Social King K. Rool's Kremling Kutthroats: This...Is Our Finest Hour!

[SeasideKingDumb]

Wow if that spreadsheet is actually reflective of any real data that's insane how far ahead K. Rool is compared to the other characters (especially since a lot of the popular characters have less than 1 percent). Of course we don't have the official ballot data but it always seems like the same story over and over again. K. Rool at the top or very near it. For a character that hasn't been in a game for 10 years that's incredible that he's so consistently popular. I think Smash 5 is finally our time to see him again, not only for Smash, but hopefully for the Donkey Kong series and maybe even other, Nintendo titles. Only time will tell but I am extremely optimistic (with a decent amount of healthy pessimism, of course; I don't want to build up my hopes like last time but this feels like the stars have finally aligned).

 

[ThoughtfulWanderer]

^ This may be of interest. collection of polls from the ballot era. I'm not sure it makes sense to combine them all as they've done in the first tab since not all characers were present in every poll. I'd rather look at the individual polls.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...4JHJ0_cGRKU15KYlTe1E/edit?pli=1#gid=729442469

Man, it feels so good to see Rool, Isaac, and Banjo-Kazooie all right there in the top 3. I feel like it's not 100% reflective since Bayo made it in before them and barely cracks the top 10, but clearly there's some basis to it since she is there. Hoping it's more accurate than not because this could be one explosive hype bomb waiting to happen.

 

[Deleted member]

Now the waiting game begins. Not sure when we'll get our next announcement but with the daily updates on the website. And more news coming hopefully our gnarliness arrival will be an announcement. Hope Dixie Kong is an echo fighter. With her own unique flair and some Moveset changes.

Overall the game looks beautiful Love the announcement of everything. Stages, characters, assist trophies. Happy we got returning characters like our usual Fox, Samus, ECT Snake, Ice Climbers, Wolf glad their back.

And finally Ridley is in happy for ya Ridley fans, No matter what this frantic and crazy game will be a blast a huge crossover and I'll be lining up to get it come Christmas.

Finally on our king himself let's keep an eye and ear out. A purple dragon just flew in and joined Nintendo's icons where he belongs. Let's hope a certain crazed crocodile, will be joning this huge roster too.

 

[TheTreasonousSnowmad]

These gifs made me fall in love with DK's new Final Smash.

On a serious note, I think that there would be around 6-8 newcomers (not counting echo fighters). King K. Rool is prime to be one of those newcomers, along with possibly Dixie Kong. Any other newcomers would be icing on the cake for me. As for Echo characters, the best case scenario would be that we get King K. Rool and Dixie as unique characters and Funky as an echo character to DK, having his final smash being related to surfing or his plane. Other Echo characters I can see are Shadow and Dark Samus, who are oddly absent from the E3 build.

I'd say at least 4 completely new characters with a few more echo fighters, and I would actually bet money that Dark Samus is one of them.

 

[SleuthMechanism]

Again, this is not how Sakurai operates.
I do think K. Rool is highly likely, but it has nothing to do with the fact he's from Donkey Kong or because he's a villain.

IDK for this smash sakurai seems to be using some form of logic again for his roster choices for once rather than just going on random whims. I'm pretty confident things have changed

 

[PSIGuy]

Has the "K. Rool's brothers" thing been brought up before? Apparently in the Japanese localizations Kaptain K. Rool is King's brother, and Baron K. Roolenstein is their cousin. If Sakurai only knows of the Japanese localization then he might not think K. Rool by himself has enough moveset potential.

Mind, Sakurai also thought replacing Wario's shoulder bash F-Smash from Brawl was a good idea until someone asked him about it, and now it's back in Smash 5 as his dash attack. It's possible if no-one brought this up with him he would've never noticed.

 

[SuperiorYoshi87]

Well data doesn't lie... if as many people really did vote for K. Rool as the fan polls and "record your votes" polls reflect, the only logical outcome is K. Rool joining the roster.. popular character's that people want will help drive sales, if Nintendo wants to sell Switches and Smash it would be lucrative for them to include popular characters that fans actually want. I just can't see why at this point K. Rool wouldn't be included. It seems like it would be a huge slap in the face to ignore hands down the top most wanted 1st party character since the Smash Ballot...


