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Why?

Octillus

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First off, congrats, it was a hard fought victory for you all. This is not meant as condescension.

A curiosity I’ve had for let’s say, a decade - but never dared ask because at the time I considered it in poor taste given the circumstances was why there such a fervent love for the Kremling King?

Is it the lack of villains?

Did you have an attachment because of the animated series?

I’m curious because he falls somewhere relatively obscure in the Nintendo pantheon, and the outcry to me seemed to even outshine Ridley in the Smash 4 era.

In the end even I rooted for him since it became an underdog story, and eh, DK main. Also kinda extra special when you consider he’s one of the only purely western developed characters on the roster (I think Diddy and Dark Samus are the only others?).
 

vVv Rapture

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He's DK's archnemesis and the boss of DK's best games of all time. I love K Rool as a villain and as being part of some of my favorite games as a kid. DK64 is personally my favorite DK game of all time, and ofc K Rool is the main villain in that. He's also a cool and fun character.

But also DK, and Samus, should've had their antagonists in Smash a long time ago. Not having K Rool or Ridley was like, imo, if they hadn't had Ganondorf for Link or Bowser for Mario this whole time.

Even though he hasn't been very relevant these days in his own franchise, he's always been one of Nintendo's major villains and should've been in Smash a while ago. I'm glad he's been given the spot he deserves.
 

Octillus

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I think his personality does shine better in DK64- always had to infer a lot in the 16-but era but I guess he didn’t really register with me that much back then.

I suppose it’s also easy to forget just how big DKC was! I was more into rpgs during that time on the SNES - more my bad than anything.
 
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Wario Wario Wario

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for me, it's the weapons and disguises! he's also a goofy yet threatening villain. not so scary he'd be out of place in a game about silly monkeys collecting bananas, but also not so silly he'd seem like a buffoon.
 

S_B

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It's a fair question. KKR hasn't been around for a long time, after all.

Until KKR's reveal, DK was the only member of the original 8 without a villain in the game (Yoshi's villain is still Bowser, since that's who you fight at the end of Yoshi's story, not Kamek, and Yoshi's first appearance was a battle against Bowser).

Also, I love heavyweight characters and KKR is the fattest of the fat, fat fatties. HWs are hype AF to watch in tournaments and I hope as many as possible will be truly competitively viable this time around.
 
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StormC

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I'm a huge fan of the DK series. I first got DKC1 and DKC2 with my SNES in 1995 - I was four years old. They were some of my first experiences with video games, period. The Kremlings were an essential part of the series, and K. Rool was their leader, with fun, engaging boss battles.

After the Rare buyout, the DK series has had it rough. Jungle Beat was an attempt to erase Rare's legacy. Even when Retro Studios took over, NOJ told them to not use Kremlings, saying "do they really need to come back?" Wanting K. Rool became more than just wanting him playable in Smash - it was about protecting him and making sure a key member of the cast would never be erased again. K. Rool being in Smash was a massive victory and dunked everyone who piped off about relevance day in day out.

But yes. He is a great character. Just the right mix of craziness and goofiness. His moveset potential and animated nature made him a perfect match for this game, and both Ridley and him were the last major villains not in the roster. I also enjoy heavies, particularly Smash 4 Bowser, so there's that.

The series needed another heavyweight, another villain, and another DK fighter. K. Rool fulfills all of that.
 

Untouch

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DKC2 is my favourite game of all time, the DKC series is my favourite series of all time.
 

TCRhade

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King K. Rool is both my favourite video game villain and my favourite Nintendo character of all time. I loved him then, I love him even more now.

His personality, his style, his descent closer and closer to total insanity in each game, getting angrier and angrier at the Kongs after each defeat, his fall from grace only made me love him even more. And he has pretty cool signature moves that'd make Bowser green with envy. I even think K. Rool is a much more credible, consistent and awesome villain than Bowser, who's gotten softer IMO.

So yeah: character, moveset potential, etc. And he needed to be in Smash desperately. I think he'd have stayed dormant forever otherwise. And I'm glad, because he's earned his spot on the roster 50 times over.

