King K. Rool

King K. Rool, who has gone by many aliases, is the malevolent ruler of the Kremlings and the main villain in the Donkey Kong franchise, as well as the archenemy of Donkey Kong and his allies. King K. Rool has repeatedly tried to steal the Kongs' Banana Hoard for unknown reasons, though it has been suggested that he takes the hoard in order to starve the Kongs, in addition to personally liking bananas. He has even kidnapped members of the Kong Family on various occasions.

His name is a pun on the word "cruel", which often describes his actions and his personality, as well as a corruption of "rule" as he is the ruler of the Kremlings.

Donkey Kong Country
King K. Rool makes his first appearance in Donkey Kong Country as the game's main antagonist and the seventh and final boss. K. Rool and the Kremling Krew come to Donkey Kong Island to steal Donkey Kong's Banana Hoard. The Kremlings encountered little resistance, as the only person guarding them was Donkey Kong's friend, Diddy Kong, whom they kidnap into a DK Barrel, and then they steal DK's Bananas. Later, Cranky tells Donkey Kong that his hoard was stolen, and Donkey Kong starts his adventure.

Finally, Donkey Kong and the released Diddy Kong manage to reach K. Rool's ship, the Gangplank Galleon, where they face him in battle. King K. Rool's attacks involve ramming into the Kongs and throwing his crown at them as a boomerang. If he is hit four times, he makes cannonballs fall from the sky in a straight line. When K. Rool is hit seven times, the fake credits show up on the screen, stating that the game was made by the Kremlings.

After the fake credits are done, King K. Rool jumps and tries to stomp on the Kongs by jumping in a straight line. King K. Rool, after being jumped on ten times, is defeated. The cast of the game appear and the real credits roll in DK's Tree House, or at Gangplank Galleon in the Game Boy Advance remake.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, K. Rool (going by the alias of Kaptain K. Rool in the game) manages to kidnap Donkey Kong and store him away in Crocodile Isle, and he demands the Banana Hoard in return for Donkey Kong. After discovering that Donkey Kong has been kidnapped, Diddy Kong and his girlfriend, Dixie Kong, rush off to save him from Kaptain K. Rool. King K. Rool, when confronted by the Kongs in K. Rool's Keep whisks away Donkey Kong (in the Game Boy Advance remake of Donkey Kong Country 2, K. Rool also sends the gigantic Kremling Kerozene to battle Diddy and Dixie).

King K. Rool is in his airship, the Flying Krock, where the Kongs meet him again. King K. Rool uses 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 poisonous gases that could affect the Kongs in many ways: the blue gas freezes them, the red gas makes the Kongs move slowly, and the purple gas reverses the game's controls.

King K. Rool is damaged when Kannonballs are hurled back into his blunderbuss. Donkey Kong then breaks free and uppercuts K. Rool out the front window of the Flying Krock. Crashing into the Krem Quay, K. Rool gets chomped by sharks. After recovering, he manages to swim ashore to the Lost World.

By collecting enough Kremkoins for Klubba, the Krocodile Kore can be accessed. Here, King K. Rool is fought 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 supplies energy to Crocodile Isle. Due to K. Rool clogging the energy geyser, the pressure within it kept building up until it explodes, taking the top of Crocodile Isle with it.

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, suggesting that K. Rool survived the explosion, making way for another sequel.

K. Rool's persona, Kaptain K. Rool, is referenced in only one other game beside Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest, albeit obscurely; in Donkey Kong 64, inside the sunken ship off to a corner, there is a book entitled "Kaptain K. Rool's Log Book".

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, King K. Rool's trophy states that Kaptain K. Rool is actually King K. Rool's brother. However, this is regarded as either a mistake by Nintendo or a tongue-in-cheek joke in the vein of the Mr. L reference in Paper Luigi's trophy.

