Crownerang
| Crownerang | |
|---|---|
 King K. Rool using Crownerang in Ultimate. | |
| User | King K. Rool |
| Universe | Donkey Kong |
| “ | Throws his crown like it's a boomerang. Can't be thrown again until it is picked up. | ” |
| —Description from Ultimate's Move List | ||
Crownerang (クラウンスロー, Crown Throw) is King K. Rool's side special move.
Overview
K. Rool takes his crown off of his head and flings it forward as a projectile. The crown acts like a boomerang (hence the name of the attack). Once thrown by K. Rool, the crown can be pocketed, and can also be picked up as an item if K. Rool fails to catch the crown. Should that happen, K. Rool will be unable to use the attack again until he regains his crown. K. Rool is granted armor during the throw (which handles moves that deal less than 10%), which doesn't use his character-specific belly super armor.
If the crown is thrown offstage, it will act as a normal item, constantly respawning even if it disappears after staying onstage too long. If K. Rool touches the crown on the ground, he will perform a short uninterruptible animation of him placing it back on his head (unless he is performing another move, including shielding or rolling). However, there are roughly 30 frames prior to this that K. Rool can pick it up with no lag. Due to this, K. Rool is unable to pick up his own crown like a normal throwing item, as any contact will result in the crown being put back on his head; he can pick up crowns from other K.Rools as a throw-able item, however.
Crown Cancelling
If an "uninterruptible animation" such as an attack or knockback is in effect while the crown is coming back, K. Rool's head will flash green as the crown appears on his head. This completely skips the 17 frame crown pickup animation, enabling the move to be used without punishment sometimes. This has been referred to as Crown Cancelling by the K. Rool playerbase, and there are many ways to exploit this. For example, by using Crownerang to force shield on the opponent, K. Rool can run in with a dash grab to not only Crown Cancel, but also get a grab off of it. This is extremely potent for making the opponent not shield, and force approaches later in the game. A successful grab can potentially close out a stock if the opponent is at a high percentage. Using up or forward tilt with the tech is also very useful for punishing a rash approach, as a lot of opponents tend to try and jump in when Crownerang is being used.
There is a sub-category of this tech known as Crown Squatting (discovered by Plague von Karma), which uses a jumpsquat to Crown Cancel. To perform this, simply having the crown land on K. Rool during the 3 frame jumpsquat is required. If done on the first frame, there will be no green flash. On the second and third, there will be as he jumps. This aids in confirming back aerial kill confirms from a returning crown, or generally increases momentum in the match by saving the 17 frames. The most notable application for this is to use Crownerang immediately after it comes back, allowing King K. Rool to control the stage in a surprisingly efficient way.
Crown Sliding & Crown Bouncing
This tech was found by ChaosBlasta, and popularized by Phantom Phoenix. If the player does an initial dash (including foxtrot or dash dance) into the crown while the move is going on, King K. Rool will go into a "slide" while picking it up. This is usually used for enabling combos from Crownerang, such as Crown Slide into down smash at 0% or an early up tilt at low to mid percentages. It is also a very useful movement option given it makes the best use of the 17 frames, especially if a 2nd reverse input is enacted during the window to reverse the slide. This slides K. Rool at the perfect length for a forward smash read, or generally helps to space against attacks such as a forward aerial from a swordfighter.
A tech discovered by DkDavy can be taken as a sub-category of this tech as well, that being Crown Bouncing. Phantom Phoenix also made a video on this explaining uses here. It's essentially an aerial dash dance, requiring a reverse input on the control stick when jumping into the crown. It's like if one was using a b reverse, thus carrying some initial momentum during the "bounce". This is best used with platforms for optimal, easy usage, but can be used on the ground in exactly the same way. By trying to Crown Slide again during the input sequence, it can also cause K. Rool to B Reverse the animation, increasing utility significantly through the wavebounce-like effects.
It is also possible to Crown Bounce through C-Stick Macro Specials while not having the crown at all (thus using the crown pickup animation), allowing for a wavebounce or pivot jump depending on the inputs; inputting Jump at the same time as the "No Crown" animation triggers the Short Hop Macro to enable the wavebounce. While the pivot jump is a movement mixup at best (most notably for back aerial meteor smashes), the wavebounce is notable for how far it sends K. Rool back. This aids him in zoning, being able to follow up with a wavebounce into Blunderbuss after throwing the crown out.
Giant Crown Glitch
The Crownerang currently has one glitch associated with it, which requires a Yoshi to perform. King K. Rool has to throws his crown, then get put into an egg using Yoshi's Egg Lay. If the crown touches solid ground while K. Rool is still in the egg, the crown will grow to a huge size, almost as big as Yoshi himself.[1] The crown will retain its massive size even if an opponent holds and throws it as an item, and it will only revert back to normal size if the K. Rool picks up his own crown.
This glitch is functionally similar to previous Egg Lay-related glitches, such as the one which increases the size of a Jigglypuff under the effects of the regenerating terrain glitch, and a glitch in Smash 4's Multi-Man Smash that caused giant opponents to turn gargantuan if caught by Egg Lay.
Origin
This move is based on King K. Rool's main attack from the final boss fight against him in Donkey Kong Country. In the fight, K. Rool would throw his crown to attack the Kongs, usually to conclude a cycle of other attacks, especially later in the fight. True to K. Rool's bumbling nature, this attack also provided the only opening for the Kongs to damage him, as he was completely invincible at all other times.
