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 1st 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 to Bowser 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; he has a wide variety of moves that serve multiple utilities, a great recovery, and other valuable techiques that aid his playstyle, focusing on punishing mistakes and zoning against horizontal approach.

King K. Rool's greatest strength is the immense utility of his moveset. Though many of his attacks are typical of super-heavyweights, he also has attacks that lack brute strength in exchange for unique attributes that contribute to his punish-focused playstyle. 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 offense. His neutral attack has good range and speed, making it reliable as a quick spacing option. This is especially useful out of a foxtrot, as it is incredibly quick and is in fact faster than his normal dash speed (effectively replacing his dash in most circumstances). His tilts are very effective: his forward tilt has good range and kill power, and uses belly armor. This makes it one of the best pivot cancel options in the game. Up tilt comes out very quickly, has decent knockback especially at the beginning, and has enough range to hit platforms above K. Rool. This can also be used to anti-air or prevent approaches from characters such as Lucina and Marth. It is also the most reliable move out of down throw, becoming a true combo from around 90% and killing at around 130% on most characters. Down tilt can bury opponents or KO airborne ones, making it a potent punishment option. It also works at the ledge as a 2-frame and can send the opponent into a Blunderbuss Kannonball.

All of his smash attacks are incredibly powerful, and coupled with their unique traits and the belly armor on his up and down smashes, allow for very effective punishment. Forward smash deals heavy knockback on the glove sweetspot, especially if angled upwards. It also confirms out of down tilt at 70%, usually killing the opponent. Up smash functions as a quick anti-air, has a small spike hitbox and a third hitbox that punishes ground foes. However, only the first is really useful as the other two are extremely weak and slow. It also uses belly armor; while this grants it safety, it also means that if his belly armor breaks, K. Rool will be sent catapulting off-stage due to how it raises him off the ground. Down smash deals massive shield damage and lifts K. Rool's entire body off the stage, allowing it to dodge most ground-hugging moves and makes it his best hard punish option. Overall, his smash attacks are all formidable for hard punishes.

His aerials are also fairly unique in their utility. Neutral aerial grants the longest duration of belly armor in K. Rool's moveset, making it a reliable combo-breaker or landing tool to prevent juggling. Neutral and forward aerials also act as sex kicks, making them effective for edgeguarding in a variety of situations. Up aerial has good start-up and decent kill power while also working as niche platform movement out of short hop. This is most effective when platforms are low, such as on Battlefield. 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 up and down aerials utilize belly armor, but their utility is minimal due to their hitboxes being separated from K. Rool's belly.

His special moves have a wide array of uses as well, with several efficient projectiles; the Blunderbuss is useful for edgeguarding purposes (such as forcing a situation where the opponent has to recover low, allowing for a down aerial) and throws out a Kannonball that can be sucked back in and aimed in a few directions. The Blunderbuss can also suck in opponents and shoot them out in different directions. The suction of the Blunderbuss is an effective ledge trapping tool, especially on stages with platforms. Since K. Rool can drop through platforms while still being able to move slightly, he can limit the opponent's options to get out of the ledge. Crownerang covers a large distance and grants him heavy armor in the early frames of the move, and the late hit can set up combos into numerous moves. The pick-up animation also has some ways to be cancelled, such as with other attacks, or a jumpsquat to use the crown again for significant coverage of a stage (although the latter can be difficult). It can also cause K. Rool to slide a bit if he dash dances into it, which is referred to as Crown Sliding by the playerbase.

Furthermore, King K. Rool has immense survivability: between his extremely high weight, above-average falling speed, and armor on numerous moves, King K. Rool has some of, if not the best longevity 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. This can be used to poke opponents on the ledge, then jump up with a forward aerial to regain advantage. It can also be used to catch opponents near the ceiling to steal a stock, most notably on high recovery routes.

K. Rool has a very strong grab game: his grabs have very long range and all have 3 active frames, and his throws are also very strong and versatile. His up throw has him performing a jump and land over the highest platform over him, although unlike other similar up throws he doesn't go over the top blast line; it is the second most damaging throw in the entire game, and while it has unimpressive KO potential, especially without the aid of an high platform, it can put opponents in hitstun for a long time, and can also lead into up tilt if the opponent doesn't jump. His back throw has reasonably solid KO potential near the ledge or otherwise puts the opponent into a position primed for a Crownerang. This throw can also work with a crown thrown backwards, hitting the opponent during the animation. 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, with it being borderline guaranteed with an up tilt at 125%+ on middleweight characters. While his forward throw is his least impressive throw as a whole, it does decent damage, can help put an opponent offstage and in a disadvantageous position, and lead into a dash attack or his forward tilt through pivot cancelling at very low percents. The latter option here can also be used as a tech chase. All of this is made even more effective with the Roll Cancelled Boost Grab; combined with his effective initial dash, this can allow for a string of grabs that strongly deters shielding.

King K. Rool has access to a large amount of advanced techniques. He has a total of 7, all centered on his Crownerang and Blunderbuss. These techniques assist with movement, mixups, and even enable combos. As a result, he is a rather technical fighter that can be rewarding to a player looking for a character with a learning curve. They are all somewhat practical and reward creative use, allowing players to build interesting playstyles of their own. This makes him easily accessed at a low level, while still being usable on a higher level of play. As long as the player is aware of the options that the design of these techs provide, King K. Rool will reward them for it.

However, King K. Rool's numerous advantages are also met with their downsides, and he has several glaring and exploitable weaknesses. 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 and its Kannonball is slow and very easy to avoid, while Crownerang is also slow and can backfire very hard when missed, since the crown is a fairly powerful item that opponents can use to rack up damage very quickly. Gut Check is generally inferior to other counters due to having a hitbox only on his stomach, while having significantly higher endlag than most reflectors (around 30 frames if it fails), making it unreliable for countering projectile camping. This endlag makes it almost meaningless against some projectiles, such as Falco's lasers.

