Donkey Kong (Super Smash Bros.)

This article is about Donkey Kong's appearance in Super Smash Bros. For other uses, see Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong
Universe	Donkey Kong
Also appears in	Melee Brawl SSBWU/3DS
Availability	Starter
Tier	B (9)

Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング, Donkey Kong) is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. He is known as a slow (in terms of attacks) yet powerful character, with his trademark move being the Giant Punch, which, when fully charged, deals 36% damage.

DK is ranked 9th in the tier list for his powerful moves and his infamous grab release. However he is somewhat slow, and is the largest and heaviest character in Super Smash Bros., making him viable for many combos.

Attributes

Donkey Kong's ending picture in Super Smash Bros.

Donkey Kong is the heaviest and largest character in Super Smash Bros. This means he gets hit quite easily (and having a poor shield cover makes this worse), but he can take many hits before being KOed. Like most heavyweights, DK has attacks that deal lots of damage and have good knockback. He also has two spikes, and his Giant Punch is extremely powerful when fully charged. However, he has slow attacks, and most of his KOs still require setup. Contrary to popular belief, Donkey Kong has slightly above average dashing speed.

Donkey Kong has a great grabbing/throwing game, due to having the longest non-tether grabbing horizontal range, terrific throw combos (especially when there are walls), and an infinite throw called the Infinite Throw Trap. Donkey Kong has good reach, which allows for good combos despite his slow attack speed, but he lacks a projectile, as well as a reliable way to deal with them, making his approach poor and unvaried. Donkey Kong's Up Special Move, Spinning Kong, travels great horizontal distance, but poor vertical distance. It should be noted that Donkey Kong is extremely vulnerable to combos, due to being very large, very heavy, and falling somewhat quickly.

In high level play, DK is known for his incredible priority and for Back Throw gimps. He is known as a heavy counter to Jigglypuff, as he can grab, cargo, release, and regrab into a Giant Punch for kills. DK however has problems with projectiles and characters like Fox, Kirby, and Falcon combo DK too heavily.

DK is usually considered to be the best low tier in Low Tier Tournaments due to his punch combos, and the fact that there are a very low amount of projectile users in low tiers.

In Doubles

DK is considered to be better for doubles than singles, as he is better at killing as opponent characters are forced to approach. What helps him also is that partners can save him from large grab combos and that he is one of the few characters with a good recovery. DK also happens to be excellent at gimping, one of the main ways of KOing in teams. This is especially true on Dream land.

Moveset

		Image	Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack				3-4%	A jab followed by an uppercut. Comes out fast, but has short range.
				3-4%
Forward tilt	↗			10-13%	A straightforward punch with decent range and good knockback.
	→			9-12%
	↘			9-11%
Up tilt				10-13%	DK swings one arm in an arc over his head. In terms of startuo, its the fastest up tilt in the game along with Kirby, but also contains the highest ending lag out of any up tilt.
Down tilt				6-8%	DK ducks and swings his arm at the opponent's feet. Often used as a spacing move.
Dash attack				9-12%	A very awkward move where DK sticks his foot out and stops. This move overall has bad range and duration, high amount of lag, and can easily shielded, being by far the worst dash attack in the game. This move also very low set knockback and will not hit foes that are lying on the ground.
Forward smash	↗			16-21%	Dk reels his hand back and thrusts it forward, delivering a powerful slap at the opponent. Very noticeable start-up, but good range and excellent knockback. This move can be angled up or down.
	→			15-20%
	↘			15-19%
Up smash				16-21%	DK claps both hands above his head. Despite having good vertical coverage, this attack has little horizontal range. Overall, a powerful finishing move to use on opponents standing on platforms above DK.
Down smash				15-19%	DK does a 360° spin while doing a split. Comes out surprisingly fast, for a move of Donkey Kong, and hits on both sides at the same time. However, it does have some ending lag.
Neutral aerial				12-15% (clean), 9-12% (late)	DK swirls around in the air. The attack last a long duration and is a good close-up move in the air.
Forward aerial				12-16%	Does a front flip with both his fists clasped together, smashing them onto the opponent. A powerful meteor smash if the foe is hit near the end of the animation.
Back aerial				12-15% (clean), 8-10% (late)	DK performs a reverse dropkick with both feet. Has sex kick properties, meaning it gets weaker the longer it stays out. DK is the only character in the whose neutral aerial isn't a sex kick.
Up aerial				9-12%	DK swings one arm in an arc over his head in a similar fashion to his up tilt. Unlike his up tilt, this attack is mostly used for juggling; barely KOing above 150% in most cases.
Down aerial				10-13% (clean), 8-10% (late)	A downward strike with both feet. A near-instantaneous meteor smash that contains a longer hitbox compared to most spikes.
Grab				—
Forward throw				6-8% (carry), 6-8% (throw)	DK holds the opponent on his back. He can then move around before throwing them forward. The opponent can break free of his grab by simply button mashing.
Back throw				14-18%	Turns around and tosses the opponent. Powerful in terms of both damage and knockback.
Floor attack (front)				5-6%	Kicks while on his back, forcing his body down, then picks himself up and kicks on the other side.
Floor attack (back)				5-6%	Kicks while on his back, forcing his body down, then picks himself up and kicks on the other side.
Edge attack (fast)				5-6%	Hoists himself onto the stage back-first, ramming into opponents. Has long range and deals low knockback, but very fast; considered to be a useful edge attack.
Edge attack (slow)				5-6%	Slowly climbs back onto the stage and Swipes one hand forward. Has long range and deals low knockback, ironically considered to be less useful than the fast ledge attack.
Neutral special		File:Giant Punch SSB.png	Giant Punch	11-36%	DK winds up for a powerful punch. The punch gets stronger the longer DK winds up his fist, being a powerful finishing move when fully charged. The charge can be cancelled by pressing the shield button or by pressing left or right on the control stick.
Up special		File:Spinning Kong SSB.png	Spinning Kong	9-12% (startup), 6-8% (loop), 3% (final hit)	DK spins around with both arms outstretched. While this move contains poor vertical distance, it can carry DK a good distance horizontally.
Down special			Hand Slap	8-10% (one slap)	Delivers an earth-shaking blow to the ground, sending nearby enemies skyward. It has considerable power, consistent and repetitive damage, and a large quake hitbox. This move cannot be used in midair.

