Donkey Kong (SSBM)

Donkey Kong in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Donkey Kong
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Tier	C- (16) (North America) F (17) (Europe)

Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング, Donkey Kong), shortened as DK on the victory screen and character select screen, 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.

Donkey Kong's realistic, stock animal voice grunts and sounds, have been repurposed from 64.

Donkey Kong is currently 16th out of 26 on the tier list, placing him in the C- tier. This is a moderate improvement to his previous placement in Smash 64, where he was ranked 9th out of 12. Donkey Kong, being a superheavyweight, has great endurance, powerful attacks, and long range. Donkey Kong is unusually agile for his weight class, and most of his attacks are similarly swift. His solid mobility and range facilitates very long and incredibly damaging combos, which sometimes even result in zero-to-deaths. Donkey Kong also wields a very fast out-of-shield option with Spinning Kong. This combined with his marvelous combos give Donkey Kong a devastating punish game.

Donkey Kong, however, is himself vulnerable to combos just as lethal as his own due to his large size and high falling speed, and his recovery, while covering a vast horizontal distance, fails to gain much height and offers few ways to mix up an edgeguarding opponent.

Though considered a mediocre character for most of Melee history, Donkey Kong received significant metagame developments in the 2020s, leading to a renaissance period spearheaded by Junebug, and is now seen by many as an adequate choice in competitive play.

Attributes

Donkey Kong has surprisingly high speed for a character of his power and weight class. In raw characteristics, Donkey Kong boasts a fast walking speed, above-average running speed, high air speed, and high falling speed (though unlike other fast-fallers, Donkey Kong's gravity is average as opposed to above-average, with him having the lowest gravity value amongst the fast-fallers; he shares the same fall speed as the significantly lighter Roy), aspects that lead to a short wavedash, but an average SHFFL, and long, safe dash dance.

Owing to his relatively high speed, Donkey Kong possesses an incredible combo game. On the ground, Donkey Kong's various tilts are all fast and can be used to start aerial combos, and in the air, Donkey Kong's fast, low-lag neutral, up, and back aerial attacks can allow him to continue attacking enemies with little penalty against him; adding to this, his high air speed can allow him to pursue enemies that have been popped up into the air. Arguably his most important combo tool, however, consists of his throwing game; despite a below-average grab range, Donkey Kong's various throws have low-knockback and low ending lag, making them excellent combo starting tools. His forward throw, known as the "cargo throw" or "cradle", is especially useful, due to its ability to easily combo into his practical air options. While carrying his opponent, Donkey Kong is free to move around the stage, allowing him to move to areas where he can more easily combo his opponents without interference from platforms or other hazards. He can also use this feature of the cargo throw to either perform a sacrificial KO by walking off the edge of the stage after cradling an enemy or throwing the enemy underneath the stage to stage spike them.

As expected for a character of his weight class, Donkey Kong also has a plethora of powerful attack options in addition to his faster, weaker offerings. All of his smash attacks can cover significant distances away from him, as well as packing significant power in order to KO opponents. Three of his aerials (back, down and forward) can be potent finishers to complement his aerial game, and his Giant Punch can easily be one of the most powerful attacks in the game if landed, though it does require a particularly good read or combo in order to be most effective.

Due to being a heavyweight with a high falling speed, Donkey Kong owns a below-average recovery. While these traits make Donkey Kong highly resilient to the upper blast line, Donkey Kong's survivability on all other blast lines is poor. Spinning Kong grants above average horizontal distance, but poor height, making meteor smashes and spikes extremely powerful against him. Owing to a lack of other options concerning his recovery, this also means that he has very poor recovery options compared to other characters; none of his specials other than Spinning Kong can reduce his falling speed to benefit recovery distance, and he cannot wall jump or use any other tactics in conjunction with Spinning Kong, and as such, he is simple to edgeguard.

Much like fellow heavyweight Bowser, Donkey Kong's various attributes can also make him very easy to combo. In addition to having among the largest raw hurtbox sizes in the game, Donkey Kong's high falling speed and weight make it easy for characters to chain throw him, as well as combo him in the air. Compounding this is Donkey Kong's poor defensive game; a large hurtbox (including a tie hurtbox) causes him to have a small shield that can easily make him vulnerable to shield stabbing, and his lack of a projectile can discourage him from approaching enemies that own one. Nevertheless, in the right hands, he can be a force to be reckoned with.

Changes from Super Smash Bros.

