King Dedede (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)


 * This article is about King Dedede's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see King Dedede.

King Dedede, also known as just Dedede (デデデ, Dedede), is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. King Dedede is a recurring villain in the Kirby series. He is an anthropomorphic, blue penguin-like being whose main weapon is his massive, wooden mallet, which has now been mechanized. King Dedede has been classified as a "Super Heavyweight", alongside Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Snake. However, he is capable of puffing up for multiple jumps, like Kirby and Jigglypuff. He was confirmed on October 25, 2007 on the Smash Bros. DOJO!! site. Dedede is voiced by the director of the game, Masahiro Sakurai, who also voiced him in Kirby 64. King Dedede is currently ranked 6th on the Tier List due to his amazing chaingrab and powerful throws combined with amazing grab range, ability to Sacrifice KO, great edge guarder, greatest resistance to vertical KOs (a combination of being the fourth heaviest character and having the fastest falling speed in the game), great range, good recovery for his weight class, and a few quick, hard hitting attacks.

Attributes
King Dedede has the typical attributes of heavyweight characters: high KOing power, slow mobility and attacks, high range, fast falling speed (the fastest in the game), and large size. His tilts and smash attacks, which are largely disjointed hitboxes, combine with one of the most versatile projectiles in the game, Waddle Dees, for devastating effect. Dedede's recovery puts together four mid-air jumps and a super-armored Up Special with great vertical distance (and a powerful meteor smash upon its descent, when not canceled). Even though his recovery is predictable due to the Super Dedede Jump's slow speed and inability to grab the ledge at all unless canceled, his overall recovery is much harder to gimp compared to other heavyweights' recovery. Although he is the fastest faller in the game, his falling acceleration is not very fast so it benefits more than harm. Since Dedede is also the fourth heaviest character and his recovery is both long and very hard to gimp, he can be a dangerously tough match-up for many characters that lack the means to force him offstage.

Dedede is good at keeping pressure on the opponent, despite his very slow movement in the air and on the ground (third slowest dash speed and slowest air speed). Dedede has range, power, priority, and attack speed mixed throughout his entire arsenal, with arguably his best attack, back-air, possessing all four attributes. Despite being superheavyweight and having early KO moves, KOing can be hard to land due to all of his KO moves either being rather weak, having slow start-up/ending lag, being forced to have the opponent in the air, being predictable, and/or having low range. This is one of his biggest problems, as almost every attack Dedede uses has a large amount of lag. Despite this, he is excellent at edge-guarding and gimping. A crafty Dedede can even fool an opponent into a kill at 40% by using his forward-smash, although this is risky as the forward smash is extremely laggy despite its range (which includes a shockwave slightly in front of the hammer). From a distance, Dedede can prod his opponent with his quick f-tilt, the furthest reaching standard attack in the game, or he can use his Waddle Dee special to toss living projectiles at the opponent, which are capable of attacking of their own accord and absorbing projectiles to defend Dedede. Waddle Dee Toss can not be properly reflected (excluding Gordos). The danger of the odd Gordo is also an excellent pressure, as they are extremely strong KO projectiles. Dedede can also peform Dededecide, or Regicide, though these are not very useful because the opponent can escape from Inhale fairly easily even when they are at high damage. Although Dedede can keep pressure on opponents well, he himself is particularly susceptible to projectiles (although Waddle Dees can block projectiles), air camping by characters like Wario, (though with his huge defense it can be hard to approach and get the lead) and meteor smashes (though he can recover from them easily given his recovery) due to being a slow, large target with a crouch that barely reduces his height.

