Nintendo stunned everyone when it revealed that Donkey Kong Country villain King K. Rool would be part of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster, but it might come as a surprise to learn that the man who created this iconic baddie was just as shocked as the rest of the world.
Former Rare designer Steve Mayles worked on the original Donkey Kong Country way back in 1994, and K. Rool remains one of his most iconic creations. Despite his close connection with the character, Mayles - who is one of the founders of Yooka-Laylee studio Playtonic Games - wasn't consulted by anyone at Nintendo about his inclusion.
"I had no idea he was going to be included," he told us. "I knew he had a fair chance as he had appeared as a Mii costume previously, and since then he has been at the top, or close to the top, of many votes and ballots. There seemed to be a real groundswell of positivity in K.Rool’s direction that Nintendo would find hard to ignore, I thought. I’d love to have been involved in any capacity of bringing K.Rool back of course. Maybe another time."
Despite not getting a phone call from the Big N, Mayles bares no grudge and fully understands how these things work; when Nintendo sold its 49 percent stake in Rare to Microsoft, agreements were put in place that gave the Japanese company complete ownership over all Donkey Kong-related characters. Nintendo owns K. Rool, despite Mayles being his natural 'father'; he's simply pleased that the green-skinned monarch is back, and feels that the fanbase played a massive part in that.
"K.Rool was a big part of the Rare-created Donkey Kong games in the '90s but since then has fallen out of favour for some reason," he continues. "But let’s ignore that, he’s back now! Some fans on the internet had made it their personal mission in life to bring back K.Rool, restore the King to his former glory; this passion amongst gamers always amazes me. I saw footage of the Nintendo Direct from the Nintendo store in New York with people chanting 'K.Rool, K.Rool' – it was great! I have no doubt the fans' attitude to K.Rool and the proactive way they went about supporting their favourite crocodile made all the difference."
Mayles is also happy with the way Nintendo has updated the character for the world of HD. "He looks really great, a perfect modern interpretation. I couldn’t have done a better job myself! They’ve obviously paid close attention to his original design and updated him sympathetically; that really pleases me. Even the shade of green is correct and the gold armour, something that had been changed in other recent versions of K.Rool. The whole Nintendo Direct reveal was superb, the quality of the rendered sequences top-notch. K.Rool couldn’t have come back with a bigger bang! It was the whole package, even down to the incredible remix the King is getting of his famous Gangplank Galleon theme."
Like millions of other players, Mayles will be putting K. Rool through his paces when Smash Ultimate launches later this year; he reveals that the series is something of a favourite in the office, although he doesn't profess to be an expert. "At Playtonic, there is a group that play Smash most lunchtimes, so I’ll definitely give the King a go," he explains. "Maybe they will go easy on me, although I doubt it. I’m afraid I’m just not fast enough for games like Smash anymore. Too many buttons on the controller, you see. In my younger days, perhaps. Now, did I tell you about the time I defeated the designer of Panel de Pon at his own game in Tokyo? Well, the day began just like any normal day…" (We regret to admit that we fell asleep during this particular tale, which has apparently been told many, many times in the Playtonic office.)
Given that K. Rool has been resurrected, is Mayles hopeful that more of his Rare-era creations might get a much-needed HD lick of paint and be added to the Smash roster? "Of course! I do get worried when I think of other people updating my characters, but after the K.Rool update, I think they’d be very safe in the hands of the Smash team. Dixie Kong has the best chance of being included – let’s hope they reinstate her kneepads. An outsider would be Banjo-Kazooie – obviously now a Microsoft-owned IP, but head of Xbox Phil Spencer has said in the past he sees no reason why it couldn’t happen, so who knows? I’ve seen Banjo move-sets that fans have done – they’ve got it all figured out! Banjo and Kazooie were created as Nintendo characters, so it would be great to see them back on a Nintendo console – adding them to the Smash roster seems like the perfect opportunity."
Comments 29
They’ve so perfectly captured his essence from across so many games. I would be proud, too, if I were his designer.
When I was a kid I always wondered why they never called him "King K. Kool". I thought it was a perfect name. Oh have times changed...
@ieatdragonz yeah, but then people would shorten it to KKK and thats not a good thing
@ieatdragonz
Probably because of that acronym, yikes.
Or was that the joke and I'm getting wooshed?
@ieatdragonz Because K. Rool is a play on the word “cruel.” Or are you joking?
He looks great, I love all the references to his original appearances. Even DKC3 and DK64 got some love. Now we just need a third Retro Studios DKC with the return of the Kremlings.
This article makes me happy :'>
@BLD @Bunkerneath You are correct. Didn't realize how easy it was to turn something into a harmful acronym as a child so just wanted to share a story of childhood ignorance.
@thesilverbrick Yeah, it was a joke. Probably not the funniest one since it began confusion. For the uninformed, the KKK is a hate group in the United States. Naming something with that acronym would incite some uproar, even from a British company like Rare which might have no clue about its meaning. Good thing they kept it Rool, either on accident or on purpose.
I know deep down Steve Mayles is hurting and upset that he has no ownership of a character he created!
"Nintendo sold its 49 percent stake in Rare to Microsoft, agreements were put in place that gave the Japanese company complete ownership over all Donkey Kong-related characters. Nintendo owns K. Rool, despite Mayles being his natural 'father'; "
I'm confused here, so are they saying RARE owns the DK characters or Nintendo?
