Hand Slap

Hand Slap
	; Hand Slap in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
User	Donkey Kong
Universe	Donkey Kong
Article on DK Wiki	Hand Slap

“	Press to deliver this earth-shaking move and send nearby enemies skyward. It can be used over and over again.	”
—Melee's instruction manual

“	Slap the ground and send nearby foes into the air. Can be performed multiple times in a row.	”
—Brawl's instruction manual

“	Slap the ground to hit foes with shock waves.	”
—Smash for 3DS's foldout

Hand Slap (ハンドスラップ, Hand Slap) is Donkey Kong's down special move.

Overview[edit]

Donkey Kong delivers an earth-shaking series of slamming-slaps to the ground, sending nearby enemies skyward. It has considerable power, consistent and repetitive damage, and a very large quake hitbox that can punish rolls very effectively. Overall, it does 10% damage when fresh in SSB, 11% in Melee and 14% in Brawl and SSB4. In the former two games, the move has set knockback, but in Brawl onwards it has high base knockback with low knockback scaling, preventing it from acting as an effective KO attack; the slaps also cannot harm airborne opponents, impairing the attack's ability to potentially combo into itself.

This move is good against bosses, but only works on certain grounded ones. Prior to Smash 4, it was one of the few down special attacks in the Super Smash Bros. series that couldn't be used in the air, and in the original game, it was the only special move to do so. When used on a platform, enemies can also pass through the attack unharmed it they don't land on it, due to it being a quake attack.

An interesting note is that as long as one keeps pressing the special button after a hand slap, they do not have to hold down the control stick or d-pad for it to continue.

In the co-op mode of Home Run Contest, when used along a character performing a fast rapid attack, such as Ness with his down tilt, it can quickly rack up tons of damage (potentially over 300%). It is also used often by casual players to easily complete Multi-Man modes.

In Super Smash Bros. 4, Donkey Kong can now use the move in midair, causing him to slap down twice below himself. It does 11% and meteor smashes opponents hit with the second slap, which can however be difficult to connect. The grounded version of Hand Slap now also does plenty of shield damage, shattering full shields in 3 hits.

Customization[edit]

Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the variations:

1. Hand Slap	2. Focused Slap	3. Hot Slap

"Slap the ground to cause shock waves that send opponents into the air."	"Smaller shock waves, but opponents will be stunned and sent flying."	"Creates flame pillars that can hit airborne fighters."

Hand Slap: Default.
Focused Slap: The shock waves are smaller, but opponents will be paralyzed by both hits and launched by the second hit. Deals 21% damage with high vertical knockback, KOing Mario from the center of Final Destination at 73% with no rage and at 54% with full rage. The aerial version does 19% damage, has powerful horizontal knockback and is not a meteor smash. The aerial version also paralyzes with both hits and launches opponents with the second one.
Hot Slap: Creates flame pillars that can hit opponents in the air. Has less range than normal, but has less start-up, does 19% damage and has good horizontal knockback, KOing Mario from the center of Final Destination at 124% with no rage and at 80% with full rage. The aerial version does 10% damage, has moderate horizontal knockback and does not meteor smash.

Origin[edit]

Donkey Kong using Hand Slap in Donkey Kong Country. The Banana Bunch next to him came out of the ground he slapped.

The Hand Slap originated in Donkey Kong Country, where Donkey Kong can use it to defeat enemies and to uncover items hidden into the ground. In the source games, however, DK hits the ground once with each hand each time. The animation from Smash 64 borrows from the original animation, where DK slightly hops and successively slaps both hands onto the ground. Starting in Melee, he instead alternates slapping the ground with each hand without hopping.

The move later appears in the Wii version of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, as well as Donkey Kong Country Returns, also on Wii, and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze on Wii U and Nintendo Switch.

Trivia[edit]

In Smash 64, if a player in Dream Land stands below a Level 9 CPU Donkey Kong standing on a platform, it will continuously use Hand Slap and won't stop until the player moves from beneath it.