King Dedede (PM)

King Dedede in Project M
Universe	Kirby
Base game appearance	Brawl
Moveset inspiration	King Dedede (SSBB)
Alternate costume	Shogun Dedede

Dedede's Samurai Costume in Project M 3.5

King Dedede (known as simply Dedede in-game) is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. He has received speed and combo buffs though suffering from a removal of his chain-grabbing abilities.

King Dedede ranks 34th out of 41 on the official tier list, near the top of the D tier. This is a large drop from his position on the Brawl tier list, where he's ranked 12th out of 38.

Attributes

King Dedede is a character whose strengths lie in his offense. Every one of his attacks boasts speed, power, reach, or hitbox placement, giving him a powerful neutral and punish game. He also has great comboing ability, having combo starters such as his up throw and combo finishers such as his forward aerial. He also has superb camping abilities due to his aforementioned reach and hitbox placements, as well as his versatile Waddle Dee Toss. He also has a highly above average recovery thanks to his many jumps, the new airdodge physics, and his useful Super Dedede Jump. However, Dedede's biggest boon is his back aerial; despite it being weaker than Brawl, this allows it to wall of pain better, combined with his higher air speed and the removal of hitstun canceling. It also maintains its minimal lag, long duration, and hitbox placement.

However, Dedede has numerous flaws, mainly in terms of defense. He is a very large target with slow mobility, making it easy to camp him out. He also has merely above average vertical endurance despite being a super heavyweight due to his average gravity and slightly above average falling speed. He also suffers from his recovery being somewhat predictable due to it mainly being linear. Dedede is also very easy to combo due to his aforementioned weight and size, as well as his gravity only being slightly lower than his falling speed.

Dedede overall fares worse in PM than Brawl as a result of the flaws created in the transition, as well as the significantly harsher environment which is no longer subject to his chainthrows.

Changes from Brawl to PM

King Dedede gained both buffs and nerfs from Brawl to PM. The buffs made him better offensively, but worse defensively, almost turning him into a glass cannon, and most agree he is a slightly worse character overall, despite technically receiving more buffs.

Attributes

• King Dedede has significantly faster air speed (0.658 → 0.9), no longer being the slowest, significantly improving his midair approach and recovery combined with Super Dedede Jump's added versatility.
• Number of midair jumps reduced (4 → 3), somewhat worsening his recovery, making it more difficult to land safely, and enforcing more use of Super Dedede Jump.
• King Dedede falls much faster (1.95 → 2.25), however, because the entire roster received increased fall speeds, Dedede falls much slower relative to the rest of the cast than in Brawl, going from the fastest to the 10th fastest fall speed. This nerfs his vertical endurance and his ability to mix-up landings, but makes him less susceptible to combos relative to the cast than in Brawl, and gives him a much better SHFFL.

Ground Attacks

• The first two hits of neutral attack have decreased start-up (first hit: frame 12 → 9, second hit: frame 11 → 9) with longer duration on the first hit (2 frames → 3), and significantly faster interruptibility frames on both hits (first hit: IASA 38 → 22, second hit: IASA 50 → 21). The rapid jab also ends significantly faster and each hit of neutral attack connecting better.
• Rapid jab of neutral attack comes out slower (frame 2 → 7), though this is heavily compensated by the various buffs it received.
• The second hit of neutral attack has altered knockback (20 base/50 growth → 55/0) and angle (85° → 90°) properties.
• Forward tilt deals more damage (6%/4% → 12%/9%), making it much stronger despite it's decreased knockback growth (80/100 → 70/80). It also deals more shield damage (0 → 9 (clean), 0 → 6 (late)), and has more reach (4.5u → 5.7u).
• Forward tilt now sends opponents at a Sakurai angle (65° → 361°).
• Up tilt has a longer duration (frame 7-15 → 7-17) and has less ending lag (IASA 40 → 34).
• Down tilt has slightly less ending lag (IASA 36 → 35).
• Down tilt has smaller hitboxes (6u → 4.92u (clean), 4u → 3.279983u (late)).
• Dash attack has a larger hitbox (5u → 6.9u), and now gives King Dedede super armor between frames 8-29, significantly improving it's utility.
• Dash attack sends opponents at a different angle (361° → 35°).
• Forward smash has more range, and the tip meteor smashes characters who are holding onto ledges. The early sourspot also deals more damage (13% → 16%).
• Forward smash has a slightly shorter duration (frame 42-54 → 42-50).
• Up smash has much more range, less start-up with a longer duration (frame 20-24 → 17-23), much less ending lag (IASA 68 → 54), and both the sweetspot and the sourspot deal much more damage (14%/9% → 20%/17%), making it much stronger despite it's decreased knockback growth (95/96 → 79/80).
• The front hit of down smash deals more damage (15% → 18%), and the move now sends opponents behind Dedede (105°/80°/50° → 130°/125°/120°), allowing him to KO opponents easier despite the front hit having less knockback growth (82 → 79). It also has much less ending lag (IASA 53 → 47).

