multi-hitting attacks.

While a lot of his moves has fairly solid start-up, especially for a super-heavyweight, an equal amount of them suffer from very high endlag, which means that King K. Rool gets easily punished if he fails to connect his attacks. While his belly armor gives him a lot of safety, it also makes some moves less safe to use, especially against characters with very strong moves that can break his belly armor in just a few hits, such as Ganondorf. Furthermore, his long-distanced and well-protected recovery is limited, as it is slow, King K. Rool can't act out of it, the move has limited controllability, and also has high end-lag. Due to this, King K. Rool is generally forced to recover from low, which makes his recovery extremely predictable and linear; as the propeller doesn't protect him from the sides, he is also vulnerable to stage spikes or certain projectiles, like Villager's bowling ball. Finally, despite the wide array of tools he has at his disposal, K. Rool lacks many moves that can simply be thrown out quickly, as many of his attacks are punishable or force him to use up his belly armor. This ironically makes his approach rather lackluster due to the sheer amount of different attacks he has, as few can keep the pressure up without being exploited.

All in all, King K. Rool is an extremely resilient character that excels at keeping opponents in a disadvantaged state while punishing mistakes extremely hard. However, just like how he capitalizes heavily on mistakes, his own openings can be heavily punished as well, requiring him to play patiently. King K. Rool has consistently been a popular character and has seen moderate success in tournaments at the local and regional levels, though his results are not as notable in the national levels. How he will eventually pan out in the future meta is currently unknown.

Update History

2.0.0

• Blunderbuss has a shorter windbox duration.
• Blunderbuss no longer turns opponents invisible when KOing at their last stock.
• Propellerpack's hitbox is smaller, making it difficult to KO opponents straight to the upper blast zone and making it less safe when recovering.
• Down throw has less base knockback, but more knockback growth. This allows buried opponents to easily escape at low percentage, but making it more difficult to escape at high percentage. These changes can set up situational mix ups between grounded or aerial attacks.
• Infinite down throw combo was removed, as it won't bury opponents the third time.

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.

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 and also the most damaging 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.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Swipes his claws from back to front.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Swipes his claws from back to front.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Swipes his claws from back to front.
Edge attack Edge getups			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.

K. Rool's idle pose resembles his idle from Donkey Kong Country.

Victory poses

• Shifts his eyes left and right before ending with a triumphant pose.
• Flips his cape around before ending in a pose similar to his official artwork.
• Belly flops on screen and rebounds with a backflip, before landing on his feet and slapping his belly with his tongue sticking out.

A flourished orchestration of the first few bars of "Gang-Plank Galleon", his boss theme from the original Donkey Kong Country.

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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.

Spirits

King K. Rool's Fighter Spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 500 coins. Unlocking King K. Rool in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a Fighter Spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Each Fighter Spirit has an alternate version that replaces them with their artwork in Ultimate.

Additionally, he makes an appearance as a few Primary Spirits under his alter egos from the Donkey Kong Country series.

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  136. King K. Rool

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  162. Kaptain K. Rool Spirit

• Baron K Roolenstein Spirit.png

  163. Baron K. Roolenstein Spirit

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  King K. Rool's splash art.

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  King K. Rool's amiibo.

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  King K. Rool's fighter card.

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  On Green Greens.

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  Using his Blunderbuss on Pirate Ship.

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  Posing on Boxing Ring.

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

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  Using Gut Check against Snake on Magicant.

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  His purple and blue costumes on Prism Tower.

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  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.

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

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  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.
• Pausing and zooming in on and around King K. Rool during his side taunt reveals a gap between his scales and his belly armor.