Donkey Kong: Difference between revisions

|lastappearance= ''{{s|mariowiki|Mario Strikers: Battle League}}'' (2022)

Donkey Kong makes his first appearance in a fighting game as a starting playable character in the original ''Super Smash Bros.'' His design is based on his appearance from ''Donkey Kong Country''. DK is surprisingly fast for his size and, damage-wise, is one of the strongest and sturdiest characters in the game. His [[neutral special move]] is [[Giant Punch]], which becomes stronger depending on how long the player lets DK charge it before using it. His [[up special]] is [[Spinning Kong]], which causes DK to spin around wildly with his arms striking anyone nearby. His [[down special move]] is [[Hand Slap]], which allows DK to pound the ground with his fists repeatedly creating a small earthquake. However, his high weight, lack of projectiles, and slow attack speed result in him being very easily susceptible to combos and struggling to catch up to faster and longer-ranged characters. As a result, he is ranked 9th out of 12 on the current [[tier list]].

On the ''SSB4'' [[tier list]], Donkey Kong ranks 22nd out of 55 characters, placing him in C tier. He has been [[buff]]ed overall, with faster attacks and improved combo ability, especially with his cargo up throw. The new [[rage]] mechanic benefits Donkey Kong very well, which when combined with his heaviness, allows him to deliver greater knockback at higher damage percents. Donkey Kong's trademark power and speed are retained from past games too. Although he is regarded as one of the game's best super heavyweights along with {{SSB4|Bowser}}, he still suffers from common weaknesses that plagued him in the past, such as vulnerability to combos due to his [[weight]] and size, and his recovery in [[Spinning Kong]] still gaining little vertical distance. Nonetheless, Donkey Kong's strengths have allowed him to secure decent tournament representation and above average results.

*Unlike in most ''Donkey Kong'' games and ''Mario'' spin-offs, where Donkey Kong has a cartoonish voice, voiced by {{s|mariowiki|Takashi Nagasako}}, the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series has Donkey Kong using more realistic gorilla grunts. This also applies to [[Bowser]], with realistic roars instead of {{s|mariowiki|Kenneth W. James}}, Bowser's current voice actor in most ''Mario'' games, [[Petey Piranha]], who uses monstrous roars instead of his current voice actor in the ''Mario'' games, {{s|mariowiki|Toru Minegishi}}, [[Diddy Kong]], who uses realistic chimpanzee screeches instead of using voice clips from his current voice actor {{s|mariowiki|Katsumi Suzuki}}, and [[King K. Rool]], who uses realistic crocodile grunts instead of his current voice actor in the ''Donkey Kong'' games, {{s|mariowiki|Toshihide Tsuchiya}}.

*Despite being able to crawl in their respective home series, Donkey Kong, [[Mario]], [[Pit]], [[Young Link]], and [[Toon Link]] are unable [[Crawl|to do so]] in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series.

*Donkey Kong himself is the only character in the {{uv|Donkey Kong}} series to be created in Japan. However his design used in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series has been created in the United Kingdom and is considered in-universe to be a different character from the original Donkey Kong.

*Donkey Kong is the only character who has more than four [[Throw]]s.

*Since ''[[Smash 4]]'', Donkey Kong has the distinction of being the character with the most attacks that have a [[meteor]] effect, at a total of four attacks.

**Specifically, his Forward aerial, Down aerial, [[Headbutt]] (side special), and [[Hand Slap]] (down special) all have meteor smash hitboxes.

*Starting with ''Smash 4'', the chanting by the [[crowd]] for Donkey Kong when a player performs well is "DK! Donkey Kong!" This is a reference to the popular {{iw|mariowiki|DK Rap}}.

*Donkey Kong is the only character to have a move not result in a helpless state in the first game (being ''Smash 64''), then having it result in a helpless state for the next games (from ''Melee'' to ''Super Smash Bros. 4''), then reverting back to not resulting in such (being ''Ultimate''). In this case, [[Giant Punch]].