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!
In Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, King K. Rool is seemingly replaced as master of the Kremlings by KAOS, a robotic entity. Under KAOS' rule, the Kremling Krew proceeds to take over the Northern Kremisphere and imprison the Banana Bird Queen, as well as several of her children, the Banana Birds.

Eventually, after a search for the missing Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong and her cousin Kiddy Kong reach Kastle KAOS. Entering Kastle KAOS, Dixie and Kiddy encounter and begin to battle KAOS.

It is soon discovered that KAOS is a puppet leader controlled by King K. Rool, this time under the alias of Baron K. Roolenstein. After Dixie and Kiddy discover him, Baron K. Roolenstein battles the Kongs, using a helicopter pack on his back to fly and a remote control to send blasts of electricity. In order to hurt Baron K. Roolenstein, Dixie and Kiddy need to pull down on a particular pipe on the ceiling of Kastle KAOS. Pulling on this pipe causes a barrel to appear, which needs to be thrown at Baron K. Roolenstein's helicopter pack. It also deals more damage if he gets electrocuted by his own electric beams after being hit by multiple barrels.

After Baron K. Roolenstein's defeat, the body of KAOS crashes into the ground. Once on the ground, KAOS' body releases Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, who has been kidnapped by Baron K. Roolenstein to be used as batteries for KAOS.

If Dixie and Kiddy manage to collect all the cogs in Krematoa and give them to Boomer, Baron K. Roolenstein can be fought again. After Boomer's machine awakens a volcano in Krematoa, a submarine, the Knautilus, rises from beneath the volcano's lava. Inside this submarine, Baron K. Roolenstein can be found and battled. In this battle, Baron K. Roolenstein simply remains in the back of his vessel for sometime. He attacks using electric beams and a fireball launching cannon. In order to hurt Baron K. Roolenstein, Dixie and Kiddy needs to throw several Steel Kegs at him through the use of a chute in the ceiling. Later in the battle, he occasionally enters the front area. After being hit multiple times, Baron K. Roolenstein loses control of his helicopter pack and is left spinning out of control in his submarine.

If the Kongs manage to release the Banana Bird Queen from her imprisonment behind the Banana Bird Barrier, a brief cutscene of Baron K. Roolenstein riding away from the Northern Kremisphere in a hovercraft is shown. As Baron K. Roolenstein drives away, a giant egg, laid by the Banana Bird Queen, falls on Baron K. Roolenstein, trapping a perplexed Baron K. Roolenstein inside. During their first encounter, Baron K. Roolenstein makes an obvious reference to Scooby Doo, in which he states, "And I'd have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you meddling kids!"

Donkey Kong Country novel
King K. Rool appears at the end of the Donkey Kong Country novel, where he announces to his Kremlings that their factory on Donkey Kong Island was destroyed and that he intends to launch a final attack on the Kong's home. Hearing this, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong and Cranky Kong board the Gangplank Galleon and K. Rool flees the ensuing brawl with his speedboat.

Donkey Kong Country: Rumble in the Jungle
In the second installment of the Donkey Kong Country chapter book series, King K. Rool is managing the reconstruction of a factory within the abandoned Big Ape City. After Funky Kong is captured by the Kremlings, King K. Rool orders them to use a painful "truth machine" on Funky Kong, so that they can find out whether he is a spy. King K. Rool is seen again at the climax of the novel, where he is commanding a large zeppelin which fires rockets at Funky's barrel plane. Donkey Kong has the idea for him and Diddy Kong to jump from Funky's plane, onto the zeppelin to reach the cabin. They briefly encounter King K. Rool, and tell him that they are going to blow up the ship. He responds by saying that he "won't be aboard when that happens" before he pushes past them, escaping. The Kongs successfully destroy King K. Rool's factory after the TNT Barrel-planted zeppelin lands on it.