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. It also recovers at just .3% per second, making abuse quite difficult. 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. However, its effectiveness varies depending on whether clashing against his attacks are worthwhile. Additionally, due to their brief duration, his belly armor attacks are more reliable on quick, single-hit moves than long, multi-hitting attacks.

While K. Rool's ground game is decent and his grab and throw game is very good, his overall aerial game is very poor, especially in comparison. Despite his aerials having interesting attributes, including two meteor smashes, a lot of his aerials suffer from high ending lag, making many of them situational (especially up aerial). His down aerials is weaker than the comparable moves of other super-heavyweights despite its high ending lag and his up aerial has extreme ending lag, the highest of all aerials in the game, preventing King K. Rool from acting even after a jump. His neutral aerial, which is his only aerial that comes out fast without having high ending lag, has poor range. While his back aerial is very strong and has a lingering hitbox, it has very high start-up lag. Its sourspot is also relatively weak, failing to KO until very high percents. None of King K. Rool's aerials autocancels in a short hop and his back air requires a full hop double jump to autocancel, while up air does not autocancels at all. Due to the high overall lag of his aerials, K. Rool is unable to juggle effectively and his aerial game is mostly constrained to a reactive playstyle. K. Rool's low air speed and overall poor aerial mobility further hampers his aerial capacity, giving him a poor aerial game.

King K. Rool's recovery, while effective in theory, is very exploitable by many characters. Propellerpack is very linear, and a knowledgeable player can edgeguard him for long periods of time. It is immensely slow, and moving around with it reduces the vertical speed and leaves strong momentum, which can lead to a self-destruct if not accounted for. The hitbox doesn't cover him horizontally, and as he cannot cancel the animation, he has to commit to it. He is usually forced to recover low, which is extremely dangerous due to how many characters have meteor smashing aerials. Moves from characters such as Piranha Plant and Villager have projectiles (Ptooie and forward smash respectively in this case) that can also counteract the vertical hitbox. It also leaves him very vulnerable to a stage spike, as running off and simply using a back aerial is enough to stop him from coming back. The move can be angled to try and prevent this, but any player who knows the matchup will have a very easy time stopping him from coming back. K. Rool also has very few ledge options; his only unique one is forward aerial, which to requires frame-perfect precision to ledgesnap. Other than this, his ledge options are very limited—even Crownerang is too laggy to be used from the ledge reliably—and thus characters like Ness, Simon, and Richter can keep him there for a long time before finally killing him.

Though a lot of his moves have decent 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 certain moves less safe, especially against characters with very strong moves that can break his belly armor in just a few hits, such as Ganondorf or Little Mac. This means that if his belly armor is used too much, it effectively removes his moves from the game for a while. 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 ineffective despite the sheer amount of different, fast attacks he has; few of his attacks can maintain pressure without being exploited, or otherwise reset to neutral. However, his foxtrot can alleviate this slightly.

Due to these aforementioned flaws, King K. Rool struggles with maintaining an advantage; it usually leaves him in an awkward situation where he is forced to return to neutral. His speed makes it difficult to follow up while the opponent is landing, and he is unable to effectively juggle, requiring him to keep the opponent in front of him. The player is often forced to utilize his bait-and-switch playstyle, restricting creativity and thus making said player more predictable. King K. Rool's advantage position, due to these flaws, will often end as quickly as it comes. Due to this, his playstyle requires a lot of situational awareness to remain unpredictable by using grab mixups or tech chases as the opponent lands or tries to defend.

Crownerang is both King K. Rool's best and worst move. If an opponent picks up the crown after it has been thrown, it leaves him without one of his best tools. The crown can actually be used to edgeguard against Propellerpack, or it can be thrown up to keep it from respawning. It is also very possible for opponents to combo with the crown, or pick it up again after throwing it, with very little counterplay available. The player must adopt an entirely different playstyle while the crown is on the field, or else risk losing a stock. This is worsened by the fact that Gut Check, even at maximum throw range, doesn't allow K. Rool to pick up the crown—he is completely defenseless against an opponent who has it. As the pick-up animation takes 17 frames to complete, this also means that it can interrupt crucial combos, leading to the opponent getting away and resetting to neutral. While this is alleviated slightly through the Crownless Bounce tech, it is still difficult to come back from this.

All in all, King K. Rool’s weaknesses outweigh his strengths. King K. Rool is an extremely resilient, neutral-based character that excels at keeping opponents out while punishing mistakes extremely hard. He enjoys playing a unique bait-and-switch playstyle, being a zoner that can switch to aggression when there's an opening, alter his pressure on an opponent to force a reaction from them, and net a substantial punish before returning to neutral. This ability to force reactions from his foe makes him unlike any other character in the cast, and creativity rewards the player with a decently versatile character. However, just like how he capitalizes heavily on mistakes and confusion, his own openings can be heavily punished as well, requiring him to play patiently.

Despite his numerous strengths, King K. Rool's competitive reception is generally negative. Early on considered to be a potential high/top tier character and "broken" especially by casual players, King K. Rool's severe, heavily exploitable downsides have resulted in most top professionals ranking him as a low-tier character, with many of them even going as far as ranking him as one of the worst characters in the game. This reflects in his tournament results, as they are practically non-existent in North America and Japan, especially on national levels. However, thanks to dedicated players like Ben Gold and Muk, his results in Australia and Europe are significantly better. Ben Gold in particular managed to win Battle Arena Melbourne 11, the biggest SSBU major so far in Australia. In addition, patches have given K. Rool a good variety of helpful buffs. Although his competitive reception still remains negative, his true viability remains to be seen.

