The final designs for the new Kremling characters, such as Kip, Kass, Kalypso, and Kludge, were designed internally by Nintendo. Paon were the ones who originally proposed the creation of new Kremling characters, but Nintendo's in-house character management team handled the rest.

Paon's initial proposal also includes Kopter, a Kremling enemy who first appeared in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!. While he would appear in the final game, his initial concept design is notably closer to the original DKC3 look. The concept art also shows a redesigned Krusha, another Kremling type from the first Donkey Kong Country, who in the final game was replaced by the aforementioned Kludge, as well as an unused small Kremling named キャリー (Kyarī) or "Karry" and an unused female Kremling named クレッサ (Kuressa) or "Kressa". These latter two characters would presumably evolve into Kip and Kalypso respectively in the final game.