So, how well do you know your enemies?
Hmm?
Probably not as well as you think.
But don’t worry.
I’m here to help by providing the origins, history, and even trivia of some of gaming’s
most memorable enemies.
And this time I’m featuring an enemy that fans have been begging to see come back for
quite some time now.
While they have made appearances in recent games, they’ve yet to return to the same
role they are so well known for.
I’m of course talking about the Kritters, a member of King K. Rool’s Krew.
They are by far the most recurring type of Kremling in the Donkey Kong Country games.
But how did Rare actually come up with their design?
Well, they, and Kremlings in general, were originally meant to be enemies in a completely
different game.
What game you ask?
Well, according to Kevin Bayliss, who was an artist at Rareware, they were meant for
a new entry in Battletoads.
Rare apparently liked the designs so much, they decided to see how they fit in the new
Donkey Kong game they were developing.
After plugging them in, their style seemed to match perfectly and they stuck.
And it seems to make a lot of sense when you compare the design of the Kritters to the
Battletoads.
Both have green skin, a golden chest, and a muscular physique.
Plus, crocodiles are predators of toads so they would’ve fit as enemies in that game.
So let’s look at exactly how the Kritters are designed in the original Donkey Kong Country.
They are pretty much walking crocodiles, which keeps them simple and recognizable.
There’s nothing overtly dangerous about them either as Donkey Kong can either roll
into them or jump on them with little trouble.
However, they do come in several different colors.
Green is their most common color, and they mainly walked forward in small groups which
makes them comparable to the Goombas in Super Mario Bros.
But, unlike the Goombas, Kritters had a few different variations in their original game.
Brown and blue Kritters could also be found as players progressed, and they had a new
move: jumping.
The blue Kritters could slowly jump forward while the brown Kritters were limited to jumping
back and forth or up and down in place.
Despite the new move, they could still be taken out in the same ways as before.
Oddly, these weren’t the only colors given to the Kritters.
In the Gameboy Advance remake of Donkey Kong Country, many of the Kritters that were green
in the original were colored purple in this version.
Likewise, new colors were added for the Kritters though they were never given any new tactics.
They still acted the same as always.
This could be because they needed to stand out more on the GBA’s smaller screen.
So the new purple Kritters wouldn’t get lost in the green background of a forest and
the other new colors would stand out against the other backgrounds as well The only time
the Kritters of all kinds, including the ones that jumped, appeared as the same color was
in Donkey Kong Land for the original Gameboy, but that was more because of the system’s
black & white limitation than artistic choice.
There was one Kremling that could be considered a kind of Kritter in Donkey Kong Country though,
Krashes.
They looked like every other Kritter except they would ride in the mine carts.
But this change of name to fit their role is something we see a lot of when it comes
to Kritters in the SNES games.
And if you’re still not convinced that Krashes are Kritters, just look at the Gameboy Advance
remake.
Like the Kritters, the Krashes were all recolored purple.
Krashes themselves were invincible as long as they were in motion.
They would ride their carts toward Donkey and Diddy Kong in an attempt to take them
out.
But, if the Krashes were not moving, the Kongs could jump on them to kick them out of the
cart and commandeer it showing that they had the same weakness as the Kritters.
But despite being such a staple of the original game, the Kritters are curiously absent from
the sequel, Donkey Kong Country 2--well, at least technically.
In their stead was a new kind of Kremling called Klomps--but these guys are pretty much
just Kritters in pirate gear with a peg leg.
The only major difference is that their chest isn’t yellow but a lighter green.
And there is one other interesting thing to note about their design.
They’re covered in scars which seems like an excessive amount of detail for something
that can’t easily be seen in game.
It’s never explicitly said, but perhaps all of the Klomps are just Kritters that return
after being defeated in the first game, only now sporting battle wounds.
Or it could be as simple as them rebranding themselves in the same way as K. Rool, who
went from a King to a Kaptain.
Otherwise, the Klomps act just the same as Kritters.
They walk in small groups and can be easily taken out with any attack.
The major difference between Kritters and Klomps is that every Klomp in Donkey Kong
Country 2 is the same green color.
They don’t have a variety of colors like the Kritters in the original game.
However, unlike the Kritters in Donkey Kong Country, there are no jumping Klomps this
time around.
Instead, that role was given to another new type of Kremling, who also took inspiration
from the Kritters called Kaboings.
These guys have two peg legs which forces them to jump everywhere.
Sometimes they jumped in place while other times they moved horizontally but, unlike
the Kritters that could jump, they’re all colored either gray or green.
The gray Kaboings are the more common of the two with the green ones being able to move
and jump slightly faster.
Continuing the tradition of replacing enemy types, Donkey Kong Country 3 also lacked the
Kritters, as well as Klomps.
