| K.K. Slider • | Gallery |
“Those industry fat cats try to put a price on my music, but it wants to be free.”
― K.K. Slider, Wild World
K.K. Slider (とたけけ, Totakeke?), commonly known as K.K., or DJ K.K. is a dog who appears in all of the Animal Crossing series games to date. He works as a musician, playing songs on his guitar. In Animal Crossing, he could be found near the train station; Wild World and City Folk had him playing in The Roost café; whereas New Leaf saw him move to working in Club LOL. His birthday was revealed in Animal Crossing Plaza. Like other special characters that appear in the Animal Crossing series, he doesn't celebrate it.
K.K. Slider plays a total of 55 songs in Animal Crossing, 70 songs in Wild World, 75 in City Folk, 91 in New Leaf, and 107 in New Horizons. A full list of his songs can be found here.
He appears on all of his song covers because he owns as well as wrote and performed them.
Quick Answers
What is K.K. Slider's real name in the Animal Crossing series?
What is the significance of K.K. Slider's role as a musician in Animal Crossing?
Where can K.K. Slider be found in different versions of Animal Crossing?
What is the story behind K.K. Slider's transition from a guitarist to DJ K.K.?
When does K.K. Slider usually appear in Animal Crossing?
Appearance[]
Though K.K. Slider's breed has never been officially revealed, but he appears to be a white labrador, or possibly a jack russell terrier. He has thick, black eyebrows that are nearly shaped like semicircles. He has simple, half-closed black eyes and a shiny black nose. It is also seen that he has teeth that can be shown at times when he’s singing. He wears no clothes in nearly all his appearances. In New Leaf, however, he wears a black cap, headphones, and black glasses when performing as DJ K.K.. In Happy Home Designer, he will don a blue and white striped beatnik-style shirt, a black newsboy cap, and black glasses as his casual wear.
Personality[]
K.K. Slider is a hippie-style traveling musician, which is reflected in his mellow speech towards the player. He comes across as someone who wants to be liberated, as shown by his rebellion against putting a price on his songs. This adds to the musician stereotype of going against a particular norm. Despite that, his songs are for sale in New Leaf for 3,200 (3,600 with the Bell Boom Town Ordinance) bells when the player upgrades to T.I.Y. or T&T Emporium.
K.K. has an obvious passion for performing for others, as he offers to play for people on a weekly basis. In Wild World, he seems to know Brewster fairly well.
Role[]
In Animal Forest and Animal Crossing[]
In Animal Forest and Animal Crossing, K.K. Slider is seen sitting on the stool close to the Train Station found from 8:00 PM to 12:00 AM on Saturday. He still has the same role, to request or ask a song or for him to choose. He is also seen when the games are started and booted up. As he plays his song, the credits will roll as the camera slowly moves around the player and K.K. Each 'rain' for the seasons (cherry blossoms, rain, snow, etc) will fall in order as the song plays.
- If the player requests a song that is not one of his (or is misspelled), he will play a random song, then tell the player that the song they requested "wasn't one of his".
- If the player requests one of his songs or lets him choose, he will give them a copy of it to play at their home.
K.K. has 3 "secret" songs in Animal Crossing: I Love You, Two Days Ago, and K.K. Song. When requested, he will act surprised that the player knows it. In Animal Forest e+, these songs are no longer secret and the new secret songs are My Place, Forest Life, and To the Edge.
In Wild World[]
In Wild World, K.K. now plays his music at The Roost on Saturday evenings, from 8:00 PM to 12:00 AM. The player may request a song, otherwise K.K. will sing a randomly selected song. After the performance, the player receives a free copy of the song that was played. The copy of the song can then be deposited and used in any stereo in the player's house. He is also involved in the Golden Axe Trading Event, where he trades the player his picture when given the country guitar (which is received from Wendell).
In City Folk[]
“Hey, man. Who hipped you to that tune, June? Stale Cupcakes is one of my secret numbers.”
― K.K. Slider, when requested to play Stale Cupcakes, City Folk
K.K. has a similar role in City Folk as he does in previous games. Now, he gives encores of his music. However, the encores are not added to the dock of the player. As in Wild World, he is seen in The Roost on Saturday nights, from 8:00 PM. to midnight. If the player decides to request a song, they are required to type it in. The player can also choose a song by mood or let him pick a random song. The game credits play while he plays a song.