"Donkey Kong Country"
King K. Rool appears in the German Club Nintendo's comic adaptation of Donkey Kong Country, first appearing to attack Diddy Kong and seal him within a DK Barrel, before stealing Donkey Kong's Banana Hoard. King K. Rool later appears on his ship, the Gangplank Galleon, and battles both Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, only to be defeated by them. King K. Rool, under the guise of Kaptain K. Rool, was also featured in the magazine's Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest comic special, appearing at the beginning of it to taunt a captured Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong Land
King K. Rool returns 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 banana hoard, because he was jealous over Donkey Kong. In this game, K. Rool is fought in a blimp above Big Ape City, where his attacks are mostly the same as his techniques in Donkey Kong Country: running, jumping, and throwing his crown, although he does use a new, belly flop-like attack. After several hits, King K. Rool is defeated and Donkey Kong once again reclaims his banana hoard.

Donkey Kong Land 2
Kaptain K. Rool reappears in Donkey Kong Land 2, Donkey Kong Country 2's pseudo-port for the Game Boy, where he serves the same role in the storyline.

Fought on the Flying Krock, Kaptain K. Rool's attack pattern in Donkey Kong Land 2 is a simplified version of his battle strategy in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest; instead of shooting status afflicting gas or using a vacuum attack, Kaptain K. Rool would simply shoot gusts of wind from his blunderbuss.

Once Kaptain K. Rool is defeated on the Flying Krock, and once Klubba is paid forty-seven Kremkoins, Kaptain K. Rool can be fought in the Lost World. In the ruins of Krocodile Kore, Kaptain K. Rool would attack Diddy and Dixie Kong by blasting them with kannonballs, both normal and spiked varieties. Eventually, Kaptain K. Rool would shoot a barrel, which must be jumped on to claim the kannonball within. This kannonball must be thrown at Kaptain K. Rool to defeat him and cause his blunderbuss to explode, flinging him into the geyser of Crocodile Kore, causing it to explode.

Donkey Kong Land III
In Donkey Kong Land III, Baron K. Roolenstein and the Kremling Krew, as well as a rebuilt KAOS, appear as the main antagonists of the game. Similar to Donkey Kong Country 3, Baron K. Roolenstein is accessible only after KAOS is destroyed permanently (the two are bosses in different worlds). His first battle takes place in K Rool Duel[sic], where K. Roolenstein tries to attack Dixie and Kiddy by shooting electric beams at them. After a barrel is thrown at K. Roolenstein, he bounces around trying to attack the Kongs. After three hits, he is "defeated".

Baron K. Roolenstein is later fought in Donkey Kong Land III in a stage called K Rools Last Stand[sic], located in the Lost World. In this battle, Baron K. Roolenstein attacks by using electrical beams and by dropping bombs on Dixie and Kiddy Kong. Baron K. Roolenstein needs to be repeatedly hit with barrels in order to be defeated.

Donkey Kong Country television series
K. Rool is one of the main characters and the main antagonist in the Donkey Kong Country animated series, where his name is pronounced "Kuh-Rool", rather than "Kay-Rool". In the show, his personality is relatively the same as in the games: bossy, loud, megalomaniacal, and slightly clumsy; despite this, however, he is not without a soft side, as seen in episodes such as "Baby Kong Blues" and "Four Weddings and a Coconut".

King K. Rool's physical appearance is slightly altered from his video game counterpart. His tail is gone and one eye is not bloodshot, unlike in the games, though it does bulge to large proportions when he is excited or irritated. His eyes also are not connected as they are in the games, and instead are separated. K. Rool's wrist bands are more detailed, instead of being plain gold, as is his crown. King K. Rool's cape is also much shorter in length in the Donkey Kong Country cartoon. K. Rool also has no combat abilities and can easily be defeated by Donkey Kong, despite being the final boss of the videogames. Instead of a combatant, K. Rool is a strategist trying to outsmart the Kongs using his army of loyal, yet dimwitted kremlings.