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral aerial, forward aerial, and back aerial have more landing lag (neutral aerial: 15 frames → 22, forward aerial: 30 frames → 32, back aerial: 21 frames → 22), though this is heavily compensated by L-cancelling.
• Up aerial and down aerial have less landing lag (up aerial: 22 frames → 20, down aerial: 30 frames → 20).
• Neutral aerial and forward aerial no longer auto-cancel from a short hop.
• King Dedede's increased air speed and the more edgeguarding-friendly physics also makes forward aerial and back aerial much more effective at wall of pain combos.
• Neutral aerial has less ending lag (IASA 40 → 38).
• Neutral aerial sends opponents at a different angle (60° (clean)/80° (late) → 75°).
• Forward aerial has less start-up with a longer duration (frame 16-18 → frame 13-18) longer range, and more knockback growth (90 → 100).
• Forward aerial has slightly increased ending lag (IASA 37 → 40).
• Back aerial has less range (8.5u → 5.534983u), and a slightly shorter duration (frame 6-25 → 6-21).
• Up aerial is now a single hit, which gives it increased juggling potential for combos and KOing from the more combo-friendly physics despite it technically dealing less knockback (50 base/130 growth → 40/30 base/85 growth).
• Up aerial deals less damage (19% → 12%/9%) and has a slightly shorter duration (frame 10-25 → 10-24).
• Each hit of down aerial lasts one frame longer (frame 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27: 18 frames total → frame 9-10, 12-13, 15-16, 18-19, 21-22, 24-25, 27-28: 19 frames total). Down aerial also has less ending lag (IASA 48 → 38) and can now auto-cancel from a short hop.
• The final hit of down aerial deals less damage (5% → 3%), resulting in the move dealing 2% less damage if all hits connect (17% → 15%).
• Down aerial SFX changed to match up aerial SFX.

Grabs and Throws

• Forward throw deals more damage (12% → 14%) and more knockback (70 base/80 growth → 80/75).
• Back throw has drastically more knockback growth (65 → 94), and sends opponents at a much more horizontal angle (60° → 45°), making it among the strongest throws in the game.
• Back throw deals slightly less damage (16% → 15%).
• Up throw has less base knockback (70 → 60), and less ending lag, combined with the more combo-friendly physics, this makes up throw a significantly better option to follow-up into moves, and can even be used to chaingrab fast-fallers.
• Down throw sends opponents at a more downward angle towards the floor (20° → 32°), removing his ability to chain throw with it, making it act like how it does on lightweight characters in Brawl.

