Competitive Smash has always mildly interested me, to the ends that I might finally try to attend some local Ultimate tournaments if time allows. That said, I've always chosen to main the characters I like the most, regardless of placement or playstyle (I kiiiiind of went back on that for Megaman in Smash 4, since I initially didn't like how he felt at all, but I warmed up to his playstyle and odd quirks eventually.).
For Brawl, I liked how Lucario looked, even before I played a gen 4 Pokémon game almost a decade later. Martial Arts Jackal was an awesome concept to me, kind of like an eight year old that, at eight, thinks it would be awesome to be named Lionstorm Firefist. So, I picked up Lucario.
By smash 4, I had played and thoroughly enjoyed Punch Out!! (for the Wii). I grew to appreciate the simplicity of the game, as well as the characters, and the comedic premise of a tiny boxer beating up 8 foot goliaths, like an underdog story taken to the extremes. So, in love with his modern design and silly but endearing concept, when Little Mac was announced for Smash 4, I had to pick him up, even when I soon learned I had to commit to learning a playstyle quite far removed from the way you typically play Smash for most other characters. That said, I'm VERY excited at how dangerous Mac is looking in Ultimate.
Now for the moment anyone who has the patience to read my dribble has been waiting for: Let's talk King K. Rool.
K. Rool is the villain of one of the first games I played. My memory fades of this time, but I'll recollect a decade of fuzzy memories to best paint this picture. I was ten, and my first introduction to video games were from my dads old SNES console collection that we still have to this day. I started on Super Mario World, and later Pokémon Silver, using a Super Gameboy. To this day, I have not beaten Bowser in SMW. I did beat Red in Silver though. My team comp was terrible from what I remember. I had a Machoke with Seismic Toss. I had a Machoke and a Weepinbell because I couldn't trade the former, and I never learned how to evolve the latter. The rest of the games my dad owned were games like Sim City, or Arcade Game collections, or games too complicated for me to beat, like Jurassic Park.
One day, we were walking through a store. I fail to remember what store but my mind wants to tell me it was a hardware store. As we walked, I saw it. An SNES cartridge with weird characters and an art style completely strange and wonderful to my then virgin eyes. It depicted a weird yeti man holding bananas, and a tiny monkey riding a rhino, and giant bees, and a weird blue thing. It was on a pedestal, locked behind a glass barrier. Why an SNES cartridge would be at a hardware store, I don't know, so maybe it wasn't a hardware store, but nevertheless a hardware store is what I remember. I hardly remember the price. Maybe it was cheap, maybe it was expensive. It was on a pedestal after all. That doesn't matter. All that matters is that I had to have this game. I told dad that I had to have it. And so he bought it, and we both spent the next few months playing what I would later learn was Donkey Kong Country 1.
We played the game, my dad being older and much better at video games than I, moving through it while I struggled on world 2. I still liked to watch him play though. I watched him in mesmeration and awe as he gradually surpassed the mines and the caves, as he reached the beautiful forest levels, the tree top villages and ice world, the factory. As it happened, he eventually beat Necky's revenge. That had to be the end. There was no where left on the island to go. So he beat Necky's lame pallet swap (Which to 10 year old me was the coolest thing ever), and we watched Donkey Kong move on to the now added to the map pirate ship. We both watch the screen confused. A bonus world, huh? Bring it on. But no, not a world, but a pirate ship level. Nay, not a level, but a flat plane decored with wood and rope (a still beautiful set piece that holds up to this day, may I add.), where an obese crocodile wearing a cape, crown, and a golden belly falls from the sky. The game didn't come with its' original box, nor it's instruction manual, so I had no idea who this guy was. I watched my dad try to beat this croc for many days. I witnessed the fake Kredits, I saw him conquer K. Rool, and I knew that I had to beat this baddie too.
Skip ahead a few years. The internet is alive and kicking, I'm probably somewhere between 12 to 14, playing flash games and going to good Christian websites and definitely not doing things good wholesome boys shouldn't be doing. Well, somehow it happened that I was informed that my favorite game of all time had a sequel. Again, I knew what had to be done. My then allowance went straight to Ebay to ship me DKC2. I played it religiously until I faced my old nemesis again in a fight much more grueling and diabolical than the first one. Many screams of anger were had and many tears were shed. Many game overs were seen. But I prevailed and beat this croc again.
The years would pass and I would learn my virtual nemesis' name to be King K. Rool, then Kaptain K. Rool, later K. Roolenstein (Who I still haven't beat; I need to beat the level Lightning Look-out first. Grrrr), and finally King Krusha from the title I am still yet to play. I came to love the croc's animations, his look, his cruel nature, his physics defying attacks. the Donkey Kong Country series is probably one of the main reasons why I want to be a game developer right now, a goal I am currently working on achieving. So, if it bears repeating, I have a history with this crocodilian crook.
Smash 4 rolled onto the scene and I joined Smashboards. I learned of character speculation threads and championed for my favorite villain to join the game (I came to play brawl years prior, so Smash was hardly a foreign concept to me.). I waited, I was let down, I prayed DLC would bring the croc home. I was disappointed again.
Skip to now where, this December, I finally get to play as the croc partially responsible for my most vivid childhood memories.
You bet your sweet patootie that I am maining K. Rool in this game, the next Smash game, and every Smash Game for the rest of my living years. I'll play him along side Lucario and Mac, and other characters who will invariably tickle my fancy, but he'll always be my main from here on out. He could be Z tier and I'm still going to champion this croc.
alongside