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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. However, he is capable of puffing up for multiple jumps, like Kirby and Jigglypuff. He was confirmed on October 25th, 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: The Crystal Shards.

King Dedede is currently ranked 12th on the tier list, in the upper-mid tier. This is due to his amazing chaingrab and powerful throws combined with an extensive grab range, ability to Sacrificial KO, fantastic edge guard game, 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, good Waddle Dee Toss projectile blocking, a few quick, hard hitting attacks, and having what could be considered one of the best defensive games, which is made better by being one of the most difficult characters to KO in the game. Yet, he also excels horizontally due to possessing fearsome edge-guarding capabilities, great horizontal endurance, and one of the least gimpable recoveries in the game (which consists of four midair jumps and his main recovery move, Super Dedede Jump, providing armor during the ascent, a meteor smash hitbox during the descent, and good horizontal and vertical distance). Additionally, King Dedede boasts tremendous reach and power throughout his moveset (with his forward tilt being a long-ranged spacing tool, and his up tilt being a quick anti-air attack), a strong aerial game (with his back aerial being considered one of the overall best attacks in Brawl), and a versatile projectile in his Waddle Dee Toss. However, his laggy attacks and trouble controlling his Super Dedede Jump has kept him from being in the higher tiers.

King Dedede is one of the largest, slowest-moving characters with terrible mobility, being on par with Ganondorf for the worst in Brawl. Dedede possesses the third-slowest dash speed and the slowest air speed, giving him general difficulty keeping up with fast and/or small characters, and he also relies much more on reading them. While Dedede's camping abilities are decent, he has significant trouble breaking through opposing camping due to being such a large and slow character. Waddle Dee Toss is also too laggy (startup and ending-wise) to help him outcamp strong projectile campers like Falco. Additionally, Dedede's weight and falling speed make him quite vulnerable to chain throws and combos (though his only moderate falling acceleration saves him from being affected as severely as other fast fallers are). This overall results in strong, yet polarizing matchups (Dedede counters a large portion of the cast, while he is also countered by several top/high-tier characters), along with excellent tournament results (especially in Meta Knight-banned tournaments).

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. He is easy to hit offstage but he can still almost always make it back. Although he is the fastest faller in the game, his falling acceleration is not very fast so it is more beneficial than harmful. As such, this makes King Dedede less vulnerable to chain throws and allows him to pull off two B-airs in a single short hop.

King Dedede is also the fourth heaviest character, with the fastest falling speed, giving him the best vertical endurance in the game (noticeably longer than the second most resistant vertical KO character, Snake). He is also great at Momentum Canceling, Link is the only character in the game that has a more notable benefit from vertical momentum canceling (though Dedede's vertical endurance is still notably better). Even though his basic horizontal momentum canceling is rather poor, the Super Dedede Jump can be used as a difficult but effective horizontal momentum canceling technique (but because of King Dedede's very slow air speed and the fact that he can't use his jumps or aerials after, jumping is generally a safer Momentum Canceling in most cases). Due to the large amount of horizontal momentum it negates, it gives Dedede the fourth best maximum horizontal endurance in the game. This, combined with his far and very hard to gimp recovery, can make him a dangerously tough match-up for many characters that lack reliable KO moves with high knockback scaling.

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 tied with Zelda and slowest air speed). Dedede has reach, power, favorable hitboxes, and attack speed mixed throughout his entire arsenal, with arguably his best attack, the back air, possessing all four attributes. Despite being a super heavyweight and having early KO moves, KOing can be difficult at times due to his KO moves either having slow start-up/ending lag, being forced to have the opponent in the air, being predictable, and/or having low horizontal reach. This can be one of his biggest problems, as almost every attack Dedede uses has some sort of lag. However, his up tilt, arguably his best finisher, has great vertical reach with a very large and long lasting hitbox, with great vertical knockback (it is the second strongest u-tilt in the game behind Snake's). While it is a great KO move in some situations, on platform less stages such as Final Destination, it can have difficulty KOing without setting up as its hitbox doesn't extend that far from Dedede's body. Despite this, he is excellent at edge-guarding and gimping. He is a versatile edgeguarder, with many edgeguard options. He can edgeguard with a B-air or F-air Wall of Pain, both of which are powerful aerials that reliably KO under 150%. He can gimp recoveries with thrown Waddle Dees, his forward tilt, and his down tilt. His forward smash is especially deadly on recovering opponents, often KOing any recovering opponent above 25%. Even his dash attack can be used for edgeguarding due to its hitbox having far horizontal reach and having long duration. A crafty Dedede can even fool an opponent into a kill at 40% by using his forward-smash, although this is risky as his forward smash (the strongest in the game) is extremely laggy despite its reach (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 Toss 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 perform Dededecide, or Regicide, easiest when King Dedede is offstage for punishing characters close to the edge or edge guarders, though these are not very useful used onstage because it gives the opponent a long time to escape from Inhale 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 if not KOd by them given his great vertical recovery) due to being a slow, large target. That means he can be tough to get close for damage without high damage risks because of his amazing grab game, but because of his very slow mobility and lack of a good enough projectile to be used to force or stop approaches it forces the opponent to camp very hard against him. As a result of the opponent being forced to camp, King Dedede matches tend to take a long time against many characters.

