Today's character is real royalty... a royal pain in the butt for two heros that we know are featured in the game. If this big, green bully is in the game, thank goodness we've got his heroic counterparts to help deal with his sneaky tricks. I'm not talking about Bowser, though he certainly is a big, green bully. I'm talking about:


King K. Rool

B: Barrel Toss - The king of mean will pull out a barrel and toss it. If it hits, it'll do a maximum of 12% damage. Sometimes, food will come out of the barrel, so make sure to get in quick so your opponent doesn't heal up from the attack!
< or >B: Belly Bounce - King K. Rool leaps forward with his green gut, putting all of his girth behind the attack. This attack will hit for a maximum of 17% damage and should send your opponents bouncing away.
^B: Barrel Canon Blast - King K. Rool uses a barrel canon to blast off towards safety. The canon will twist, so make sure to hit A when you're ready to shoot out! If you hit someone while being blasted out of the canon, you'll hit them for a maximum of 8% damage.
vB: Cape Twirl - King K. Rool spins around, fluttering his cape as he goes. This move will deflect projectiles, turn your opponent around, and hit for a maximum of 10% damage. This move sure sounds familiar...
Final Smash: Fit for a King - King K. Rool calls in the muscle! The King's servants bring in his throne to let him feast like a king. The 4 crocodile thugs will protect King K. Rool as he eats a feast of bananas. Each banana he eats will recover 1% damage, and he'll throw the peels onto the stage. What a rude eater! He'll eat about 20 bananas.

King K. Rool is another heavy-weight bad guy. Nintendo has something against big guys in charge of things! Then again, who doesn't have something against big bad guys in charge?!?

King K. Rool's Stage:


This stage is based on the game King K. Rool's been most recently seen in, the DK: Jungle Climber. This level has rotating platforms and scrolls vertically up and down at random speeds. Make sure to keep up, as this level can be swingy! Pardon the pun...

Hazards:
The stage can take you out if you're not careful. Beyond that you'll see buzzards and bees flying around, so be careful not to get him by them. The buzzards will do a maximum of 5% damage and the bees will do a maximum of 10% damage.

What are the chances of us seeing King K. Rool in Super Smash Bros. Brawl? Good, but not great. He's the big bad guy in the Donkey Kong Country series. This means that he's a heavy weight in a game that needs heavy weights. That also means that he's a first party character in a game that's known for it's wide spread self love. And finally he's a bad guy in a game that's lacking bad guys. So King K. Rool has those points going for him. The biggest strike I see against King K. Rool is that he hasn't been seen for a long time. That is, up until the release of DK: Jungle Climber. However, this is a portable release, and the last major Donkey Kong game for a platform (I don't count Jungle Blast... It's another racing game) was Donkey Konga: Jungle Beat. Now, I never played through Donkey Konga, but I did play through Donkey Konga: Jungle Beat, and there was no King K. Rool in sight. So I pose the question: has Nintendo abandoned the idea of the big green crocodile king? His inclusion in this game, or lack thereof, should be a good answer to that question.

Come back tomorrow for more rampant, unfounded speculation as I count down the days until the US release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl!

As always, if you've missed any of the old updates due to the holiday season (or just want to go back and read or discuss about your favorite predictions) then just go here. I'll keep the links current, so you can bookmark the page and check back later for any updates.