Propellerpack
| Propellerpack | |
|---|---|
 Propellerpack in Ultimate. | |
| User | King K. Rool |
| Universe | Donkey Kong |
| “ | Rises up into the air wearing a propeller, damaging any opponents caught in the attack. | ” |
| —Description from Ultimate's Move List | ||
Propellerpack (フライングバックパック, Flying Backpack) is King K. Rool's up special move.
Overview
When he uses the move, King K. Rool puts on a pack with a propeller attached to it, activates it, and starts to rise in the air. The move lasts a deceptively long time and covers an impressive distance, granting him superior recovery power unusual for characters of his weight class. It also has a good amount of protection with the propellers, allowing him to protect himself during his ascent. This makes it harder to engage K. Rool with gimp and spike attempts when returning to the stage, but can also be used offensively to carry opponents past the upper blast line. However, the latter does carry a high risk and has no reliable way to get it off, so it's frequently a method of disrespect.
While ascending, a player can input left or right to modify the trajectory K. Rool moves at. This will also change the direction the propeller hurtbox is facing, allowing for increased - and crucial - protection. As a result, swerving when an opponent attempts to challenge the attack is immensely helpful. However, by doing this, the move will lose airtime. This means that there is a trade-off for diagonal recovery distance and the extra protection, and weighing it out is very important during recovery.
However, this move cannot be canceled manually: if he fails to snap to the ledge, K. Rool will continue to rise for the duration of the move, leaving him vulnerable to attack. However, this can be abused if it's near the end of the move, being able to snipe opponents on platforms while snapping to the stage. Interestingly, holding down while ascending will stop K. Rool from snapping to the ledge, meaning this can be triggered on command.
While K. Rool flaps his arms, he will float down slower than usual. If a player wants to make him fall faster, they can press down to make him enter a helpless animation (where fast falling is also an option). This also reduces landing lag by a single frame (29 compared to Propellerpack's 30) and as a result makes it slightly less punishable. This is crucial when playing optimally.
But, this move does have its downsides. While there is a great deal of protection on the move that can even make it unpunishable in some matchups, there is a glaring flaw: there isn't any from the side or below. As a result, many characters can simply attempt to stage spike K. Rool as he comes back. Many K. Rool players have their fingers over the shield button just because of this, which while it does mitigate the issue, it still requires reaction time and is also susceptible to the "untechable" stage spikes. It's also possible for some characters to simply keep using a certain move to infinitely edgeguard the character: such as Pit using Upperdash Arm constantly from the ledge, or Ganondorf dropping down and using Dark Dive for what is most likely a KO. While the recovery is amazing on paper, it is inherently flawed and will be a thorn in King K. Rool's side unless the opponent makes a mistake.
Origin
This attack is based on the boss fights against Baron K. Roolenstein, K. Rool's alter ego in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie's Double Trouble!. In both fights, Dixie and Kiddy Kong must attack his pack with barrels in order to damage him. In Ultimate, K. Rool's animations for this move are similar to those in DKC3 — his helpless animation, for example, resembles the way he flapped his hands in the air upon being hit. In Donkey Kong Land III, Baron K. Roolenstein would attack with bolts of lightning as well.
Gallery
Propellerpack as shown by a Skill Preview in Ultimate.
