The hate Lord Fredrik gets is definitely unjustified, he is a great villain for the game and easily one of the best in the series. I am saying this as a big fan of K.Rool but, I'd rather see our favorite kremlin return in his own installment spaced apart. Having him appear in every game would definitely turn him into a generic bowser villain. Personally I see his lack of return as him scheming behind the scenes for a big return. Definitely needed a break but now due for a return as DKCs most iconic antagonist.
It's not really a fair comparison though. K rool had multiple games and a lot of screen time and dialogue even. Fredrick got like 10 minutes of screen time in one game. I think he has as much personality as he could have.
I liked the snowmads overall but Lord Fredrik was just a K. Rool rip off in my opinion. He runs and jumps around like K. Rool. in dkc 1. He shots icedragons like K. Rool. shooted connonballs in dkc 2. He fights from the backround like K. Rool. In dkc 3.
I do wish those ice dragons were used in more advanced ways, though. They're just kinda shot at you for two directions, big letdown for such being a big deal in the intro.
It's just, the icebear is more creative and fun than Fredrik and not a K. Rool ripoff. Honestly, if the last boss had been K. Rool, I would still criticize it for having no new ideas. However, I would have liked it for being a compilation and best of all 3 K. Rool fights from DKC 1 to 3. However Fredrik having all of K. Rools combined abilities doesn't make any sense. Icebear for last boss ❤️
It's actually insane how this list doesn't show much nostalgia or bias and instead actually rates the bosses based on how good they are mechanically. That's not a common sight on the internet.
Well, I agree for the nostalgia part, but not for the bias. To me, this list IS litteraly following the most common sight on the internet, which is hating old stuff to make look you avoid nostalgia. Ranking the 6 DKCTF in the top 12 isn't objective at all. Your comment nearly sounds pretty ironic, to be honest.
@@waxy1885 you seem to be in denial and think "I grew up with the old ones, the new ones must be bad!!!!' like maybe the one with 6 in the top 12 is just.. good? but no, clearly you MUST be right. youre the biased one buddy.
@@hunbi1875 That comment is exactly the toxic stuff I'm talking about. I've never grown with any DKC games nor said that none of DKCTF bosses don't deserve to be top 10 nor said that my top 10 is only old DKC, and here you're saying I'm biased because of nostalgia. This is a perfect representation of what I said, hating old stuff just to prove to yourself you're avoiding nostalgia. Should I have to elaborate my opinion, explaining why some bosses from old DKC are good in my opinion and why the 6 DKCTF bosses in the top 12 isn't objective for me or do you still think I'm too biased based only on your assumptions ?
We must have watched different videos, because clearly there was an extreme negative bias. Describing Jungle Beat as "phoned in" is pretty ridiculous considering how many unique ideas it has. Being bias goes both ways, positive and negative.
The reason I REALLY enjoyed all of the Tropical Freeze bosses, is that they all have their unique themes, fitting the characters, and the themes are actually bangers. I know nowadays that’s trivial, but I still really appreciate it
I like to imagine that K. Roolenstein’s quotes and cliché dialogue is a sign of the loneliness and insanity the K.rool is suffering from. He has nothing but lifeless robots to keep him company. And even though he is able to command the kremlings with Kaos, he cannot directly communicate with them in person due to the events of DKC2. So perhaps K.rool used TV to keep him company, thus the quotes.
This is probably nostalgia, but I liked most of DKCR and it's bosses. I wouldn't call them great, but they're at least fun to me. I'd really like to see a rom hack that makes them better without them being pointlessly difficult. Like for example, making tiki tong take advantage of the fakeout with a harder to dodge attack triggered by falling for it
I had an idea for a Tiki Tong rework where there are multiple fights against him throughout the game: one with just a head, one with hands, and one with hands and a full body. Idk, I just think it'd be a cool way to spice up the boss, and make his plan more menacing, not just getting hands, but a massive god-like body he can use to unleash his full power on the world. I honestly probably shouldn't be putting as much thought into this as I am, I'm just a huge DKCR fan.