Update history

King K. Rool has received a mix of buffs and nerfs during patches. However, as the few nerfs he has received have been relatively inconsequential, especially compared to his numerous buffs, he has been noticeably buffed overall.

Update 2.0.0's changes were a mixed bag: Blunderbuss's vacuum duration was reduced from 5 seconds to 2.5 seconds, his Propellerpack's hitbox was slightly reduced horizontally, and his down throw's bury time scaling was changed, being less effective at low percents but more effective at high percents. While the former two are direct nerfs, they do not significantly impact his playstyle. In addition, King K. Rool arguably benefits from the changes to his down throw, as they make certain kill confirms reliable (up smash) or even guaranteed (up tilt or dash attack at 130%).

Update 3.0.0 directly buffed King K. Rool, with his forward aerial's sweetspot being much easier to land, while his forward tilt gained new sweetspot hitboxes on his gauntlets, which allow it to hit buried opponents it previously wouldn't (such as Diddy Kong). Gut Check and up aerial, previously notorious for their endlag, had their ending lag reduced, which makes them slightly safer, albeit still risky. Like most projectiles, Crownerang had its shield damage reduced in update 3.0.0; however, this doesn't affect the move much as it already had low shield damage and was often used in order to facilitate dash grab approaches. Additionally, the nerfs to the projectiles of other characters, coupled with a slightly safer Gut Check, have somewhat improved his matchup against characters that are more dependent on projectiles, such as Samus.

After remaining unchanged for some time, update 6.0.0 gave King K. Rool more significant buffs. Neutral aerial's landing lag was noticeably decreased, forward aerial's clean hit was made stronger and easier to land, and his up aerial received a much longer hitbox duration with a stronger clean hit. Two of his specials were improved as well, with Blunderbuss having less startup, dealing more knockback with Kannonballs, and shooting vacuumed Kannonballs faster, and Gut Check having more range and less ending lag upon a successful counterattack. These changes greatly improve King K. Rool's neutral game and punishes compared to previous updates, though how they will affect his viability remains unknown.

2.0.0

A graph demonstrating the differences in time scaling between King K. Rool's down throw pre-patch (blue) and after the patch (red).

• Down throw:
  • Down throw has a different buried time formula (90 frames + 0.5*damage → 60 + 0.75*damage). This allows buried opponents to easily escape at low percents, but more difficult at high percents. Specifically, it is worse below 125%, and better above 125%.
    • These changes improve K. Rool's mixup options at low percents, while making his KO confirms more varied and consistent at high percents.
    • With these changes, down throw now has 50/50 setup options, which can catch opponents with up smash or up aerial if they mash out of the bury at ~90%, or setup into forward smash if they are conditioned to wait out the bury.
    • Down throw's changes make up tilt a consistent KO option out of down throw on middleweight characters from around 125%; previously, opponents could mash out even at 130%.
    • Down throw's changes make dash attack significantly less effective compared to up tilt at 125%.
    • Down throw's followup into forward tilt now has to be angled up from 110% onwards to hit most of the cast as opposed to 100%.
    • The infinite jab combo (down throw to jab, repeat) that worked at 200%+ has been removed, now having the opponent "bounce" on the third loop.
• Blunderbuss:
  • Blunderbuss windbox duration has been severely shortened (300 frames → 150 frames.)
  • Blunderbuss no longer turns opponents invisible when KOing at their last stock.
• Propellerpack's horizontal hitbox is smaller, making it difficult to KO opponents straight to the upper blast zone and making it less safe when recovering. Most notably, it doesn't snipe the ledge as often as it used to.

3.0.0

• Forward tilt's hitboxes on K. Rool's gauntlets were expanded, giving them more range.
  • This significantly improves forward tilt as a punish out of down throw, as down angled forward tilt now hits characters that it previously wouldn't, such as Jigglypuff, Mr. Game & Watch.
• Forward aerial's sweetspots and sourspot IDs were swapped, as well as the sweetspot's range being increased.
  • The sweetspot's increased size improves its effective range and safety, granting King K. Rool better spacing capabilities.
  • However, as the sourspot has been moved closer to K. Rool, this makes the sourspot less consistent for "knockback storage" after a down tilt (using a weaker attack to alter the unbury knockback angle of an opponent), since the sweetspot is more likely to land.
• Up aerial has less ending lag (FAF 82 → 72). This makes it less likely to self-destruct after using it offstage, allowing it to be used as an option to stall recoveries.
• Up throw is no longer affected by windboxes while throwing.
• Crownerang:
  • Crownerang deals less shield damage.
  • Fixed crown duplication with Villager or Isabelle’s Pocket.
  • Egg Lay no longer increases the size of the crown while King K. Rool is trapped in an egg.
• Gut Check has less ending lag (Fail/Succeed/Succeed reversed: FAF 68/47/53 → 63/42/47).
• The desync glitch involving King Dedede has been fixed.

3.1.0

• Up aerial grabs the ledge more quickly when using the move (Ledge lockout: 102 → 96). As an example of the change, full hop double jump up aerial will now cancel on the ledge during the endlag.
• Fixed an issue with Blunderbuss upon reflect of Kannonball resulted King K. Rool's windbox becoming stuck.
• Blast-o-Matic's camera was slightly adjusted.

6.0.0

File:Blunderbuss (Kannonball Range).gif

Vacuum's new searchbox for Kannonballs in 6.0.0. Once it is completely stretched out, it remains as such until Vacuum is put away.

• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial has less landing lag (13 frames → 9). This makes comboing off of it and pressuring shield far more viable.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial's clean and mid hits deal more damage (14%/12% → 15.5%/13.5%) with knockback not fully compensated (40 base/78 scaling (clean), 35/80 (mid) → 36/76), improving their KO potential.
    • The damage buff also made the tipper hitbox a frame safer on shield, becoming -5 landing. This allows K. Rool to mix up and pressure shield more consistently.
    • However, the damage buff makes it send into tumble earlier, hindering grab confirms at Low%s.
  • The clean and mid hits' sweetspot is larger (5.5u → 6.5u) and placed higher (Y offset: 7.5u → 8.5u (clean), 10.5u → 11.5u (mid)), increasing its range.
  • The mid hit lasts longer (frames 11 (clean)/12-13 (mid)/14-17 (late) → 11/12-14/15-17).
    • Due to the mid hit lasting an extra frame, the late hit lasts one less frame (frames 14-17 -> 15-17). This makes getting Late hit confirms at high%s slightly more difficult.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has a longer hitbox duration (frames 7-8 (clean)/9-16 (late) → 7-13/14-19), with the clean hit now lasting until the head intangibility ends.
  • The clean hit also deals more knockback (85 base/56 scaling → 84/60), KOing at around 135% from ground level.
• Blunderbuss:
  • Blunderbuss has less startup (frame 30 → 25), with its total duration reduced as well (FAF 70 → 65).
  • Normal Kannonballs - not reshot ones - have less base knockback (30 → 18), but much more knockback scaling (70 → 92), improving its KO potential overall.
  • Kannonballs are now easier to vacuum. To achieve the easier reshoots for Kannonballs, an entire new searchbox was added that extends over the course of 6 frames. Once extended, it remains that length.
  • Both the Kannonball and opponents are shot faster after being vacuumed (startup/FAF: forward reshoot: 17/37 → 11/32; backwards reshoot: 22/48 → 17/41; upwards reshoot: 16/42 → 11/39). This makes it much easier for King K. Rool to recover offstage after using the move without self-destructing, increasing its utility as an edgeguarding tool significantly.
• Gut Check:
  • The counter detection hitbox has more range (size: 6u → 7.8u, Y offset: 8.6u → 7.4u, Z offset: 6u → 4.4u), now covering some area below his belly.
  • A successful Gut Check has less ending lag (FAF 42 → 38).
  • The counter hitbox and the counterattack's sweetspot have more range (size: 10u → 12u, Y offset: 11u → 12.5u, Z offset: 9u → 10.5u). The increased size of the counterattack makes reversing Gut Check a slightly more consistent option.

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.
• Fighter ability: 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) activate health-based super armor around his belly, known as Belly Super Armor. Each of the listed moves have this out for varying frames. However, taking damage with these moves cracks it, 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 HP every 16 frames (about 0.3 HP per second). Attacks that hit K. Rool's belly super armor make a loud, distinct clanging sound as an audio cue, with a fixed 16 frames of hitlag. It is also possible to estimate the damage it has taken, with small cracks appearing at 11.5 HP (where 23% damage would break it) and large cracks appearing at 5.02 HP (where 10.04% damage would break it).

For a gallery of King K. Rool's hitboxes, see here.