His voice, voiced by Ben Campbell, is radically different from the games, such as Donkey Kong 64. He is constantly bragging about his brain and emphasizes this by using more complex jargon. King K. Rool often, with the aid of his henchmen Klump and Krusha, attempts to steal the Crystal Coconut and use its power to rule Kongo Bongo Island and the world. He seems to be always hatching plans to steal the coconut; however, a combination of the stupidity of his troops and the resourcefulness of the Kongs always leads to failure. K. Rool has a very low tolerance for the incompetence of both Krusha and Klump, to the point where, in one episode, he mutters to himself "Do I really want the Crystal Coconut this badly?" while Krusha and Klump try to decode a message they themselves wrote. When not scheming to take the Coconut, he otherwise plans to eliminate Donkey Kong, who is the Coconut's main protector, or to take over the Barrel Works to manufacture exploding barrels. His various other plans vary from episode to episode: for example, during a heatwave, he plots to steal a bunch of Donkey Kong's "Coconut Chill" shakes to keep him and his Kremlings cool.

The series also expands King K. Rool's backstory slightly, with the episode "Best of Enemies" revealing that he was once friends with Cranky Kong and that the two were nefarious pranksters; another episode entitled "The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights" also has King K. Rool mentioning both his mother and various, unnamed siblings. The Donkey Kong Country cartoon also introduces a Kremling rival of sorts to King K. Rool, a pirate named Kaptain Skurvy, who also wishes to obtain the Crystal Coconut.

In a possible alternate timeline seen in the episode "It's a Wonderful Life", in which Donkey Kong sees what Kongo Bongo Island would be like if he did not exist, King K. Rool is portrayed as a somewhat timid freedom fighter in a feud with Diddy Kong, who is portrayed as a power-hungry tyrant. He is called by General Klump as "King K. Rool Sir".

Donkey Kong 64
King K. Rool returns in Donkey Kong 64, where he appears on a large mechanical island. He plans to blow up Donkey Kong Island with a weapon called the Blast-o-Matic. His new and improved Crocodile Isle 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 Diddy Kong, Tiny Kong, Lanky Kong, and Chunky Kong imprisoned. He also steals Donkey Kong's Golden Banana Hoard.

K. Rool appears in several cutscenes with his unnamed pet Klaptrap, who he strokes similarly to the way the James Bond villain Blofeld strokes his cat, an obvious parody. He also breathes in a manner similar to Darth Vader in Star Wars. He is much larger in this game than all other games; as huge as Chunky Kong when he steps into his Hunky Chunky Barrel. Throughout the game, he watches the Kongs' progress and chastises his own minions' failures. A scene shows K. Rool demanding that nobody leaves the Blast-o-Matic until it is repaired, going as far as sending a Purple Klaptrap to attack a fleeing Kasplat (albeit offscreen).

Eventually, K. Rool's henchman succeed in repairing the Blast-o-Matic, just as the Kongs break into Hideout Helm, and K. Rool demands that the weapon be fired, despite the warnings that if it is not fully tested, it could explode. After the Kongs permanently shut down King K. Rool's mechanical island and the Blast-o-Matic, K. Rool tries to escape in a large airship. The ship ends up being knocked to the ground and destroyed by a recently released K. Lumsy. Venturing inside the crashed vessel, the Kongs find a boxing arena filled with spectators and King K. Rool, as his boxer alias King Krusha K. Rool, ready to battle. King K. Rool creates multiple shockwaves by slamming the ground, he throws his gloves as a boomerang, and he uppercuts the Kongs after charging at them. Engaging K. Rool in a series of battles - which include blasting out of barrels into K. Rool, dropping spot-lights on him, causing him to slip on banana peels, shrinking down and blasting his toes, and generally pummeling him - the Kongs defeat him.

After Chunky Kong delivers the final blow to K. Rool, a cut scene is shown in which K. Rool gets back up after the fight. He is about to attack Chunky from behind, but is distracted by Candy Kong. He ends up being blasted over the horizon by Funky Kong. When K. Rool lands, it is in his dungeon, where he meets a very unhappy K. Lumsy who proceeds to beat King K. Rool in retaliation for locking him up.

