Overview

The Kremlings or Kremling Krew are the main enemies of the Donkey Kong games. They are a legion of anthropomorphic crocodiles led by King K. Rool and exist simply to get in Donkey Kong and friends' way.

The Kremlings first appeared in Donkey Kong Country in 1994, by Rareware. There, they were following the orders of K. Rool to steal Donkey Kong's famed banana hoard. The drone archetypes that appeared in this game would set a template for future Kremling designs to follow.

The Kremlings returned in 1995 with Donkey Kong Land and again in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. In that game, following the self-proclaimed Kaptain K. Rool's fashion sense, virtually every Kremling was dressed in pirate fatigues, some even going as far as amputating arms or legs. This trend continued into the game's pseudo-sequel Donkey Kong Land 2. It should also be noted that the game took place on Crocodile Isle, the Kremling's home island. The island was subsequently destroyed at the end of both games.

In Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, K. Rool was believed to have been replaced with the robot KAOS. However, it was later found that K. Rool was the controller of KAOS, and under the persona of "Baron K. Roolenstein". In accordance with this, the Kremling designs in this game were moderately different from the designs in the earlier games. This style was kept for Donkey Kong Land III a year later.

In Diddy Kong Racing for the Nintendo 64, a sole Kremling by the name of Krunch was available as a playable character. As the story goes, his mission was to investigate Diddy Kong's visit to Timber's Island and find out if the monkey was hatching some sort of anti-Kremling plot. Krunch was set to return in Diddy Kong Pilot for the Game Boy Advance, however, the game was refit into Banjo Pilot after Rare was sold to Microsoft in 2002.

The Kremlings returned in Donkey Kong 64 in 1999. There, once again under the command of King K. Rool, the Kremlings returned to a look more accurate to the original Donkey Kong Country than DKC2 or 3. Also in this game, there were a few unnamed Kremlings. This includes a skeletal Kremling, a wind-up robotic Kremling, a Kremling inside a mushroom costume, a ghostly demon Kremling featured inside Donkey Kong's minecart stage, and a Kremling under a sheet with holes cut out for the eyes.

The classic Kremling designs returned in the port of Donkey Kong Country for Game Boy Color, and after that, they disappeared for a while, only warranting a brief cameo in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

In 2003, Donkey Kong Country was once again ported, this time to the Game Boy Advance. This brought about the return of the Kremlings, and a year later, they appeared in the port of Donkey Kong Country 2 for the GBA, as well as the sports game Mario Power Tennis and the music game Donkey Konga. In 2005, the Kremlings returned as the main foes in DK King of Swing for Game Boy Advance, and made appearances in Mario Superstar Baseball, Donkey Konga 2 and Super Mario Strikers for the GameCube.

Strangely, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, the apparent successor to the Donkey Kong series on the GameCube, did not feature any Kremlings whatsoever.

The Kremlings were also a frequent part of the Donkey Kong Country TV series, once again appearing as the main villains. Strangely, they were never referred to as "Kremlings" in the entire span of the program.

Content Sourced from Wikipedia.org