Porky the Eevee Minch I mean hell, as generic as his design is, there's a clear reference that ties in to the theme that goes completely overlooked, HIS HEAD IS A BONGO DRUM! Why isn't this explored on more in the fight?!
@@willipphittebane5741 something I wish they did for the bosses was when they possessed the animals they turned them into a half hybrid of the regular animal and half hybrid of a tiki like with mugly he turns into a ancient like creature that’s made out of wood I think that just would have made the bosses more memorable imo
I like Armydillo as a boss because of the atmosphere of his arena. There's thunder, the music is very intense (compared to the chill music of the first level). I remember being so scared by it as a kid, feeling the pressure "can I really beat this boss?". It nailed First Impressions for me
Great list man. Kaptain K. Rool is my favourite one but Fredrick was great as well. The way you never stop and it’s always moving elevates it over all the other K Rool fights that have you waiting around for a while. Also Tropical Freeze bosses are phenomenal, I remember there being some criticism that they were too long but it’s pretty fair. Great lost can’t wait for more from you.
I never liked that every boss fight in Tropical Freeze takes nine hits, and every boss fight in Tropical Freeze has those nine hits split equally into three phases. And despite there being such a rigid "phase" structure for every boss, Retro Studios didn't use this as a clear opportunity to include checkpoints in the boss fights. Even if you passed 2 phases and are down to the last hit on the boss, you have to start all the way from the very beginning if you die at the end.
K-leb maybe thats why I didn't like the bosses in TF as much as returns, nostalgia aside. I don't like bosses that overstay their welcome, especially when your forced to wait a specific amount of time before you can attack.
Even if only a few see it that way, I think the tikis are really cool. I really like both their design and the idea behind them. They also had this ominous choir music that I like a lot too. That's why I think it's a shame that some people hate them so much. Of all the villains, I liked them best.
I think they'd be so much better if the bosses focused more on them specifically, rather than a random boss with a small musical theme. That being said, I like that they take a different direction from the invasion theme of other games, focusing more on the island itself which works really well imo. At the very least, it's a touch more original than using the same villains for the fifth time and reusing said villains as a base.
@@lukebytes5366 what they should have done was when they possessed them they turn them into a ancient creature version of themselves like mugly turns into a wooden mythical mugly when he gets possessed
love trop freeze bosses just cause of their personalities. each one knew that they were better than DK and were happy to prove it. none of them felt cookie cutter and all made you hate them, from Pompy and baboom thinking you were just a joke, to fugu and skowl just give that old man get off our lawn sort of vibe. while bash master and Fedrick showed no respect to those who didn't respect them. that and the snowmads did the one thing that the kremlings nor the mad tikis didn't do because apparently they were after bigger fish. They not only took over Dk island they un-ceremonially punted dk and crew straight off it, and all the worlds you go through are places that they've already conquered. K-rool may be a classic name stay like bowser, but one can't ignore the personality of some of these one off end game Vilnians. For they only have that one game to impress the gamer and if they can't do that then the game could fail because of it.
@@jackallen6601 Remember the game is called Tropical Freeze, meaning the developers wanted to make Ice enemies. The Kremlin's won't work in this game because they're reptiles and reptiles don't work well in the Cold.
Your description of Pompy kind of sums up the whole of DKC Tropical Freeze. Retro studios did a fantastic job making a game full of charm and that was consistently good. Some of the earlier games perhaps had greater highs but none of them were that consistent. There was always a few levels that didn't stick well. Some you forgot and some you really wanted to forget but I don't think Tropical Freeze had levels like that. At worst it had levels you forgot about. I too was also initially disappointed that there was no Kremlings but the Snowmads are fun. Should we really be upset or opposed to developers trying new things? If the Nintendo was keen on always making Bowser the final boss we would have never got Wario. In terms of generic enemies Gombas and Koopas barely appear in new Mario games.
A level that I want to forget from Tropical Freeze: Deep Keep. It's such a high difficulty spike the first time, it's really obnoxious on hard mode and it doesn't really do anything special to stand out among the water levels of the game. Also, the music used on the beach at the beginning is my favorite track in the game alongside the water version of the theme, but unlike Amiss Abyss, it doesn't get an entire level to show off, it's only at the very beginning of this level. Instead, most of the level just has a painfully generic remix of aquatic ambiance, a theme that I've never liked much anyway.