Taunt

• Turns to his right, raises his arms so that his palms are facing upwards, and shrugs while shaking his head.

On-Screen Appearance

• Bursts out of a DK barrel.

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Character Matchups

Avg.

In Single-player

In the game's single-player mode, the player and two randomly chosen allies will fight a Giant DK on the Congo Jungle stage.

Strategies

Infinite Throw Trap

DK has the ability to use his Forward Throw as a method to constantly stack damage to most characters. In order to do this, DK must use the Cargo Throw, but he must not throw the opponent. If the opponent wiggles out, they will likely wiggle out into DK's grab range, whereupon they can be grabbed again. This throw trap can be broken if the opponent can shake towards DK and his grab. Yoshi and Ness have the most problem getting out of the throw trap due to their different midair jump. Pikachu is the easiest to get out with due to being able to get out of it using the invincibility frames of Quick Attack.

Another infinite trap is to use Hand Slap in the lower left part of Mushroom Kingdom to continuously damage the target. However, this can easily be teched out of, and it is not allowed in tournaments anyway, because the stage is banned.

Ledge Dropping

Due to DK's laggy aerials, DK has very little comboing potential with his aerials except Down Aerial or Forward Aerial into a Throw. However, if DK drops from a ledge, DK can quickly use an Up Aerial and then land to move to do another attack. DK can also jump, use an aerial, and land on a ledge for a similar effect. As a result, on ledges, DK can juggle characters with Up Aerial that he would otherwise never be able to. However, DK may accidentally Self-destruct while attempting this, due to the ending lag in his aerials. It is recommended to only try this on Planet Zebes or the top ledge of Sector Z.

Hand Slap Resets and Down Aerial Usage

DK can also cancel the first slap of the Hand Slap by moving the Control Stick directly back after the first slap to allow him to combo it into a Back Aerial, a grab, or even a Giant Punch or Up Smash to kill the majority of the cast outside of Luigi and Jigglypuff. DK's other main killing combo outside of grab-based gimps is Down Aerial into Up Smash or Down Aerial into Down Smash.

Edge Guarding

When an opponent is off the map jump off the map facing towards the map. Use up-B to knock your opponent further from the edge and then swing back to the edge and stay there so your opponent has nothing to grab. Also, when an opponent is off the map wait at the edge and time the use of the Donkey Punch to KO an opponent.

Description

Donkey Kong and Mario started out as arch-rivals, but they've patched things up in recent years. These days DK spends his time searching the jungle for bananas instead of kidnapping beautiful maidens. In the past few years, other members of the Kong family have cashed in on DK's fame as well, including his favorite nephew, Diddy.

Works:

• Donkey Kong (NES)
• Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
• Mario Kart 64 (N64)

Costume Gallery

Donkey Kong's changeable palette swaps in SSB

Trivia

• DK is one of 4 characters along with Kirby, Mario, and Captain Falcon in SSB to have a green costume not normally accessible via character select, only available if DK is in on the Green Team in Team Battle.
• Donkey Kong, along with Yoshi, is one of two characters in Super Smash Bros. to never be portrayed with head wear in-game.
• Donkey Kong is the only character in Super Smash Bros. that can walk while carrying a Crate or Barrel.
• Donkey Kong is the only character in Super Smash Bros. who can appear to be giant. This makes him to be the only character in all games that has a giant form.