Special Moves

• King Dedede has significantly more momentum in the air when using Inhale, improving its utility.
• Waddle Dees can be thrown in 3 different angles with different strengths, and can now perform the "Waddle Dash" by repeatedly throwing and picking up a Waddle Dee or Waddle Doo, King Dedede moves forward at a very fast rate, significantly improving his mobility, recovery, and approach.
• Super Dedede Jump now has a hitbox during the rising portion, and canceling the move completely negates Dedede's momentum, giving the move more versatility for recovering and leaving him less vulnerable against edge-guarders.
• Super Dedede Jump no longer has super armor, only having medium armor throughout the rising portion.
• Jet Hammer applies a momentum boost on swinging based on the level of charge. King Dedede also gains light armor while charging, and the move has drastically less start-up (frame 29 → 9) and ending lag (IASA 77 → 57) when uncharged, as well as dealing more knockback on all stages of charge (uncharged: 20 base/100 growth → 40/80, fully charged: 30 base/80 growth → 40/75). Aerial Jet Hammer also deals more damage (uncharged: 10% → 11%, fully charged: 28%/16% → 30%).

Revisions

v2.1

• Dedede can grab the edge towards the end of his Up-B cancel flip.
• Dedede's spotdodge animation was smoothed out.

v2.5b

• Dedede's Dash Attack hitboxes adjusted for better coverage.
• Dedede's Up-Tilt belly hitboxes adjusted for better coverage.
• Dedede's Forward-Smash has an added large ground bounce hitbox that only affects grounded opponents and is non-clankable.
• Dedede's Neutral-Air weak hitbox match the size of the strong hitboxes for better coverage.
• Dedede's Neutral-Air IASA fixed to occur slightly before the animation ends.
• Dedede's Forward-Air IASA fixed to occur slightly before the animation ends.
• Dedede's Side-B can toss waddles at more noticeable angles.
• Dedede's Side-B default throw speed decreased, and strong throw speed increased.
• Dedede's Up-B hitboxes adjusted for better coverage.
• Dedede's Up-B damage across all of its hitboxes increased significantly, and shield damage on landing hit greatly increased.
• Dedede's Up-B landing stars have more base knockback.
• Dedede's Down-B self-damage cap is 100% (down from 150%).

v2.6b

• Dash Attack has medium armor which lasts through the strong hit.
• Up-Tilt's endlag is slightly faster.
• Down-Aerial has smaller gaps between each hit.
• Forward-Throw's damage has been increased slightly, knockback decreased slightly to compensate.
• Down-Throw can be interrupted earlier.
• Neutral-B has more mobility in the air than previously.
• Up-B has a hitbox at the beginning of Dedede's ascent.
• Up-B has medium armor during the same timeframe as the hitbox.
• Turn-Grab range reduced slightly, and has a bit more startup to match other Turn Grabs.
• Neutral-Aerial's 1st hit angle is slightly higher.

v3.0

• Forward-Smash’s meteor hitbox now only hits grounded targets (Aerial-only Spike hitbox on hammer head now has proper priority).
• Aerial Up-B no longer has medium armor. Grounded Up-B medium armor starts and ends much sooner.
• Forward-Air’s hitboxes were cleaned up and polished to match the animation better.

v3.5

• Stars produced when landing after Super Dedede Jump are slightly bigger.
• Wavedashing ability significantly improved.
• Super Dedede Jump now depletes all jumps.
• Dash attack now has a flash overlay to denote knockback armor and screen shakes on faceplant.
• Super Dedede Jump now has a flash overlay at startup to denote knockback armor.
• Fixed the vertical positioning when charging Jet Hammer on the ground.
• Adjusted ledge jump animations to prevent warping.