My boy Fredrik has done it, I loved the tropical freeze game, and boy he is good for what essentially is the same k.rool concept but to a walrus’s body The seal and the bear still my favorites tho
A fun extra thing about Thugly - when he's stumbling backward after he slams himself into the wall, that's actually part of his attack - he won't fall over and become vulnerable until he's close enough to fall on top of you. Also, I really hope Tropical Freeze gets a Switch re-release if it hasn't already - I missed it on the Wii U, and it looks really fun.
DKCR literally was my childhood, and I hold it in high regard with true masterpiece games due entirely to nostalgia. With that being said, I hated Colonel Cluck when I first played the game and still do today. Even kindergarten age me felt how tedious the fight was, and how out of place the tiki factory was based on the intro cutscene. Also, funny story: I spent several hours on my first attempt of the scurvy crab crew just because my brother and I didn't think to shake next to the first crab for all that time. ...I was a dumb kid.
Huh I know there’s lots of people who loved the Colonel Pluck boss (Me included) but it seems they are just in other comment threads than this video which is disappointing.
I dislike the returning villain trope as much as the next guy, but Bowser is so iconic you can’t just replace him. I agree with that sentiment in franchises like Zelda and Metroid, but Mario without Bowser just wouldn’t hit the same
I think Lord Frederick deserved more recognition than he has, he brings together the best of the 3 k rools and has a great theme, being challenging and cool to face and defeat
It’s really great that a list like this is out there. I appreciate the boldness of not having Kaptain as Number one. The citation of some pretty obscure trivia such as Greenbeard’s name shows that homework was done on this list. My own personal favorite is of course Kaptain, because of the ending, buildup, and generously giving out DK Barrels. Least favorite is probably just one of the shameless recolors from Country 1.
I've only played a few DK games but Tropical Freeze has the best bosses....sadly we only had 6 of them to fight against (originally 7 different ones according to the concept art). Each boss is well designed and creative, but also difficult. I think my favorite of Tropical Freeze is Bashmaster. In DKC Returns I really enjoyed the Mole Train and Colonel Pluck, although I felt like the bosses in that game aside from Thugly felt underdeveloped or like they weren't taking full advantage of their designs and concepts (unlike Tropical Freeze which nailed each boss perfectly in those standards)
@@joeltehguy I believe it was a Narwhal. Honestly, I did like the consistency of the Tropical Freeze bosses - mostly animals found in polar regions, with a few outliers for variety. I'd enjoy seeing that done again.
My thing with the "Is Krow a chick?" question is that, baby birds are often referred to as "chicks" having nothing to do with whether they're male or female, so in my mind the question "Is Krow a chick?" is more about if he's still a baby. An overgrown baby to be sure, but his model looks more akin to the Mini-Neckys of DKC1 and DKC2 than it does the model of the adult Neckys which are full grown. And since at least in my head, he _is_ a chick-- a baby bird, the eggs he's throwing at the players might be his siblings.
@@BlusterTheBenevolent Both are equally terrible and attempting to frame one as "worse" than the other is fucking weird. If they're his unborn siblings, that would implicitly make them unborn children since there's no such thing as an "unborn adult". Unless you're trying to make some kind of a point with that comment, what does it have to do with my original comment? Are you attempting to imply that Krow being female "makes it worse" using lazy misogynist humor to "pwn" FeMaLEs because you're a follower who stopped emotionally maturing when you hit 14? Because I don't get what the point of your glib comment is supposed to be, so all I can do is making wild leaps of assumption with the same "logic" present in your comment. 🤷🏻
What a fun watch! I had thought about doing my own ranking of DKC bosses many years ago but opted instead for a complete ranking of “All 247 Donkey Kong Country series levels, obsessively ranked” posted on GameFAQs. Would you ever consider such a daunting and time consuming task yourself in the future? Looking forward to more of you stuff!