Oh, and the scene where he beats the crap outta DK as the Kaptain in DKC2 made my inner fanboy squeal.

Not just that but I felt bad for such a great villain to be cast aside like that for 10 years.

I'll admit, part of my love for K. Rool came from missing him. But now that he's coming back I'm going to cherish him a lot more. Welcome him like a long-lost brother.
 
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BridgesWithTurtles

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It's never been about having more heavies or villains for me. Those things are nice bonuses, but the driving point of my desire to see K. Rool in Smash comes simply from the fact that I do consider him a Nintendo all-star. Even after being MIA for a whole decade - very nearly TWO decades if you only count his "main series" appearances - people still remembered him fondly and clamored for him to return. Smash, to me, is about seeing Nintendo's most beloved and memorable characters come together, and it always felt like K. Rool was missing in that regard.

Sure, he may not have been the most universally recognized character in Nintendo's stable; he certainly doesn't compare to the Original 8. MOST newcomers introduced after Melee aren't in that league, though. Ike was a lead from two underperforming titles in an already niche franchise. Lucas was from a single game that never even released outside of Japan. Shulk was from a then-obscure RPG that just barely got published in North America. K. Rool was the main villain of four million+ selling games (and then some) that defined a generation of Nintendo and are still beloved to this day. If those above characters meet the credentials to get into Smash, then K. Rool far surpassed them ages ago. Not appearing in a game for ten years doesn't and shouldn't revoke that eligibility if the character remains popular and their influence is enduring. K. Rool's inclusion hammers home the fact that Smash is supposed to be about Nintendo's history, not just advertising whatever their most recent games are. It's very much in line with most of the newcomers we got in Brawl, which is one of the reasons his supporters considered him such a logical inclusion from the start.
 
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PsychoIncarnate

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The Donkey Kong Country series was one of the biggest games of my childhood. And I always looked forward to the K Rool fights. There is something satisfying about finally being able to beat him, especially when the other kids can't.
 
D

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The main antagonist, of the original Donkey Kong Country, different, personas, a beloved Nintendo villian, the King of the Kremlings. The deranged King K. Rool earned it. Ya-Har I mean he earned it but that's just me.
 
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Handy Man

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In addition to what everyone else said, King K. Rool's personality also sticks out to me, much moreso than other characters like Bowser. I posted why in the main King K. Rool thread, here it is:

That's one of the reasons why I love King K. Rool as a character so much. His plans in each main series Rareware game got progressively more insane.

• In DKC1, he took the banana hoard in order to gain the Kong's attention, as the Kremlings attempted to take over their island. My headcannon of their goal was to starve the Kongs enough in order to get rid of them, meaning they could take over the island easily. The Kremlings easily underestimated Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong though.

• In DKC2, King K. Rool now saw Donkey Kong as a threat, so he successfully kidnapped and tortured him throughout the game as the Kremlings invaded the island once again. He also used Donkey Kong's kidnapping to blackmail Diddy for the banana hoard, knowing how much the bananas meant to Donkey Kong in the first game.

• In DKC3, King K. Rool sees both Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong as threats, kidnapping them and utilizing them both as living batteries. On top of that, Dixie Kong and Kiddy Kong didn't even know they were kidnapped; they thought they just went missing, and went to look for them without yet learning King K. Rool's involvement. They seemed to be aware of KAOS however.

• By the time DK64 happened, King K. Rool was losing it. He felt that this could have been his last chance of taking over DK Isle for himself. After his attempts of learning from his mistakes didn't work out, he realizes that he needed to go all out with nothing held back. King K. Rool's main plan was to fire a laser at DK Isle and completely obliterate it. Once it didn't work out and he needed his laser repaired, he kidnapped four of the Kongs and stole Donkey Kong's banana hoard once again. This would ensure that Donkey Kong would starve, not have anyone to help him, and let him realize the reality where his island would be nuked soon. Of course, Donkey Kong is persistent and stopped King K. Rool anyway.