K. Rool's depiction in this game changes as it goes on. He is initially depicted as cruel and merciless, and even menacing in the opening when he has a voice. However, as time goes on, especially towards the end of the game, K. Rool is depicted as far more comical.

Kaptain K. Rool also makes a small cameo appearance in the game. Portraits of him can be found in some of Gloomy Galleon's sunken ships, several log cabins in Crystal Caves and in Creepy Castle's Museum.

Bumm-Badabumm im Urwald
Kaptain K. Rool is also featured as the main antagonist in an obscure German Donkey Kong comic, Bumm-Badabumm im Urwald; however he is always referred to as King K. Rool. In this story, 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 appears only 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 sheer 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. King K. Rool 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.

Donkey Kong in When the Banana Splits
K. Rool is 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 is a failure, as he steals the bananas when the Kongs are home, so the Kongs easily track down K. Rool and his Kritter minions. In the end, K. Rool is defeated by Donkey Kong's Super Duper Simian Slam and the Kongs reclaim their stolen bananas.

Super Smash Bros. series
A trophy of King K. Rool can be obtained in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, one of the names that appears when players press the "Random Name" button when naming their custom stage is KROOL.

In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, K. Rool receives his own Mii Brawler costume released as DLC.

Donkey Konga
King K. Rool appears in one of Donkey Konga's minigames, where the player must bash King K. Rool on the head with a Steel Keg while he tries to evade them. King K. Rool also sometimes appears dancing to the beat of music during certain songs in Donkey Konga.

DK: King of Swing
King K. Rool appears in DK: King of Swing where he once again appears as the main antagonist. In DK: King of Swing, King K. Rool steals all the medals that are supposed to be rewards in the upcoming Jungle Jam competition and crowns himself king of the jungle in the process.

As the end boss of DK: King of Swing, King K. Rool must be defeated in two battles. First, he summons a huge field of pegs, which Donkey Kong must race him through. If Donkey Kong succeeds in defeating King K. Rool, he promptly stutters "that was practice" and challenges Donkey Kong to a battle on another peg field. If Donkey Kong beats him again, K. Rool is vanquished and the medals relinquished as Donkey Kong flies off in King K. Rool's hovercraft and destroys the K. Kruizer III.

King K. Rool is also playable in DK: King of Swing's Jungle Jam mode, where he is the largest playable character and the most powerful. His partner is, oddly, Bubbles, the hero of the game Clu Clu Land. This is also the first time King K. Rool is playable in a game.

DK: Jungle Climber
In DK: Jungle Climber, King K. Rool appears as the main villain and is first encountered atop Sun Sun Island, where he and his entourage of four Kritters steal the five Crystal Bananas from the banana alien Xananab. When King K. Rool and his henchmen are discovered by Donkey, Diddy and Cranky Kong, they quickly flee the scene using a dimensional portal device known as a Spirowarp. After this encounter, King K. Rool is encountered several more times on the various islands and dimensions of the game, usually appearing to taunt Donkey, Diddy, Cranky and Xananab before having one of his Kritter followers power-up with a Crystal Banana and battle them.

After King K. Rool's Mega AMP robot and final Kritter subordinate is defeated on his ship the King Kruiser IV and the forth Crystal Banana is claimed by Donkey, Diddy, Cranky Kong and Xananab, King K. Rool flees through a wormhole to the Planet Plantaen. Chased to a dead end on Planet Plantaen, King K. Rool battles Donkey Kong, attacking by jumping at him, charging into him, and throwing exploding spiked balls. Once King K. Rool is defeated in this battle, he, refusing to give up, uses his last Crystal Banana to grow larger and become even more powerful.

