Donkey Kong (SSBM)

Donkey Kong in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Donkey Kong
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl
Availability	Starter
Tier	D (15)

“

An ape with overwhelming girth and power. (Melee's Instruction Manual)

”

Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング, Donkī Kongu) is a default character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He returns from the original Super Smash Bros., but with faster moves and agility, as well as an improved recovery.

He is currently 15th on the tier list in the D tier. Donkey Kong, true to being a heavyweight, is tough to KO, which is also aided by his fast falling speed. Donkey Kong is also very powerful in his attacks, and he has excellent range to boot. He is also perhaps surprisingly fast for a heavyweight, and his jumping prowess is also surprisingly good. Donkey Kong also had plenty of options available for him to combo others, aided by his high air speed. However, Donkey Kong himself is easy to combo due to his large frame, and his recovery gives little vertical distance and has no options for extending it; this also makes him extremely vulnerable to meteor smashes and spikes.

Attributes

File:Donkeykong.jpg

Donkey Kong is the 2nd heaviest character in the game, as well as a large target. His attacks are very strong, but many of them also have long startup times. Donkey Kong is faster than one would expect. He has slightly above average dash speed, very fast air speed, fast falling speed, and a high initial jump. On the downside, he has a small shield which invites shield stabbing. Donkey Kong has very high range, but he lacks projectiles and a sufficient defense against them. Donkey Kong's up special, Spinning Kong, serves as his recovery move. It covers great horizontal distance, but poor vertical distance. This leaves Donkey Kong vulnerable to meteor smashes and spikes. Donkey Kong has a great dashdance. When it comes to comboing, Donkey Kong can combo certain characters to high damage percentages with his grab, cradle, up throw, up aerial juggle combo. He also has good combo finishing moves such as his charged giant punch, back aerial, and forward aerial. On the downside, Donkey Kong's very heavy weight, large size, fast falling speed, and very long hitstun leave him extremely vulnerable to combos and chaingrabs.

Moveset

Normal

• Neutral attack- A jab then an uppercut. 4%, then 6% damage.
• Dash attack- Kicks in front to do 11%.
• Forward tilt- Slaps in front of him. Spaces opponents out. 10% damage.
• Down tilt- Sweeps with his hand. 7%. Very fast and annoying to foes.
• Up tilt- A fast upwards sweep. 9-11% damage.

Smash attacks

• Forward smash- Claps in front of him for big knockback. Somewhat fast. 20% uncharged, 29% fully charged.
• Up smash- Claps above him, good knockback. Somewhat slow, not to mention this will not hit a grounded foe at all. 18% uncharged, 24% fully charged.
• Down smash- Brings his hands high and slams them down. 14-16% uncharged, 19-22% fully charged.

Other attacks

• Floor attack- Gets up and punches on both sides. 6% damage.
• Ledge attack- Launches his back to the floor with huge range, for a ledge attack. Does 8% damage.
• 100% ledge attack- Gets up and slaps anyone in front of him. 10% damage.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial- Rotates his body, good for close situations. 10-12% damage.
• Forward aerial- Similar to Mario's, brings his hands together and brings them down. This can meteor smash at his arms as opposed to his hands, which yields good horizontal knockback. 16%.
• Back aerial- Fast kick behind him, good edgeguarder. 9-13% damage.
• Up aerial- Headbutts upward, does 14% damage. Combos into another up aerial.
• Down aerial- Thrusts his foot down. 13-16% damage. Also a meteor smash.

Grabs & throws

• Pummel- Karate chops the foe. 2-3% damage, pretty fast.
• Forward throw- Picks the opponent up. If up and A are pressed, tosses foe upward and does 7%, and can chain Fox, Falco and Captain Falcon. If down and A are pressed, throws the opponent like a bowling ball, 6% damage. If the directional button is pushed in the direction behind and A is pressed, tosses opponent behind him for 8%. If the direction button is pushed in the direction in front of DK and A is pressed, launches foe in front of him for 8% damage.
• Back throw- Tosses foe behind him. 11% damage.
• Down throw- Violently shoves the enemy to the ground, does 7% damage. Can chaingrab.
• Up throw- Throws foe above him with one hand. 9% damage. Chains Fox, Falco and Captain Falcon.

Special moves

Donkey Kong's special moves

Neutral special	Giant Punch
Side special	—	Headbutt
Up special	Spinning Kong
Down special	Hand Slap

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups

Avg.

