Like previous Animal Crossing games, K.K. Slider appears in My Animal Crossing as a travelling musician who will give out various airchecks of his music. He can be found on Saturday night at 8 outside the Town Hall, where various animals will be listening to him. Players can request a song or just get a random song depending on what mood they are in. Like before, only one aircheck can be received per Saturday.
K.K. Slider also has a day job, and mentions that he DJ's at a club in a "far-off town". If Dr. Shrunk is befriended, he will mention Club LOL from New Leaf, which is the club K.K. works at. Sometimes, K.K. Slider can be found in the Roost or at various celebrations.
In the official guide for Super Smash Bros. Melee, his name is "Arlo". As this was published prior to the English release of Animal Crossing, it is likely this was a placeholder or beta name.
In Animal Crossing, he says his name is Totakeke, but prefers the nickname K.K. Slider. He hasn't mentioned his formal moniker in subsequent English releases, however.
He is named after Animal Crossing sound designer, Kazumi Totaka. His Japanese name is taken from the fact that, in Japan, last names are written first, so it would be Totaka Kazumi. That can be shortened to "Totaka K.", which sounds like "Totakeke".
K.K. Song was also composed by Totaka and appears in various Nintendo titles, including Mario Paint, Yoshi's Story, and Luigi's Mansion.
His songs only use the sounds "Queh", "Quay", "O", "Ah", "Me", "Na", "Now", "Le", and "Moo". In some songs, he will howl, whistle, click, and hum.
He is on the cover of Animal Forest, Animal Crossing: City Folk, Animal Crossing: Wild World, and Animal Crossing: New Leaf.
The only song with actual lyrics is K.K. Bossa, which was called K.K.'s Rhythm in the Animal Crossing movie.
K.K. Slider plays either an acoustic or a country guitar.
Because K.K. Slider wants his music to be free (and therefore does not charge the player for a copy of his music), Tom Nook does not charge a single Bell for his songs. However, in Animal Crossing, Tom Nook will pay 5 bells for them, though they cannot be bought back. in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, songs can be bought from the Nooklings' shop or the catalog for 3,200 Bells each.
He is the first character to appear in an Animal Crossing game, being the first character to appear in Dōbutsu no Mori and Animal Crossing, asking the player some questions after the title screen.
When K.K. plays a song, his right paw never actually reaches the guitar strings.