Moveset

Up to date as of version 3.6.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			6%	Hits his opponent with two quick swipes of his hammer, then sticks it out in front of him and spins it.
			5%
			2% (loop)
Forward tilt			12% (clean), 9% (late)	Extends his hammer forward and spins it quickly.
Up tilt			12%	Sets his hammer down and quickly jumps upwards while headbutting. Dedede's head has some intangibility frames while the hitboxes are out.
Down tilt			10% (clean), 6% (late)	Does a sweeping kick low to the ground.
Dash attack			16% (clean body), 14% (clean head), 10% (late)	Trips and face-plants forward. A powerful dash attack, capable of KOing most fighters at low percentages.
Forward smash			16% (early), 24% (clean), 12% (late), 5% (shockwave)	Raises his hammer over his head and swings it at the ground in front of him. If the hammer comes into contact with a ledge that a character is grabbing, that character will be meteor smashed.
Up smash			20% (hammer), 17% (body)	Pulls his hammer back then swings it vertically over his head.
Down smash			18% (front), 15% (back)	Swings his hammer near the ground, performing a low spinning hammer attack.
Neutral aerial			12% (clean), 7% (late)	Extends his arms and legs and attacks with his stomach. His limbs produce a second, weaker hitbox soon after.
Forward aerial			15%	Pulls his hammer back slightly then swings it in front of him upwards.
Back aerial			13% (clean), 9% (late)	Extends one foot backward. Has sex kick properties.
Up aerial			12% (clean), 9% (late)	Spins his hammer above his head.
Down aerial			2% (hits 1-6), 3% (hit 7)	Extends his hammer below him and spins it, dealing multiple hits.
Grab			—
Pummel			3%	Lays his hammer down and headbutts the opponent.
Forward throw			6% (hit), 8% (throw)	Hits opponent forward with his hammer.
Back throw			6% (hit), 9% (throw)	Hits opponent with his hammer behind himself.
Up throw			4% (hit), 5% (throw)	Throws his opponent above his head, then pushes them upwards.
Down throw			4% (hit), 4% (throw)	Slams opponent on ground and sits on top of them.
Floor attack (front)			6%	Gets up and kicks both sides.
Floor attack (back)			6%	Gets up and kicks both sides.
Floor attack (trip)			5%	Gets up and swings his hammer both sides of himself.
Edge attack (fast)			8% (foot), 6% (body)	Pulls himself up slightly, then heaves himself onto the stage while kicking in front of him.
Edge attack (slow)			10%	Pulls himself slowly onto the stage, then quickly swings his hammer over his head in front of him.
Neutral special		Inhale	5% (release), 10% (spit), 9-18% (star)	Inhales the opponent, and does damage upon spitting them out. Does collateral damage to anybody hit by the character being spit out, depending on that character's weight.
Side special		Waddle Dee Toss	5% (Waddle Dee), 7% (Waddle Doo), 22% (Gordo)	Pulls one of his minions out of his sleeve and throws them forward. Unlike in Brawl, the minion can be thrown in three different trajectories, much like Snake's hand grenades.
Up special		Super Dedede Jump	6% (jump), 15% (fall), 16%/20% (landing/body), 5% (stars)	Jumps extremely high and comes crashing down. Unlike Brawl, if the move is cancelled and he falls to the ground, he will get up instantly instead of fumbling around, making it safer to cancel the move.
Down special		Jet Hammer	11% (uncharged), 30%/7% (fully charged/late)	Raises his hammer above his head, and it opens up to create a jet of white flame. The longer the move is held, the more damage, knockback, and directional boost to Dedede occurs. However, Dedede starts taking damage if the move is held past maximum charge.
Final Smash		Waddle Dee Army	2% (Waddle Dee), 8% (Waddle Doo), 15% (Gordo)	Whistles, and then dances for ten seconds while Waddle Dees, Waddle Doos, and Gordos move about the stage. During these ten seconds, he is invincible.

In competitive play

Notable players

•  Big D-33rd at Paragon Los Angeles 2015.
•  Fly Amanita-Formerly ranked 1st on the SoCal Project M Power Rankings.
•  Heysuess-Formerly ranked 2nd on the Arizona Project M Power Rankings. Does not actively engage in competition often, but plays for fun and to help people become better.
•  KO Kingpin
•  Ripple-The best Dedede player in the world. Ranked 1st on the Illinois Project M Power Rankings and 29th on the PMRank 2016. After The Bigger Balc, dropped Dedede for Charizard.
•  Dumshiny-Ranked 14th on the SoCal Project M Power Rankings. Placed 7th at Don't Sleep and has wins over players like Aidan and Strong Bad.

Alternate costumes

Dedede's alternate costumes remain unchanged from Brawl. He obtained a costume based on his appearance in the Samurai Kirby minigame.

King Dedede's alternate costumes in PM