Donkey Kong (SSB)

This article is about Donkey Kong's appearance in Super Smash Bros. For other uses, see Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong
Universe	Donkey Kong
Appears in	SSB SSBM SSBB
Availability	Starter
Tier	Low (9)

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

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Attacks deal lots of damage and have good knockback
• Extremely powerful Giant Punch when fully charged and he can combo into it.
• Long horizontal recovery
• Longest non-tether grabbing horizontal range in the game and highest grab range.
• Has two spikes
• Good reach, which allows for good combos despite slow attack speed
• Terrific throw combos, especially when there are walls.
• One of the strongest throws in the game, in terms of knockback
• Heaviest character in the game, paired with a very good recovery means he can often live long stocks.
• Has an infinite throw called the Infinite throw trap

Cons

• Huge target
• Easily comboed/juggled
• Slow movement and attacks
• Poor and unvaried approach
• Low vertical recovery
• Kills require setup
• No projectile
• Poor shield cover

Standard Moves

File:Dk ssb.PNG

Weak attacks

• A: Jab, 2-4%
• A-A Combo: Punch, 2-4%

Strong attacks

• Forward Tilt: Extended Punch, 5-13%
• Up Tilt: Upward Knock, 5-13%
• Down Tilt: Low Slap, 3-8%

Smash attacks

• Forward Smash: Big Slap, 8-21%
• Up Smash: Upward Clap, 8-21%
• Down Smash: Spinning Splits, 8-19%

Aerial attacks

• Neutral Air: Spin, 5-15%
• Forward Air: Spinning Spike, 6-16%
• Back Air: Backwards kick, 4-15%
• Up Air: Upward Knock, 5-12%
• Down Air: Spike, 4-13%

Throws

• Forward throw: Trap Throw, 6-8%

Donkey Kong will hold his opponent on his back, dealing 8%. He can then move around before throwing them forward for another 8%.

• Back throw: Backward throw, 14-18%

Other

• Dash attack: Konga Kick, 5-12%

Taunt

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

Special Moves

• Neutral B: Giant Punch
• Up B: Spinning Kong
• Down B: Hand Slap

In Single-player

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

Costume Gallery

File:Alt-dk.jpg

Donkey Kong's changeable palette swaps in SSB

Strategies

Infinite Throw Trap

DK has the ability to use forward throw as a method to constantly stack damage to most characters. In order to do this, DK must use the Trap Throw, but not throw. If the opponent wiggles out, they will likely wiggle out into DK's grab range whereupon they can be grabbed again. This throw trap can be broken if the opponent can shake towards DK and his grab. Yoshi can break out of this throw trap with ease.

Another infinite trap is to use Down B in the lower left part of Mushroom Kingdom to continuosly damage the target. Unfortunately, this is not allowed in tournaments due to the fact that the stage is banned in tournaments.

Ledge Dropping

Due to DK's laggy aerials, DK has very little comboing potential with his aerials except d-air or f-air into throw. However, if DK drops from a ledge, DK can quickly use a u-air and then land to move to do another attack. DK can also jump, use an aerial, and land on a ledge for a similar effect. As a result, on ledges, DK can juggle characters with u-air that he would otherwise never be able to combo.

Donkey Kong and Matchups

Donkey Kong is low on the tier list due to his weakness to combos and limited approach. He is too heavy and characters have a very easy time 0-death'ing him. Donkey Kong also counters jigglypuff due to his gimp combo cargo hold, re-throw into a fully charged giant punch. He has a better recovery however than many others and this helps his tier placement as much as anything else.