In New Leaf[]
K.K. Slider as D.J. K.K. part-time in New Leaf
In New Leaf, K.K. appears on stage on Saturday nights after 8:00 pm inside Club LOL, owned by Dr. Shrunk. From Sunday to Friday, he takes on the guise of DJ K.K., performing a variety of different songs based on themes. On the first performance as K.K. Slider, he will randomly pick one of the new songs introduced in New Leaf. Afterwards, the player is allowed to request a song by specific title or mood. Players will get the first song he plays, but not the rest, unless they do not have enough space in their pockets, in which case the player will receive a song as soon as they have made space in their pockets and requested another song. And on the player's birthday or the Saturday before their birthday, if they request K.K. Birthday, K.K. Slider will play it for them. If the player requests K.K. Birthday any other time, he will not play it for them. The credits play as he plays a song.
His songs now come with unique album covers. These album covers now make it possible to hang copies of his songs on the walls.
K.K. Slider's Pic is obtainable. If the player listens to a K.K. show for 20 weeks consecutively, the picture is received in the mail.
In amiibo Festival[]
K.K Slider is a playable character in amiibo Festival, available when the K.K Slider amiibo is scanned on the Wii U. Sometimes when the player playing as K.K Slider lands on an event square in the Amiibo Festival Board Game mode, a random event specifically related to K.K Slider may appear.
K.K. has 6 unlockable costumes for the game, unlocked through leveling up the K.K. Slider amiibo:
- Carrying guitar case (Level 1)
- DJ KK (Level 2)
- Dark blue and white-striped sweatshirt (Level 3)
- Blue shirt with black pants (Level 4)
- Gray formalwear (Level 5)
- Conductor suit (Level 6)
In Pocket Camp[]
K.K. Slider briefly appears when the player first enters the game, introducing himself and telling the player a little bit about the game. He is obtainable as a special character in the player's Campsite, by purchasing K.K. Slider's chair for leaf tickets. The player can do the same thing with other special characters, like Kicks and Tom Nook, for example.
In Gekijōban Dōbutsu no Mori[]
K.K. Slider as he appears in Gekijōban Dōbutsu no Mori.
K.K. Slider has a minor role in Gekijōban Dōbutsu no Mori. Margie requests that he should play K.K. Bossa. He was voiced by Shun Oguri.
In New Horizons[]
In New Horizons, K.K. briefly shows up at the beginning of the game to talk to the player about setting out on their own and that the game will operate under real-life time.
After the player has established an upgraded Resident Services building, Tom Nook gives the player a goal of improving the island in order to convince K.K. to play a concert there. Once the required 3 star island rating is met, K.K. will arrive the next day to play a concert. After that, he will usually show up every Saturday and play a concert in the evening from 6:00 PM to 12:00 AM, but sometimes he will turn up on Sundays, Mondays, and the occasional Tuesday. The player can request a song for him to play. Like in previous games, the player will receive an aircheck copy of the first song he plays, and the credits play during requested songs. If there is any event that takes place in the plaza on a Saturday, K.K. Slider will show up on Sunday instead, or Monday if two separate events are held on both weekends back-to-back such as the Bug-Off and Fireworks Show. On extremely rare occasions, he arrives on Tuesdays if there has been a strange event period in which three events have occurred consecutively.
In the 2.0 update, 12 new songs were added, which K.K. calls "new jams." If the player lets K.K. choose, he will most likely play a new jam if he hasn't played that song in the past already. During K.K. performances in 2.0, all villagers attending the performance will get out a light stick and jam. The player can hold a light stick during the performance and they can raise it, and if they do, all other villagers will raise their light sticks as well. At the end of the performance, everyone claps for K.K., and then the villagers put away their light sticks and take a seat.
K.K. Slider will also show up on resident birthdays.
Cameo[]
In Super Smash Bros. Melee[]
K.K. Slider makes a cameo in Super Smash Bros. Melee appearing as a trophy as well as being one of the special characters and appearing in a screenshot in the stages.
Trophy Information[]
"A wandering musician whose daily life is a bit of a mystery. He plays in front of the train station every Saturday night starting at 8:00 PM. He has a large repertoire and plays old and new hits from all over the world. His music is so ingrained in the villagers that it's impossible to imagine them living without it."
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl[]
K.K. Slider makes again a cameo in Super Smash Bros. Brawl appearing as a trophy as well as being one of the special characters and appearing in a screenshot in the stages. On the Stage "Smashville", K.K. Slider has a performance every Saturday from 8:00 PM until midnight. Normally the other background characters on Smashville pay attention and react to the fight, but when K.K. is performing, their attention is focused solely on him.