I can see why most people would not like Lord Fredrik, and I am a fan of King K Rool myself. HOWEVER, it is good to explore other enemies that DK might have had. There is no way that DK only has one group of enemies.
I appreciate this list a lot. Your opinions matter a lot too, and I am glad I got to watch the entire thing. Consider you subscribed, dude. Though, you did forget Kroctpous from the GBA version of Donkey Kong Country 3, unless you don't count it.
I agree with everything you said about Fredrik. While K. Rool is possibly my favorite character in gaming, I love the different approach that Tropical Freeze took and I think Fredrik is super cool and underrated.
I can't believe this was the first DK boss ranking video and it's somehow to this day still the best one i've seen, great job, I do think Colonel Pluck is too low (imo) but appart from that great vid.
You forgot two. In Donkey Kong Land 3, the fight with Bleak is completely different. In a level of DK64, you go into a giant mechanical fish and "fight" it's heart in a sort of enemy rush. On another note, I think it would have been cool in DKCR how after you 100% everything, once you get to the secret bonus level with all the floating fruit, that you fight King K. Rool being controlled by one final Tiki.
This is a great video! Love seeing smaller creators putting a lot of effort into making a good video. It just proves that you don't need a large budget or anything, just passion and hard work.
I feel like they definitely could’ve done more creative things with Fredrick. He could’ve given himself dragon wings, used dragon claws to move and manipulate the platforms, etc.
Never played Returns, but I love the idea of the villain actually USING the bananas he stole. Generic/underwhelming final boss aside, seeing the tiki king melt down bananas into hands was equal parts hilarious and intimidating.
Look, I love the DKC SNES trilogy to death, but I really enjoyed DKCR Tropical Freeze. Yes, I was disappointed that they didn't use the Kremlings (again), but that's not a reason to hate Tropical Freeze. It was a lot of fun, and way better than DKCR 1; I even 100% it and those last bonus levels are really hard.
No, no, you don't understand. The reason Diddy and Dixie can't beat Klubba is because there are no random TNT barrels appearing out of thin air. He'd be toast if that were happening. Also I like to imagine that Klubba was fully aware of what was going to happen if he kept letting them into the Lost World so he decided to get outta dodge before the island blew, which is why the last Klubba's Kiosk is on DK Island in the K. Rool's Keep map. Incidentally I hardline hate the Swanky minigame in DKC3 GBC. Horrible, that. I really dislike how Baron K. Roolenstein comes off as not even trying. He just wanders back and forth and sometimes presses a button. Wow, the #2 segment is SUPER CRACKLY. What happened here?
Thanks for your feedback. This video essay was only my second video after a very poor quality first, so I was still learning. The editing during #5 is pretty awful too. I've been working on improving in videos afterwards. I didn't really think about the game mechanic of random TNT on Klubba/Kudgel, but that's not something that's intended narratively. I still think it would be nice to make a boss a character with dialogue by combining Kudgel/Klubba. Yes, Baron aimlessly patrolling does come across as really stupid, especially in the Knautilus. I guess we can write it off as him being insane in that game.
I will say this for queen b. In the gba version, she summons minions to become invincible. If you aren't quick enough to dodge the minions (especially with their ridiculous flight pattern), you could be stuck for a while
I love K. Rool as much as the next guy, but yeah I 100% agree. Frederik is the superior designed boss...This isn't a knock against K. Rool, but he DESERVES a boss fight that's just as challenging. I thought I'd hate this list, but I ended up loving it. Thank you very much!
I would've put Kaptain K. Rool at Number 1. Lord Fredrik is a great boss but his hitbox is a little BS in my opinion. He also spends a little too much time in the background for my liking while K. Rool fights you directly. That being said, it is close. Both are absolutely fantastic final bosses. BTW I like Fredrik. I never hated him and thought he was a legit antagonist. It'd be cool to see him and the Snowmads return alongside K. Rool and the Kremlings in a new DKC. They could both be the villains.
Donkey Kong country return is easily the best DK game, the level design, bosses and the music make it somehow better than the original country games. The tikis, are fine and the bosses that posses are really fun fights. I particularly like the mole fight as well as thugley.