In his new form, King K. Rool attacks with exhaling fire and exploding mines, summoning meteors of various sizes and gales of wind, and trying to crush the Kongs with his hands. In this form, King K. Rool's only vulnerable spot is his face, which, once hit five times, depletes King K. Rool's health, reverting him and leaving him unconscious. King K. Rool is last seen in DK: Jungle Climber being taken back to his and the Kong's home planet, being dragged through space by a rope attached to the back of a Banana Spaceship.

Donkey Kong Barrel Blast
In Donkey Kong Barrel Blast, K. Rool makes an appearance as a secret playable character, riding in a vehicle resembling a rocket-powered barrel and using his claw as his attack. He is unlocked by playing Challenge 31 of Candy's Challenges, and winning; his main rival in the game is Cranky Kong. He is the only character in the game who does not ride with barrels attached to him (he rides on a TNT Barrel, but his controls are still the same). King K. Rool also boasts high boost, speed and agility.

Mario Super Sluggers
King K. Rool's first appearance in a Mario game is in Mario Super Sluggers. He can only play as a team player, and is, ironically, on Donkey Kong's team, despite that he hates DK and the Kongs. The explanation for this is that he was impressed with their skills, and said he was only going to team up when playing baseball. In Challenge Mode, he tries to stop Mario and the gang in Donkey Kong's stage by using his green, red, blue, and brown Kritters to challenge them. When the player wins, he is unlocked, as well as all four Kritters.

King K. Rool is one of the most powerful batters in the entire game (tied with Bowser and Petey Piranha). He is the strongest right-handed batter in the game; Bowser and Petey Piranha are left-handed batters. His pitching is also a bit above average. King K. Rool, however, has poor fielding, and is one of the slowest runners in the game. King K. Rool's stamina is also very low, but he does take longer to get exhausted than Petey Piranha.

King K. Rool has great chemistry with all four Kritters and King Boo. He has bad chemistry with the Kongs, as well as Bowser. He uses his scepter with a large gem to bat, and has a different, pharaoh-like clothing style that is exclusive to this game.

Physical appearance
In King K. Rool's most common appearance, he wears a red cape and a gold crown, but he is fond of adopting many other looks and costumes as well. When he takes on the alias of Kaptain K. Rool, he trades 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, a small black wig, and has a propeller on his back. In Mario Super Sluggers, K. Rool wears an Ancient Egyptian-style collar and loincloth, much like a pharaoh. Cranky Kong mentions in the Donkey Kong 64 instruction booklet that K. Rool had given up his silly disguises in that game. While he has not seriously gone incognito since Baron K. Roolenstein, for the final fight he goes by the moniker "King Krushaaaa K.Rool" as a boxer. During this fight he sports a stereotypical one-piece as well as boxing gloves with a champion's belt.

K. Rool has a long tail and three toes, and his hands have four fingers. In Donkey Kong 64 however, he has four toes instead of three as shown in artworks; his fingertips also have pointy nails in this game. Since his appearances past Donkey Kong 64, however, he lacks a tail. K. Rool's skin is light green (though some appearances show it as dark green). He has a large bloodshot eye, muscular arms, and is usually shown with jagged teeth. King K. Rool's under-belly is golden in texture and color (meant to be a piece of armour according to character designer Steve Mayles ), but in DK: King of Swing his underbelly is changed to plain skin color.

Taking into consideration his physique, his attacks and athletic abilities from the first Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong 64, he is capable of inflicting considerable damage with physical strength alone. In DK: King of Swing, King K. Rool had the highest attack out of all the characters. The brute strength that he possesses may rival or perhaps even surpass that of Donkey Kong and Chunky Kong. He is tied with Bowser and Petey Piranha for the best batting abilities in Mario Super Sluggers.