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 be repeated by holding the attack button, and can also jab reset on big body characters specifically, allowing for some interesting situations. The second hit resembles King K. Rool's standard attack from Donkey Kong Barrel Blast.
			2.5%
			7%
Forward tilt			11% (arms), 13% (palms)	Rears back and performs a forceful clap, similar to his archnemesis Donkey Kong's forward smash. Gains Belly Super Armor when he rears back to clap, making it a highly effective approach option with pivot cancelling. 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. It can be angled up and down, making it a decent anti-air tool when angled up, and it is capable of hitting the ledge when angled down. This move has impressive range due to a massive, disjointed hitbox surrounding K. Rool's hands. It does suffer from moderately high ending lag, though this flaw can be partially mitigated when spaced correctly. The combination of its range, Belly Super Armor, KO potential and ability to angle it up or down makes it not only one of the best moves in King K. Rool's kit, but also arguably one of the best forward tilts in the game.
Up tilt			11.5% (clean), 6.8% (late, arm), 8.2% (late, fist)	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, coming out on frame 5, which is very fast for a move with reasonably decent KO power. Loses power the longer it is out, with the sweetspot dealing rather strong diagonal knockback, and the sourspot dealing weak, mostly vertical knockback, which can potentially lead to another up tilt or up air. This move works well out of down throw due to its combination of speed and power.
Down tilt			13% (clean), 10% (late, non-burying), 8% (late, burying), 7% (late, 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. This deals weak vertical knockback to nearby opponents and allowing for moves like forward aerial to be used out of it. Starts with the non-bury hitbox on frame 13, before the bury comes out at frame 14. Forward smash is true out of this from around 70%, and frequently kills at that percent range. The hitboxes can hit some opponents under low platforms (such as the left and right platforms on Battlefield). Due to how buries work in Ultimate, it is possible to "store" knockback on a buried opponent using a weak attack, forcing them to get unburied over time and sent at the angle of the weak attack; this can create long combo strings at low percents.
Dash attack			15% (clean), 11% (late)	A belly-first lunge based on an attack from Donkey Kong Land. It covers a good distance and has incredibly fast start-up for its power (comes out on frame 7), but has very high ending lag. It also deals much less damage later into the attack. Has Belly Super Armor and can KO, allowing it to tank opposing hits (especially projectiles) as a risky approach. KOs at 102% at the edge of Final Destination, making it a very good move to use out of down throw through Instant Dash Attack, as it kills larger characters earlier than forward tilt.
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 straight punch. This move has a sweetspot on the glove and a sourspot on K. Rool's arm. It can also be angled and deals more damage if angled up or down, which gives it some versatility, depending on the angle Although the move is slightly faster than forward smashes of other super-heavyweights, it still comes out slow with a short-lasting hitbox (frame 19-20), and it suffers from extremely high ending lag even for its type, making it very punishable when missed. However, the move is very powerful, with the sweetspot KO'ing at 53% at the edge of Final Destination. The sourspot on his arm deals less knockback and damage, but is still moderately powerful. The boxing glove is also disjointed, which can be used to hard punish short hop approaches in niche circumstance. It's also very effective out of down tilt, as the move is fast enough to connect and KO at around 50-70% before the opponent mashes out.
	→		19% (sweetspot), 16.5% (close)
	↘		19.5% (sweetspot), 16.9% (close)
Up smash			15% (headbutt), 8% (late headbutt), 10% (plank); 3% (meteor smash)	A quick upward headbutt followed by a comical plank. The headbutt has a small hitbox, but has fast start-up (frame 6) and can KO from medium to high percents. It also has a slightly later hitbox on frame 10 that deals slightly less damage, making it somewhat inconsistent at times. The initial headbutt can be used to hit opponents on platforms above him, or as a risky anti-air move. It is King K. Rool's fastest out of shield option, though it is too situational and risky to be very effective for this purpose. It is also highly effective out of down throw, as it is able to hit opponents who mash out, being an effective kill-confirm at around 90-110%. The plank comes out later and has a big hitbox, but deals less damage and knockback, making it more suited for covering the headbutt or ledgetrapping at best. The plank animation weakly meteor smashes opponents, though this is ineffective for edgeguarding due to its low knockback. In addition, it is the weakest meteor smash in the game, failing to KO at realistic percents. It can be used to force tech situations or awkward placements off-stage, but these are highly situational and impractical. The sheer number of hits do make it useful for causing shield damage under platforms. Each hitbox is situated on K. Rool's head and body respectively, meaning it can miss entirely if used poorly. Additionally, the move has extremely high ending lag, with the first actionable frame being 72 and the last hit being on frame 23. 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. There are intangibility frames on K. Rool's head when the sweetspot comes out.
Down smash			18% (body), 4% (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 hurtbox 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. The move is very laggy overall, with its strongest hitbox coming out on frame 22, and it also suffers from very high ending lag, which makes it very punishable if used poorly. However, thanks to its initial hop and armor, the move is surprisingly hard to intercept despite its high startup. It also can be used on platforms against opponents that try to attack K. Rool from below. The quake is extremely weak, but it covers the high ending lag of the move somewhat, and it can occasionally lead to a forward tilt.
Neutral aerial			12% (clean), 8% (late)	Inflates his stomach and performs a splash based on an attack from Donkey Kong Land like his dash attack. Decently fast (comes out on frame 7), acts as a sex kick and has Belly Super Armor. In addition, it has very little lag in comparison to most of King K. Rool's moveset, and is his safest move on shield. Finally, it is also his fastest out of shield option that is somewhat practical, next to his neutral attack. Because of all of this, it is one of the safest and most versatile moves to use in K. Rool's kit. It can be used for landing, contesting aerials, approaching, and even gimping, as it beats out most recovery moves, even ones with hitboxes. In addition, due to its safety it can be used to pressure, and it can also combo into several moves, such as his neutral attack, up tilt, forward tilt, dash attack, grab and even situationally into down tilt, which can lead to devastating early kills.
Forward aerial			15.5% (clean, feet), 13.5% (clean, legs), 10% (late, feet), 8% (late, legs)	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. If King K. Rool's body hits at lower percents, it can lead to combos into neutral attack, or down tilt on big body characters like Donkey Kong. The sourspot on this move lies around the torso, and can be used well with down tilt.
Back aerial			14.5% (arm), 19% (fist)	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. Against grounded opponents, it launches them diagonally with extremely high knockback, being able to KO middleweights at 65% near the ledge, making it one of the strongest aerial attacks in the entire game. The larger, disjointed sourspot around the fist is significantly weaker, dealing rather weak diagonal knockback against both grounded and airborne opponents, failing to KO reliably until 160%. It also has a slightly lingering hitbox, making it an important tool in neutral when full hopped.
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 and making it the laggiest aerial in the game. 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. When short hopped, this move can allow K. Rool to move onto a platform, allowing for some niche movement options. Like up smash, there are intangibility frames on K. Rool's head during the attack. This move can also be used for recovering from high to mid levels, as K. Rool can be moved from side to side while using the move.
Down aerial			12% (early), 9% (late)	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 the early hitbox connects, although the meteor smash itself is rather weak. If the opponent is hit by the early hitbox - but not meteor smashed - on-stage by this move, it confirms a wide variety of attacks. There is also a late hitbox with a sweetspot on the hip, with 20 extra stats in knockback growth, plus a sourspot on the feet. It also has Belly Super Armor after K. Rool stretches his feet out, giving it some safety.
Grab			—	Reaches out quickly with great range. However, his dash and pivot grabs are slower than his standing grab. If K. Rool misses, his left eye comically bulges in frustration.
Pummel			1.6%	Headbutts the opponent.
Forward throw			10% (throw), 7% (collateral)	Lifts the opponent over his head before slamming them into the ground, sending the opponent flying forwards. The slam possesses a collateral hitbox that can affect nearby opponents. Decent knockback. This combos into dash attack or a pivot cancelled forward tilt at 0%.
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. This is the most damaging throw in the entire game, but KOs late at around 180%. Stages with low upper blast lines and/or high platforms help mitigate this issue, as it carries opponents up in a similar fashion to Charizard's up throw. Can combo into 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, and up air at lower to mid percents, as well as forward tilt, forward and down smash at higher percents. It is also possible to infinite many fighters by throwing them, using jab while they're buried and re-grabbing them when they are released. However, most 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 percents. Only dash attack, forward and up tilts are able to follow up at 125% and kill reliably. However, up smash and up aerial can be used to discourage mashing and create 50/50 situations at lower percents, as the prior kills at 100% a lot of the time.
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, with another being usable after around 2.5 seconds. 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), similar to Kirby and King Dedede’s Inhale. K. Rool can drop through soft platforms while vacuuming with his blunderbuss, and he also can move left and right as well while airborne, which is very useful for ledgetrapping. 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-launched Kannonball is capable of KOing as early as 70%, with the Kannonball lingering while doing minor damage after the first hit.
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). The pickup animation can be cancelled through using a move or "unavoidable" animations such as jumpsquat when coming into contact. If an initial dash is performed when coming into contact, King K. Rool will "slide" a short distance, giving a minor movement option as well as a 40.8% combo into down smash at 0% if the crown hits both times.
Up special		Propellerpack	3% (propellers)	Equips the Propellerpack and flies upward. Especially 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 flapping his arms. Pressing down will make K. Rool enter his helpless animation, falling faster and having less landing lag. 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 if it hits more than 3 times.
Down special		Gut Check	1.5× (sweetspot), 1.05x (sourspot), 1.5x (reflected projectiles)	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 (most notably his face), much like the Melee and Brawl versions of Toad. It has a damage multiplier of 1.5x, making it tied with Counter Throw for the second highest damage multiplier out of any counterattack in Ultimate, surpassed only by Tetrakarn. When reflecting, the stomach has a lingering hitbox that deals the minimum damage (12%) and can actually land a KO in niche situations. This is usually seen when projectiles are reflected from close range.
Final Smash		Blast-O-Matic	3% (stomp), 10% (tackle), 25% (laser), 10% (throw)	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, while him falling from the sky is a reference to Donkey Kong Country.

