King K. Rool

"Well, you may have roasted my robot, but I'm the head chef around here... and I reckon it's about time your goose was cooked!"

- King K. Rool

King K. Rool, who has gone by many aliases, is the malevolent ruler of the Kremlings and leader of the Kremling Krew; he is also the archenemy of Donkey Kong and his allies. King K. Rool has repeatedly tried to steal the Kongs' banana hoards and has even kidnapped members of the Kong Family on various occasions.

Donkey Kong Country


King K. Rool first appeared in Donkey Kong Country as the game's main antagonist and 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 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 Kong and the released Diddy Kong defeated many of K. Rool's operatives and reclaimed Donkey Kong's bananas, which were guarded by these lieutenants of the Kremling Krew. Finally, the Kongs managed to reach K. Rool's ship, the Gangplank Galleon, where 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 banana hoard; Cranky had made a bet earlier with Diddy and Donkey Kong that they couldn't reclaim the bananas on a handheld system. In this game, K. Rool is fought in a blimp above Big Ape City, where his attacks consist mostly of the same as they did in Donkey Kong Country; running, jumping and throwing his crown, though he did use a new, belly flop-like attack. King K. Rool is eventually defeated again, 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 Kong and his girlfriend, Dixie Kong, rush off to save him from Kaptain K. Rool. After venturing through the swampy Crocodile Isle, Diddy and Dixie managed to reach K. Rool's Keep, where Donkey Kong was supposedly being 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 bizarre 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 Krocodile 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 for the Game Boy, Kaptain K. Rool, having risen Crocodile Isle from the sea and repopulated it, succeeds in capturing Donkey Kong again. With Donkey Kong once again kidnapped, Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong had to travel to the now ravaged Crocodile Isle once again to save him and defeat the Kremling Krew.

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 rebuilt Flying Krock and once Klubba is payed forty-seven Kremkoins, Kaptain K. Rool could be fought in the Lost World. In the ruins of Krocodile Kore, Kaptain K. Roll 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 once again causing it to explode.

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble


In Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble, King K. Rool was seemingly replaced as ruler of the Kremlings by KAOS, a robotic entity; under KAOS' rule, the Kremling Krew proceeded 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 long search for the recently vanished Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong and her cousin, Kiddy Kong, reached KAOS' base-of-operations, Kastle KAOS. Entering Kastle KAOS, Dixie and Kiddy encountered and began to battle KAOS, who was set to destroy them.

It was only after their battle against KAOS that Dixie and Kiddy discovered that KAOS was nothing but a puppet leader controlled by King K. Rool, under the moniker of Baron K. Roolenstein. After Dixie and Kiddy discovered him, Baron K. Roolenstein began to battle them, using a helicopter pack on his back to fly and a remote control to send blasts of electricity across the floor of Kastle KAOS. In order to injure Baron K. Roolenstein, Dixie and Kiddy would need to pull a down on a particular pipe on the ceiling of Kastle KAOS, while avoiding Baron K. Roolenstein and his electric beams. Pulling on this pipe would cause a barrel to appear, which would need to be thrown at Baron K. Roolenstein; after being hit by multiple barrels, Baron K. Roolenstein would be defeated.

After Baron K. Roolenstein's defeat, the body of KAOS would drop from the ceiling of Kastle KAOS and crash into the ground. Once on the ground, KAOS' body would release Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, who had been kidnapped by Baron K. Roolenstein to be used as living 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 the ancient volcano in Krematoa, a submarine, the Knautilus, will rise from beneath the volcano's lava, inside this submarine, Baron K. Roolenstein can be found and battled. In this battle, Baron K. Roolenstein would simply remain in the back of his vessel, using electric beams and a fireball launching cannon to attack Dixie and Kiddy. In order to hurt Baron K. Roolenstein, Dixie and Kiddy would need to throw several steel kegs at him through the use of a teleportation device. After being hit multiple times, Baron K. Roolenstein would be beaten and lose control of his helicopter pack and be left spinning out of control in his submarine.

If players 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 will be shown; as Baron K. Roolenstein drives away, a giant egg, laid by the Banana Bird Queen and being ridden by Kiddy and Dixie, will fall on him, trapping a perplexed Baron K. Roolenstein inside.

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. Like in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble, Baron K. Roolenstein can be fought by Dixie and Kiddy Kong in Kastle KAOS after KAOS is destroyed permanently. In battle, Baron K. Roolenstein would try to attack Dixie and Kiddy Kong by frying them with electric beams and by trying to fly into them using his helicopter pack. In order to harm Baron K. Roolenstein, barrels would need to be thrown at his back by Dixie and Kiddy multiple times.