Where Dedede really shines is in his ability to transition defense into a powerful offense. With powerful throws and the one of the best chaingrabs in the game, many characters can be easily punished while approaching Dedede. His down throw can chaingrab many characters regardless of damage percent, and he is capable of infinitely chaingrabbing Donkey Kong or most other characters if there is a wall. Dedede's forward throw ends chaingrabs that have reached the edge with significant damage, with the added bonus of putting opponents into a recovery situation, where Dedede can begin using his back-air as a powerful Wall of Pain. His back throw is very strong, both in knockback and in damage (16%, the most damaging throw in the game), and can KO at higher percents when performed from the edge. Dedede's grab game, which is augmented by the longest non-tether grab range in the game and an easy shield grab, is also complimented by his excellent range all around. Dedede also has two very quick, powerful moves to get the opponent off him while in close, outside of grabbing: his horizontal-knockback d-tilt and the aforementioned up-tilt.

While a Dedede player must be wary of his weaknesses, in the end, he can use his excellent range, power, pressure ability, and grab game to overcome them.

Role in Subspace Emissary
It is revealed on the official website that King Dedede was involved in helping the takeover of the battleship Halberd by the Subspace Army. During this time, Dedede learns of Tabuu's Off Waves and spends the rest of the story preparing for them.

The first time King Dedede is shown, he uses his Waddle Dees to ambush an unsuspecting and cowardly Luigi and turn him into a trophy. Then, as Wario approaches on his Cargo carrying two trophies (the princess that was not saved from the arena and Ness), he tries to take the new Luigi trophy and is suddenly ambushed by a herd of Waddle Dees who throw Luigi into the sled. King Dedede then steals the sled with the trophies in tow. Later, Dedede rides past Mario, Link, Pit and Yoshi. King Dedede originally tries to steal Mario and Pit/Link and Yoshi as trophies, but Kirby rescues them and King Dedede rides off, trying to escape them. Seeing that King Dedede has apparently kidnapped their friends, the party gives chase to Dedede's hiding place; his castle. Once inside, King Dedede is seen treating the trophies with surprising kindness. He takes out two badges with his likeness on them and places them on Luigi and Ness. However, he realizes that he does not have one to give to the princess, so he sadly places the one he was wearing on her. The badges' effects are not immediately seen, which may be confusing to some viewers (one might be led to believe that he may have done this simply to mark them as his property). As King Dedede looks proudly at his trophies, Bowser and his minions break open the ceiling. The falling debris knocks King Dedede out cold and buries him, Ness and Luigi under rubble. Shortly afterwards, two R.O.B.s arm and detonate a Subspace Bomb outside of the castle, trapping King Dedede and his friends in Subspace.

Eventually, Luigi and Ness are revived thanks to the Dedede Badges. Ness makes the connection that King Dedede was the one who created the badges and therefore revived them, so he revives the King. King Dedede's role in The Subspace Emissary, appearing to be evil at first but turning out to have good intentions in the end, is very characteristic of his roles in the Kirby games. Glad to see that they are okay, and that they revived him, King Dedede sets out with his two companions to save everyone from Subspace. Eventually they encounter Bowser's trophy, and King Dedede revives Bowser, but the Koopa King attacks him. King Dedede fights him alone and wins the fight, then revives Bowser again, but when Bowser tries to attack again, King Dedede stops him by batting the Koopa's nose. He then points out the Master Hand lying on the ground and the staircase leading upward, telling him that they should fight Tabuu instead of each other. King Dedede also finds his rival, Kirby (who incidentally had taken one of the badges from him earlier), but is actually happy to see him alive (giving him a big hug when he sees him, then literally drags him off to Tabuu's residence). While King Dedede is walking up a staircase, Wario attacks him (probably payback for stealing his ride). However, Wario backs off when he realizes that two characters he turned into trophies, Luigi and Ness, can aid King Dedede, outnumbering Wario. Wario then stops messing with them physically, but messes with them by riding his bike up, showing off the fact that he can get up there faster. Wario casually joins the group after they show him where Tabuu is. King Dedede joins the rest of the characters for the rest of the story.

