King Hippo
| |
| Great Chief of the South Island | |
| King Hippo | |
| Real Name | King Hippo |
| Species | Human |
| Affiliation | WVBA |
| Eye color | Black |
| Age | Unknown |
| Origin | Hippo Island |
| Voiced by | Scott McFadyen |
| Debut | Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! |
King Hippo is one of the most well-known boxing opponents from the NES Punch-Out!!.
Background[edit]
King Hippo was apparently the ruler of Hippo Island, a tropical island located somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean. He was a gluttonous man and laughed at others often. He was one of the most powerful fighters of the World Video Boxing Association and could knock out Little Mac with several punches. In the NES Punch-Out!!, he was ranked second place in the WVBA's Major Circuit.
His weak point was part of his stomach which was covered with a bandage. He had it guarded at all times. The only way King Hippo would drop his guard would be if Little Mac punched him while his mouth was open in taunting Little Mac. Doing so caused King Hippo's shorts to drop down, and while he was busy trying to hike his shorts back up his stomach was vulnerable to attack. After being knocked out once, he would remain down resulting in an instant victory for Little Mac.
He reappeared in the Wii Punch-Out!, where he fought and could be defeated in the same manner. However, it now took longer to whittle down his health, although he would still fall and stay down after being knocked down once. The accompanying slideshows gave an insight on life on Hippo Island, where he was shown to spend all day gorging on a mound of food and then spending his nights sleeping on a hammock. Unlike in the previous game, he did not seem capable of speech and simply spoke in guttural noises, seemingly demanding food all the time. In this game he was the Minor Circuit Champion.
King Hippo returned in Title Defense Mode, where he was the fourth challenger. In his cutscene, it was shown that to prepare for this match, he decided to protect his bruised stomach. He looked throughout a city for something to use a shield, but most pans and such he found were too small until he settled on duct taping a manhole cover to his stomach. Thus, during the match Little Mac would have to punch King Hippo in the mouth and then quickly punch at the manhole cover to destroy pieces of tape until it fell off, at which point King Hippo could be fought normally. However, he was also swifter than before and opened his mouth less after losing his shield.
Other Appearances[edit]
Video Games[edit]
- In the Super Smash Bros. series, King Hippo has been represented as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and as an Ace Support Trophy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. His Support effect as a Spirit was to increase a player fighter's shield durability. When fought in a Spirit battle, Hippo's spirit possessed a larger version of King K. Rool and was fought in a stamina battle.
Other Media[edit]
- King Hippo made regular appearances in the Captain N animated series, where he and the Eggplant Wizard were bumbling villains in the service of Mother Brain as part of the League of Darkness. He had blue skin in this version.
Trivia[edit]
- His shorts are apparently XXX sized.
- He is the only opponent in the NES game without a palette swap character.
- The "Opponent Down" fanfare plays after normally KO'ing him in the NES game, but because the Wii version cuts to a scene after KO'ing him, it is harder to achieve. The tune will instead play while King Hippo is dazed after knocking off his crown.