This article is a quality article. Nicknamed "Tropical Chief", King Hippo first appeared on the 1987 Nintendo Entertainment System game Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! as the second competitor in the Major Circuit.
King Hippo also gained fame on the NBC Saturday morning cartoon Captain N: The Game Master, which ran 34 episodes from 1989 until 1991. In the cartoon Hippo starred as one of Mother Brain's top henchmen. He appears with blue skin, and was often paired in a comedic duo with Kid Icarus enemy Eggplant Wizard. He was voiced by Gary Chalk. King Hippo also appeared in the comic books based on the Captain N series, as a Hasbro Action Figure, as an Applause action figure, and in a Topps trading card series. He is often seen with a bandage on his stomach throughout all his apprances.
Appearances
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
In Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!. King Hippo is truly the most different character of the Video Boxing Association, also noting that he is the only character that does not have a palette swap; however, it should be noted that his body type resembles Bear Hugger's from the arcade and SNES versions of Super Punch-Out!!. His defense is impenetrable until he opens his mouth. When his mouth is hit, Hippo reveals his one weakness: his too-large trunks start falling down, and he has to keep pulling them up whilst trying to fend off Little Mac's body blows. Once Little Mac floors King Hippo, he does not get up. This is physically because he is obese, but was probably done as an excuse to make defeating him possible, because he has so much HP and so little vulnerability that it would be impossible to fight 3 rounds with him without running out of time.
Punch-Out!! (2009)
In the Wii version, King Hippo's only dialogue consists of apish bellows, provided by Scott McFadyen. He also wears his crown when fighting. A similarity is that his shorts still fall down. He uses powerful jabs and a form of double hook, which must be ducked. This punch is similar to the Canadian lumberjack's, except that Hippo's is weaker. His punches do massive damage, but when defeated, he does not get up. It is shown that he lives on the island of Hippo Island, somewhere in the South Pacific. Although not stated, it seems to imply his title of "King" and the fact he wears a crown suggests he is the head of state of Hippo Island. King Hippo spends his days eating enormous quantities of food and then sleeps in a hammock. This is shown in the intro montage when King Hippo is shown eating as the sun changes position in the sky, then snoozing in his hammock when the sun has set. When punched, pineapples fly off of his face. When KOed, he falls out of the ring, making him one of the few characters that have a special KO animation every time they fall. You only need to knock him down once to defeat him, since he's too big to get back up. His underwear now has multiple small pictures of the Starman from the Mario series of games. Before challenging him for the Minor Circuit title, selecting King Hippo will make him speak with a foghorn like noise while his crown flies in mid-air off his head. It is also worth noting that he wears the title on his shoulder. When King Hippo sees Mac before the fight, he looks at him in surprise but laughs possibly because he doesn't see Mac as much of a challenge. Moves:
Duck 'n Raise Punch:
Hippo will duck his head into the shelter of his arms to block any jabs and charge, raise his hand and growl, and punch. You can dodge this or puch him when he's raising his hand growling to be stunned long enough for 10 punches.
Raise Punch: Hippo will raise one of his hands up to his breast and punch. You can easily dodge this or block and jab for a star. Dodge to be able to stun for 6 punches
Hippo Hug:
Hippo will growl and do an attack similar to a Bear Hug. Dodge to do 10 punches. However, if you hook him right before he attacks, you can stun him for 4 for punches. If his crown is off and you do the same thing, it'll be 2 more instead of 4.
Star Oppurtunities:
- Block Hippo's Raise Punch and hook
- hook him when Hippo's shorts fall.
Instant KO trick:
If you counter his double pound with a jab to the stomach, he'll lose his crown, but also his temper (his health goes up to about more than half too). If you manage to intercept that move again he will go down. You cannot intercept this move in title defense. There is another KO trick. When he does his overhead smash, dodge and star punch him (one star) when his mouth opens (Star Punch him when he gargles).
Title Defense mode
King Hippo returns as a challenger in Title Defense in World B. He sports a bigger crown (probably to stop it from being knocked off like in Contender Mode) and a manhole cover over his stomach to protect himself from body blows (his Title Defense bio shows him wandering around New York City, looking for different items to protect his belly, including a frying pan and a strainer). The only way to punch off his manhole cover is to punch away all the pieces of tape that keep the manhole cover from falling off. When his manhole cover is knocked off, it falls onto his foot, causing a slightly comical scene where it falls on his foot and he hops on his other foot before getting enraged. After the cover is knocked off, King Hippo opens his mouth less often; his double hook gains a second hammer punch-like attack that can be easily dodged. Hitting him while his mouth is closed results in a quick jab that can't be blocked or countered. However, any mouth-closed overhead smashes or delayed jabs can be countered with a hook, which gives Mac a star.
New Moves:
Silent Duck 'n Raise:
Hippo does a Duck 'n Raise without growling. hook him while his hand is raised for a star.