Taunts

• Up taunt: Viciously snaps forward four times.
• Side taunt: Slaps his belly once in amusement. Amusingly, this taunt also uses K. Rool's Belly Super Armor during the frames before he slaps his belly.
• Down taunt: Does a sumo-esque stomp.

• 

  King K. Rool's up taunt.

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  King K. Rool's side taunt.

• 

  King K. Rool's down taunt.

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.

• 

  King K. Rool's first idle pose

• 

  King K. Rool's second idle pose

Victory poses

• Left: Shifts his eyes left and right before ending with a triumphant pose.
• Up: Flips his cape around before ending in a pose similar to his official artwork.
• Right: 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.

• 
• 
• 

In competitive play

Upon Ultimate's release, many players noted King K. Rool's numerous strengths that were never seen before on a super-heavyweight character, namely two projectiles, his unique Belly Super Armor mechanic, down throw that in theory leads to very early kill confirms, rather good startup on many moves, and a very long-ranged recovery. This, in addition to his other strengths more typical to his weight class, caused the majority of top professionals to consider King K. Rool a potential high or even top tier character, while also getting a notorious reputation of being "broken" among less experienced players.

However, it quickly became apparent that King K. Rool wasn't nearly as good as players thought, as he also has some of the nastiest downsides in the entire game to counter his strengths. This includes a gigantic hurtbox, little options to break out of disadvantage, and high endlag on his moves to offset their "unchallengeable" startup and exploitable mechanics on many of his strengths, namely his extremely slow and predictable recovery; linear, laggy projectiles; his Belly Super Armor being surprisingly breakable and not scaling with the 1v1 multiplier; and his down throw being easy to mash out until higher percents, rendering seemingly "broken" kill confirms not true until higher percents. While he can use mash deterrents and reads to "game" the system, these are inconsistent by nature and very unsafe if they fail. In addition, his two best players at that time, Ito and KOSSismoss, both went inactive from tournament play soon after release. Compounding this, King K. Rool got nerfed in patch 2.0.0. This made his already negative perception even worse than before. Because of all of this, almost every top professional saw him as one of the worst characters in the game.

King K. Rool later received small but helpful buffs in patch 3.0.0, although they weren't significant enough to address his significant flaws, and his competitive reputation remained poor. Nevertheless, it improved his representation. While still typically ranked very low, players such as Ben Gold. KirbyKid, and Muk began to earn results that would question his reputation as a low/bottom tier character. This is evident when Ben Gold managed to win a B-tier tournament at Battle Arena Melbourne 11 with solo King K. Rool. Finally, his more impactful buffs in 6.0.0 have also further shifted his opinions to a more positive side, as it alleviated some of his weaknesses. How much better he is, however, remains to be seen. While players like Opana are now taking interest in him, his two best players, Ben Gold and Muk, either co-main him with another character to alleviate King K. Rool's numerous downsides or have relegated him to a secondary respectively.