Donkey Kong has received a large mix of buffs and nerfs in his transition from Smash 64 to Melee. However, whether he was buffed or nerfed overall is debatable since the nerfs and buffs he received were both significant. While he has lost his previously abusable grab release, the generally faster falling speeds have given DK a new type of chaingrab against fast-falling opponents, particularly with his newly buffed cargo throw, and his new up and down throws. However, his reach has been reduced (though it remains among the best) and his power is lower as well, but many of his attacks are faster to execute. He is also more vulnerable to combos due to his faster falling speed and his overall endurance is much worse due to him being much lighter.

Regardless, Donkey Kong ranks better relative to the cast in Melee than he does in SSB64, now ranking 16th out of 26 characters rather than 9th out of 12. Due to the faster mechanics, however, other characters have been given buffs in varying degrees, which has resulted in Donkey Kong still struggling to make a presence in high-level tournaments.

Aesthetics

• The graphical upgrades of the Nintendo GameCube give Donkey Kong a more proportionate build. His fur is more detailed and has a more pronounced muscular physique. He now resembles his appearance in artwork for Donkey Kong 64.
• Donkey Kong's hair color on his default costume is now a darker shade of brown.
• His other costumes have different ties to them (black has blue; red has a slightly darker blue than the black costume; blue has purple; and green has a red tie that is very similar to the original costume, but is a little darker).
• The voice clips when Donkey Kong taunts and is KO'd in Smash 64 are switched in Melee. His voice clips are also retained from the previous game, though with better quality.
• Donkey Kong always faces the screen when he taunts, regardless of which direction he is currently facing.
  • Donkey Kong does not move as far into the Z axis when taunting removing his head's ability to avoid projectiles.
• Donkey Kong's green alternate costume is now available for Free-for-all, instead of being exclusive to Team Battle. The costume also uses his normal skin color, as opposed to being green like in Smash 64.
• Donkey Kong has a new helpless animation.