Exclusive Stickers
The following stickers can only be used by a few characters including Dedede:
 * Cell Phone: [Slash] Resistance + 4
 * Dyna Blade: Launch Resistance +46
 * Gordo: [Throwing] Attack + 5
 * Hot Head: [Flame] Attack +10
 * King Dedede & Kirby: [Specials: Direct] Attack +21
 * King Dedede (Kirby Super Star): [Leg] Attack +28
 * Kirby (Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards): [Body, Spin] Attack +22
 * Kirby (Kirby Air Ride): [Arm, Leg] Attack +17
 * Maxim Tomato: Maxim Tomato Effect +50
 * Meta Knight Ball: Launch Power + 8
 * Nruff: [Body, Spin] Attack + 5
 * Starman (Kirby: Squeak Squad): Launch Power +33
 * Whispy Woods: [Weapon] Attack + 4
 * King Dedede (Kirby: Squeak Squad): [Throwing] Attack +30

Event Matches
Event 1: Two Trouble Kings - The player plays as Mario and faces the team of Bowser and King Dedede in single player and alongside Kirby in co-op.

Event 15: Hammer of the King - The player is a tiny King Dedede. With the help of two other tiny, CPU-controlled Dededes, you must defeat a giant, metal Dedede. Completing this event unlocks "King Dedede's Theme."

Co-Op Event 3: Fastest, Shortest, Sudden Death - The players control King Dedede and Yoshi. In 10 seconds, the player must defeat as many enemies as possible, while making sure at least one fighter stays alive. |Event Matches |Co-op Events

Normal

 * Neutral Attack - Two swipes with the hammer, then extends it and spins. Can deal a large amount of damage, but the spinning part is easily DI'd out of. If the "Attack" button is held during the spinning part, the spin can be held indefinitely. 6% for the first hit.
 * Dash Attack - Trips and belly-flops forward, like he does in several Kirby games. A good deal of starting and ending lag, but deals a large amount of damage, has KO potential (strongest dash attack in the game), and has a long range. 16%
 * Forward tilt - Extends his hammer forward and spins it. This has the furthest reach of any non-projectile ground move, it can "poke" players at a far reach, good for a quick hit from a slow character. 6% for hitting.
 * Up tilt- Sets his hammer on the ground momentarily and jumps a little upwards, headbutting. Strong, quick attack. It has higher knockback than his uncharged Up Smash. 12%.
 * Down tilt- He extends just one of his legs and sweeps the ground with it. Quick attack with decent knockback and surprising range.

Smash

 * Side Smash - Swings his hammer over his head at the ground in front of him. Creates a small shock wave that damages opponents just outside the hammer's range. Extremely slow and needs to sweetspot to be powerful, but very powerful when sweetspotted and very long range. Highest knockback of any other side smash at mid to high percentages. A tad weaker than Snake's at very low percentages, otherwise, highest knockback of any other side smash in the game. Can be used as edge-guard. 25% Uncharged, 35% Fully charged.
 * Up Smash - Pulls back the hammer then swings vertically upwards from in front of him. Fairly slow but high damage and range. Hitbox covers the area in front of and behind Dedede, as well as above him. 14% Uncharged, 19% Fully Charged.
 * Down Smash - Pulls back the hammer and then swings it horizontally along the ground. Fairly quick, and launches upwards. Can setup some aerial combos at lower percents. 15% Uncharged, 21% Fully charged

Others

 * Ledge Attack - Pulls himself up and as he is about halfway up, he quickly kicks out with his foot at the ground in front of him.
 * 100% Ledge Attack - Slowly pulls himself up, and when he is most of the way pulled back onto to the stage, quickly swings his hammer over his head down in front of him.
 * Floor Attacks - Quickly kicks to the side his feet are facing, then kicks in the other direction, or swings his hammer in front of him, then sticks his hammer behind him and spins it.

