Kapp'n

"A true man o' the sea be havin' strong legs and a firm core!"

- Kapp'n

Kapp'n (カッペイ, Kappei, うんてんしゅ, Untenshiyu, Chauffer) is a green turtle (kappa in the Japanese versions) that features in the as a driver of various forms of transport. He has been known to row boats, drive taxis and also drive buses. Kapp'n himself is a sailor by nature, referring frequently to his life on the sea and speaking in stereotypical pirate tones. He has also expresses a fondness for women and singing old sea shanties.

The word 'Kappa', from which Kapp'n derives, is the name for a river imp in Japanese folklore. They are mischievous in nature, and reptilian in appearance. His name could also be the sailor pronunciation of 'captain', where letters are missed out in certain words which is how sailors in the past were believed to have talked, saying things like 'yar!', 'sprat', 'garr' and will sometimes refer to the player as fish or sea creatures, such as 'scallop', 'Sea Bass' and 'urchin'. He also wears a cap on his head, which may be of some relevance to his name.

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In, he is the ferry operator who rows visitors and the player to the island (commonly known as Animal Island) through the GameBoy Advance cable. During the voyage to the island he sings a sea shanty, usually about his life on the sea and women.

In Wild World, he drives the black taxi to the town and acts as the introducing character responsible for the gender and appearance of the playable character, as well as the name of the town. This is a role he takes on from Rover. He can sometimes be seen in the The Roost drinking coffee. He will talk about his life at sea upon talking to him.

In City Folk, he first appears driving the bus to the town, while Rover talks to the playable character determining the gender, birthday and appearance of the character, as well as the name of the town. He will then appear again driving the bus to the city when going to the Bus Stop. During the journey to the city, he will talk about women, the city and modern day youngsters to male players. If the player is female, he will subtly flirt with them, calling them 'cute', 'pretty' and that a 'manly bus-driver is available'. If the player does not respond, he will begin to whistle his sea shanty.

He also appears in The Roost, as he did in, where he will talk about his life in more detail.

Kapp'n returns in, this time with a motorboat. Approaching Kapp'n with friends will allow up to four players to travel to an Island for local multiplayer gameplay. Once on the island, Kapp'n's wife Leilani, mother Grams and daughter Leila also make an appearance, running a souvenir shop and providing tours of the island which take the form of minigames.

Trivia

 * While rowing to the Island in and, Kapp'n sings one of a few random songs. A line to one of his songs is that he sings better than Mario.
 * One of his sea shanties is about cucumbers. In Japanese folklore, cucumbers were thrown into rivers for Kappa to eat with the names of children and/or families on. This would spare a family when bathing in a river. Children, and sometimes adults, are believed to be one of their favorite foods - cucumbers being their favorite. They would also help humans and not break an oath. This may relate to how friendly he is towards humans in the.
 * In the middle of his songs, Kapp'n says something to the player, one time which he claims he hates squirrels.
 * He can also ask the player if he/she has ever spent the night in a Hyrulian prison.
 * Though Kapp'n says, or rather sings, that he loves cucumbers, at the end of his songs, sometimes, he sings that zucchinis give him the spooks, "Zucchini spooks".
 * If in City Folk the player leaves the game idle long enough, Kapp'n will begin to whistle Totaka's Song, which also appears as K.K. Song.
 * While riding on the bus, in City Folk, Kapp'n is interested in celebrity gossip, and will question the player for juicy secrets, shortly before arriving at the City.