K. Rool's Belly Mechanic

[Empty Number]

Something has been on my mind for a while:

"Why is so much emphasis placed on King K. Rool's belly in his gameplay?"

He doesn't have anything remotely revolving around his belly in his appearances in the DKC games. It's not a weak-spot in his boss fights. You don't need to break it to damage him. The only thing that happens is that the Kong's get hurt if they roll into it - but that's because his whole body his a hitbox. It's cool, but it's also just incredibly odd that Sakurai hashed out this mechanic when it never was a characteristic of King K. Rool. I know I'm not the only one to feel this way.

As I was thinking about this, something started to make sense. The belly super-armor mechanic could be a nod to the original DKC trilogy's tag team mechanic - something that set DKC apart from other platforms of the time. In each game, there were kremlings designed to be untouchable by kongs that weren't Donkey or Kiddy. If one of the smaller kongs tried to jump on - say Klump or Krusha - they would bounce off and Krusha or Klump would laugh unharmed. This made the heavier, slower kongs more advantageous in many situations.

The more we discover about K. Rool's belly armor - the fact that it breaks based on damage - the more it seems designed to absorb light attacks from light characters, allowing K. Rool to quite literally laugh them off. Heavy strong attacks (usually from heavy characters) will break K. Rool's armor very quickly or immediately, giving other heavies an easier matchup. Light characters will have trouble breaking through the super-armor, giving them a tougher matchup.

What do you all think? I've been scratching my head on this for a while, and I'd love to know if anyone else has any theories or ideas behind Sakurai's thinking.

 

[meleebrawler]

Something has been on my mind for a while:

"Why is so much emphasis placed on King K. Rool's belly in his gameplay?"

He doesn't have anything remotely revolving around his belly in his appearances in the DKC games. It's not a weak-spot in his boss fights. You don't need to break it to damage him. The only thing that happens is that the Kong's get hurt if they roll into it - but that's because his whole body his a hitbox. It's cool, but it's also just incredibly odd that Sakurai hashed out this mechanic when it never was a characteristic of King K. Rool. I know I'm not the only one to feel this way.

As I was thinking about this, something started to make sense. The belly super-armor mechanic could be a nod to the original DKC trilogy's tag team mechanic - something that set DKC apart from other platforms of the time. In each game, there were kremlings designed to be untouchable by kongs that weren't Donkey or Kiddy. If one of the smaller kongs tried to jump on - say Klump or Krusha - they would bounce off and Krusha or Klump would laugh unharmed. This made the heavier, slower kongs more advantageous in many situations.

The more we discover about K. Rool's belly armor - the fact that it breaks based on damage - the more it seems designed to absorb light attacks from light characters, allowing K. Rool to quite literally laugh them off. Heavy strong attacks (usually from heavy characters) will break K. Rool's armor very quickly or immediately, giving other heavies an easier matchup. Light characters will have trouble breaking through the super-armor, giving them a tougher matchup.

What do you all think? I've been scratching my head on this for a while, and I'd love to know if anyone else has any theories or ideas behind Sakurai's thinking.

Or it could just be that he's wearing actual armor on his belly and the devs rolled with it. Like how Bowser gets some invincibility from 4 onwards when he uses moves with his shell.

 

[Kincaid1]

Sakurai emphasized his breastplate because it's a big ass plate of golden armor and, while being one of his main design features, is still little-explored in his appearances.

 

[Empty Number]

OK. I hear both of you. But the tendency for the newcomers since Smash 4 has been to explore unique mechanics as defined by those characters' appearances in games. The designers have not been singling out barely referenced aspects of a characters visual design and then balancing the character's gameplay around their interpretation of that aspect.

Don't get me wrong - It certainly is plausible that what you're saying is what happened - it just rings as odd given all the other thought and references poured into K. Rool's and others' movesets.

 

[~The Koopa King~]

i think it's just cause he's a fatty and sakurai wanted his size to be reflected in his move-set somehow

think about it do Wario And Dedede Put as much focus towards their size as Rool Does?