King K. Rool

"“I've been waiting a long time for this moment. Soon, Donkey Kong and his pretty little island... will be no more.”"

- :—King K. Rool, Donkey Kong 64

King K. Rool, who has gone by many aliases, is the malevolent ruler of the Kremlings and the Master of the Kremling Krew. He is also the main villain in the Donkey Kong series, as well as the archenemy of Donkey Kong and his allies. King K. Rool has repeatedly tried to steal the Kongs' Banana Hoard for reasons unbeknown to anyone, and has even kidnapped members of the Kong Family on various occasions. His name is a pun on the word "cruel" which kind of describes his actions and his personality. After Bowser, King K. Rool is the second most recurring villain in the greater Mario continuity.

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 his gang of minions, the Kremling Krew, come to Donkey Kong Island one stormy night with the intention to steal Donkey Kong's fabled Banana Hoard. King K. Rool sends his Kremling minions 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. They then seal Diddy in a DK Barrel and steal DK's Bananas. Later, Cranky tells Donkey Kong that his hoard was stolen and Donkey Kong starts his adventure after King K. Rool. Finally, Donkey Kong and the released Diddy Kong manage to reach K. Rool's ship, the Gangplank Galleon, where they face the tyrannical crocodile in battle. K. Rool tries to ram them and throw his crown like a boomerang at them three times, with him progressively throwing his crown faster after each hit. If the Kongs successfully jump on him, he tries to ram into them by running in straight lines. If hit two or three times, he runs in a straight line two or three times and each run he dashes quicker. If he is hit four times, he makes cannonballs fall from to sky that fall in a straight line to try to attack Donkey and Diddy. If King K. Rool fails to use his crown attack and becomes hit for the fifth and sixth time, the cannonballs fall out of the sky in a straight line two and then three times in a row after the Kongs. When K. Rool is hit seven times, the fake credits show up on the screen saying that the game was made by the Kremlings. After the fake credits are done. King K. Rool jumps in the air and tries to stomp on the Kongs by jumping in a straight line. He then throws his crown at the Kongs. After eight and nine hits, K. Rool jumps in the air in a straight line for two and three times. Each time he jumps in the air for a second and a third time, he progressively jumps less further. After K. Rool uses his crown attack for the tenth time and the Kongs manage to attack him, he is defeated. The cast of the game and the real credits roll in DK's Treehouse, or at Gangplank Galleon in the Game Boy Advance remake.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest
In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's 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, and 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. 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 Game Boy 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 the 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, poisonous gases that could affect the Kongs in bizarre ways; 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 manages 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 gets chomped by sharks. After recovering, he manages 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 of the island sunk into the sea. 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. 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 a mistake by Nintendo.

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 Master 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 reach KAOS' base-of-operations, Kastle KAOS. Entering Kastle KAOS, Dixie and Kiddy encounter and begin to battle KAOS, who was determined to destroy them. It was only after their battle against KAOS that Dixie and Kiddy discover that KAOS was nothing but a puppet leader controlled by King K. Rool, under the moniker of Baron K. Roolenstein. After Dixie and Kiddy discover him, Baron K. Roolenstein began to battle the Kongs, 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 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's helicopter pack; 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 from a distance. In order to hurt Baron K. Roolenstein, Dixie and Kiddy would need to throw several Steel Kegs at him through the use of a chute in the ceiling. After being hit multiple times, Baron K. Roolenstein would 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 the Kremling king, 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
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
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. 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 were mostly the same as his techniques in Donkey Kong Country: running, jumping and throwing his crown, although he doess 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

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, and demanding the Banana Hoard again. With Donkey Kong once again kidnapped, Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong have 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 paid forty-seven Kremkoins, Kaptain K. Rool could 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, once again 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 only accessible after KAOS is destroyed permanently (the two are bosses in different worlds). His first battle takes place in K. Rool Duel, where K. Roolenstein tries to attack Dixie and Kiddy by shooting electric beams at them. The Kongs then throw a barrel at K. Roolenstein, sending him bouncing around trying to attack the Kongs. After three hits, he is defeated...or is he? 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.

Donkey Kong Country television series
K. Rool is one of the main characters and antagonists 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, megalomaniacal, and slightly clumsy. His voice is radically different from the games, such as Donkey Kong 64. He is constantly bragging about his brain and emphasizes this by using long and sophisticated words. King K. Rool often, with the aid of his henchmen Klump and Krusha, attempts to steal the mystical Crystal Coconut and use its power to rule Kongo Bongo Island (which is what Donkey Kong Island is called in the show) and possibly the world. He seems to be always hatching diabolical plans to steal the mystical coconut, and although his plans are works of evil genius, a combination of the stupidity of his troops and the resourcefulness of the apes always leads to failure. King K. Rool would also enact other schemes such as trying to steal the legendary Golden Banana of Inka Dinka Doo and framing Donkey Kong for several crimes he himself had committed. In the animated series, King K. Rool's physical appearance is slightly altered from his video game counterpart. His tail is gone, and his eye was not bloodshot, unlike in the games, though it does bulge to large proportions when he is excited or irritated (which is often). His eyes also aren't 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. 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 didn't 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".

He was voiced by John Campbell, but was later voiced by Maurice LaMarche.

