#krumple

Name: Krumple

Debut: Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!

I feel like it’s been quite a while since we’ve last looked at a somewhat uncomfortable-looking Kremling for an extended period of time. Don’t you agree? Now, help me fix that. Gaze at Krumple.

Do you like what you see? Do you like the way his flesh is rippled and crumpled? I’m not sure I do! But he might, since he’s named after it. Maybe he chose that name, proud of his crumpled torso. Maybe it’s a title he was given, and he resents it. But it’s a very impressive torso! It allows him to shrug off almost all basic attacks! And I don’t doubt that it’s all thanks to his crumples, allowing his already resilient crocodile skin to be even more protective.

This image is very large. You can’t hear it, but as you can tell by his gestures and expression, Krumple is saying “Ay, what’s the big idea? Why’s this image so large?”. The image is large because that’s just how it ended up when I pasted it, but look! The size allows you to really get a feel for how lumpy this fellow is. They really went all out with Krumple’s textures. They’ve had two games of experience with rendering weird crocodiles, and it shows!

I still can’t get over these crumples, though. Being crumpled is his whole identity. Without the crumples, he’s nothing. And he was intentionally designed this way. Someone had to decide, “let’s make a Kremling whose torso looks crumpled, and let’s name him after it”.

You know what Krumple’s anatomy really reminds me of, if anything? Cats! Specifically, the primordial pouch, a quite weird feature that I’m surprised I didn’t know about until like last year. I just thought all the cats I knew happened to have the same weird skin condition. But it’s natural! The primordial pouch is an area of loose, baggy skin on a cat’s underside, thought to both help it stretch further, and to further protect the vital organs underneath. So basically, Krumple’s weird crumpled torso is indeed to provide extra protection!