Notable players

Active

•  808 - The best King K. Rool in New England and one of the best in the United States. Placed 25th at Overclocked Ultimate II, 33rd at Overclocked, and 65th at Shine 2019. Ranked 4th on the Rhode Island Ultimate Power Rankings with wins on Raffi-X, Sharp, DM, and Pugwest.
•  Ben Gold - Co-mains King K. Rool with Bowser and is currently considered the best King K. Rool player in the world. Most notably won Battle Arena Melbourne 11, defeating top Australian players such as Extra, Luco, Tru4, and Jdizzle. He also placed 5th at Phantom 2019, 17th at Thunder Smash 3: Clash of the Pandas, and 33rd at Expand Gong 4. Also has a win over kameme.
•  Ito - Considered to be one of the best King K. Rool players in the world in the early metagame. Placed 17th at SoCal Chronicles. Has since been inactive from attending tournaments until 2GG: Kongo Saga, where he placed 97th with King K. Rool.
•  KirbyKid - The best King K. Rool player in United States and one of the best in the world. Placed 49th at Low Tier City 7 and 65th at 2GG: Kongo Saga. Ranked 4th on the Southern Louisiana Ultimate Power Rankings. Has wins over kept, CaptainZack, and Stas.
•  Muk - Uses King K. Rool as a strong secondary and is considered the best King K. Rool player in Europe. Placed 9th at Lunarsmash Presents: Dawn, Heroes of Dutch Comic Con Spring 2019, and GGWP: Ultimate. Ranked 19th on the Dutch Ultimate Power Rankings.
•  Onua - The best King K. Rool player in the Midwest and one of the best King K. Rool players in the United States. Placed 33rd at both Standoff 2019 and River Rumble. Consistently does well in locals & monthlies such as 9th at Sweet Spot 5, and has defeated Wisdom.
•  Yui - The best King K. Rool player in Japan. Placed 33rd at both Umebura SP and Umebura SP 5.

Inactive

•  KOSSismoss - Considered one of the best King K. Rool players in the world in very early on in Ultimate's metagame. Placed 9th at Don't Park on the Grass 2018. Has since been inactive from attending tournaments.

Classic Mode: Super Heavyweight Class

King K Rool's congratulations screen.

All of King K. Rool's opponents are the heaviest characters in the game, with most of them being antagonists. The boss of this route is Galleom, likely a reference to his hulking proportions and his postures being similar to the archnemesis of King K. Rool, Donkey Kong. Additionally, "Galleom" is spelled similarly to "Galleon", a reference to the song most associated with King K. Rool, Gang-Plank Galleon.

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	Base	Boss Battle - Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Note: When fighting Charizard, its Pokémon Trainer is absent.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as King K. Rool has Gang-Plank Galleon accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light

Finding King K. Rool 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 sub-area, guarded by the spirit of fellow pirate, Risky Boots. To reach his location, the player must defeat the spirit of Trevor C. Belmont, the right answer to a quiz question of which Spirit assisted Alucard in defeating Dracula.

Fighter Battle

No.	Image	Name	Type	Power	Stage	Music
67		King K. Rool	Attack	10,600	Pirate Ship	Gang-Plank Galleon

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.

• 

  136. King K. Rool

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  162. Kaptain K. Rool

• Baron K Roolenstein Spirit.png

  163. Baron K. Roolenstein

In Spirit battles

As the main opponent

Spirit				Battle parameters
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music
47		Wart	Super Mario series	•King K. Rool •Peach		4,000	Skyworld (Battlefield form)	•Hazard: Slumber Floor	•Defeat the main fighter to win •The floor is sleep-inducing	Boss Theme - Super Mario Bros. 2
159		Kritter	Donkey Kong series	•King K. Rool		1,700	Kongo Jungle	•Defense ↑	•The enemy has increased defense •The enemy starts the battle with a Rocket Belt	Jungle Level (64)
161		Klaptrap	Donkey Kong series	•Tiny King K. Rool		4,000	Kongo Jungle	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Klaptrap)	•Hostile assist trophies will appear	Crocodile Cacophony
162		Kaptain K. Rool	Donkey Kong series	•King K. Rool		13,500	Halberd	•Invisibility	•The enemy's neutral special has increased power •Stamina battle •The enemy is invisible after a little while	Crocodile Cacophony
166		Lord Fredrik	Donkey Kong series	•King K. Rool		2,300	Summit (Battlefield form)	•Hazard: Ice Floor	•The floor is frozen	Swinger Flinger
229	File:Imprisoned.png	The Imprisoned	The Legend of Zelda series	•Giant King K. Rool		4,600	Gerudo Valley	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Ghirahim)	•The enemy has super armor but moves slower •Timed Stamina battle •Hostile assist trophies will appear	Ballad of the Goddess (Remix)
244	File:Bokoblin.png	Bokoblin	The Legend of Zelda series	•Tiny King K. Rool Team (×4)		1,400	Gaur Plain (Battlefield form)	N/A	•The enemy starts the battle with an Ore Club	Kass's Theme
281		Queen Metroid	Metroid series	•King K. Rool		13,300	Brinstar (Battlefield form)	•Giant •Attack Power ↑	•The enemy is giant after a little while •Stamina battle •The enemy has increased attack power after a little while	Boss Battle 4 - Metroid: Samus Returns
283		Kraid	Metroid series	•Giant King K. Rool		10,000	Brinstar Depths (Ω form)	•Jump Power ↓ •Move Speed ↓	•Stamina battle •The enemy is giant	Brinstar Depths (Melee)
461		Snorlax	Pokémon series	•Giant King K. Rool		4,500	Tortimer Island	N/A	•Timed Stamina battle •The enemy prefers not to move	Main Theme - Pokémon Red & Pokémon Blue (Melee)
474		Wobbuffet	Pokémon series	•Reflect King K. Rool (×2)		4,300	The Great Cave Offensive (Battlefield form)	N/A	•The enemy reflects projectiles •The enemy favors down specials	Pokémon Gold / Pokémon Silver Medley
483		Tyranitar	Pokémon series	•King K. Rool		3,900	Mushroomy Kingdom (Battlefield form)	•Sudden Damage	•You'll occasionally take sudden damage after a little while	Pokémon Gold / Pokémon Silver Medley
622	File:DraugSpirit.png	Draug	Fire Emblem series	•King K. Rool		2,400	Castle Siege (hazards off)	•Defense ↑	•The enemy has super armor but moves slower •Stamina battle •The enemy has increased defense	Under This Banner
716		Thanatos	Kid Icarus series	•King K. Rool		3,800	Kalos Pokémon League (Battlefield form)	•Tiny •Giant	•The enemy is giant •The enemy is tiny after a little while	In the Space-Pirate Ship
748		Shake King	Wario Land series	•King K. Rool		1,900	Pirate Ship (hazards off)	•Earthquake	•Periodic earthquakes will shake the stage •The enemy favors grabs and throws	Ruins - Wario Land: Shake It!
812	File:Emperor Bulblax Spirit.PNG	Emperor Bulblax	Pikmin series	•Giant King K. Rool		9,700	Garden of Hope (Ω form)	N/A	•The enemy has super armor and is hard to launch or make flinch •Stamina battle •The enemy is giant	Main Theme - Pikmin (Remix)
938	File:Bear Hugger Spirit.png	Bear Hugger	Punch-Out!! series	•King K. Rool		3,500	Boxing Ring	N/A	•The enemy's throws have increased power •Stamina battle	World Circuit Theme
943		King Hippo	Punch-Out!! series	•Giant King K. Rool		9,500	Boxing Ring	N/A	•Stamina battle •The enemy is giant	Minor Circuit (Remix)
1,267		King Knight	Shovel Knight series	•King K. Rool		2,000	Mushroom Kingdom U (Slide Lift Tower)	N/A	•The enemy's dash attacks have increased power •The enemy starts the battle with a Star Rod	Flash In The Dark (Dr. Wily Stage 1)
1,329	File:Cetacea Spirit.png	Cetacea	DRAGON QUEST series	•Giant King K. Rool •Hero		9,500	Yggdrasil's Altar (Ω form)	N/A	•Defeat the main fighter to win •The enemy has super armor but moves slower •Timed stamina battle	The Hero Goes Forth with a Determination