Attributes

• Donkey Kong walks much faster (0.8533 (25.6) → 1.2), going from the 3rd slowest out of 12 characters to the 6th fastest out of 26.
• Donkey Kong's initial dash is much slower (2 (60) → 1.6) and covers less distance.
• Donkey Kong's traction is higher (0.0567 (1.7) → 0.08), making it easier for him to punish out of shield.
• Donkey Kong's jumpsquat is shorter (6 frames → 5).
• Donkey Kong's air speed has been unchanged (1 (30) → 1). Compared with the returning veterans, however, his air speed is faster, going from the 5th slowest (JPN/US/EUR) / median (AUS) out of 12 characters to the 6th fastest out of 26.
• Donkey Kong's air acceleration is lower (0.0667 (2) → 0.04), although no longer being the slowest.
• Donkey Kong jumps significantly lower (46.1 (1383) → 37.8), although going from the 5th highest out of 12 characters to the 4th highest out of 26.
  • Donkey Kong's short hop is catastrophically lower (34.15533 (1024.66) → 13.6), improves his ability to hit opponents low on the ground with short hop aerials, as well as his ability to quickly land and continue aerial pressure, but also hinders his ability to auto-cancel his aerials.
• Donkey Kong falls significantly faster (1.867 (56) → 2.4). This improves his vertical endurance and with the introduction of the SHFFL technique, he can make strong use of the technique due to his falling speed, but also makes him considerably more vulnerable to combos and worsens his already poor vertical recovery.
  • However, Donkey Kong's fast falling speed has been unchanged (2.967 (89) → 2.96). The difference between his falling speed and fast falling speed is much lower (increase: 58.9% → 23.3%), which makes it more predictable when landing and gives him fewer options in the air.
  • Considering that Donkey Kong's vertical endurance hasn't significantly improved from Smash 64 due to his significantly lighter weight in Melee, this falling speed increase hurts him overall.
• Donkey Kong's landing animation is longer (4 frames → 5).
  • However, his hard landing animation is shorter (8 frames → 5).
• Donkey Kong is catastrophically lighter (138.095238 (0.84, JPN) / 140.963855 (0.83, NA/AUS/EUR) → 114), which drastically hinders his endurance, while still being just as vulnerable to combos as before due to his increased falling speed.
• Donkey Kong can throw heavy items (Crates, Barrels, Barrel Cannons and Party Balls) above and below him, which he could not do in Smash 64. He also walks slightly faster and gains small amounts of armor when carrying them.
• Donkey Kong's new ground release animation is 10 frames shorter compared to the rest of the cast giving him a 10 frame advantage when being grab released on the ground.
• Donkey Kong can now glide toss although his glide toss is fairly short.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Both hits of neutral attack have gained an additional hitbox; increasing their range.
  • The second hit has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 6-11 → 5-11).
  • The second hit deals more damage (4% → 6%).
  • The first hit of neutral attack has a shorter duration (frames 5-8 → 5-7).
  • The second hit has slightly higher ending lag (FAF 34 → 35).
• Forward tilt:
  • Donkey Kong has a new forward tilt: an open outward hand swat. It has less startup (frame 12 → 8) and ending lag (FAF 43 → 34) compared to the previous forward tilt.
  • Forward tilt deals less damage (13% (up)/12% (forward)/11% (down) → 11%/10%/9%) without full compensation on its base knockback (0 → 10) hindering its KO potential.
    • The move's higher base knockback combined with its lower ending lag makes it slightly less punishable on hit at lower percents.
  • Forward tilt has a shorter duration (frames 12-17 → 8-11).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has significantly reduced ending lag (FAF 60 → 40).
  • Up tilt has more startup lag with a much shorter duration (frames 4-23 → 6-11).
  • Up tilt deals less damage (13% → 11%/10%/9%) and knockback (10 (base), 130 (scaling) → 40/(105/110/115)).
    • Up tilt's higher base knockback combined with its lower ending lag makes the move much safer on hit at lower percents no longer being dangerously punishable.
  • Up tilt has less range.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt has less startup lag (frame 11 → 6).
  • Down tilt has a shorter duration (frames 11-16 → 6-9).
  • Down tilt has more ending lag (FAF 22 → 23) now having 13 frames of cooldown (as opposed to 5).
  • Down tilt deals less damage (8% → 7%) and has decreased base knockback (30 → 10).
    • When combined with its increased ending lag (and the changes to shields), this means that the move no longer gives DK frame advantage on shield or even on hit at lower percents; making it more punishable and greatly hindering its setup potential.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has less ending lag (FAF 71 → 55).
  • Dash attack now has a clean hit and a late hit with the clean hit dealing more knockback (120 (set), 100 (scaling) → 115 (base)/15).
  • Dash attack has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 3-26 → 9-12 (clean)/13-20 (late)).
  • Dash attack deals less damage (12% → 11% (clean), 9% (late).
• Forward smash:
  • Donkey Kong has a new forward smash: Donkey Kong performs a powerful clap in front of him. It has less startup (frame 27 → 22) and a shorter total duration (FAF 60 → 55) compared to the previous forward smash.
  • Forward smash no longer deals consistent damage (20% → 20%/21% (hands/arms), 19%/18% (body)).
    • This makes the sweetspot on his arms slightly stronger.
    • However, this makes the near hitboxes weaker.
  • New forward smash has less range.
  • Forward smash deals less knockback (20 (base), 100 (scaling) → 22/94 (hands/arms), 18/100 (body)).
  • Forward smash has a shorter duration (frames 27-32 → 22-23) giving it more ending lag.
  • Forward smash can no longer be angled.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has less startup lag (frame 16 → 14), ending lag (FAF 60 → 54) and DK's hands gain intangibility sooner (frame 14 → 12).
  • Up smash has less range.
  • Up smash deals less damage (21% → 18%) and has decreased knockback scaling (100 → 93) hindering its KO potential.
• Down smash:
  • Donkey Kong has a new down smash: He holds up his arms and punches downwards in a 90° angle, with a sweetspot hitbox located in his hands. It has less startup (frame 12 → 10) and ending lag (FAF 70 → 56) compared to his old down smash.
  • Down smash sends opponents at a more favorable angle (60° → 115° (hands)/98° (arms)).
  • Down smash has a much shorter duration (frames 12-31 → 10-13).
  • Down smash deals less damage (19% → 16% (hands)/14% (arms) with only a slight increase to its base knockback (30 → 35).