Baron K. Roolenstein could later be fought in Donkey Kong Land III in the Lost World; in this battle, Baron K. Roolenstein would attack by using electrical beams and by dropping bombs on Dixie and Kiddy Kong. Baron K. Roolenstein would need to be repeatedly hit with barrels in order to be defeated in the Lost World of Donkey Kong Land III.

Donkey Kong 64


King K. Rool returns in Donkey Kong 64, where, K. Rool (said to have become somewhat unstable), randomly appears one day on a large mechanical island. King 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 chastising his own minions' failures.

After the Kongs permanently shut down King 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 King K. Rool, as the boxer, King Krusha K. Rool, ready to battle. Engaging K. Rool in a bizarre 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 Island, where he meets a very unhappy K. Lumsy who proceeds to beat the Kremling king senseless in retaliation for locking him up.

DK: King of Swing


K. Rool's most recent appearance was 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 were 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 will promptly stutter that "that was practice" and challenge Donkey Kong to a battle on another peg field. If Donkey Kong beats him again, K. Rool will be 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 second most powerful; his partner is, oddly, Bubbles, the hero of the game Clu Clu Land. This was the first time King K. Rool was playable.

DK Jungle Climber
In the upcoming Nintendo DS sequel to DK: King of Swing, DK Jungle Climber, King K. Rool returns as the game's main villain. Having obtained the Crystal Bananas of the Xananabs, King K. Rool plans to use their power to conquer the universe.

Other Appearances
Though King K. Rool doesn't actually appear in Diddy Kong Racing, he is presumably the one who sent the Kremling Krew member, Krunch to Timber's Island; for the purpose of spying on Diddy Kong and his allies, who were believed to be hatching some sort of anti-Kremling plot. K. Rool was set to appear as a playable character in the now cancelled sequel to Diddy Kong Racing, Diddy Kong Pilot, where he was dressed as a stereotypical pilot, complete with a fur coat and aviator goggles.

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

K. Rool make an appearance in the game Donkey Kong Barrel Blast as a secret playable character, riding in a vehicle resembling a rocket-powered barrel. 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. King K. Rool's under-belly is golden in texture and color, but in DK: King of Swing his underbelly was changed to plain skin color.

In the Donkey Kong Country animated series, King 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 excited or irritated (which was often). His eyes also weren't connected as they are in the games, and instead, are separated. K. Rool's wrist bands were more detailed instead of being plain gold, as is his crown. King K. Rool's cape was also much shorter in length in the Donkey Kong Country cartoon.

Personality
K. Rool, as his name, a pun on "cruel", may imply, is often extremely brutal, ruling his minions through threats and intimidation, often punishing them severely 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, referring 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-equipped pack on his back to obtain flight, and 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 personal hovercraft, which could move quickly and was green in color. He also uses a type of barrel hovercraft 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; 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.

Family
King K. Rool mentioned 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 was telling a joke, or if he actually has a wife.

If K. Rool does in fact have a wife, her real name may be "Queen K. Rool" or, in the style of the games, "Kween K. Rool".

However, in a December 23, 1999 edition of the Scribes section of Rare's website, Leigh Loveday revealed that K. Rool's "my wife is going to kill me" line was merely "a typically throwaway Vic and Bob reference".

In the Donkey Kong Country animated series episode "The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights", King K. Rool mentions both his mother and various, unnamed siblings.

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, King K. Rool possessed an ominous and low, Darth Vader-like voice.

Cartoons


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 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 enact 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.

Comics
King K. Rool appeared in 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, also appears 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.

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. 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.

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.

Other
King K. Rool was featured as the villain of Nintendo's 2003 version of Camp Hyrule; King K. Rool caused mass destruction in Camp Hyrule by creating a massive earthquake, which struck it.

A large amount of Donkey Kong merchandise depicting King K. Rool has also been released; this includes plush dolls, action figures and miniatures, often based on King K. Rool's appearance in either Donkey Kong 64 or the Donkey Kong Country animated series.

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 Bumm-Badabumm Im Urwald comic King 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 found hanging on the ship walls.


 * 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 King K. Rool in terms of appearance and color. However, this is completely coincidental, as the cartoon was made four years prior to King K. Rool's debut. Additionally, in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode "Mighty McMario and the Pot of Gold / Heart Throb", King Koopa dons a red cape for his alter-ego. However, this look bears somewhat less of a resemblance to K. Rool.


 * According to Gregg Mayles (designer of Donkey Kong Country and Banjo-Kazooie) 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 treehouse, or simply just the fact that he likes bananas. The latter seems to be the most plausible explanation.