Tropical Freeze is so great, that it doesn’t even need K.Rool to be the big bad. Now that is PROOF that new doesn’t mean bad, just make it good! Lord Fredrick is a great boss, with a great design, and a fun personality! I don’t even want his to return unless they do something unique with him.
I would rank really gnawty higher than the unfair or sucking bosses. He should be in the middle, althouth he is dissapointing, he is straightup normal and he isn't annoying.
I thankfully didn't know about K Rool's credits fakeout when I played DKC later in my life for the first time. It actually got me and made me hate him on such a personal level because the only other boss to fake me out like that was a Monster from Monster Hunter 1 that I struggled with way to much to beat my first time as a child.
This is amazing! And i like how your least favorite boss is the first boss of the entire series, but your favorite boss is the last boss of the entire series. But you forgot a boss, which is the Kroctopus. It is a boss in DKC3 GBA. Im not actually concerned that you forgot about him, because the boss is pretty boring. Not gonna lie. Check replies for info. 👇
Phases: 3 Hits to die: 9 Color: Green, but gets more red everytime you hit him. How to kill him: His arm will be aiming at you. You just wait until the bomb comes. Stand near the bomb and once his arms aims at you, you might wanna move out of the way. The reason being is because once his arms hit the bomb, it will explode. Rinse and repeat. The boss reminds me of Squirt and Barbos. Because it is a water boss. In the first phase, his arm will go in places. When a bomb drops, his arms will go to where you are, then back to position. It might be hard for beginners to stand near the bombs then leave. But it doesn't look too hard. I clearly don't appreciate the fact that the second phase is the same as the first. But only 2 things change, the first thing is because he brings in 2 arms instead of 1. And the second thing is you have to lure him quicker. Because the bombs have a time limit. If you don't do it on time, the bomb explodes and you have to wait for another one to drop. If there is any questions, ask me.
As much as I want to get mad at you for placing colonel pluck so low, I cant, the fight is pretty simple but the positives are the mech design, simple but cool, and the soundtrack, which is arguably the best soundtrack in dkcr
Hi. First up: Great Video! You rated all the Bosses fair and square. I wanted to tell you that I, as a dedicated King K. Rool Fan, was indeed a little bummed out by the Fact that K. Rool and the Kremlings wouldn't have any appearances in the Games Retro Studio had made. But these are great Games nonetheless and I advise every DK Fan to give them a Chance. I also participated in the various Super Smash Bros. Character Polls to help get our favorite bad Croc-King into the Game. Soooo happy he made it in^^ You can believe me. If I had to choose three favorite Bosses besides the K.Rool Boss Fights on SNES they would be: 1.Lord Fredrik (called "König Qual" in my Homeland, which is Germany) 2.Bashmaster ("Haulukas der Unkaputtbare") 3.Mad Jack ("Mad Jack") You don't mind if I watch some of your other Stuff, do you? XD Greetings from Germany and have a nice day!
Your argument about the health bar in the Jungle Beat bosses isn’t great. First of all you only get as much health as the amount of bananas/beats (depending on the version) you bring in there, and your goal isn’t just to win. The crest system makes players strive for optimal performance otherwise they won’t have enough health when they beat the boss to be rewarded with the crests they need, or if they already have all of the crests it can fulfill the inherent role of encouraging better play through a score system that’s actually engaging enough to justify it’s own existence. (Also I’m saying this as someone who played Jungle Beat for the first time last year and was pleasantly surprised that it’s actually great despite how so many of the DK fans that became fans in the 90s always whine about it). DKC is such a great series but damn the fanbase is so annoying sometimes
ikr I grew up with jungle beat but wrote it off at some point as weird and gimmicky and probably not that good but when I came back to it I learned that its my second favorite dkc game right behind dkc 2
"Why doesn't the tiki just cut out the middle man?" Two things. 1. The tiki doesn't have legs, and we can assume that legs are needed to pilot the mech. 2. Chickens are actually pretty smart animals. Who knows, maybe even smarter then the tiki itself. "But later on in the fight the main blue baboon summons them back" Well, they can technically be defeated in any order, but ok.