After DK64, I personally felt like no matter what King K. Rool did, he felt like he couldn't win. This could be due to various factors, like the resilience of the Kongs, the incompetence of his minions, or just the general feeling of hopelessness. I think the way Rare portrayed King K. Rool's descent into madness throughout the Country trilogy and DK64 is really great, as it's hard to find villains that recognize where they went wrong, how they could improve, and when to know to quit.

I definitely agree that DK64 was King K. Rool's last big hurrah, as his plots in the DK Jungle Climber games felt much more Bowser-esque, in the sense that he just wanted to take Donkey Kong's bananas because he's an evil guy and does evil things. Rareware's portrayal of King K. Rool felt like so much more than that to me, a great villain who always strives for greater things, and had to eventually realize that everything was working against him at all costs. King K. Rool will always be my favorite Nintendo villain because of that; he's comical and insane, yet is self-aware and flawed. King K. Rool always did the absolute best he could, yet he left when he was still bested by his competition regardless of what he did. I have a lot of respect for that.
 

KingZing

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You know, to me it was really heart-breaking when Rare was bought by Microsoft and Nintendo opted to remove all the glorious work they've done with DK and reboot the franchise with Jungle Beat. Getting rid of the whole Kremling Krew which has been the flagship antagonist group ever since the birth of modern DK was a fatal flaw.

The Kremlings are to DK what the Koopa Army is to Mario, and to an extension, K. Rool to DK like Bowser to Mario. They are the two main halves that together conform the core franchise. Without one or the other, it just feels empty. That's not to say, for example, every Mario game has to be like Sticker Star, in fact the best games are usually the ones which offer the most variety and give a twist to the whole premise like Thousand-Year Door. But can you imagine a Mario game without any trace of the iconic Goombas or Koopas, or Bowser?

When Retro made the Prime series they introduced Dark Samus but they didn't forget about the classic Space Pirates, which made it more infuriating when their supposed grand revival of DKC in the form of Returns ditched again the Kremlings in favor of some bland hypnotising wooden planks. When compared to K. Rool, at least Ridley and the Space Pirates remained consistent in all of Metroid's different internal series. To make things worse, Paon's handling of the franchise was most unfortunate for him and the Krew, giving them awful redesigns and taking away all that made them great.

To me, advocating for K. Rool in Smash is more than just being able to play as him, it's a way of demanding a proper tribute to DK's history as one of the biggest, greatest and oldest franchises. His inclusion would be the starting point to correct the errors of the post-Rare era and reintroduce him and the Kremlings as the rightful enemies of the DK crew. Thankfully a lot of people who played DKC know first-hand their value and feel the same way, so together we pushed him until finally our dreams became true a couple days ago. When there's such a massive group of people advocating for one character or anything really, you better believe it's for a reason (Mother 3 anyone?).

Well, that, and his character. I mean, have you seen him? He's an insane, royal, fat crocodile with a bulging eye and golden armor who steals bananas from monkeys. There ain't bad guys like him anymore! He's also a master of disguise and soooo versatile in every way that you can easily place him in any crazy plan or situation. Like Gruntilda, he has that ol'Rare magic that makes him lovable and goofy at the same time, as well as a timeless character.

He's not just another fighter, he's divine justice and hope incarnated! How can we not love him? ;)
 
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StormC

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When Retro made the Prime series they introduced Dark Samus but they didn't forget about the classic Space Pirates, which made it more infuriating when their supposed grand revival of DKC in the form of Returns ditched again the Kremlings in favor of some bland hypnotising wooden planks. When compared to K. Rool, at least Ridley and the Space Pirates remained consistent in all of Metroid's different internal series.
In all fairness to Retro, if an insider on DKVine is correct, this was 100% Miyamoto and Tanabe's call and Retro wanted to use the Kremlings.
 

Browny

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First off, congrats, it was a hard fought victory for you all. This is not meant as condescension.

A curiosity I’ve had for let’s say, a decade - but never dared ask because at the time I considered it in poor taste given the circumstances was why there such a fervent love for the Kremling King?

Is it the lack of villains?

Did you have an attachment because of the animated series?

I’m curious because he falls somewhere relatively obscure in the Nintendo pantheon, and the outcry to me seemed to even outshine Ridley in the Smash 4 era.

