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

NOTE: SmashWiki is not speculative. Please refrain from adding detailed data values derived from pre-release gameplay footage, such as the E3 demo. Such data (damage values, launch trajectories, frame data, etc.) are subject to change before the official release.

• K. Rool's design is based on his appearance in the original Donkey Kong Country, with his cape going down to his waist instead of stopping at his middle back and his belly being plated in golden armor. His scales are also more pronounced than in any other appearance. However, his smaller crown, shortened tail, blue gem at the front of his cape, lack of a vertical indentation on his stomach, and more expressive eyes come from Donkey Kong spinoff developer Paon's post-Donkey Kong 64 redesign of the character.
  • 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 three armored hits. 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, followed by a claw swipe, followed by a front kick.
• Forward tilt - A frontal clap, similar to Donkey Kong's forward smash.
• Up tilt - A quick uppercut.
• Down tilt - A burying stomp resembling a sumo stance.
• Dash attack - A belly-first lunge. Based on an attack from Donkey Kong Land.

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.
• Up smash - A headbutt followed by a plank. The plank animation meteor smashes.
• Down smash - A leaping belly flop, somewhat like King Dedede's dash attack

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial - Inflates his stomach and performs a splash, similar to King Dedede's.
• Forward aerial - An aerial dropkick, similar to Bowser's back aerial.
• Back aerial - An 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.
• Down aerial - A double foot stomp; it will meteor smash if sweetspotted.

Throws/other attacks

• Grab - Reaches out.
• Pummel - A headbutt.
• Forward throw - Lifts the opponent over his head before slamming them into the ground, sending the opponent flying forwards.
• 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.
• Down throw - Slams the opponent into the ground, burying them.

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.

Role in 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.

Other Characters

King K. Rool also appears in the following fighters' Classic Mode rounds.

Character	Round	Stage
Donkey Kong	2	Kongo Falls
Marth	3	Bridge of Eldin

Role in World of Light

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

King K. Rool was present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed its beams of light. He was vaporized offscreen and transformed into a spirit along with the other fighters, excluding Kirby.

Alternate costumes

Reveal trailer

<youtube>0-gfC1upmoA</youtube>

Gallery

• 

  King K. Rool's splash art.

• 

  King K. Rool's amiibo.

• 

  King K. Rool's fighter card.

• 

  King K. Rool on Green Greens.

• 

  Using his Blunderbuss on Pirate Ship.

• 

  King K. Rool posing on Boxing Ring.

• 

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

• 

  Using his Gut Check on Snake on Magicant.

• 

  His purple and blue costumes on Prism Tower.

• 

  King K. Rool starts the battle on Kongo Falls.

• Kroolvictory1.gif

  King K. Rool's first victory pose.

• Kroolvictory3.gif

  King K. Rool's third victory pose.

• 

  King K. Rool throwing his crown at Peach, who is standing behind Toad.

• 

  King K. Rool using his helicopter backpack on Yoshi's Island.

• KRoolfinalsmash.gif

  King K. Rool using his Final Smash

Character showcase video

<youtube>pKcXgSV8PTE</youtube>

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 and Lucina, K. Rool's name is pronounced differently between the different international versions of Ultimate. It is pronounced "King Kay-Rool" in English and "King Kruel" in Japanese.
  • This is the first time that the English name is spoken verbally in a game. The first time it was spoken verbally was in the pilot episode of the Donkey Kong Country animated series, although it was alternated with the pronunciation "King Kuh-Rool" before the pronunciation of "King Kay-Rool" was dropped entirely.
• 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.