Donkey Kong (SSB)

Donkey Kong in Super Smash Bros.
Universe	Donkey Kong
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Starter
Tier	C (7)

Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング, Donkey Kong), written as DK, is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. He is known as a slow (in terms of attacks) yet powerful character, with his trademark move being the Giant Punch, which, when fully charged, deals 36% damage.

Donkey Kong is 7th on the tier list for his powerful moves and his infamous grab release, however he is somewhat slow, and is the largest and heaviest character in Super Smash Bros., making him viable for many combos and target practice. He is ranked significantly lower on the Japanese version because he is so easy to combo.

Attributes

File:Donkeykongending.jpg

Donkey Kong's ending picture in Super Smash Bros.

Donkey Kong is the heaviest and largest character in Super Smash Bros. This means he gets hit quite easily, and he also has a poor shield cover, making him vulnerable to shield break combos such as Yoshi's Z-canceled DJC neutral aerial performed repeatedly. However, he can take many hits and high damage before being KO'd. Like most heavyweights, Donkey Kong has attacks that deal lots of damage and have strong knockback. He also has two spikes (forward and down aerials), and he has some extremely powerful finishers, including his forward smash and Giant Punch when fully charged or close to fully charged. However, his attacks are generally slow and laggy, and most of his KOs still require setup.

Contrary to popular belief, Donkey Kong has slightly above-average dash speed (although he does have a relatively slow air speed). Donkey Kong has a great grab and throw game due to having the longest non-tether grabbing horizontal range, terrific throw combos (especially when there are walls), and the infamous infinite throw trap that allows him to rack up damage and easily and effectively. He also has a KO throw in his back throw. Donkey Kong has good reach, which allows for decent combos despite slow attack speed, but he lacks a projectile and a reliable way to deal with them, making his approach poor and unvaried.

For recovery, Donkey Kong's up special move, Spinning Kong, travels great horizontal distance, but has poor vertical gain, with no options to extend it. This makes him very vulnerable to meteor smashes. It should be noted that Donkey Kong is extremely vulnerable to combos due to being very large, very heavy, and falling somewhat quickly.

In high level play, Donkey Kong is known for his incredible Spinning Kong and back throw gimps. Donkey Kong is a hard counter to Jigglypuff, as he can grab, forward throw, cargo release, and re-grab into a Giant Punch for a low percentage KO. Donkey Kong however has problems with projectiles, and the top characters in the game (including Pikachu, Kirby, Fox, and Captain Falcon) combo him too heavily for him to rise on the tier list. His poor mobility also gives him a disadvantage against fast characters like Fox and Captain Falcon. Donkey Kong is usually considered to be among the best low tier characters in low tier tournaments due to his Giant Punch combos and the fact that there are not many projectile users in the low tiers.

In doubles

Donkey Kong is considered to be better for doubles than singles, mainly because he is better at KO'ing as some characters are forced to approach. His great reach also helps. Another good thing is that if he has a fast partner, they will be able to easily save him from large combos. He is one of the few characters with relatively good recovery. Donkey Kong is also excellent at edgeguarding and gimping, especially on Dream Land.