In the end even I rooted for him since it became an underdog story, and eh, DK main. Also kinda extra special when you consider he’s one of the only purely western developed characters on the roster (I think Diddy and Dark Samus are the only others?).
K.Rool comes from a game series with many of the most memorable and iconic video game tunes of all time, tunes which are often remixed and put in all smash games. The DK series absolutely deserved more fighter representation and K.Rool is an INFINITELY more interesting character than goddam anime sword user #11. He deserved to be in smash more than literally any other nintendo newcome since Brawl.

It was downright criminal to put Gangplank Galleon (K.Rools theme) music in brawl, but not K.Rool himself. For reference, that song is the one that was used during K.Rools reveal trailer.
 

TCRhade

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In all fairness to Retro, if an insider on DKVine is correct, this was 100% Miyamoto and Tanabe's call and Retro wanted to use the Kremlings.
That was perhaps the dumbest decision I've ever heard of. Retro knew what they were doing. Executive meddling can go to hell.

Well now there's NO reason to exclude K. Rool again. Everyone has seen first hand how much we all love him.
 
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KingZing

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In all fairness to Retro, if an insider on DKVine is correct, this was 100% Miyamoto and Tanabe's call and Retro wanted to use the Kremlings.
Hmm I see. I always used to read around that it was because Retro wanted to create their own original baddies, I wasn't aware of that info.

In any case, be it Retro's or Nintendo's fault it was a bad move. Then again they had another chance with Tropical Freeze and completely ditched them again with yet another group of somewhat lackluster enemies...
 
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TCRhade

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For all we know Tropical Freeze may have had the same BS reason to exclude the Kremlings...
 

Kulty

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The reason why I love King K Rool so much is bc he's not only one of the greatest villains ever (up there with Hades from Kid Icarus and Dr. Eggman from the Sonic The Hedgehog series), but he represents my love for one of the greatest platformers of all time (also one of my personal favorite games of all time): The original Donkey Kong Country trilogy on the SNES (and GBA remakes). When I think of K Rool, I think of the DKC series (even Returns and Tropical Freeze where he was not in) and DK64. He has that intimidating yet goofy personality that really makes him likeable and appreciable.

When I first played the remake of DKC1 on GBA and got to the final fight against K Rool, I really loved his facial expressions whenever you jump on him and the sound effect he does whenever you get a hit on him (it's hilarious XD). He has that realistic design, but at the same time, he's goofy and cartoonish which I really like. I can go on and on on how much I love K Rool in DKC2, DKC3 and DK64, but he has such an impact on the Donkey Kong series that it's really hard to deny the legacy and impact it left to the franchise back in the 90s and to us fans. Glad he's in the game. Definitely the first newcomer I'm going to play in Ultimate (unless if Shadow makes it in). :)
 

Paint_B

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I think it's the whole underdog thing. During my playthroughs in the DKC series or DK64 I always felt bad for him. Is that silly of me?

He's a very likeable villain with his character design and animations. He felt more fleshed out than Bowser at the time. I do hope this helps him to appear in DKC again or other games.
 

G-Guy

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Why? I believe the main draw here is the personality.
K Rool isn‘t just a standard bad guy.
He is silly, goofy but menacing. Unlike other villains, he evolves from game to game, changing his strategies and personas. It‘s unheard of at the time and still is now.

Oh and Krokodiles are cool I suppose
 

SuperiorYoshi87

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For me personally K. Rool reminds me of a good time in my life. When I was a kid my mom, my brother and me would sit down and play Donkey Kong country. I'll never forget our reaction's when he jumped onto the sceen the first time and how much we laughed at his "Aaugh" when he jumped on his head. He quickly became and favorite character of ours. Fast forward to today.. I live in my own house, I dont see my mom all the time now, my brother unfortunately was killed in a car accident a few years ago.. as silly as it may sound seeing King K. Rool reminds me of good times and it gives me more of an attachment to his character...

Donkey Kong Country 2 was the first game I beat all by myself. Followed by 3.

My mom, my brother and I all worked together to beat DK64. I have a lot a fantastic memories attached to K. Rool. Seeing him brings them all back.
 

cephalopod17

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I like K. Rool because he was memorable when I was kid, and it helped that I was terrible at DK 64.