@prince-jay I think its Nintendo that owns them
I’m so happy that King K is in Smash. I’d also love to see Dixie and Cranky playable, but I doubt it will happen.
@prince-jay Nintendo owns the DKC characters & the Donkey Kong redesigns. Rare are just their daddy.
My only gripe is that despite the effort placed in K.Rool, many of his moves and animations are ripped straight from other fighters (Mario, Wario, DK, Kirby). It suggests he was a late entry and that they needed to cut down on development time in any way possible.
@prince-jay Rare created all of the new DKC characters (Diddy, Dixie, King K. Rool, etc), but doesn't own them - Nintendo does. However, Rare owns the 'new' (as in not based on an existing Nintendo IP) characters it created during the Nintendo years (like Banjo-Kazooie).
@Damo @Wexter thanks a lot I appreciate the clarity.
@Damo "(We regret to admit that we fell asleep during this particular tale, which has apparently been told many, many times in the Playtonic office.)"
You’re not being serious, right? 😅
I’m rooting for Banjo & Kazooie.
Look at Sakurai and team making everybody happy, does my heart some good~
Hopefully this re-lights the fire of passion Playtonic Games had back when they were RareWare and we start seeing them hit grand slams with games once again!
Side-note: I'm very unsure about Banjo-Kazooie. Yeah, Phil Spencer said he would love to see them in Smash and sees no reason why they shouldn't be in...but its Microsoft, I could be wrong, but I imagine he would ask for something like a very steep price for their inclusion or something like "Microsoft will receive %5 of the revenue Smash makes.".
I mean, since the dude who originally made King K. Rool is in Playtonic Games, why not get Yooka-Laylee instead? I highly doubt it would be as hard to get them in, in comparison.
Nice article made me think back to the Donkey Kong Country days of my childhood what a great time that was, loved all three of the DKC titles the first two were perfect in my opinion I always thought that they should've made Donkey Kong the main playable character in three though, still a fantastic title in its own right. So for me it's needless to say I am so more than happy that King K.Rool is making his much needed return to gaming ., I mean what a great character to bring back .
@NerdyBoutKirby
Eh, what? I’ve seen nothing of the sorts. He looks like a genuine new character to me and I don’t see any similarities at all...
King K. Rool needs to come back to a new Donkey Kong Country game. Along with the Kritters, Zinger, Gnawty, etc.
@prince-jay Nintendo got DK, Rare got everything else.
@Yavga Check out this video of K.Rool fighting Snake. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBLnjibehdU
K.Rool's dashing animation has him scamper on all fours like Donkey Kong.
At 0:16, he uses what appears to be a variation of Rosalina's mid-air up A, with his crown acting as the projectile.
At 0:17, he uses Ganondorf's standard A move.
At 0:19, he uses Mario's mid-air forward A, though it seems to be a back-air move for K.Rool.
At 0:34, he uses the animation for Bowser's side Smash, though it's converted to be a mid-air move.
At 0:45, he uses Kirby's up-grab.
At 1:25, he breaks the Smash Ball using Wario's mid-air A.
That's a lot of recycled content, though it's given its own spin.
@shonenjump86 One thing to not from this is it confirms that Nintendo owns the full rights to the original DKC characters. So there's nothing stopping them from using them.
@Regpuppy
That didn't really need confirmation, Nintendo used most of those characters (including K. Rool) in DK Barrel Blast/Jet Race on Wii, and some of them in the DK King of Swing and Jungle Climber games on GBA and DS and Mario Sluggers on Wii.
Forget Dixie, it her knee-pads that need to be in Smash. This guy knows where his priorities are.
Honestly, I can only imagine how surreal this is for Mr.Mayles. I didn't grow up with Rare, but I do know they were a gaming powerhouse in their hay day, and pretty much defined a majority of the DK series, making a lot of friends and foes, K. Rool included. While he was more or less cut out of the process, the praise he's giving really shows how well Nintendo did with this interpretation. I myself haven't been too familiar with K. Rool, but the Smash iteration has me interested-he looks about as beastly as they come!
Curious about him and the Kremling Krew coming back in a new title. Retro's been dead silent for years, and Nintendo never lost the rights, so if they've been working on something in secret, now's as good a time as any for a reveal. Also, Banjo's probably welcome in Smash, I imagine it comes down to Microsoft and... eh, I don't know. They're a direct competitor to Nintendo (more Sony, but they're all console manufacturers) but it's not as if Microsoft has anything to lose. I don't have any hopes, but I also, can't see a major reason that B&K would be kept out of Smash.
@NerdyBoutKirby
Rigging a character who isn’t the same size to do the same move probably isn’t super easy. There are only so many ways for a character to be animated doing all those things.
@DavidMac I'm sure that's the case, but why do some of those things at all? Instead of kicking forward like Bowser, why not have him thrust his hip forward while he stifles a laugh? That'd give the move a more unique identity. The Kirby grab is pretty confusing as well--I get that he jumps high in DKC, but it definitely reads more as "that one move Kirby uses." I'm not a fan of the way he crawls, since he's shown to walk upright in the DK series.
I'm still looking forward to playing as K.Rool, since his moveset flows well together, but I wish his moves' inspirations weren't as obvious.
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