Instead, the game featured the Kobbles who--surprise surprise--take on the role of the Kritters,
although they do look slightly different, sporting a slightly bulkier muscle tone, a
longer tail that curls up its back, and a lip ring.
Otherwise, they act exactly the same as both the Kritters and Klomps with the same tactics
and weaknesses.
In fact, the only thing really notable about them is how much less common they are, only
appearing in the boardwalk levels.
Although Kobbles do get a little more love in the GBA remake of Donkey Kong Country 3.
That version had them piloting boats while getting in the players way in various extra
mini-game challenges.
And these guys have another similarity to the Kritters--and Klomps--too, and that’s
the fact that there’s another enemy-type that looks just like them: Skiddas.
Look, they even have the same lip ring.
The only real difference is that this variation is purple, and can only be found in cold climates
where they wobble back and forth on slippery surfaces.
Based on all of this, I don’t really know why Rare felt the need to give Skiddas their
own identity.
Maybe they just really wanted to use that Skidda’s Row pun.
There is some variation to the Kritter relatives in Donkey Kong Country 3 though.
While Kobbles and Skiddas can’t jump, a new type of Kremling was introduced to do
just that: Re-Koils who take the place of the Kaboings in this game.
They have a springy tail, and their tongues are always hanging out.
Re-Koil’s body type does seem to be in line with the Kritter family, although there’s
never been an official connection between the two.
And curiously, they actually appear in the game more frequently than Kobbles!
And by the way, does their yellow and orange body and springy tail remind you of anyone
else?
Oh, I don’t know...maybe Tigger from Winnie the Pooh?
Is that just a coincidence or did Rare take direct inspiration?
Though Donkey Kong 64 was the next platforming game to feature the Kritter family, they actually
had a small role in the spin-off title Diddy Kong Racing a couple of years earlier.
And by small, I mean they were one of the playable characters who helped Diddy and the
gang defeat the evil Wizpig.
But why is a Kremling helping Diddy?
Although it’s never described in-game, the instruction manual actually shines some light
on this.
As it turns out, Krunch paid Diddy Kong and his friends a visit to ensure they weren’t
up to anything nefarious against the Kremlings.
But once he arrived at the island, he decided to help Diddy Kong out in the end.
Now up to this point, the Kritters only ever made grunt-like noises, but in Diddy Kong
Racing, Krunch can actually be heard in English for the first-time.
But interestingly, the remake on Nintendo DS featured a new opening cut-scene, and it
gives Krunch a snake-like voice that elongated his S’s, although this didn’t extend to
his in-game quips during actual races.
Despite this small role, Krunch’s design actually influenced the rest of the Kritters
when they finally returned as enemies in Donkey Kong 64.
And though they technically hadn’t been in a game since the original, here the Kritters
came back with a vengeance, now being able to punch and bite, making them a little more
lethal than in past games.
Plus, they’re all styling with the same skull and crossbones leather jacket that Krunch
had in Diddy Kong Racing.
Him helping to save them day just might’ve influenced the rest of the Kritters.
That or the kid knows how to merchandise.
But the Kritters are everywhere in Donkey Kong 64, not only in their standard appearance
but in many other roles as well.
But rather than being renamed something completely different like in past games, they actually
all retain the Kritter name this time around.
Take the Mecha-Kritters for example--who sometimes go by the names of Toy Kritters or Krobots.
They have the same attacks and look just like regular Kritters--except for the fact that
they’re, you know, robots.
This makes them much more durable and as such they can only be defeated with Orange Grenades,
a Kong’s musical instrument, or a swing from Chunky Kong’s Primate Punch.
But there’s no need to be too concerned as they only ever appeared in one level, Frantic
Factory.
Next up are the Shroom Kritters that naturally only appear in Fungi Forest.
These Kritters are a little different from the others in the game since they’re colored
blue and are quite a bit shorter and rounder.
Their sole tactic is to hide in a mushroom costume that blends in with the other mushrooms
in the forest.
The only clue that it’s a fake is the fact that they were bigger.
If you get near, they’ll immediately jump out of the ground and try to ram into you.
It must be said though that they are one of the easiest enemies in the game to defeat,
as any attack is able to take them down.
Then there’s the Kritters-in-a-Sheet and, true to their name, they are literally Kritters
hiding under a sheet in order to look a ghost.
It’s kind of like your younger brother taking a bedsheet and cutting eyeholes in a vain
attempt to scare you because that’s about as effective as these Kritters are.
But it seems that most Kritters realize how silly it all is as this enemy is pretty rare,
only appearing in Creepy Castle--and even then, they sometimes don’t even respawn
after being killed.
It’s like they realized how dumb it was and just left since it certainly doesn’t
make them any more effective.
Like the Shroom Kritters, they just try to run into you and can be taken out with any
attack.