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 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 enemy Blofeld strokes his cat, an obvious parody. 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, with ungodly patience, watches the Kongs progress and chastises his own minions' failures. A notable scene shows K. Rool demand that nobody leaves the Blast-O-Matic until its repaired. Eventually, K. Rool's henchmen succeed in repairing the 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 isn't fully tested then it could explode. After the Kongs permanently shut down King K. Rool's mechanical island and the 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 his boxer alias King Krusha K. Rool, ready to battle. King K. Rool will create multiple shockwaves by slamming the ground, throw his gloves as a boomerang, and uppercut the Kongs after charging at them. Engaging K. Rool in a bizarre series of battles - which include blasting out of barrels 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 gets back up after the fight and is about to attack Chunky from behind, but is distracted by Candy Kong, ends up being blasted over the horizon by Funky Kong and a bazooka that shoots out a boot. 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. K. Rool's depiction in this game changes as it goes on. He's 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 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 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-launchingblunderbuss. 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 also be obtained in Super Smash Bros. Melee and in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. 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.

Donkey Konga
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. DK series DK: King of Swing

One of K. Rool's more recent appearances 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 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 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, and Xananab, King K. Rool flees through a wormhole to the Planet Plantaen. Chased to a dead end on Planet Plantaen, King K. Rool will battle 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 will, refusing to give up, use the last Crystal Banana in his possession to turn monstrous in size and become even more powerful. In his new form, King K. Rool will attack by doing such things as exhaling fire and exploding mines, summoning meteors and gales of wind and trying to crush the Kongs with his claws. In this form, King K. Rool's only vulnerable spot is his face, which, once hit five times, will deplete King K. Rool's health, turning him back to normal 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). 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 the fact that he hates DK and the Kongs. The explanation for this is that he was impressed with their skills, and said he's only going to team up when they're playing baseball. In Challenge Mode, he will try 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 will be 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). Of course he's the strongest right-handed batter in the game; Bowser and Petey Piranha are left-handed batters. His pitching is also a bit above average. However, King K. Rool is at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to fielding (tied with the Purple Toad), and he is one of the slowest runners in the game (tied with theRed Magikoopa). He also has extremely poor stamina, but he does manage to make more good pitches than Petey Piranha, whose stamina is much worse. King K. Rool has great chemistry with all four Kritters and King Boo. However, he happens to have bad chemistry with the Kongs (for obvious reasons), as well as Bowser (possibly because they consider themselves rival kings). He uses his scepter with a large gem to bat, and has a brand new pharaoh-like clothing style that only appears in 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 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, a small black wig, 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 pink shoes with a hole in one of them. Strangely enough, he has a long tail (even though he doesn't in his other appearances) and has four toes instead of three as shown in artworks. 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, but in DK: King of Swing his underbelly was changed to plain skin color. Taking into consideration his physique, as his body may be composed of more muscle than fat, 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. In fact, he's 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 often extremely 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 doesn't 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 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, whom sometimes appear to be loyal to him regardless.

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 a showboater, constantly showing-off and making taunting gestures.

K. Rool's greatest weakness is his own incompetence. It's very common for him to be defeated, simply because he keeps making the same mistake in a fight, such as in Donkey Kong Country, when he keeps throwing his crown, allowing Donkey and Diddy to jump on his head.

King K. Rool is the heartless and mentally unstable ruler of the Kremling race, who has on numerous occasions tried to steal Donkey Kong's Banana Hoard and kidnap the big ape himself. He rules the Kremlings with an iron fist and shows no mercy to any of his subjects, the reason they follow him seems to be of the deep fear they have of him and his tremendous power and not even his strongest underlings dare challenge him. He possesses a great hatred towards the Kongs and he will do whatever it takes to destroy them and their island once and for all.

The reasons for stealing DK's Banana Hoard and kidnapping him are not fully understood, but official sources state that the reason is that he wants to starve Donkey Kong to death so he can occupy his tree house, why he wishes to do so is even less fully understood since a small tree house is nothing in comparison to his numerous lairs and hideouts (although it could be an example of his deep insanity), or the true reason could be is that he wishes to occupy the tree house as an example of his conquest over Donkey Kong (the current ruler of Donkey Kong Island) and he now considers himself its new ruler by residing in the tree house. But as of yet Nintendo has made no new comments on the subject. Since Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest he seems to be motivated to destroy all Kongs and their island as revenge for what they did to his island kingdom of Crocodile Isle.

Vehicles
King K. Rool also uses 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 shows King K. Rool has in his possession a personal hovercraft, which can move quickly and was green in color. 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 than 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.

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's 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. 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 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, when in reality, the two characters are one in the same. This is possibly because of the fact that the two of them are indeed, two different people in the Japanese continuity of the Donkey Kong Country series, and that information was left unchanged, most likely because of their lack of knowledge on the Donkey Kong Country series. However, it is unknown whether or not Baron K. Roolenstein is a different person in that continuity, as well.

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 provided by Kevin Bayliss.

Trivia
K. Rool's persona, Kaptain K. Rool, is referenced in only one other game besides Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong 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".

Cranky Kong mentions in the instruction booklet to the game Donkey Kong 64 that K. Rool had given up his silly disguises. This proved to be true, as he has not gone incognito since Baron K. Roolenstein.

According to Gregg Mayles (designer of Donkey Kong Country and the Banjo-Kazooie 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 treehouse or simply just the fact that he likes bananas. The latter explanation is contradicted in DK: Jungle Climber though, as K. Rool states he despises bananas.

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.

Interestingly, King K. Rool's name is pronounced two different ways during the first episode of the Donkey Kong Country television series. First, he was referred to as "King Kay-Rool" and then "King Kuh-Rool" shortly afterwards. However, after that episode, the former pronunciation was never used again.

Tiki Tong seems to have a few similarities with King K. Rool; they both have an eye that's different from the other, and they both have reasons for stealing Donkey Kong's banana hoard.