Personality
K. Rool, as his name, a pun on "cruel," may imply, is brutal, ruling his minions through threats and intimidation, often punishing them severely when they fail. Even his most powerful followers seem to fear his wrath, as displayed in Donkey Kong 64, when his subtle display of anger results in Army Dillo fainting on the spot. He does not seem to respect his henchmen, the Kritters, much better either. In Mario Super Sluggers, he refers to brown Kritter as "the dirty under-belly of the Kremling Krew". K. Rool is also somewhat of a dirty fighter. He fakes defeat, 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 hates the Kongs, referring to them as "filthy apes" and "monkey brains". Both Donkey Kong 64 and Super Smash Bros. Melee 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. He has bad chemistry with all Kongs in Mario Super Sluggers.

According to Leigh Loveday (writer of the Donkey Kong Country series) on Rareware.com's former "scribes" column, K. Rool's motivation for stealing the banana hoard is either that he wants Donkey Kong to starve to death so that he can occupy his "cosy treehouse pad," or perhaps that he simply likes bananas. The latter explanation is supported in the Donkey Kong Country manual which states the Kremlings coveted the Bananas for their nutritional value, and contradicted in DK: Jungle Climber where K. Rool states that he despises bananas.

Weapons
Throughout his various appearances, King K. Rool uses a variety of weaponry.

In Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Land, using his trademark attack, King K. Rool attacks Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong by taking off his crown and throwing it at them, which can boomerang back to him.

In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Land 2, Kaptain K. Rool uses a powerful blunderbuss. He fires different types of ammunition such as Kannonballs, spiked Kannonballs, barrels, and status-afflicting mists, which either freeze, slow, or disorient his targets. K. Rool also uses his blunderbuss as a vacuum to suck the Kongs toward him, whereupon he hits them with the butt of his blunderbuss. In addition to using it as an offensive weapon, he also uses it as his primary form of movement by aiming it in the opposite direction and using the jet propulsion to thrust him forward at high speeds.

In Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! and Donkey Kong Land III, Baron K. Roolenstein uses a helicopter-equipped pack on his back to obtain flight. Despite the fact that K. Rool can actually move faster on his feet, and the fact that the helicopter pack is his weakpoint in the game, it is necessary for his trap-based fighting strategy; it allows him to avoid his own electric beams by hovering over them. Through the use of a remote, he can manipulate various objects in his lair, such as altering positions and movements of platforms, and activating pods that send blasts of electricity at Dixie Kong and Kiddy Kong. During the battle in Krematoa, Baron K. Roolenstein's remote can also activate a fireball-launching cannon and a moving conveyor belt, in addition to the electric pods.

During the final battle of Donkey Kong 64, in his fight against Diddy Kong, King Krusha K. Rool is capable of throwing his boxing gloves as boomerangs.

Vehicles
King K. Rool also uses a wide variety of vehicles, from his Gangplank Galleon, to large airships, such as the Flying Krock and K. Kruizer III. DK: King of Swing also shows King K. Rool has in his possession a personal hovercraft, which can move quickly. He also uses a type of barrel vehicle in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast.

Powers and abilities

 * In combat, King K. Rool usually uses his size and strength, attempting to tackle, crush and even leap onto opponents. Although, in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast, King K. Rool's attack is a single claw swipe. Additionally, despite his size, King K. Rool can actually be quite swift and speedy in battle (far more so then Donkey Kong, as shown in Donkey Kong Country where he can leap from one end of the Gangplank Galleon to the other in one jump).
 * In Donkey Kong Country, King K. Rool boasts the ability to summon a barrage of large cannonballs to rain down on Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong.
 * In Donkey Kong Country 2, K. Rool can teleport.
 * In Donkey Kong Country 3, Baron K. Roolenstein is capable of using sorcery. He demonstrates his magical prowess on the Queen Banana Bird, who states, "that rotten yellow belly K. Rool imprisoned me behind this evil barrier, which he sealed with a dark and powerful magic spell."
 * Aside from simple strength, King K. Rool displays very few powers until Donkey Kong 64, originally simply using gadgets and weaponry in battle. In Donkey Kong 64, though, King K. Rool displays the ability to create multiple shockwaves by slamming the ground. He can also perform a powerful uppercut after charging at the Kongs, which can knock Chunky Kong high into in the air, even when he is the same size as K. Rool.
 * In Donkey Kong Country 2 and Donkey Kong 64, King K. Rool displays his ability to turn invisible. This is first seen in Donkey Kong Country 2, where his blunderbuss leaves a trail of smoke puffs, revealing where he is, and in Donkey Kong 64, where only his shadow can be seen on the ground when he is invisible.
 * In DK: Jungle Climber, King K. Rool, after being damaged in battle, can turn temporarily invincible (gaining a reddish coloration) and the ability to assume a ball shape and bounce off surfaces rapidly. After being empowered by a Crystal Banana, King K. Rool gains a multitude of different powers, such as manipulating the weather, summoning meteors, breathing a barrage of fireballs and exploding mines.

