King K. Rool



King K. Rool is the king of the Kremlings and archenemy of the Kongs and their allies, he is also the main villain of the Donkey Kong series of games. His name is pronounced 'cruel', the 'K' obviously implied to follow the Kremling trend.

Donkey Kong Country


King K. Rool first appeared in Donkey Kong Country as the game's final boss. K. Rool and his gang of minions, the Kremling Krew, came to Donkey Kong Island one stormy night with intention to steal Donkey Kong's fabled Golden Banana hoard. Sending several Kremlings to Donkey's tree house to steal the precious bananas, the Kremlings encountered little resistance as the only person guarding them was Donkey Kong's nephew and apprentice, Diddy Kong. Knocking Diddy aside and sealing him in a barrel, the Kremlings stole the banana hoard.

After venturing through the many regions of Donkey Kong Island, Donkey and the released Diddy defeated many of K. Rool's operatives and reclaimed Donkey Kong's Golden Bananas, which were guarded by bosses. Finally, the Kongs managed to reach K. Rool's ship, the Gangplank Galleon. Here they faced the tyrannical crocodile in battle. K. Rool tried many tricks to defeat the Kongs, such as using his crown as a boomerang, trying to ram them, stomp them and shoot cannonballs at them. Though in the end, the Kongs managed to beat K. Rool after a long hard battle. Unfortunately the Kremling king managed to escape.

Donkey Kong Land
K. Rool returned in Donkey Kong Country's semi-sequel on the Game Boy; Donkey Kong Land. In this game, Cranky Kong calls up K. Rool, and demands he return to Donkey Kong Island and re-steal Donkey Kong's Golden Banana hoard; Cranky had made a bet earlier with Diddy and Donkey that they couldn't reclaim the bananas on a hand held system. In this game, K. Rool is fought in a blimp above Big Ape City, here his attacks consist mostly of the same as they did in Donkey Kong Country; running, jumping and throwing his crown. K. Rool is once again defeated, but once again goes into hiding to lick his wounds.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest


In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, K. Rool (under the alias of Kaptain K. Rool) manages to kidnap Donkey Kong and speed him away to the home of the Kremlings, Crocodile Isle. After discovering that Donkey has been kidnapped, Diddy and his girlfriend, Dixie Kong, rush off to save him from K. Rool. After venturing through the swampy Crocodile Isle, Diddy and Dixie managed to reach K. Rool's Keep, where Donkey was supposedly held. Finding Donkey Kong in a tower, the Kongs were about to rescue him when he was whisked away by K. Rool (in the GameBoy Advance remake of Donkey Kong Country 2, K. Rool also sends the gigantic Kremling, Kerozene, to battle Diddy and Dixie).

After facing a few more obstacles, the Kongs managed to reach K. Rool's airship, the Flying Krock. Here Diddy and Dixie saw K. Rool in midst of torturing Donkey Kong. Engaging K. Rool in battle, the Kremling king used a high-tech blunderbuss that could be used as a vacuum, also allowing K. Rool to move at high-speeds, turn invisible, fire spiked Kannonballs and strange gasses that could effect the Kongs in bizzare ways, e.g. reversing the game's controls, making the Kongs move extremely slow and freezing them in place.

After a long battle in which the Kongs manage to do damage to K. Rool by hurling Kannonballs back into his blunderbuss - Donkey Kong managed to break free of the bonds that held him and uppercut K. Rool out the front window of the Flying Krock. Crashing into the swampy water of Krem Quay, K. Rool managed to swim ashore to the Lost World.

By collecting enough Kremkoins for Klubba, Diddy and Dixie manage to follow K. Rool into the bowels of the Lost World, into Crocodile Kore. Here, they battled K. Rool in an ancient palace, and once again, K. Rool is defeated when a Kannonball is hurled into his blunderbuss. This time instead of backfiring, the gun explodes, flinging K. Rool into a nearby geyser that supplied energy to Crocodile Isle. Due to K. Rool clogging the energy geyser, the pressure within it kept building up more and more until it exploded, taking the top of Crocodile Isle with it, the rest sinking.