As a minion

Spirit				Battle parameters							Inspiration
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music	Character
782	File:Chaotix Spirit.png	Chaotix	Sonic the Hedgehog series	•Sonic •Pichu •King K. Rool		1,600	Windy Hill Zone	•Invisibility	•The enemy is invisible	Sonic Heroes	Vector the Crocodile
1,143		Frog & Snake	Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru	•Greninja •King K. Rool		3,600	Dream Land GB (Castle Lololo interior)	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Sablé Prince)	•Hostile assist trophies will appear	Castle Lololo	Snake
1,271	File:Allenn.png	Allen	Culdcept series	•Shulk •King K. Rool •Ridley		3,500	Arena Ferox	•Item: Assist Trophy	•Defeat the main fighter to win •Reinforcements will appear during the battle	Worthy Rival Battle	Wereboar

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 pink and blue costumes on Prism Tower.

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  King K. Rool starts the battle on Kongo Falls.

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

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  Using Propellerpack on Yoshi's Island.

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  Using his Final Smash.

• MetalKingKRoolUltimate.jpg

  Metal King K. Rool.

• GoldKingKRoolUltimate.jpg

  Gold King K. Rool.

Trivia

• Outside of minor cameos and rereleases of older titles, Ultimate marks King K. Rool's first appearance in over a decade. He had last appeared in Mario Super Sluggers, which released on June 19, 2008 in Japan, August 25, 2008 in North America, and was never released in Europe or Australia.
  • Additionally, this is currently the only Nintendo Switch game in which King K. Rool appears.
• 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 fourth of five newcomers to be announced in Ultimate that was previously featured as a Mii Fighter costume in Super Smash Bros. 4. The other four are Inkling, Daisy, 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.
  • As a result of King K. Rool's inclusion, fans of the character issued a thank you letter to Masahiro Sakurai and Nintendo of America for including him as a playable fighter. The letter was signed by fans, and Nintendo of America even wrote back to the fans, expressing gratitude towards them for the fan letter.
• Like King Dedede, Lucina, Simon 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 also the second character who has a smash attack that meteor smashes, in his up smash, first being Bayonetta's down smash, though it isn't used for spiking opponents.
• 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.
• King K. Rool is the character that made the most appearances in newcomer trailers in CGI form, appearing in his own, Ken and Incineroar's, and Banjo & Kazooie's trailers.
• King K. Rool is the only animal unlocked in Link's Classic Mode unlock column, despite Meta Knight not canonically being a human either.
• King K. Rool is one of three characters who's Classic Mode route consists almost entirely of super-heavyweight fighters. The other two who share this trait with King K. Rool are Wario and Incineroar. On the other hand, King K. Rool is present in all three Classic Mode routes in general while Ganondorf appears as an opponent in all three routes.
• King K. Rool and Charizard (who is the former's first opponent in Classic Mode) are tied as the second most common opponents for Classic Mode routes, appearing in a total of 17 routes, if Charizard's four appearances with Pokemon Trainer count. The only fighter who is more common than them as a Classic Mode opponent is Link, who appears in a total of 20 routes.
  • This makes King K. Rool the most common newcomer in Classic Mode.
• Pausing and zooming in on and around King K. Rool during his side taunt reveals a gap between his scales and his belly armor.
• King K. Rool is one of five characters whose unlocking battle in World of Light is not on either Final Destination or an Ω form. The other four are Peach, Daisy, Toon Link, and Mii Gunner.
• If King K. Rool gets grabbed by a grab that uses a unique animation on capturing characters (Snake's grab, Ganondorf's Flame Choke, etc.) while using his forward smash, the boxing glove will remain on his hand until he gets released.
• King K. Rool's animation when using the Home-Run Bat's forward smash utilizes a one-handed swing, similar to his batting stance in Mario Super Sluggers.