I was born only about a year and a half before DK 64 came out. Flash forward to early 2000s (2000 - 2003ish), and I'm a toddler. My best friend and I would hang out every Sunday after church. His older brother was born in 1991, so it was the perfect time for him to get into gaming. He let us play the N64 quite a bit. The only thing I remember from that is playing the first ten or so minutes of DK64. I remember thinking the intro of the game was cool, and I remember we found DK's jump animation and the noise he made hilarious. We also were terrible at it and died a lot, so the memorable Game Over scene is embedded in my mind. His brother probably had other N64 games and I'm sure we played them too, but DK 64 is the only I remember. And I'm 100% confident it is because Rare did a great job with his characterization.

Flash forward to 2009, I go over to another friend's house and we played Brawl. Specifically Subspace. By this point the only Nintendo franchises I actively played were Pokemon, Animal Crossing, and Mario Kart. We got to :dk2: and :diddy:'s part in Subspace, where :bowser2: steals the bananas. I remember thinking this is off. It's the wrong reptile. Where's K. Rool? Then when Smash 4 was announced, I found Smashboards and joined. Then I learned more about K. Rool. The personality and characterization is wonderful. The boss fights are challenging and engaging. His design is amazing. And he's a crocodile. Crocodiles are awesome. And now he's in and I couldn't be happier.
 

pupNapoleon

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Put Simply:
When I think of my earliest gaming memories with other people, they are all Pokemon, Sonic, and Donkey Kong.
Somehow the older I get, the more and more Donkey Kong 64 (and K Rool, from all games he had been in) resonate with me.

In short, K Rool reminds me of everything I love in gaming, and why I am a gamer.
 

Xebenkeck

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I think the main reason why is because anyone who is in the 25-35 age group grew up in the NES, SNES, N64 era.

When we were all kids one of the most successful series/franchises at the time was the Donkey Kong games. Times have changed significantly from then, but I remember Donkey Kong was as big a franchise as Mario, remember Pokemon didn't even exist at the time of DKC and DKC2, so Mario and DK were by far their biggest IP's, bigger then Zelda as well. It wasn't until OoT came out in 1997 that really brought Zelda to the forefront of Nintendo IP's.

It really is something you have to jump back in time to look at. Even in SSB64, there is a reason Donkey Kong is number 2 in the roster. Literally back then he and his franchise were that valuable only second to Mario. I actually would say SSB order of Mario, DK, Link, Samus, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu was pretty accurate to Nintendo's money making franchises at the time.

So for many of us who loved DKC, DKC2, DKC3, DK64, K.rool was the main antagonist from them. Which as others above have mentioned, all these other franchises got their antagonist in Smash. It just felt wrong to many of us that K.rool, one of the biggest antagonists of our childhood's was omitted/forgotten. It also helps that K.rool is a memorable/quirky/funny/smash suited character, and those 4 games are all hailed as some of the best games of their time. All combined led to K.rool being highly requested and coveted by people.

I would venture to guess the majority of his support base is in the 25-35 age group. I myself am 27.
 
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Mysteltainn

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I think the main reason why is because anyone who is in the 25-35 age group grew up in the NES, SNES, N64 era.

When we were all kids one of the most successful series/franchises at the time was the Donkey Kong games. Times have changed significantly from then, but I remember Donkey Kong was as big a franchise as Mario, remember Pokemon didn't even exist at the time of DKC and DKC2, so Mario and DK were by far their biggest IP's, bigger then Zelda as well. It wasn't until OoT came out in 1997 that really brought Zelda to the forefront of Nintendo IP's.

It really is something you have to jump back in time to look at. Even in SSB64, there is a reason Donkey Kong is number 2 in the roster. Literally back then he and his franchise were that valuable only second to Mario. I actually would say SSB order of Mario, DK, Link, Samus, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu was pretty accurate to Nintendo's money making franchises at the time.