Family
King K. Rool mentions having a wife in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!. Specifically, after KAOS is defeated a second time, Baron K. Roolenstein appears, stating he built KAOS from his wife's best pots and pans. It is unknown if K. Rool is telling a joke, or if he actually has a wife. In a December 23, 1999 edition of the Scribes section of Rare's website, Leigh Loveday stated that K. Rool's "my wife is going to kill me" line was merely "a typically throwaway Vic and Bob reference."

In the episode, "The Big Switch-A-Roo" of the Donkey Kong Country animated series, King K. Rool mentions his mother, and in "The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights" he mentions his "slithering siblings".

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, K. Rool's trophy information erroneously states that Kaptain K. Rool is the brother of King K. Rool, which lead to some fans theorizing that King K. Rool and Kaptain K. Rool are separate characters in the Japanese script of Donkey Kong Country. However, Japanese material (such as the intro of the Japanese Game Boy Advance version of Donkey Kong Country 2) also portray Kaptain K. Rool as a disguise, and thus the trophy description is merely an error.

In the Japanese version of Donkey Kong 64, K. Lumsy is said to be King K. Rool's little brother.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Instruction booklet:
 * "The leader of the pack is back, and this time he's packing a blunderbuss! Ouch!"

Donkey Kong Barrel Blast

 * Unlock method: Win Candy's Challenge 31: Showdown vs. King K. Rool.
 * Rival: Cranky Kong
 * Boost: 4/5
 * Speed: 4/5
 * Agility: 4/5

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, King K. Rool possesses an ominous and low Darth Vader-like voice provided by Chris Sutherland. As of DK: Jungle Climber, King K. Rool is currently voiced by Toshihide Tsuchiya.

Donkey Kong 64

 * I want you to do everything in your power to keep Donkey Kong distracted. Steal that hoard of Golden Bananas he treasures so much and take care of his pathetic friends. This time there can be no mistakes.
 * I hope for your sake, you're right this time.
 * Yeah, thank you.

Mario Super Sluggers

 * What a bunch of misfits!
 * Come back if you ever get the courage to challenge me.
 * I see you fools failed to learn your lesson... If you strike at a king, you must finish him!
 * You'll regret the day you ran into me.

Trivia

 * King K. Rool was featured as the villain of Nintendo's 2003 version of Camp Hyrule. King K. Rool caused chaos in Camp Hyrule by creating a massive earthquake.
 * In the first three games in the Donkey Kong Country series, King K. Rool has been the final boss. However, in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, he makes no appearance whatsoever.
 * K. Rool's get up as Baron K. Roolenstein is based on a combination of Frankenstein's Monster as portrayed by Boris Karloff in the Universal Horror movie Frankenstein and the character of Baron Victor von Frankenstein (played by Peter Cushing) from the Hammer Horror Frankenstein series.
 * In the Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode "Never Koop a Koopa", King Koopa resembles K. Rool, as he wears a red cape. However, this is mostly coincidental, as King K. Rool debuted four years after the episode aired.