I don't want to say K. Rool is a lock because I don't want to hype myself up too much here.... but it's hard to not be optimistic when you look at the sheer amount of fan demand behind him from Nintendos 2 biggest markets

 

[TheTreasonousSnowmad]

https://youtu.be/W0Ml_aEuhl0

Trust me, I'm not. Davide Soliani did mention it in this interview. I had to look it up again, and now its pinned in the Discord so it doesn't get lost.

Sorry I didn't get around to posting this last night. Just really busy. But I found it, no worries! Again, we'd been chatting quite heavily about this interview and what it means.

Seemed like he was just talking about the team that's working on the DLC.

 

[StormC]

Has the "K. Rool's brothers" thing been brought up before? Apparently in the Japanese localizations Kaptain K. Rool is King's brother, and Baron K. Roolenstein is their cousin. If Sakurai only knows of the Japanese localization then he might not think K. Rool by himself has enough moveset potential.

Mind, Sakurai also thought replacing Wario's shoulder bash F-Smash from Brawl was a good idea until someone asked him about it, and now it's back in Smash 5 as his dash attack. It's possible if no-one brought this up with him he would've never noticed.

It’s just some weird inaccuracy/joke in the trophy description, the games are full of them (and Dixie’s Melee trophy mentions fighting K. Rool). The Japanese story of DKC2 GBA confirms it’s the same K. Rool and if somehow Sakurai didn’t know, thousands of ballots mentioning the blunderbuss would inform him.

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

I've been supporting K Rool since Brawl. I'm on the first page of the K Rool thread from back then.

I think he's got his shot in this game.

Simon Belmont and K Rool are a gven for me. WIth Geno having the best chance he's gotten - Which hopefully means something.

 

[Deleted member]

IDK for this smash sakurai seems to be using some form of logic again for his roster choices for once rather than just going on random whims. I'm pretty confident things have changed

Even if they did change, it wouldn't make sense to pick K. Rool just because he's a villain/DK rep.
I do think he's likely to get in, but not because of that, but rather because he's highly demanded and has unique moveset potential.

 

[Deleted member]

I do agree, K. Rool I would think his chances are better then ever. Mostly because of his high demand, potential Moveset.

 

[Jetsurge]

I don't think relevancy matters anymore. Pichu and Young Link are back and Krystal and Sukapon and more are assist trophies.

 

[GAINAX]

I'm getting so tired of how underrepresented the DK franchise is in Smash, especially when compared other franchises. Sakurai seems more than happy to add another bunch of pokemon to the pokeballs in Smash Ultimate (Because there wasn't enough Pokemon fan service in the game already), but he can't make a single DK assist trophy for the game. Here's an idea - Why not have an animal buddy crate which spawns a random animal buddy, or how about another member of the Kong Family jumping out and causing chaos on stage?

When it comes to the DK stages, we always end up with some variation of a jungle. THERE'S MORE TO DKC THAN PALMTREES SAKURAI! How about the ice caves, swamps, mountains and other terrain we see throughout the Snes games?

Honestly, I think he's got the music all wrong most of all. We have like 10 remixes of Jungle japes in Smash 4, when there's a whole glossary of themes from David Wise to tap into: Aquatic Ambience, Rare Respite, Stickerbrush Symphony, Seashore War, Hot-Head Bop ... I could go on.

It's like Sakurai doesn't understand DK's had a whole subseries outside of the arcade games. I'm starting to think Nintendo just hate to acknowledge anything made by Rare just because Japan didn't invent it. The fact one of their most popular characters was given a massive overhaul by the West during the 90s and met with critical acclaim is something that should be embraced and not buried. Smash is the perfect platform to fully showcase that Rare legacy. Without Rare, the Snes wouldn't have gone on to outsell the Megadrive as well as it did. That relationship between Rare and Nintendo set the stage for other partnerships in the future such as Retro and Next Level Games. THIS IS IMPORTANT STUFF.

All I want is Dixie and K rool in Smash and I'd be happy, although I don't see it happening sadly. Maybe if Sakurai retires from the series we might get some fanservice of our beloved ape.

When Kid Icarus and Mother have more representation, over a series that's sold millions of units, you know something's wrong...