So for many of us who loved DKC, DKC2, DKC3, DK64, K.rool was the main antagonist from them. Which as others above have mentioned, all these other franchises got their antagonist in Smash. It just felt wrong to many of us that K.rool, one of the biggest antagonists of our childhood's was omitted/forgotten. It also helps that K.rool is a memorable/quirky/funny/smash suited character, and those 4 games are all hailed as some of the best games of their time. All combined led to K.rool being highly requested and coveted by people.

I would venture to guess the majority of his support base is in the 25-35 age group. I myself am 27.
Realised that I never answered this, but could not have said it better myself. King K. Rool was just extremely meaningful for the age group (which I'm a part of as well). Hard to understand for people today I imagine, but this was all indeed true back then.
 

Putuk

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My secret is that I'm not actually into the DK series.
I just don't care for the heroes, they're just a bunch of boring simians.

The ENEMIES however!! They are all so wonderful!

In my free time I also research reptiles for fun, so I want to play as a reptile and K. Rool is a very funny character who is also a reptile.
 

Erimir

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As a general indicator of the prominence K Rool would have for the SNES/N64 generation...

Sales for games in which K Rool is the primary antagonist:
  • Donkey Kong Country (SNES, 1994) - 9.4 million
  • Donkey Kong Land (GB, 1995) - 3.9m
  • DKC 2 (SNES, 1995) - 5.2m
  • DKL 2 (GB, 1996) - 2.4m
  • DKC 3 (SNES, 1996) - 3.5m
  • DKL 3 (GB, 1997) (GBC, 2000) - 1.3m
  • Donkey Kong 64 (N64, 1999) - 5.3m
  • DKC port (GBC, 2000) - 2.2m
  • DKC port (GBA, 2003) - 2.0m
  • DKC2 port (GBA, 2004) - 1.2m
  • DKC3 port (GBA, 2005) - 0.8m
  • DK: King of Swing (GBA, 2005) - 0.2m
  • DK Jungle Climber (DS, 2007) - 0.6m
That's 38 million copies sold of games where K Rool was the final boss, primary antagonist, one of the main characters. Mainly just for the original Donkey Kong Country/Land games and DK 64 and various ports. This is just games featuring K Rool as the primary antagonist. He has made more minor appearances in a few others. And the Donkey Kong series overall is significantly bigger (closer to 70 million in total sales).

I'd also note that Donkey Kong Country Returns and Tropical Freeze did pretty well (TF being hindered by being on Wii U, it will probably end up selling more copies on Switch. BTW I definitely recommend it!) although they did not feature K Rool. I'd bet that they'd do just as well, if not better, if K Rool were featured in the next game.

For comparison, the following series have lower total sales than K Rool's primary games:
Kirby, Animal Crossing, Yoshi, Wario, Metroid, Star Fox, Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus

So... I guess, in conclusion I would say that while his heyday was very much the 90s, King K. Rool is not obscure by any means. Every single Fire Emblem character is obscure by comparison, especially every one that is not Marth. And this is especially true for people who are old enough to have played the SNES games. I'd also say that Donkey Kong is more than worthy of having three characters, given that several of these series got three before DK did.

And not only did DKC games sell very well, but they were very good. And they have some of the all-time classic video game music tracks, etc.
 

StormC

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I'd also note that Donkey Kong Country Returns and Tropical Freeze did pretty well (TF being hindered by being on Wii U, it will probably end up selling more copies on Switch. BTW I definitely recommend it!)
TF has already sold more on the Switch. A new DK game will do gangbusters.

Also, your breakdown really indicates how much K. Rool was downplayed by people sometimes. Few claim Ridley is some obscure character only weird diehards are familiar with even though the Metroid games he's been in have sold less than half of K. Rool's. K. Rool was unquestionably the more recognizable character pre-2008, when K. Rool fell into disuse and Ridley grew into prominence thanks to his role in the Subspace Emissary.

Nothing against Ridley, obviously - you can see my avatar for that - but the idea that such a notable character can suddenly lose his status because of time, even when his games are still beloved by people all over the world and considered some of Nintendo's best titles, is bonkers to me.
 