Finally, there’s the Bone Kritters, sometimes referred to as Krossbones who only appear
in Creepy Castle and Fungi Forest at night.
The Bone Kritters are quite literally Kritter skeletons come to life.
Rather than trying to bite or punch the player, they use their own bones as a club or by attempting
a short-ranged kick.
But what makes them trickier is that they’re much faster than the other Kritters.
The Bone Kritters can be attacked with anything and doing so will actually cause them to rattle
before a piece of their body falls off.
Though, unlike the Kritters-in-a-Sheet, these guys are kinda freaky.
And while that may be all of the Kritters in Donkey Kong 64, there is one other enemy
that returns from Donkey Kong Country: Krashes.
They had been completely gone up until this point.
But what’s truly odd about their return is how different they look.
Rather than being another variation of a Kritter, their design is a lot closer in appearance
to Klubba, who appeared in Donkey Kong Country 2.
They are now much bigger, more muscular, and even use a club to attack the Kongs.
The only way to actually defeat one is make them crash into something else.
But there’s one more intriguing tidbit to their design.
While their body type is reminiscent of Klubba, their clothing is incredibly similar to what
modern Kritters wear, which is probably just an odd coincidence.
Following Donkey Kong 64, the next appearance of the Kritters was supposed to be as a playable
character in Diddy Kong Pilot, which was a Gameboy Advance follow-up to Diddy Kong Racing.
However, the project ended up being cancelled.
Bits of the game have been brought to light over the years, and it’s interesting to
note how Kritter has become the face of the Kremlings outside of K. Rool.
They were the only Kremling enemy that was planned to be in the game besides K. Rool
himself.
The Kritters even had one of the cups named after them.
But the game wasn’t meant to be and the next time the Kritters appeared in a game
was Donkey Kong: King of Swing.
What’s strange though is that the game only referred to the Kritters as Kremlings.
But their appearance was so obviously the Kritters even though this was the game that
gave them their modern design: a pair of brown pants with a skull belt buckle.
It was also the second time that a Kritter was playable.
It could be unlocked and used in Jungle Jam Mode where it was then able to swing from
the pegs and use rocks or bombs as weapons.
They returned in the sequel, Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber, but there was nothing new
about them in this game.
Their last appearance in a Donkey Kong branded game was Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast.
But this game was unique in that not only were the standard Kritters playable but multiple
named Kritters were as well.
They were named Kass, Kalypso, and Kip.
Kass is actually a Kritter child and the rival to Dixie Kong in the game, even matching Dixie’s
racing stats.
And both her and Kalypso are the first female Kritters that have explicitly been shown in
the games.
And strangely, both also somehow have hair making them only the second Kremlings to possess
this trait.
Kalypso is an older female Kritter with a somewhat unique skin tone, being a blue-green
mixture.
She can be unlocked in the game and actually keeps the skull belt design of the standard
Kritters.
But the rest of her is far from standard.
She has trendier clothes and an afro, which is just weird.
In the game, she acts as a rival to Tiny Kong and shares the same stats.
Finally there’s Kip, who is also a Kritter child like Kass.
The two might be brother and sister, but there’s never been a confirmation of this fact.
Mainly, he just looks like a little troublemaker with his skull-emblazoned shirt.
In Barrel Blast, he acts as the rival to Diddy Kong and like the other rivals, shares his
stats.
Despite this initial appearance of the three, none of them have returned in future games
outside of trophies in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Instead, in recent years, the Kritters have been integrated into several Mario sports
games.
Their first appearance was a cameo in the background of Donkey Kong’s court in Mario
Power Tennis.
But they became more active in Super Mario Strikers and its sequel where they acted as
the standard goalie for every team.
The last sports game they appeared in to date was Mario Super Sluggers where they had four
differently colored variations, green, blue, red, and brown, each with their own unique
stats.
However, the green and blue Kritters finally did appear as enemies in Smash Run in Super
Smash Bros. for 3DS.
In this game, the green ones will try to bite your character repeatedly while the blue ones
swipe at you with their claws.
And both versions gained a new attack where they tried to run into you while spinning
their arms around, sometimes even achieving liftoff.
There’s just something about the simple design of the Kritters that make them so beloved.
They can quite literally be adapted to any situation they’re in whether it’s a pirate
theme or a sporting event.
Fans have hoped for their return along with the rest of the Kremlings in a new Donkey
Kong Country game for years now, especially since they were replaced with completely new
enemies in the past two games.
But seriously, just showing up as background cameos or in sports games isn’t enough.
While we can’t say if it’ll ever happen, their original appearances will never be forgotten.
They just work as an enemy.
Yes, they can be beaten rather easily, but it doesn’t take much for one to catch you
off guard and take you out.
And that, my friends, is why you should know your enemy.
It just may save your virtual life.