Aerial Attacks

 * Neutral Aerial - Bellyflop. Sticks his arms out and legs back, attacking with his large stomach. Long duration, quick to come out, and not a lot of knockback if hit in later frames. Has properties similar to a Sex Kick. 12% for First hit, 7% for falling from above.
 * Forward Aerial - Swings hammer upwards in front of him. A little slow with poor horizontal range, but has good top-to-bottom coverage as well as power. Excellent when fast-falled while edge-guarding. 15%
 * Back Aerial - Sticks a foot out behind him, kicking with it. Long duration, good knockback with great range increase relative to damage, range, speed, and can be used to combo multiple times on low-percent opponents. Arguably the best back air in the game. Can Wall of Pain. Has properties of a Sex Kick. 13%
 * Up Aerial - Sticks his hammer above him and spins it. Multiple hits, good for racking up damage. Final hit deals decent vertical knockback. If Dedede uses his Uair when he's flying past the upwards blast line, the spinning sound effect will last the entire star K.O. Minimum 2%, Maximum 19%
 * Down Aerial - Similar to his Up Aerial, but extends his hammer below him. It also has more hitlag with each hit. Can be followed up with an up aerial at low percents. If Dedede uses his Dair when he's flying past the upwards blast line, the spinning sound effect will last the entire star K.O. Minimum 2%, Maximum 17%

Grabs and Throws

 * Note: King Dedede has the longest non-tether grab in the game, making with him very easy to shield grab with him, even when shielding powerful moves.
 * Pummel - Lays his hammer on the ground and headbutts them. 3% per hit.
 * Forward Throw - Hits opponent with hammer. 12% damage.
 * Back Throw - Hits opponent with hammer behind himself. Best throw damage wise, it deals 16% damage.
 * Up Throw - Hits opponent upward by sticking both his hands upward. 9% damage.
 * Down Throw - Slams opponent on ground and sits on top of them. Great for chain grabs except some of the lighter characters. Can infinite chain grab if there is a wall (like in Corneria). 8% damage.

Taunts
Up: Hoists his hammer above his head and pumps it up and down. Oddly, the sound is out of synch with the movement if he does it while facing left.

Down: Dances in a circle while drumming on his belly.

Side: Spins his hammer while looking at the camera, laughing.

Crouching Position: He lies on his side, supporting his head with his hand and looking at the camera. This is widely considered to be another taunt for Dedede due to his unique and entertaining posture.

Pivot Dancing: Pivoting after the turn of a dash and repeating as many times as desired, like a very slow dash dance. With appropriate timing, it looks like Dedede is dancing around his hammer in a circle.

Matchups

 * Note that the Samus, DK, Mario, Luigi, and Bowser matchups are dependent on whether the standing infinite is banned or not. These numbers are for when the infinite is not banned. For example, The Luigi matchup is said to be about even if the infinite is not banned and the DK matchup is said to be 60-40.

Potential banning of his infinite
Though the Smash Back Room doesn't specifically ban the short step infinite, many tournaments ban the short step chain grab because of its unfairness and King Dedede's massive grab range that allows him to shield grab many attacks. However, they always keep his running chain grab, which is not so extreme. Many tournaments ban it exclusively because other chain grabs aren't so extreme (Ice Climbers for example relies on chain grabbing heavily and has poor grab range).

Trivia

 * When King Dedede gets a Hammer or Golden Hammer, he swings both his own hammer and the Hammer/Golden Hammer together, alternating swings for each hammer. While he will still swing both his hammer and the stick of the Hammer if the head falls off or both his hammer and the useless one if a Golden Hammer is squeaky, his hammer will not do any damage.
 * The in-game announcer in the JP version pronounces Dedede "day-day-day". In other versions, it is pronounced "dee-dee-dee".
 * When King Dedede inhales something big (like a player or a box), pause the game and look around his neck. There will be a gap between his head and his shoulder, which you can see the stage through.
 * King Dedede is the only antagonist of a series in Smash Bros. to KO a fighter without needing the use of a Dark Cannon.
 * King Dedede is the only antagonist not to have entirely evil intentions in the subspace emissary. This is similar to most canon Kirby games, where Dedede often helps the heroes or has hidden goals.
 * Along with Snake, King Dedede is the first "Super-Heavy" Weight character in the top tier.
 * King Dedede's F-Smash can execute faster by charging the move slightly.
 * It is likely that his fourth costume's color is a reference to [|tyrian purple].