The K.K. Slider trophy in Brawl
Trophy Information[]
"A wandering musician. He plays concerts every Saturday night at the Roost in the basement of the museum. All he carries is a single acoustic guitar, but he can play music from all genres. You can request a single tune per concert, and afterward he will give you a recording of the song to take home. In Wild World, his playlist included 70 songs."
In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U[]
K.K. Slider once again appears on the stage "Smashville" performing his Saturday concerts from 8:00 PM until midnight, but he also performs on the stage "Town and City" on Saturdays at the same times.
In Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe[]
K.K., along with other characters, appears in Mario Kart 8 in the Animal Crossing race course of the Crossing Cup, included with the Animal Crossing × Mario Kart 8 downloadable content package. He sits in different predetermined spots on the course depending on the season; in addition, he performs a song when the player drives close to him, each corresponding with a specific mood:
- In the spring season he will be across from the museum, and will perform Bubblegum K.K. ("good" mood);
- In the summer season he will be poised atop a cliff adjacent to the beach, and will perform Go K.K. Rider ("grumpy" mood);
- In the autumn season he will be sitting right near the starting lines, and will perform K.K. Bossa ("lazy" mood);
- In the winter season he will be sitting on the steps to Brewster's The Roost, and will perform Stale Cupcakes ("a little sad" mood).
He also appears in the Switch version of the game, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, this time included in the base game instead of with paid DLC.
In the Splatoon 2 - Live Concert at Nintendo Live 2019 - Nintendo Switch[]
At the beginning of the show, K.K Slider appeared and played a brief moment of Splattack! from Splatoon and then talked to the audience:
"Hey there, cool cats and kittens. The name's K.K. Slider."
"Welcome to Nintendo Live 2019."
"I hear there's a hot set coming up soon. It's a real scorcher."
"Live jams make for a real keen scene. Nothing beats a whole crowd getting down together."
"Oh, they're telling me I've gotta fill a little more time..."
"Want me to jam for you?"
"Cool. Settle back and dig this groove."
He then played the main theme of New Horizons, (Known as Welcome Horizons) and then faded out while singing Splattack! instead of the instrumental in the intro.[1]
Monopoly[]
K.K Slider also appears in the 2010 Nintendo Collector's Edition of Monopoly with Tom Nook and Rosie in the light blue grids. He is worth 100 US dollars on the game board, the same as that of Rosie, and is the lower amounts of the Animal Crossing characters that appear in the game.
At Tokyo Nintendo Live 2022[]
On October 9, 2022, K.K. appeared as his alter ego, DJ KK. At the very start, Isabelle made a short opening speech to introduce DJ KK to the stage. After that, DJ KK performed for half the video, and the Splatoon band Deep Cut performed for the other half. In the Animal Crossing half, several villagers came on and danced, such as Marshal, Poppy, Chrissy, Francine, Raymond, and Katt, and lots of special characters as well, such as Isabelle, Lottie, Blathers, Tom Nook, Timmy and Tommy, Niko, Gulliver, Wardell, Daisy Mae, C.J., Flick, and Kapp'n. Throughout the concert, the members of the audience waved their colorful glowsticks, just like how in New Horizons, the player can wave their own glowstick during K.K.'s in-universe performances. DJ KK sang a remix of Welcome Horizons at the start of the show, and then again at the end.[2]
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Trivia[]
- K.K. is based on an Animal Crossing sound designer, Kazumi Totaka. In Japanese culture, the family name is said before the personal name; his name therefore is said Totaka Kazumi in Japanese. That can be shortened to "Totaka K.", which sounds like "Totakeke".
- K.K. is also based on {{w|Nipper}}, a dog from Bristol, England, who served as the model for an 1898 painting by Francis Barraud titled His Master's Voice, later associated with RCA Victor, HMV, Electrola and JVC.
- One of K.K. Slider's songs is actually a song called Totaka's Song, made by the Animal Crossing sound designer. The song appears in a lot of games he has worked on. In the Animal Crossing games, Totaka's song is referred to as K.K. Song.
- In Animal Crossing, K.K. says his name is "Totakeke", but prefers to just be known as K.K. Slider. However, he has not mentioned this in subsequent English releases.
- K.K. is the first character to interact with the player in the Animal Crossing series. He appears in a spotlighted room and gives a monologue in the original Animal Forest and Animal Crossing directly after exiting the title screen for the first time. K.K. will welcome the player to the world of Animal Crossing. He will talk about how cool it is to be living on your own, but mentions that it can be lonely. He tells the player they can "invite more friends" (create up to 3 more characters) to move in to the town so they won't be as lonely. After that, the player will be greeted by a villager of their town to start up the game.