 

[PSIGuy]

Yeah, they could do a lot more with DK content especially stages. I'm personally hoping for a minecart stage sort of like Big Blue.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

I don't think relevancy matters anymore. Pichu and Young Link are back and Krystal and Sukapon and more are assist trophies.

A lot of designs are also taken from older games, like OoT Ganon, ALBW Zelda, PoR Ike, and large parts of Ridley's design are taken from SM and ZM. I'm not sure I'd say that relevancy doesn't matter at all anymore, I think it always will to some degree, but I think it's clear that it doesn't matter as much as it did for Smash 4.

 

[WeirdChillFever]

A lot of designs are also taken from older games, like OoT Ganon, ALBW Zelda, PoR Ike, and large parts of Ridley's design are taken from SM and ZM. I'm not sure I'd say that relevancy doesn't matter at all anymore, I think it always will to some degree, but I think it's clear that it doesn't matter as much as it did for Smash 4.

Even better, it is said that Zelda is based on A Link to the Past, with the translator getting the wrong game.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

A lot of designs are also taken from older games, like OoT Ganon, ALBW Zelda, PoR Ike, and large parts of Ridley's design are taken from SM and ZM. I'm not sure I'd say that relevancy doesn't matter at all anymore, I think it always will to some degree, but I think it's clear that it doesn't matter as much as it did for Smash 4.

Even for the previous games Geno was a character who was considered and wanted by Sakurai for previous games.

(As for Ridley, I find it interesting his design seems like a mix of his Super Metroid, Zero Mission and Other M appearance with no reference to Proteus Ridley which you'd expect if Ridley's inclusion was influenced by a 2017 title. His last major appearance prior to the roster being finalised in 2016 was in a 2010 game.)

 

[BowserK.Rool]

Well, I'm glad Ridley finally made it in. I'll defintley be using him as one of my mains. Hopefully K. Rool will finally get in as well.

 

[StormC]

Even for the previous games Geno was a character who was considered and wanted by Sakurai for previous games.

(As for Ridley, I find it interesting his design seems like a mix of his Super Metroid, Zero Mission and Other M appearance with no reference to Proteus Ridley which you'd expect if Ridley's inclusion was influenced by a 2017 title. His last major appearance prior to the roster being finalised in 2016 was in a 2010 game.)

Samus Returns was being developed out of Nintendo in Europe so I don't think Sakurai had any interaction with them or even knowledge that Ridley was going to be in the game.

 

[Crap-Zapper]

As a K. Rool supporter since Pre-Brawl. I'd like to welcome all you Ridley supporters I see here, to our Galleoen Gangplank. We appreciate your support. And, really glad Ridley got inn. It was about time.

 

[BKupa666]

What I think is a good omen is that, rather than bending over backward to say how "you should go play X New Game because we have Y New Piece of Content," the team is instead telling us what pieces of new content were particularly desired among us, the fans.

That's not to say the cross-promotion aspect is wiped out...the very first reveal we had, in Inklings, came right after a bunch of DLC for Splatoon, and I'm expecting a DK game to be shown right before K. Rool and Dixie too. But it's nice to see Smash appearing to stand on its own merits as the "ultimate crossover" again rather than being just a launchpad for whatever franchises Nintendo thinks need a boost at the time of its release.

 

[StormC]

Even if they did change, it wouldn't make sense to pick K. Rool just because he's a villain/DK rep.
I do think he's likely to get in, but not because of that, but rather because he's highly demanded and has unique moveset potential.

I don't think Sakurai cares about meeting some quota with villains, but he has expressed concern about balancing franchise representation before. He's mentioned characters who were added because their series were so popular/well-known, or that he added a lot of Fire Emblem characters in 4. It's not going to be the driving force for his addition compared to his popularity and uniqueness, but it's another factor.

 

[Mccdbz5]

I'm getting so tired of how underrepresented the DK franchise is in Smash, especially when compared other franchises. Sakurai seems more than happy to add another bunch of pokemon to the pokeballs in Smash Ultimate (Because there wasn't enough Pokemon fan service in the game already), but he can't make a single DK assist trophy for the game. Here's an idea - Why not have an animal buddy crate which spawns a random animal buddy, or how about another member of the Kong Family jumping out and causing chaos on stage?

