Krunch

Krunch is a Kremling featured in both Diddy Kong Racing and Diddy Kong Racing DS as a playable character. He wears a purple leather vest, which is adorned with a skull-and-crossbones design in Diddy Kong Racing, though said design is omitted in Diddy Kong Racing DS.

In 2002, when Microsoft finalized their acquisition of Rare Ltd., the rights of many franchises and characters were passed on to Microsoft. Nintendo sought to keep all characters directly linked to the Donkey Kong franchise, with the exception of Diddy Kong Racing's cast. Due to the nature of Krunch being a Kremling, which is a Nintendo-owned fictional species, Krunch was the only Diddy Kong Racing cast member, besides Diddy Kong, whose rights were kept with Nintendo.

Krunch has not made any other appearances within his home series, the Diddy Kong Racing series. However, the Kritters in Donkey Kong 64 and the playable Kritter in both iterations of Diddy Kong Pilot wear a similar jacket. Krunch was featured in various ideas for Climax's rejected video game idea pitch Diddy Kong Racing Adventure; one idea was that Krunch would have a special move of using his jaw to chase down other racers, and "Krunch's den" would have been a location.

Character creation
In a now defunct Facebook page for Rare employees, Kevin Bayliss revealed that Krunch was not originally designed to be a Kremling. Krunch's creation predates the decision of making Diddy Kong Racing a Donkey Kong spinoff, as originally, Timber was slated to be the main character. Krunch was designed to fulfill the role of a "bad guy" playable character, and was meant to be a crocodile. When Diddy Kong was made the main character, Krunch was slightly altered to be a Kremling.

Baybliss and footage of the early pre-release build 1.964 of Diddy Kong Racing shown in the German Nintendo 64 promotional VHS tape "Wieviel 3-D hältst du aus?" reveal that Krunch was named "Krash" earlier in development. As this name was already taken by another Kremling in Donkey Kong Country, it is possible that played a factor in his renaming to "Krunch," or it may have been a Krash character, albeit using a plane instead of a Mine Cart.

Diddy Kong Racing
In the backstory for Diddy Kong Racing, provided in the instruction manual, Krunch was one of two "Kremling spies" sent by King K. Rool to investigate why Diddy Kong and his friends are at Timber's Island, with fears they could be plotting against the Kremlings. According to the game's backstory, the Kremling spies watched Diddy Kong "tearing off at high speed through the jungle" from behind a boulder, before Krunch suggests to the other Kremling that they should follow him. The Kremling declines the suggestion and "bolted into the undergrowth", to which Krunch decided to follow Diddy Kong alone. Instead of antagonizing them, Krunch ends up teaming up alongside Diddy and friends, helping the racers on their journey to expel Wizpig from Timber's Island. The instruction manual states that, despite offering to help Diddy Kong and his friends, the cast of the game does not trust him.

As a playable character, Krunch is a heavyweight with the lowest acceleration and handling of the racers, but has a very high top speed. He is the third-fastest racer in the game. Krunch's top speed without bananas is 60 mph. Krunch's theme instrument on the character selection screen is an electric guitar.

Diddy Kong Racing DS
In the remake, Diddy Kong Racing DS, Krunch reprises his role from the original version, and received only minor changes. Krunch is featured in intro cutscene, based on the backstory within the original Diddy Kong Racing's manual. In it, Krunch is spying on Diddy Kong, Tiny Kong, and Dixie Kong from behind a boulder, with a fellow Kremling spy who shares Krunch's model. As the two Kremlings watch the three characters run by, Krunch informs the other Kremling that he plans to follow after the Kongs to find out what they are doing. The other Kremling flees the scene, as Krunch begins to follow the three Kongs.

As a playable character, Krunch's turning and acceleration were slightly increased, and his top speed was slightly decreased.

Mario no Bōken Land
Krunch makes a small, non-speaking cameo in the Diddy Kong Racing story segment of Mario no Bōken Land, titled "Go Go Diddy!". In it, Krunch is shown driving in his car, competing in a race, although he is in last place (12th).

4koma Gag Battle
Krunch appears throughout the 4koma Gag Battle manga adaptation of Diddy Kong Racing. He is depicted as being on the younger side, as in one scene, he is seen walking through Snowflake Mountain with his mother.

Mario Artist: Paint Studio
His Diddy Kong Racing artwork makes a cameo appearance as a stamp in Mario Artist: Paint Studio.

Diddy Kong Racing

 * Diddy Kong Racing instruction manual: "(Low acceleration, heavy weight, difficult handling, high top speed) Seeing Diddy Kong rush off so suddenly makes the Kremlings very suspicious, so Krunch goes bounding after him to make sure that there aren't any anti-Kremling plots in the works. Diddy Kong, Timber and company don't exactly trust him, but Krunch insists he's only there to lend a hand..."
 * Diddy Kong Racing Official Nintendo Player's Guide: "The only reason Krunch has joined the resistance is to make sure that Diddy, Timber and the rest aren't hatching some anti-Kremling plot. The other racers realize that Krunch hasn't joined out of the goodness of his heart, but as long as he doesn't sabotage their efforts, they'll be satisfied. Who knows? He may surprise them yet."
 * Nintendo Power Issue 103: "Krunch may be a Kremling, but he doesn't like the thought of the Wizpig upstaging Captain K. Rool. So he's doing his best to free the island from racing tyranny. Krunch, as the heaviest character, has slower acceleration and poor handling, but his top speed is unsurpassed. He's a good choice for hovercraft courses."
 * Character stats
 * Weight group: Heavy
 * Acceleration: 1/5
 * Turning: 1/5
 * Top Speed: 4/5
 * Vehicle Color: Orange

Diddy Kong Racing DS

 * Character stats
 * Speed: 4/5
 * Acceleration: 2/5
 * Handling: 2/5

Quotes

 * "Hi, it's Krunch." - Diddy Kong Racing
 * "Hey - where you think he go?" - Diddy Kong Racing, instruction booklet
 * "What if he go fetch others? Fight Kremlings?" - Diddy Kong Racing, instruction booklet
 * "I go after him. You go tell boss - see what he think of that, huh?" - Diddy Kong Racing, instruction booklet
 * "Where are thossse Kongsss going? I will follow!" - Diddy Kong Racing DS

Trivia

 * The Kritter character in both versions of the cancelled Diddy Kong Pilot bears an almost identical appearance to Krunch. In addition, in the 2001 Diddy Kong Pilot, the internal name for the Kritter when highlighted on the selection screen is "Krash", which was also Krunch's early name during Diddy Kong Racing's development, while the internal name for the battle mode HUD portrait is Krunch. The 2003 version refers to an identical character as simply "Kritter."
 * In Diddy Kong Racing, Krunch has four fingers on each hand, but was later given an extra finger for each hand, totaling to five, in Diddy Kong Racing DS.