Erimir

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Right, there are of course other factors than just their main series games. Ridley's appearance in Brawl was probably his most widely seen (since Brawl sold significantly more than the highest selling Metroid game). But K Rool got very little recognition in Smash until now. And it is true that in the last 18 years he hasn't done much outside of re-releases of DKC games.

I do suspect that if they make another Donkey Kong platformer, we're likely to see K Rool and his Kremlings make a triumphant return (before inevitably being defeated) partly because of his Smash Bros appearance.
 

BKupa666

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To summarize for me it was a combination of DKC being my first exposure to gaming and far and away my favorite series growing up, fandom for his actual personality in those games and later the cartoon, longtime interest in seeing all his boss appearances reinterpreted as playable after I came to know what Smash was, and years of fantasizing how that could look in movesets and speculation.

To unpack things a little further, I can see how it's unusual to an outside observer why people seem so passionate about a cartoon crocodile. IMO he's everything you could want in a compelling video game villain, but it's not as though Returns and especially TF are bad games without him. A lot of the passion stems from just how part and parcel he and the Kremlings were with the DK franchise's golden era, with games that hold powerful memories for people, ranging from playing with siblings or friends growing up or during hard chapters in life. Seeing him show up in 2018 is a great heartening reminder of those good times, and a promise that they'll endure moving forward.

K. Rool is also really validating from the sense that the fans "own" his return, in this game and pretty much every future game he's in from here on out. With what I've been told, the lack of Kremlings in Retro's games can be chalked up to "internal apathy and factional disputes." I don't know how high up that characterization went -- whether to Tanabe, Miyamoto, and/or Nintendo's """quality assurance""" team reportedly responsible for the reduction of characters in Mario RPGs and lack of Waluigi in mainline games for whatever ill-conceived brand reasons. But as someone recently put it on DK Vine, there's an undisputed sense that the K. Rool fans "fought city hall and won." There's the understandable need to innovate within franchises over the years, but in retrospect, K. Rool is going to be seen as a baby wrongfully thrown out with the bathwater. That's on the fans who made it so.

Smash is sort of a corollary to the above. Unless a few neckbeards went to Best Buy and voted on all the phones /ResetEra K. Rool fans everywhere raised holy hell during the ballot, he would've been a spirit for Bowser in this game, and very possibly Sakurai would have considered it OK to represent his series with just DK and Diddy until the end of time. And his return happened in the face of a not-insignificant number of people trying to shoot down the fans' idealism, under the guise of "tempering expectations" but really taking more of a "stop caring about what I don't care about" approach. That's really what the bulk of the talk of irrelevance, vocal minorities, fat bottom tier heavyweight, etc. boiled down to. But fans didn't flinch during crunch time, and it paid off. Everyone and their mother now is starting up Twitter campaigns for their own favorite characters, trying to follow K. Rool's lead. And while I would urge caution, in that it took years and a lot of factors independently lining up for things to go K. Rool's way, it's a much, much more refreshing speculation atmosphere than the monotony of going back and forth on which of the stock protagonists from the games Nintendo is advertising right now is more of a shoo-in. It is telling that some of the people who argued "little kids don't know K. Rool, he's niche" now have reverted to saying it would've been smarter to reveal him last, precisely because he ended up being more hype than the relevant characters people ostensibly cared more about.

It's OK to dare to dream big...and sometimes too big, heh.
 
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pap64

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Well dang, everyone pretty much said what I wanted to say...Heck it, I will say it anyway.

The reason I wanted K.Rool in the game was because with the current DK we have is thanks to the Rare reboot of 1994, I feel that DK needed his own villain to fight in Smash. It was cool that we got the sidekick Diddy in Brawl, but considering how Donkey Kong Country but revitalized Donkey Kong AND created a brand new franchise, it was annoying that it was not getting enough rep within the playable fighter roster.

That and with the two Donkey Kong Country games we have now, it was annoying how they went with these semi-bland villains. The Kongs got to shine again, why not the Kremlings? So him being in Smash Ultimate feels like the proper return he deserved and more. In that trailer there was so much love put into him than in the years he was mainly playable in spin-off games. And with gameplay of him out there, he looks like a beast in everything; from how he animates to how he performs in battle.
 
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