Changes from Smash 64 to Melee

In terms of buffs, Donkey Kong now has much faster air speed (went from the slowest in Smash 64 to among the faster air speeds in Melee). His attacks are generally faster. His new up aerial can now combo into a Giant Punch. Giant Punch charges faster and has less ending lag. His new side special move, Headbutt, can bury opponents. Spinning Kong now has a trapping effect. It also goes a little more distance and no longer has set knockback when it first comes out (now can KO). It also has less ending lag. Hand Slap has a little more power added to it and has a little more range. It also has less start-up. Neutral combo now has a wider hitbox.

In terms of nerfs, his forward aerial and down aerial have much slower start-up and only meteor smash at the bottom (The latter's hitbox length was shortened, but has more range and power, however). His attacks are generally weaker (forward smash, etc). Giant Punch has less reach, damage, and knockback (now deals 30% instead of 36%). His new up aerial has less reach. His new down smash and back aerial's hitbox length has been slightly shortened. Hand Slap has more ending lag as opposed to just none in Smash 64. His grab range was reduced (went from the longest non-tether grab in Smash 64 to below average in Melee). His falling speed was also increased

In terms of cosmetics, DK's hair color was darkened. He still has his voice clips from the previous game, though with better quality. The voice clips when he taunts and is KO'd in SSB are switched in Melee. When he taunts, he makes the grunt noise heard in SSB whenever he gets KO'd; when he dies, he makes a burping sound heard in SSB whenever he taunted. His other costumes has different ties to them (black has blue; red has a slightly darker blue than the black costume; blue has purple; and green, which is no longer just a team battle costume, has a red tie that is very similiar to the original costume, but is a little darker). In addition, his other costumes no longer change his skin color (this is the only game in the series to do this).

In single-player

Donkey Kong appears in Stage 2 of Melee's Adventure Mode, Kongo Jungle in two parts. In the first part, the player battles two tiny Donkey Kongs on the Kongo Jungle stage and after they are beaten, the player will battle a giant Donkey Kong on the Jungle Japes stage.

Donkey Kong is featured in the following event matches:

• Event 2: Lord of the Jungle: As a giant DK, the player battles a tiny DK on the Kongo Jungle stage.
• Event 10: All-Star Match 1: DK is the second opponent the player must fight in this series of staged battles. Their character battles him on the Jungle Japes stage, and their character has 2 stock while DK has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat him and the other four characters with the overall time and life the player has: Mario, Yoshi, Peach, and Bowser.
• Event 13: Yoshi's Egg: As Yoshi, the player must protect a Yoshi Egg from Fox, Pikachu, and Donkey Kong on the Rainbow Cruise stage for 55 seconds. If the egg breaks, the event ends.
• Event 25: Gargantuans: A scenario designed in homage to old, camp monster movies like Godzilla and King Kong: On the Fourside stage with unlimited time, the player plays as a giant-sized Bowser (symbolically representing "Godzilla") with 1 stock against a giant-sized Donkey Kong (symbolically representing "King Kong") with two stock. Two other characters on the match are a tiny Mario and a tiny Peach, who will be KO'd within seconds of the battle between the two main characters.

Trophy descriptions

In addition to the normal trophy about Donkey Kong as a character, there are two trophies about him as a fighter, unlocked by completing the Adventure and All-Star Modes respectively with Donkey Kong on any difficulty:

Donkey Kong (Classic)

While he now prefers the laid-back jungle lifestyle to construction site mischief, DK is often forced back into action by the Kremling Krew. The great ape is quite fast despite his burly physique, and he keeps his strength up with a steady diet of his favorite food: bananas. His one extravagance (and only piece of clothing) is a monogrammed necktie.

Donkey Kong (Adventure)

Donkey Kong is a huge target in a fight, so he hates crowds. When he's in the fray, his Giant Punch deals serious damage to multiple opponents. The big ape's Headbutt hits so hard that it temporarily buries opponent's in the ground. DK is a lot faster than he looks, and he's lethal in the hands of a master. (B: Giant Punch, Smash B: Headbutt)

Donkey Kong (All-Star)

Being the strongest simian around, DK has the upper hand once he grabs an opponent. He can even lift his foe up and make him or her an unwilling traveling companion; if DK grabs you, shake your Control Stick as fast as you can to break his grip. His Spinning Kong covers more lateral distance than vertical, so use it quickly to recover. (Up & B: Spinning Kong, Down & B: Hand Slap)

• 

  Classic

• 

  Adventure

• 

  All-Star

Costumes

Donkey Kong's changeable clothing in SSBM