A really good and fair video all around, I really enjoy it! From experience from playing the 5 DKC games, it was refreshing to see all those bosses. Funny enough, I even forgot the chicken throwing bombs in return. If I would give a general score for each game, I would say DKC1 was quite underwhelming, DKC2 was a big step up from DKC1 with overall great bosses (I mean, they even made a bee kind of interesting, that's something) , DKC3 had wacky but fun bosses, DKC return was quite forgetful and DKC tropical freeze is just amazing. I really loved all the games, but I have to admit the bosses were never the main attraction for me since I was going for 100% and already mastered the controls early on. I prefer the levels, and damn does DKC levels are good.
To be honest, I wouldn’t mind if Lord Fredrick became the main villain of the franchise. Of course I would love K. Rool to return but if Lord Fredrick became the most consistent villain than that would actually be kind of cool to see. I feel like the K. Rool series might be over. How can he come back after gaining such a reputation with the Kremlings unless he completely overtook another species entirely.
I do like the idea of k rool being in charge of another species I always thought it would be cool he he made himself an army of robots like the wind up robo Kremling from Dk64 Of course I would perfer the Kremling back as a whole but I wouldn't but upset if he was in charge of a completely new army
@@k-leb4671 EXACTLY Dude! Bashmaster is just more memorable and fun,Lord Fredrik is literally just King K. Rool with a walrus skin(besides minor differences).
If we are just going off raw character design, then Skowl takes it home as the one who would fit best thematically as a final boss to replace Fredrik. I just liked Fredrik's fight, his design I believe is intentionally simplistic to match K. Rool's, because it's trying to pay tribute to him when they're not allowed to use him because of Tanabe. The one thing I am sure of is people would've said the Fredrik boss was amazing if it was exactly the same but had it be K. Rool instead. With their body types, it's not very hard to picture. I doubt any of the snowmads would ever get main villain status if they came back. Considering that, Bashmaster might have a tiny chance of coming back since he's the fan favorite, but I don't expect to see these guys again unfortunately.
Great list and you can tell you out a lot of effort into it For me last place would be every single boss from dkc 1 not named king k rool And hot take: tiki tong is extremely underrated, I'm talking top 5 material
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! I do think Tiki Tong is a bit overhated and tried to be fair to him, I know a lot of people would've just dumped him at the bottom.
I appreciate their effort on tweaking the boss fights in the GBA versions of DKC1 to DKC3 but revisiting it today, I realize they did not do a good job on it, like Kroctopus and Kerozone design and mechanic looked so out of place.
I’d put Fredrik lower, even as a boss fight the whole background hit not really counting as a hit was confusing back in the bay with his overdramatized hit. If he became enraged and simply swatted the enemy away to engage you in a fight it’d be more clear. I’d say the main thing he shares with Baron is not the background element, but wonky hitboxes. Jumping on him and missing the small specific area brought me back to the BS of the keg hitting the helicopter pack but “not really”. As for his personality…he’s K. Rool.
The other knock against frederik is something i dont think he alluded to much, he did bring it up once at least in the dkc1 k.rool fight, which is the music, music is also very important to me in any level n a little moreso in boss fights, n i dont think frederiks boss fight music was good, mediocre at best, compare that to the sea lion fight song n what i think should have been the final boss aka the polar bear, both of those theme songs were really awesome. I guess i might of enjoyed Fredrick more if he was the 5th boss n not the final boss lol. Either way, id prolly have dkc2 k rool as number 1 boss fight not frederik. Overall his list was good tho.
@@FriendofGod78 If there's anything I can agree on about Fredrik being mediocre, it's his theme. As far as final boss themes go, it's pretty forgettable and definitely way worse than K. Rool's many memorable tunes.
@@VillainousWarlord I dearly enjoy how extremely hard Fredrik’s battle theme goes, and is a step up from Pompy’s and Bashmaster’s in terms of intensity. It’s no Galacta Knight, but it’s serviceable enough at the minimum to me. But, of course, K.Rool’s killer boss themes reign supreme.