Aerial attacks

• Neutral, forward and down aerials all auto-cancel later (frame 30 → 39 (neutral), frame 36 → 60 (forward), frame 30 → 50 (down)) and can no longer auto-cancel in a short hop.
  • When combined with the weakening of L-canceling and the changes to shields, this considerably hinders the combo and shield pressuring potential of all of DK's aerials.
• Back and up aerials auto-cancel earlier (frame 36 → 20 (back), frame 21 → 13 (up)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial has less ending lag (FAF 60 → 39).
  • Neutral aerial has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 4-29 → 10-26).
  • Neutral aerial has more landing lag (16 frames → 20).
  • Neutral aerial deals less damage (15% → 12% (clean), 12% → 10% (late)) hindering its KO potential.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial now has an early hit and a late hit. The early hit functions identically to the previous arm hitboxes while the late hit is a meteor smash like the previous hand hitbox albeit with some changes.
  • The late hit has altered knockback compared to the previous meteor smash hitbox (0 (base), 100 (scaling) → 50/80) making it stronger overall especially at lower percents.
  • Forward aerial has significantly increased startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 8-15 → 25-26 (clean)/27-29 (late)) becomming realisticly reactable.
  • Forward aerial has a new animation which is longer than the previous one (49 frames → 59). This increases the move's total duration (FAF 50 → 60) as well as the amount of time the move cannot auto-cancel and the amount of time DK cannot grab the ledge after using the move.
    • However, the move has less ending lag overall due to its increased startup lag (now having 30 frames of cooldown instead of 34).
  • Forward aerial has double the amount of landing lag (15 frames → 30).
  • Forward aerial no longer has an initial or a late auto-cancel window. As a result, the move will not auto-cancel until its animation has finished which removes the move's ability to auto-cancel while the hitboxes are out and generally makes the move much worse upon landing when combined with its higher landing lag.
  • Forward aerial has less range.
  • The late hit's angle has been altered, now sending opponents straight down (-70° → 270°). When combined with the aforementioned changes to its landing lag as well as the weakening of L-canceling and the introduction of meteor canceling; this significantly hinders the move's utility on stage as well as its reliability off stage.
• Back aerial:
  • Donkey Kong has a new back aerial, he kicks backwards with his right foot. It has slightly reduced startup lag (frame 8 → 7), and much less ending lag (FAF 60 → 32).
  • Back aerial has a much shorter duration (frames 8-13 (clean)/14-35 (late) → 7-8/9-15).
  • Back aerial has less range especially vertically.
  • Back aerial deals less damage (15% → 13% (clean), 10% → 9% (late)).
• Up aerial:
  • Donkey Kong has a new up aerial: a swinging headbutt. This new up aerial has less ending lag (FAF 60 → 38).
  • Up aerial has less landing lag (41 frames → 25).
  • Up aerial hits above DK sooner.
  • Up aerial deals more damage (12% → 14%) and has increased knockback (0 (base), 100 (scaling) → 32/90), making it much more useful at lower percents as well as improving its KO potential.
  • Up aerial's angle has been altered (110° → 90°).
    • This improves its KO potential as well as its ability to lead into itself.
    • However, this hinders its combo potential into DK's horizontal moves as well as its set up potential.
  • Up aerial has significantly reduced range.
  • Up aerial has more startup lag with a much shorter duration (frames 3-20 → 6-8).
• Down aerial:
  • Donkey Kong has a new down aerial: he slams down his right foot.
  • Down aerial deals more damage (13% (clean), 10% (late) → 16% (foot), 13% (body)) and has increased base knockback (15 → 38/20).
  • Down aerial has less ending lag (FAF 60 → 55) and landing lag (41 frames → 31).
  • Down aerial has significantly increased startup lag (frame 6 → 18).
    • Down aerial has a much shorter duration due to no longer having a late hit (frames 6-29 → 18-23).
    • Despite the removal of the late hit, down aerial still has a weaker sourspot which is situated on Donkey Kong's body.
  • Down aerial's angle has been altered (-90° → 270°) which along with the introduction of meteor-canceling; significantly hinders its reliability.
  • Down aerial has less range.