When it comes to the DK stages, we always end up with some variation of a jungle. THERE'S MORE TO DKC THAN PALMTREES SAKURAI! How about the ice caves, swamps, mountains and other terrain we see throughout the Snes games?

Honestly, I think he's got the music all wrong most of all. We have like 10 remixes of Jungle japes in Smash 4, when there's a whole glossary of themes from David Wise to tap into: Aquatic Ambience, Rare Respite, Stickerbrush Symphony, Seashore War, Hot-Head Bop ... I could go on.

It's like Sakurai doesn't understand DK's had a whole subseries outside of the arcade games. I'm starting to think Nintendo just hate to acknowledge anything made by Rare just because Japan didn't invent it. The fact one of their most popular characters was given a massive overhaul by the West during the 90s and met with critical acclaim is something that should be embraced and not buried. Smash is the perfect platform to fully showcase that Rare legacy. Without Rare, the Snes wouldn't have gone on to outsell the Megadrive as well as it did. That relationship between Rare and Nintendo set the stage for other partnerships in the future such as Retro and Next Level Games. THIS IS IMPORTANT STUFF.

All I want is Dixie and K rool in Smash and I'd be happy, although I don't see it happening sadly. Maybe if Sakurai retires from the series we might get some fanservice of our beloved ape.

When Kid Icarus and Mother have more representation, over a series that's sold millions of units, you know something's wrong...

I completely agree with this. It's honestly the one issue I've always had with Sakurai. It seems that they've always turned a cold cheek to the Donkey Kong Country franchise as a whole and it's really disappointing. It feels like he takes more from the Donkey Kong arcade game sometimes. It's almost as if he uses cliff notes on the basic stuff you would need to know about the series, like having jungle levels with jungle music, but it rarely goes beyond that. And I think to your point, it has to do with the fact that the Donkey Kong Country series was developed outside of Japan. If I'm not mistaken, isn't Diddy Kong the only character in Smash that isn't of Japanese origin? And it took him three games to get in...when he should've at least been a character in Melee.

I'm very optimistic about King K. Rool being included as a playable character in this game, but it won't be because Sakurai has an interest in the character or in the series. It'll be due to sheer popularity and fan outcry. I also think (even though I know this isn't how Sakurai operates) that he probably understands that Donkey Kong is way too popular a franchise to have gotten the amount of content it's gotten. After four entries in the Smash series, I don't think it's something he can ignore any longer.

 

[BowserK.Rool]

I completely agree with this. It's honestly the one issue I've always had with Sakurai. It seems that they've always turned a cold cheek to the Donkey Kong Country franchise as a whole and it's really disappointing. It feels like he takes more from the Donkey Kong arcade game sometimes. It's almost as if he uses cliff notes on the basic stuff you would need to know about the series, like having jungle levels with jungle music, but it rarely goes beyond that. And I think to your point, it has to do with the fact that the Donkey Kong Country series was developed outside of Japan. If I'm not mistaken, isn't Diddy Kong the only character in Smash that isn't of Japanese origin? And it took him three games to get in...when he should've at least been a character in Melee.

I'm very optimistic about King K. Rool being included as a playable character in this game, but it won't be because Sakurai has an interest in the character or in the series. It'll be due to sheer popularity and fan outcry. I also think (even though I know this isn't how Sakurai operates) that he probably understands that Donkey Kong is way too popular a franchise to have gotten the amount of content it's gotten. After four entries in the Smash series, I don't think it's something he can ignore any longer.

It's actually a Miracle that Ridley finally got in since Metroid has suffered the same fate in the past. If Sakurai ignores K. Rool this time it'll be out of pure ignorance and biase.

 

[Laniv]

Say I got an idea...

What if Sakurai announces:

66 - Dixie Kong

67 - King K. Rool

Sakurai then talks about how these two were highly requested among Donkey Kong fans. But then he says, "But wait. I have one more surprise for you..."

67ε - Lord Fredrik

How would you feel about that?

 

[Crap-Zapper]

Say I got an idea...

What if Sakurai announces:

66 - Dixie Kong

67 - King K. Rool

Sakurai then talks about how these two were highly requested among Donkey Kong fans. But then he says, "But wait. I have one more surprise for you..."