- This moment is alluded to in New Horizons, during which K.K. first appears to the player in a dream after their first day on the island.
- In Animal Crossing, K.K. will appear in a spotlighted room if a memory card has not been inserted or if the game's clock needs to be reset.
- One of K.K.'s quotes from Wild World - "Those industry fat cats try to put a price on my music, but it wants to be free." - gained notoriety on various news websites, as it was believed to promote illegal file sharing. In response, Nintendo of America's vice president of corporate affairs at the time, Perrin Kaplan, stated that K.K.'s quote does not reflect the views of the company, only that he is "a free spirit who cannot be bought and sold for any amount of money." That is, K.K. is not a sellout.
- In City Folk, some cranky villagers believe that his day job is Phineas, handing out prizes at the City.*
- In City Folk, K.K.'s model is designed in such a way that it does not appear properly when implemented (by hacking) in other areas.
- For example, if (through hacking), his model were set in the place of a character that walks upright, one of his legs would be permanently bent, and one of his arms would be disproportionately long.
- In early installments, K.K.'s arms are too short in-game for his right paw to actually reach the strings of his guitar. In New Leaf, his model's arms are long enough to reach the guitar strings, but they still do not; his posture does not allow for it, as his arm reaches over the end of the guitar. New Horizons corrects the issue by adjusting his playing posture, so his arm reaches over the middle of his guitar instead.
- This is because his model is designed assuming K.K. will never appear anywhere else other than in The Roost on Saturday nights. His model is designed to appear correctly when he is on the stool and holding his guitar, but not when walking upright.
- When talking to a player, he will change his rhymes and phrases depending on the gender (for example: to a boy, "My ax is hot to play, so cop a seat, Pete." to a girl, " My axe is hot to play, so cop a chair, Claire."). Pete and Claire are the names of two of the male and female protagonists from Harvest Moon, a life simulation video game series that is sometimes compared to Animal Crossing.
- In New Horizons, two stickers can be seen on the back of K.K.'s guitar that feature drawings of Brewster and Dr. Shrunk, likely referencing The Roost and Club LOL, the venues K.K. performed at in previous games. These stickers can only be seen when listening to K.K. live as the camera rotates around him; however, they can be seen more clearly on the textures for K.K.'s guitar.
- In New Horizons, on the northern hemisphere, K.K. Slider will never show up on his own birthday unless he shows up for the birthday of a resident of the island; i.e., the actual human character, not any of the animal villagers:
- If his birthday falls on a Saturday, it is the fourth Saturday of August and as such, it overlaps with the Bug-Off. Due to the Fireworks Show taking place every Sunday in August, he only shows up on Monday.
- If his birthday falls on a Sunday, he also only shows up on Monday due to the Bug-Off and Fireworks Show.
- If his birthday falls on a Monday, the previous Saturday is the 21st, which is only the third Saturday of August. As such, there is no Bug-Off which would cause K.K.'s arrival to be postponed, and he already shows up on Saturday.
- Out of all the animals in the game, he is the only animal to not wear clothing.
- In New Leaf he has the voice of a lazy villager.
- In New Horizons he has the voice of a smug villager.
- He appears alongside Rosie and Tom Nook in the 2010 Nintendo Collector's Edition of Monopoly.
- According to the K.K. Slider amiibo page, near the end of the info passage, it reveals that Isabelle has a crush on him, and joking by giving a 'Nobody could blame her, right?' type at the end of the passage.
- K.K Slider shares his birthday with Nana. They both have a birthday on August 23rd.
- In a character popularity poll for Animal Crossing held by Nintendo in Japan, K.K. Slider ranked 1st with 3,112 votes.
In other languages[]
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References[]
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=79&v=tj5PV-cz804
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ETszC6w-mg
- ↑ Species navigation icons from Nookipedia by Sunmarsh, CC BY-SA 3.0
- ↑ Species navigation icons from Nookipedia by Sunmarsh, CC BY-SA 3.0
- ↑ Species navigation icons from Nookipedia by Sunmarsh, CC BY-SA 3.0
- ↑ Species navigation icons from Nookipedia by Sunmarsh, CC BY-SA 3.0
- ↑ Species navigation icons from Nookipedia by Sunmarsh, CC BY-SA 3.0
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