At the end of the game, a ship can be seen sailing away from the remains of the island and an ominous laugh can be heard as the ship sails over the horizon, telling the player that K. Rool survived the explosion, making way for another sequel.

Donkey Kong Land 2
In Donkey Kong Land 2, K. Rool returns, once again kidnaps DK and rushes away to Crocodile Isle (which K. Rool had risen from the sea). Diddy and Dixie Kong had to once again defeat K. Rool on the Flying Krock and in the Lost World. After defeating K. Rool, Crocodile Isle once again sinks to the bottom sea.

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble


In Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble, K. Rool was thought to have been replaced as leader of the Kremling Krew by the robot; KAOS.

Near the end of Donkey Kong Country 3, it is revealed that K. Rool (now called Baron K. Roolenstein) was now secretly running the Kremling Krew through KAOS, whom he had constructed. After defeating KAOS, Dixie and her cousin, Kiddy Kong began battle with K. Rool. Kiddy and Dixie finally manage to defeat K. Rool in a long grueling battle. Before he could be apprehended, though, K. Rool managed to escape.

If Dixie and Kiddy manage to collect all the cogs in Krematoa and give them to Boomer, K. Roolenstein can be fought again. After Boomer's machine awakens the ancient volcano in Krematoa a submarine, the Knautilus will rise from beneath the volcano's lava. Inside the submarine, K. Roolenstein can be found and battled. After a long battle, the Kongs manage to defeat K. Rool and send him flying once again. If Dixie and Kiddy manage to obtain all the Banana Birds in the game, and release the Banana Bird Queen, a small cut scene of K. Rool driving away in hover boat will be shown, suddenly a large egg will crash onto the Kremling king, courtesy of the Banana Bird Queen.

Donkey Kong Land III
In Donkey Kong Land III, K. Rool, along with Diddy, Donkey, Dixie and Kiddy, enters a competition to explore a newly discovered area of the Northern Kremisphere, as well as find the Lost World. Dixie and Kiddy must defeat K. Rool in Tin Can Valley, and once again board the Knautilus in the Lost World.

Diddy Kong Racing
Though K. Rool does not appear in Diddy Kong Racing, he is, presumably, the one who sent the Kremling Krew member, Krunch, to spy on Diddy Kong and his friends.

Donkey Kong 64
K. Rool returns in Donkey Kong 64. In this game, K. Rool (said to have become somewhat unstable), randomly appears one day on a large mechanical island. K. Rool had planned to blow up Donkey Kong Island with a weapon called the Blast-O-Matic, fortunately for the island's inhabitants, K. Rool's Ship ends up crashing due to the incompetence of the ship's drivers. In an attempt to distract Donkey Kong while he has his ship repaired, K. Rool has several Kongs imprisoned, these are; Diddy Kong, Tiny Kong, Lanky Kong and Chunky Kong. He also, once again, steals Donkey Kong's Golden Banana Hoard.



K. Rool, along with his unnamed pet Klaptrap (a parody of the James Bond villain Blofeld and his pet cat), appear in several of the game's cut scenes, watching the Kongs progress and chatsizing his own minions' failures.

After the Kongs permanently shut down K. Rool's mechanical island and Blast-O-Matic laser weapon, K. Rool tries to escape in a large airship. Unfortunately for K. Rool, the ship ends up being knocked to the ground and destroyed by a recently released K. Lumsy. Venturing inside the crashed vessel the Kongs found a boxing arena filled with spectators and K. Rool ready to battle. Engaging K. Rool in a bizzare series of battles - which include blasting out of barrels and into K. Rools face, dropping spot-lights on the villain, causing him to slip on banana peels, shrinking down and blasting his toes and generally pummeling him - the Kongs manage to claim victory.

After Chunky Kong delivers the final blow to K. Rool, a humorous cut scene is shown in which K. Rool, distracted by Candy Kong, ends up being blasted over the horizon (again) by Funky Kong and a bazooka. When K. Rool lands, it is in K. Lumsy's Island, where he meets a very unhappy K. Lumsy who proceeds to beat the Kremling king senseless in retaliation for locking him up.