67ε - Lord Fredrik

How would you feel about that?

I'd lol ... Sure, whatever. I don't give a damn. KING K. ROOL AND DIXIE KONG BABY!

 

[Mccdbz5]

Say I got an idea...

What if Sakurai announces:

66 - Dixie Kong

67 - King K. Rool

Sakurai then talks about how these two were highly requested among Donkey Kong fans. But then he says, "But wait. I have one more surprise for you..."

67ε - Lord Fredrik

How would you feel about that?

Hell, I'd take it! Having King K. Rool's better than not having him! Plus, Dixie Kong is also very deserving of a roster spot, so I'd be happy with that as well. I wouldn't be surprised if both characters make it in. Especially since the whole "relevancy" standpoint can't be used against Dixie Kong any longer. But if the stipulation is also having Lord Fredrik, then by all means, add him! Haha.

 

[BowserK.Rool]

Say I got an idea...

What if Sakurai announces:

66 - Dixie Kong

67 - King K. Rool

Sakurai then talks about how these two were highly requested among Donkey Kong fans. But then he says, "But wait. I have one more surprise for you..."

67ε - Lord Fredrik

How would you feel about that?

As long as K. Rool is in I'm happy. Heck it'd give me a chance to beat up Fredrik as him for taking his spot in Tropical Freeze lol.

 

[MetroLSD]

Do you guys think Sakurai would try to force some kind of unique playstyle on K. Rool if he's playable?

 

[BowserK.Rool]

Do you guys think Sakurai would try to force some kind of unique playstyle on K. Rool if he's playable?

It's possible but I think he already has enough to work with from K. Rool's boss battles in all the DK games.

 

[Crap-Zapper]

Do you guys think Sakurai would try to force some kind of unique playstyle on K. Rool if he's playable?

I'd say yes. We know that Sakurai is listening to the fans. We know that he loves to make characters unique, so that the game will feel fresh, at least on the newcomers at this point, and we know that Sakurai likes to be true to the characters sources. K. Rool will most likely be a hybrid between his game appearences. His up B will be the copter from DKC3, Side-B crown Toss. "B" charging blunderbuss. I could see all of this things happening.

 

[SeasideKingDumb]

If K. Rool is in Smash 5 I'd love to see the three gas cloud attacks from DKC2 which would reverse an opponent's controls, freeze them for a bit, or slow them down temporarily. I think it could be an extremely interesting moveset idea that would be entirely unique to K. Rool. I think him having cannonballs come out of his blunderbuss would be a given for his moveset but it'd be neat to see the status effects from DKC2 be implemented.

 

[SuperiorYoshi87]

There's a few good things Sakurai has done for the DKC series in Smash though.. he used Kritters in Smash Run and this was post 2 DK main series games without Kremling's and he gave us the K. Rool Mii outfit, the first K. Rool appearence in a Nintendo game since 2008....


Honestly if I get K. Rool and Dixie in Smash 5 not only would be content with the Roster (even without Banjo) I'd be content with the DK series, in my opinion the DK series will have been made complete. Three of the most recurring heroes and the main villain is good enough for me. I mean sure down the road Funky or Cranky would be neat but theyre not needed.

 

[Camc10]

Do you guys think Sakurai would try to force some kind of unique playstyle on K. Rool if he's playable?

Depends on what you mean by Unique. Inkling's Ink Mechanic unique or Ridley play like a normal character unique?

 

[MetroLSD]

Any ideas on what his down B should be?

 

[Crap-Zapper]

Any ideas on what his down B should be?

I'd be down for copying Bowser's, really. It fits K. Rool very well. I mean, just look at DK 64.

 

[EnthusedPanda]

Any ideas on what his down B should be?

Maybe it could be his bunny hop from DKC, with invincibility frames on it.

Angle/trajectory could work something like how you can arc DeDeDe's gordos. And timing the button presses could speed you up?

 

[LunarDistortion]

I really think this is K. Rool's finest hour, I'll be surprised if he doesn't make it in with how much Sakurai wants to please the fans this time.

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

I think it should be different somehow if it does end up as a groundpound. Maybe make it tied to a cannonball or canonnballs falling elsewhere on the stage.