Growl 'n Lunge:
Hippo will put his hand in a uppercut position, growl, and do a slipping punch. jab him 2 times to stun him for 6 puches
Silent Lunge:
Hippo will do a Growl 'n Lunge without growling.
Hippo Squeeze 'n Squash:
It's basically a Hippo Hug with a double-handed smash to make sure the player knocks down.
Star Oppurtunities:
- When Hippo does his silent Duck 'n Raise Punch. hook him.
- Right before Hippo does his Hippo Squeeze 'n Squash, hook him.
Instant KO trick:
After he does his double pound, hit his face with a star punch when his mouth is open (When he does a frog like croak). Doing it too late will make him close the mouth after a second. Doing it too early will be so fast that the star punch hits him before he opens his mouth, which doesn't cause an OHKO.
Infinite:
Counter the Twin-Smash combo, and as soon as he jumps back to the middle of the mat, use the Star Punch to hit him (while scaring him), and he'll do the Twin-Smash Combo, again. Repeat the process to make an infinite.
Exhibition challenges
Challenger:
- Win the fight... without getting tired.
- KO a CROWNLESS King Hippo!!
- Defeat King Hippo with ZERO landed jabs!!
Title Defense:
- Knock King Hippo's Manhole Cover off in under 30 seconds!
- Win the fight and never get knocked down!
- Land a Three-Star Punch when King Hippo's pants are down...
Quotes
Punch-Out!! featuring Mr. Dream (NES):
- "Do you like my new trunks? They are size XXX Large! Ha, ha, ha!"
- "Ha, ha, ha! I am the king! Ha, ha, ha!"
- "I feel like eating after I win. Let's go to lunch! Ha, ha, ha!"
- "I have my weakness. But I won't tell you! Ha, ha, ha!"
Doc Louis Tips
- "Serve this sucker a platter of star punches. He'll never want to eat again!"
- "This sucka's defense is tough, Mac. Make him shut his wide open mouth."
- "Hey, kid. King Hippo loves to eat. Why don't we feed him a knuckle sandwich!"
- "I'll tell you one thing, son. I never want to face this sucker on a food eating contest!."
- "Hey, Mac. If you can dethrone this king, the Minor Circuit is yours."
- "Ol' Hippo's wisin' up, baby. His mouth ain't open all the time, but when it is, feed him that knuckle sandwich, baby!" (title defense)
- "Hey, Mac baby. Maybe after you win, you could take ol' Hippo out to lunch."
- "Hey, Mac baby. Show King Hippo who's the king of the ring!"
- "If this sucka's the King, I wouldn't wanna meet the Queen!"
Captain N: The Game Master
King Hippo appears in the cartoon as one of Mother Brain's men.
Punch Out (Wii):
- GRAAAA!!!!
- RAAGH!!
- GRAH? GRUH GRUH GRUH GRUH GRUH GRUH meaning: "Huh? Heh heh heh, he isn't hard to beat." (Before Contendor Match)
- GRAH!! GRAA! GRAA! GRRM! (snort) meaning:''Mine! This circuit's mine!(snort)'' (During Contender Intermission)
- GRRMM! GRAAA!!! GRRMM! meaning:''My bellly! You monster!!! What did you do?'' (During Contender Intermission)
- GRAAH! meaning:''Come on! (Before Title Defense Match)
- GRAAAW! GRAAAA!!!! meaning:''Owch!! Come here now! (After he loses his manhole)
- GRAAA!! GRRM! GRAH! meaning: ''See my manhole? It also fits perfectly. Come and take it from me!''(During Title Defense Intermission)
- GRAH! GRRM! GRRM! GRAAH! meaning:''Oops! My crown! Perfect!''(During Title Defense Intermission)
Trivia
- King Hippo loses his crown and temper when hit in the belly by Little Mac. Same thing goes to Don Flamenco, who however loses his toupee.
- After losing his crown when KO'd, he gets his crown back, when you see him in the Minor Circuit ring. The same thing happens in Title Defense, after you knock off the manhole and KO him, he will still wear the manhole after the fight in the ring.
- Although his height and weight are a mystery, he is shorter than the 6 ft 6 in Soda Popinski and is seemingly heavier than the 440 pound Bear Hugger.
- In the commercial for the Wii Version of Punch-Out!!, Little Mac said he lost his title to King Hippo in 1989.
- In Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, he is the only opponent to not have any star opportunities.
- It is actually possible to win by decision in the Title Defense fight without breaking off the tape holding the manhole up; the jabs required to expose his stomach cause minimal damage, but if the player throws as many jabs and dodges as many punches as he or she can, Mac can win by decision.
- When he is KO'd, you can hear a girl scream right when King Hippo falls, probably because the latter landed on her.
- It is possible to lay multiple jabs in a row on King Hippo by first throwing a jab, then a hook then the jabs.