Donkey Kong (SSBM)/Forward aerial

Hitbox visualization showing Donkey Kong's forward aerial.

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Overview

Donkey Kong winds back, before slamming downwards with both hands in an axe-chop. It has two knockback angles, depending upon when DK hits the opponent. The early hit, despite technically having the Sakurai angle, will always launch the opponent diagonally up and away because of its incredibly high knockback (dealing 56.58 units of knockback to Bowser at 0%). The late hit is a meteor smash. The move is a very slow aerial that is very risky to use in neutral, though it does see niche use as a whiff punish due to its long range and wind up. It's also not wise to use it off-stage to edgeguard opponents, since the move's end lag is a full half of a second, risking a self-destruct. Where it really shines in DK's kit, however, is as a combo finisher.

The move can true combo from his up throw and down aerial at high percents against some characters like Sheik and Marth, and will false combo against many other characters, such that their only escape option is to airdodge out. This makes it a common kill option against a lot of the cast. It's also an extremely common combo-ender for his up air juggles when his giant punch is uncharged. In both of these situations, the desirable hit is the early one, since the meteor smash hitboxes can be meteor cancelled, potentially allowing the opponent to punish DK or get back to stage for free.

Hitboxes

ID	Part	Damage	SD	Angle	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			Clang	Rebound	Effect	G	A	Sound
Clean hit
0	0	16%	0		20	100	0	7.0308	52	7.319844	0.0	0.0						Punch
1	0	16%	0		20	100	0	7.0308	30	7.319844	0.0	0.0						Punch
2	0	16%	1		20	100	0	3.1248	51	2.659986	0.0	0.0						Punch
3	0	16%	1		20	100	0	3.1248	29	2.659986	0.0	0.0						Punch
Late hit
0	0	16%	0		50	80	0	6.2496	52	7.319844	0.0	0.0						Kick
1	0	16%	0		50	80	0	6.2496	30	7.319844	0.0	0.0						Kick
2	0	16%	1		50	80	0	3.1248	51	2.659986	0.0	0.0						Kick
3	0	16%	1		50	80	0	3.1248	29	2.659986	0.0	0.0						Kick

Timing

Clean hit	25-26
Late hit	27-29
Ending autocancel	85-
Animation length	59
Interruptible*	85

Landing lag

Animation length	30
L-cancelled animation length	15

Normal

L-cancelled

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Hitbox change

Trivia

• The move should become interruptible on frame 60 but due to the late auto-cancel window, the move is programmed to not be interruptible until frame 85. Despite this, the move still has an FAF of 60 due to its animation length. The developers most likely intended the move to be auto-cancellable from frame 56 but due to a timing error, it cannot be auto-cancelled until frame 85. This auto-cancel window would not be fixed until Ultimate version 2.0.0.

Donkey Kong's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · 2) · Forward tilt · Up tilt · Down tilt · Dash attack · Forward smash · Up smash · Down smash
Neutral aerial · Forward aerial · Back aerial · Up aerial · Down aerial
Grab · Pummel · Forward throw · Back throw · Up throw · Down throw
Forward roll · Back roll · Spot dodge · Air dodge · Techs
Floor attack (front) · Floor getups (front) · Floor attack (back) · Floor getups (back)
Edge attack (fast) · Edge getups (fast) · Edge attack (slow) · Edge getups (slow)
Neutral special · Side special · Up special · Down special