Throws/other attacks

• Grabs:
  • As with all returning veterans, DK now has a pummel, up throw and down throw giving him more options out of a grab.
  • DK's grab range was reduced, going from the longest non-tether grab in Smash 64 to below average in Melee. His grabs also have more startup lag (frame 6 → 8 (standing), 10 (dash)) and ending lag (FAF 16 → 31 (standing), 41 (dash)).
• Forward throw (cargo throw):
  • DK's opponent will no longer take damage when he picks them up with forward throw (6% → 0%).
  • DK's opponent will now take 10% if they escape from his forward throw.
    • However, Donkey Kong himself will also take 10% damage if the opponent escapes from his forward throw.
  • Due to DK's worse grab combined with the universally increased falling speeds, DK's Infinite throw trap has effectively been removed.
  • DK has received a (separate) back throw, an up throw and a down throw from his forward throw, giving DK more options to combo or KO.
  • The introduction of wall teching has significantly hindered forward throw's stage spiking capabilities.
    • Additionally due to DK's increased falling speed and worse vertical recovery, he can no longer recover from stage spiking his opponent unless they hit him.
  • Cargo forward throw:
    • DK releases opponents earlier from Cargo forward throw (frame 18 → 15).
    • Cargo forward throw deals less knockback (70 (base), 80 (scaling) → 80/50) and sends opponents at a less favorable angle (45° → 55°).
• Back throw:
  • Back throw is now weight dependent.
  • Back throw deals less damage (18% → 10%) and knockback (80 (base), 70 (scaling) → 60/65) drastically hindering its KO potential (no longer being the strongest back throw).
  • DK releases opponents later from back throw (frame 9 → 14) and it has much more ending lag (FAF 22 → 40).
• Edge attacks:
  • Under 100% edge attack has a new animation. This animation decreases its ending lag (FAF 60 → 55) and allows the move to hit opponents that are standing directly near the ledge.
  • Under 100% edge attack deals 2% more damage (6% → 8%).
  • Under 100% edge attack has less intangibility (frames 1-10 → 1-5), a shorter duration (frames 9-18 → 9-16) and slightly less range.
  • Over 100% edge attack has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 49-54 → 37-50), less ending lag (FAF 90 → 70), more range and deals 4% more damage (6% → 10%).
  • Over 100% edge attack has less intangibility (frames 1-50 → 1-34).
  • Edge attacks have less set knockback (100 → 90).

Special moves

• Giant Punch:
  • Giant Punch now has a new animation: Donkey Kong winds up his fist back instead of merely behind himself, and now performs the attack with his left arm.
  • Giant Punch charges faster (139 frames → 127) as DK reaches full charge with one less wind.
  • DK can now immediately perform uncharged Giant Punch without winding it up reducing its startup lag (frame 29 → 25).
  • Giant Punch has a longer duration when uncharged (frames 10-12 → 17 (back hit)/18-21 (front hit)).
  • Uncharged Giant Punch has a new hitbox behind DK's arm which deals vertical knockback (361° → 80°).
  • Giant Punch has much less ending lag regardless of charge (FAF 81 → 45).
  • DK no longer has to windup his fully charged Giant Punch decreasing its startup lag (frame 23 → 17).
    • However, this means that DK can no longer shield before using his fully charged Giant Punch to protect himself and still maintain the charge.
  • Giant Punch has less range.
  • Uncharged Giant Punch has more startup lag when released (frame 10 → 17).
  • Giant Punch deals less damage when uncharged (14%-32% → 10%-30%) without full compensation on its base knockback (0 → 15).
  • Fully charged Giant Punch now has a vertical hitting sourspot (361° → 80°) behind DK's arm which deals drastically lower damage (36% → 18% (grounded), 16% (aerial), and its knockback was barely increased (0 (base), 100 (scaling) → 40/90). This drastically hinders its KO potential.
  • Fully charged Giant Punch deals much less damage (36% → 30% (grounded), 27% (aerial), and knockback (0 (base), 100 (scaling) → 10/90) hindering its KO potential to the point where DK's nine wind Punch is now stronger than the fully charged variant.
  • Fully charged Giant Punch no longer deals extra shield damage (12 → 0).
  • Fully charged Giant Punch has a shorter duration (frames 23-30 → 17 (early)/18-21 (clean)).
  • Giant Punch now leaves DK helpless when used in the air making it much riskier to use off stage despite its decreased ending lag.
• Headbutt:
  • Donkey Kong now has a side special: Headbutt. It can bury grounded opponents, meteor smash aerial opponents and also does very high amounts of shield damage.
• Spinning Kong:
  • Spinning Kong's grounded clean hit no longer has set knockback (100 (set), 120 (scaling) → 60 (base)/100) now being an effective KO move.
  • Late grounded Spinning Kong has altered knockback (0 (base), 100 (scaling) → 10/90) making it connect slightly more reliably.
  • Spinning Kong has less ending lag (FAF 100 → 85).
  • Aerial Spinning Kong has less startup lag (frame 3 → 2).
  • Donkey Kong can now grab ledges from behind after using Spinning Kong in the air.
  • Spinning Kong has less landing lag once DK enters free fall (14 frames → 7).
  • Mid Spinning Kong has altered knockback (100 (set), 120 (scaling) → 50 (base)/70).
    • This improves its ability to lead into the late hit.
    • However, this significantly hinders its edgeguarding potential unless at high percents and generally makes the move much more punishable if it connects.