Character Sheet: Kritter (DK Main Series)

KRITTER

Here we, here we, here we go! So they're finally here, a-smashing for you. If you know their moves, you can join in too. Put your hands together if you want to clap, as we take you through this monkey roster:

1. Donkey Kong (Revision 1)
2. Diddy Kong
3. Dixie Kong
4. King K. Rool
5. Cranky Kong
6. Funky Kong
7. Tiny Kong
8. Lanky Kong
9. Chunky Kong
10. Kiddy Kong
11. Kritter
12. Krusha
13. Klump
14. Tucks
15. Tiki Tong
16. Lord Fredrik

Kremlings as a bunch were rather frustrating, for lack of a better word. They had a million different species, each one having a different name simply if they did one action differently, and often had a completely different name from each individual game, for instance, Kritters became Klomps and then Kobbles in later games, though they were basically the same thing. So, initially, I had intended going into this to only include Kritter, as he was the basic one that you could tie most of the others too. I felt like if any others were included, it would likely be Krusha and Klump, the muscular and fat variants respectively, as they do feature prominently in several appearances, but I had resigned myself to the idea that they just wouldn't make it in this time.

That was however, until I finished up the game reviews, and laid out every single type of Kremling in front of me and started drawing lines connecting the various types, at which point I realized, there actually was in fact enough to go around for all three of them and it generally made sense within the context of their games. So, that's what I did. I'll do my best to explain the connections for each move.

Here's the moveset I came up with for Kritter:

Standard B: Krook
Krooks were Kremlings wearing heavy trenchcoats that mainly appeared in Donkey Kong Country 2. While they were basically Kritters, they could throw out large fishing hooks that would loop around back to them like boomerangs.

Side B: Krash
A very common element of the Donkey Kong games is the minecart sections, during which the Kongs will often encounter Kritters riding around in other minecarts that will either throw bombs or crash into them. For this move, a minecart will appear that the Kritter can ride or simply send barreling forward to crash into opponents.

Up B: Kaboing
While the move takes its name from the basic jumping versions of the Kritters of Country 2 (Klomps), I actually went with the design of the move from the Re-Koils of Country 3 (who I'm convinced would have been called Kaboings had the name not been taken). The Kritter will bounce on its tail Tigger-style and spring high into the air.

Down B: Kaboom
Throughout most of the games, there are variants of the Kritter that like to hide out in barrels, protecting them from harm and allowing them to attack by throwing things from their barrel. They also frequently had variants that hid in TNT barrels that would explode when hit. This is a bit of a mix. This move will allow the Kritter to hide in a barrel, protecting it from harm, but it also acts as a counter, exploding the second it gets hit.

Final Smash: King Kut Out
To be honest, the hardest part in all of this was figuring out the Final Smashes for each character. While most of the various Kremling variants worked well as basic special moves, not many of them worked too well for a Final Smash. However, for the Kritter, I decided on DK 64's possibly most ridiculous boss, which features two Kritters raising up and moving around a giant cutout of King K. Rool which fires missiles at its opponents.

Entrance: Maybe skidding onto the stage, paying reference to the Skiddas.

Taunts: Lord only knows. A number of the taunts and noises the various Kremlings could work. It would also be fun to have him harassed by a Klaptrap just like in 64.

Thanks for reading! Next time, we'll cover the next Kremling character, Krusha.