Donkey Konga
K. Rool appears in one of Donkey Konga's mini-games, the player must bash K. Rool on the head with a Steel Keg while he tries to evade them. He will also sometimes appear dancing to the beat of music during songs.

DK: King of Swing


K. Rool once again appears as the main antagonist in DK: King of Swing. In this game, K. Rool steals all the medals that were supposed to be rewards in the upcoming Jungle Jam Competition. Donkey Kong (or Diddy Kong) manages to reclaim all the medals and track K. Rool down to his K. Kruizer III, where the evil tyrant is defeated. K. Rool is also playable in the game's Jungle Jam mode. Here K. Rool is the largest playable character and the second most powerful. His partner is, oddly, Bubbles. This was the first time King K Rool was playable.

Other Appearances
K. Rool was set to appear as a playable character in the now cancelled game Diddy Kong Pilot, where he was dressed as a stereotypical pilot, complete with fur coat and aviator goggles. K. Rool will be appearing in the upcoming game DK Bongo Blast as a playable character. A trophy of King K. Rool can also be obtained in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Physical Appearance
In King K. Rool's most common appearance, he wears a red cape and a gold crown. When he took on the alias of Kaptain K. Rool, he traded in the cape for a brown trench coat and the crown for a pirate hat. When he becomes Baron K. Roolenstein, he wears a white lab coat and has a propeller on his back. As King Krusha K. Rool, K. Rool wore a pair of large overalls and boxing gloves. He also had a pair of old, brown shoes with a few holes in them. K. Rool's skin is light green (though some appearances show it as dark green), he has a large bloodshot eye and he is usually shown with jagged teeth.

Personality
K. Rool, as his name, a pun on "cruel", may imply, is often extremely brutal, ruling his minions through threats and intimidation and often punishing them severally when they fail. K. Rool is also somewhat of a dirty fighter, often collapsing in the middle of combat and making it seem like he has been defeated, only to rise seconds later and begin fighting again.

K. Rool seems to hate the Kongs for no real reason, refering to them as "filthy apes" and "monkey brains", though he doesn't treat his own soldiers much better either. Both Donkey Kong 64 and Super Smash Bros. Melee also seem to imply that K. Rool is somewhat insane and demented; the final battle of Donkey Kong 64 also showed him to be somewhat of showboater, constantly showing-off and making taunting gestures.

Tools and Equipment
In throughout his various appearances, King K. Rool has used a variety of weaponry. In Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Land, King K. Rool would attack Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong by throwing his crown at them, which could boomerang back to him. Additionally, in Donkey Kong Country, King K. Rool could summon a barrage of large cannonballs to rain down on Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong.

In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Land 2 Kaptain K. Rool would use a powerful blunderbluss that, along with firing Kannonballs and status afflicting mists, could propel Kaptain K. Rool forward and make him invisible.

In Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble and Donkey Kong Land III, Baron K. Roolenstein would use a helicopter-equipted pack on his back to obtain flight, also, through the use of a remote, he could send blasts of electricity at Dixie Kong and Kiddy Kong. During the battle in Krematoa, Baron K. Roolenstein would also use a fireball launching cannon to attack.

During the final battle of Donkey Kong 64, during his battle against Diddy Kong, King Krusha K. Rool was capable of throwing his boxing gloves like boomerangs.

King K. Rool has also used a wide variety of vehicles, from his currently ruined ship, the Gangplank Galleon to large airships, such as the Flying Krock and K. Kruizer III. DK: King of Swing also showed King K. Rool had in his possession a personel hovercraft, much could move quickly and was green in color.

Powers and Abilities
In combat, King K. Rool usually uses his size and strength, attempting to tackle, crush and even leap onto opponents; additionally, despite his size, King K. Rool can be actually quite swift and speedy in battle.

Aside from simple strength, King K. Rool displayed no actual powers until Donkey Kong 64, originally simply using gadgets and weaponry in battle. In Donkey Kong 64 though, King Krusha K. Rool displayed the ability to create shockwaves by stomping on the ground and also the ability to turn invisible, though his shadow still appeared.