Moveset

Donkey Kong's aerial attacks

Donkey Kong in the SSB instruction booklet.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		Double Punch	2-4%	A jab followed by an uppercut. Comes out fast, but short range.
			2-4%
Forward tilt		Extended Punch	12%	A somewhat slow punch forward with decent range and good knockback.
Up tilt		Upward Knock	13%	Swings his hands in an arch above him. Hitbox is the arch above him and foes standing on the ground close to him. Can chain into itself, but opponent can DI. Sets up aerial combos. KOs at around 130%. Good anti-air move if timed right. Some ending lag (highest amount of ending lag in the game of an u-tilt). Can also lead into a d-smash at lower damage percentages. In terms of start-up, it is the fastest u-tilt in the game, along with Kirby's.
Down tilt		Low Slap	8%	A quick hand swipe aimed downwards with a little start-up.
Dash attack		Konga Kick	12%	A very awkward move where DK sticks his foot out and stops. Bad range and duration, high amount of lag, and easily shielded. Will not hit foes that are floored.
Forward smash		Big Slap	19-21%	Reels his hand back and thrusts it forward. Very noticeable start-up, but good range and excellent knockback. Can be angled.
Up smash		Upward Clap	21%	Claps directly above him, with some start-up lag. Very large hitbox. Grounded enemies are occasionally affected. Best used under a platform where an opponent is standing or a well timed anti-air attack. Very powerful.
Down smash		Spinning Splits	19%	He does a 360° spin while doing a split, which comes out surprisingly fast, for a move of Donkey Kong, and hits on both sides at the same time. However, it does have some ending lag.
Neutral aerial		Spin	15%	Spins around with his arms out. Somewhat long duration, decent defensive move.
Forward aerial		Spinning Spike	12%	Does a front flip with his fists clasped together, smashing them into opponents. A powerful meteor smash if the foe is hit near the end of the animation.
Back aerial		Backward Kick	14%	Puts his feet together and thrusts them out behind him, his body moving sideways with them. Some long duration, but good range. This attack is Donkey Kong's sex kick, since it not only has long duration, but gets weaker as it stays out. Donkey Kong's nair is the only one in the game that isn't a sex kick, and him and Fox being the only characters to have a bair sex kick.
Up aerial		Aerial Upward Knock	12%	Swings his hands in an arch almost exactly like his up tilt. However, it is weaker than his up tilt, in fact barely KO'ing above 150% in most cases. Its only real use is for juggling. Also has some ending lag.
Down aerial		Donkey Stomp	13%	A simple near-instantaneous meteor smash where Donkey Kong thrusts his feet down. His feet grow slightly as he's doing so, and slightly longer hitbox than most spikes.
Grab			—
Forward throw		Carry Throw	8% (carry), 8% (throw)	Trap throw; holds his opponent on his back. He can then move around before throwing them forward. This throw is based on his ability in Donkey Kong Country to effortlessly carry barrels on his back. However, foes will eventually automatically escape from his grasp. The throw has good knockback, although it can be DI'd. Can be used to perform the infinite throw trap (covered below).
Back throw		Throw Back	18%	Turns around and tosses the opponent. Powerful in terms of both damage and knockback. Effective for both gimping and KO'ing.
Floor attack (front)			6%	Kicks while on his back, forcing his body down, then picks himself up and kicks on the other side.
Floor attack (back)			6%	Kicks while on his back, forcing his body down, then picks himself up and kicks on the other side.
Edge attack (fast)			5-6%	Hoists himself onto the stage back-first, ramming into opponents. Long range, low knockback.
Edge attack (slow)			5-6%	Climbs back onto the stage slowly, slapping opponents in front of him. Very short range, low knockback.
Neutral special		Giant Punch	14-36%	When B if pressed, he starts charging up a punch. Pressing Z stores the charge, and it can then be continued by pressing B. The longer the move is charged, the more powerful it is. When fully charged or close to fully charged, it is a very powerful KO move.
Up special		Spinning Kong		A recovery move that gains very little vertical recovery height, but gives quite a large amount of horizontal distance. Contains many hits that can do high damage, but it is very difficult to land all the hits.
Down special		Hand Slap	10% (one slap)	Delivers an earth-shaking blow to the ground, sending nearby enemies skyward. It has considerable power, consistent and repetitive damage, and a large quake hitbox. Cannot be used in midair.

Taunt

• Turns to his right, raises his arms so that his palms are facing upwards, shrugs, and makes a confused growl while shaking his head.

Cheer

"Donkey Kong!"

In Competitive play

Matchups

International versions

Super Smash Bros. (N64) Character Matchups

Avg.

Japanese version

Super Smash Bros. (N64) Character Matchups (JPN Version)

Avg.

Notable players

See also: Category:Donkey Kong professionals (SSB)

•  Annex
•  Herbert Von Karajan
•  Near
•  KeroKeroppi
•  tacos
•  The Z

In single-player

In the game's single-player mode, the player and two randomly chosen allies will fight a Giant Donkey Kong on Kongo Jungle.

Techniques

Infinite throw trap

Donkey Kong has the ability to use his forward throw as a means of nigh-inescapably racking up damage on characters. In order to do this, Donkey Kong must use the forward throw, but not any other throw. If the opponent escapes, they will likely still be within Donkey Kong's grab range whereupon they can be grabbed again. This throw trap can be broken if the opponent can shake towards Donkey Kong and his grab. Yoshi and Ness have the most difficulty escaping the throw trap due to their unique double jumps. Pikachu has the least difficulty due to it being able to escape using the invincibility frames of its up special.

Ledge dropping

Due to Donkey Kong's laggy aerials, Donkey Kong has very little combo ability with his aerials except a down aerial or forward aerial into a throw. However, if Donkey Kong drops from a ledge, he can quickly use an up aerial and then Z-cancel. Donkey Kong can also jump, use an aerial, and Z-cancel on a ledge for a similar effect. As a result, on ledges, Donkey Kong can juggle characters with up aerials whom he would otherwise be unable to combo.

Down special resets and down aerial usage

Donkey Kong can also cancel the first slap of Hand Slap by moving the control stick back after the first slap, enabling him to combo it into a virtually any move to KO the majority of the cast outside of Luigi and Jigglypuff. Donkey Kong's other main KO'ing setup outside of grab-based gimps is a Down Aerial into an Up Smash or a Down Air into a Down Smash.

Description

Trophy description

Donkey Kong and Mario started out as arch-rivals, but they've patched things up in recent years. These days DK spends his time searching the jungle for bananas instead of kidnapping beautiful maidens. In the past few years, other members of the Kong family have cashed in on DK's fame as well, including his favorite nephew, Diddy.

Works:

• Donkey Kong (NES)
• Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
• Mario Kart 64 (N64)

Instruction booklet

Mario's former enemy, this mighty ape is bestowed with tremendous power and overwhelming attacks.

Alternate costumes

Donkey Kong's changeable palette swaps in SSB

Trivia

• Donkey Kong is one of four characters, along with Kirby, Mario, and Captain Falcon, in Super Smash Bros to have a green costume not normally accessible via character select, only being available if Donkey Kong is in on the Green Team in Team Battle.
• Donkey Kong, along with Yoshi, is one of two characters in the original Super Smash Bros. to never be portrayed with head wear in-game.
• Donkey Kong is the only character without a sex kick as his neutral aerial.