Super Smash Bros. Melee Trophy Information
"The demented head of the Kremlings and big boss in the Donkey Kong series. K. Rool is a giant, greedy glutton with a serious eye tic. While he fits the evil boss mold nicely, he's just enough of a bumbler to have gained a few fans over the years. His plan to blow up the DK Isles with his Blast-O-Matic shows how unbalanced he is."

Portrayals
In the Donkey Kong Country animated series, King K. Rool was voiced by Ben Campbell while in the Japanese dub of the television series he was voiced by Jūrōta Kosugi. In Donkey Kong 64 K. Rool, who voice actor is currently unknown, possessed an ominous and low, Darth Vader-like voice.

Appearances in Other Media
K. Rool was also one of the main characters and antagonists on the Donkey Kong Country animated series. Here his personality was relatively the same as the games, bossy, megalomaniac and slightly clumsy. K. Rool's physical appearance was also altered slightly, his tail was shorter and his eye was not bloodshot like in the games, though it did bulge to large proportions when he was irritated (which was often).



K. Rool would often times, with the aid of his henchmen Klump and Krusha attempt to steal the mystical Crystal Coconut and use it's power to rule Kongo Bongo Island (which was what Donkey Kong Island was called in the show) and possibly the world. K. Rool would also inact other dastardly schemes such as trying to steal the legendary Golden Banana of Inka Dinka Doo and framing Donkey Kong for several crimes he committed.

The Donkey Kong Country cartoon also introduced a somewhat of a rival to K. Rool, a pirate named Kaptain Skurvy who also wished to obtain the Crystal Coconut.

Kaptain K. Rool was also featured as the main antagonist in an obscure German Donkey Kong comic, "Bumm-Badabumm Im Urwald". As the story of the comic goes K. Rool sends several members of the Kremling Krew to steal all the bananas on Donkey Kong Island, apparently hoping to starve the Kongs to make them weaker. K. Rool himself only appears near the end of the comic in the "Lost Land".

When K. Rool notices that the Kongs are in the Lost Land he, at first sends several dozen Kremlings at Donkey, Diddy and Dixie Kong thinking the shear number of Kremlings would defeat the Kongs. Unfortunately for K. Rool the Kongs managed to pulverize his Kremling warriors. Taking matters into his own hands K. Rool tries to blast the Kongs with a Pineapple-launching blunderbuss. At first it seems the Kongs are overpowered until Donkey Kong finds and throws a nearby TNT Barrel into the pile of bananas K. Rool is standing on. The resulting explosion buries K. Rool under the huge pile of bananas. He is last seen having made a deal with Donkey Kong, in exchange for digging K. Rool out of the giant pile of fruit, K. Rool would have all the bananas returned to the Kongs.

K. Rool was also featured as the villain of another Donkey Kong comic called "Donkey Kong in When the Banana Splits". Here K. Rool, along with several Kritters manage to steal all of the Kongs Golden Bananas. Unfortunately for K. Rool, his heist ended up a failure as he had ended up taking the bananas when the Kongs were home, so the Kongs ended up easily tracking down K. Rool and his Kritter minions. In the end K. Rool ends being defeated by Donkey Kong's Super Duper Simian Slam and the Kongs reclaim their stolen bananas.

Trivia

 * K. Rool is rumored to have a wife who is briefly mentioned in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble.


 * In the episode "The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights" on the Donkey Kong Country cartoon K. Rool briefly mentions having several dozen siblings.




 * In the Bumm-Badabumm Im Urwald comic K. Rool, despite being dressed as Kaptain K. Rool he is never referred to as such, instead he is always called King K. Rool.


 * In several of the sunken ships in Gloomy Galleon in Donkey Kong 64 portraits of Kaptain K. Rool can be seen.


 * Towards the end of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode "Never Koop a Koopa", Bowser dons a red cape, and comes close to resembling K. Rool in terms of appearance and color. However, this is completely coincidental, as the cartoon was made four years prior to K. Rool's debut.


 * A literary character who appears in "The Scarecrow of Oz" shares King K. Rool's name style, with the name "King Krewl".