Where Dedede really shines is in his ability to transition defense into a powerful offense. With powerful throws and the one of the best chain throws in the game, many characters can be easily punished while approaching Dedede. His down throw can chain throw many characters regardless of damage percent due to having set knockback, and he is capable of infinitely chain throwing Donkey Kong, Samus, Mario, and Luigi (though in the last three cases, he has to pummel after five throws to refresh it so the Stale-Move Negation doesn't remove the infinite, and because of his very slow pummel, it is possible to mash fast enough to escape from the pummel until about 120%). He can also chain throw anyone weighing 87 (Marth or heavier) infinitely against a wall. Dedede's forward throw ends chain throws that have reached the edge with significant damage, with the added bonus of putting opponents into a recovery situation, where Dedede can begin utilizing his amazing edgeguard game which is deadly against characters with a poor recovery like Link and to a lesser extent, characters with a slow recovery like Snake. 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 grabbing reach 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 down tilt and the aforementioned up tilt.

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

Moveset[]

Ground Attacks[]

Normal[]
  • Neutral Attack - A three part attack: first is a horizontal swipe, then a vertical swipe, and finally a repeating, indefinite hammer spin in the fashion of a drill. 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. Though its reach is good for a jab, it is one of the worst jabs in the game as it has slow start-up (slowest start-up in the game among neutral attacks) as well as being rather slow to the second and third hit. Does 6% for the first hit, 5% for the second hit, and 1% to 2% for each hit in the "drill" portion.
  • Dash Attack - Trips and face-plants forward, like he does in several Kirby games. A good deal of starting and ending lag, but deals a large amount of damage, has high KO potential (strongest dash attack in the game). It is powerful enough to KO even under 100% (it KOs reliably around 115%). Even though it is slow, it has a massive hitbox (it covers Dedede's entire body and extend some in the front) and it has a long duration. Due to this, it can be used as a deadly edgeguarder and it punishes spot dodgers, as the hitbox often lasts longer than the invincibility frames from the sidestep dodge. Does 16%.
  • Forward tilt - Extends his hammer forward and spins it. Long lasting hitbox but produces very low knockback. However, it has amazing reach - the farthest of any non-projectile ground attack, and is somewhat fast compared to other attacks of similar range. As such, it is a useful spacing move, especially on slower characters, but is generally unsafe at point blank range. Does 6% with the initial hitbox, the subsequent hitbox does 4%.
  • Up tilt- Sets his hammer on the ground momentarily and jumps a little upwards, headbutting. It has surprisingly fast start-up with low ending lag. It has great vertical reach and a massive hitbox that covers Dedede's entire body. Due to this and its hitbox having a long duration, it is great for a spot dodge, rolling dodge and air dodge trapper. It has very high knockback scaling and is the second strongest up tilt in the game (without DI and momentum canceling, Snake's up tilt KOs most characters a 1% or 2% faster due to its higher base knockback). Is often considered on par with Snake's up tilt for being the best up tilt in the game, usually done immediately after rolling towards the opponent or to punish characters landing with an air dodge. Snake's up tilt tends to perform better on flat stages such as Final Destination due to its good horizontal reach, which Dedede's lack and is a better out of shield option. However, Dedede's tends to perform better on stages with platforms from below such as Battlefield, as Dedede's has a longer lasting and wider hitbox, slightly better vertical reach, and the fact that Dedede's doesn't have a sourspot like Snake's does (though Snake's sourspot still has high knockback). In the end, whichever up tilt is better depends largely on the situation. Does 12%.
  • Down tilt- Extends just one of his legs and sweeps the ground with it. It has average speed but fairly good knockback and pretty good reach for a down tilt, and like Dedede's other tilts it has a long hitbox duration (though it is shorter than his forward and up tilts). Has decent edgeguard ability, particularly against characters with poor ledge sweetspots, though generally one of his aerials or forward smash is a more useful option. Does 10%
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. Slowest start-up in the game for a forward smash (43 Frames) and needs to sweetspot to be powerful, but it has extremely powerful horizontal knockback when sweetspotted, has rather low ending lag compared to its start-up and has very long reach (which makes it difficult to punish). It has extremely high base knockback and knockback scaling, being the second strongest in both categories among forward smashes (only Snake's has higher base knockback and Ike's has higher knockback scaling). When it comes to KO percentage, King Dedede's forward smash is the strongest in the game, KOing reliably at 60% uncharged. It can also be used as a risky, but deadly edgeguarder, often KOing recovering opponents above 30%. It is significantly weaker when sourspotted, dealing half the damage and not KOing until about 160%. The sweetspot produces a much louder "thud" when landed. Does 25% uncharged and 33% fully charged when sweetspotted. Does 12% uncharged and 16% fully charged when sourspotted. The "quake" hitbox at the end of the forward smash does 6% uncharged and 8% fully charged with extremely low vertical knockback, with its main purpose being to make the forward smash less punishable. Both the hitboxes of the sweetspot and sourspot have transcendent priority.
  • Up Smash - Pulls back the hammer then swings vertically upwards from in front of him. It has strong vertical knockback with average base knockback and high knockback scaling along with a hitbox that covers the area in front of and behind Dedede, as well as above him. However, it has slow start-up lag and even worse ending lag with rather average damage output for an up smash. When uncharged, it is weaker than his up tilt as well as being much slower. As such, Dedede's up smash is often neglected and is not often used. KOs reliably around 120-125%. Does 14% uncharged and 19% fully charged. The hitbox in Dedede's up smash does have transcendent priority.
  • Down Smash - Pulls back the hammer and then spins it horizontally along the ground. Slow start-up and ending lag for a down smash, though Dedede's down smash does not have the horrible start-up of his forward smash or the ending lag of his up smash. The down smash does have fairly good horizontal reach with above average vertical knockback (it is weaker than the up tilt and smash however). It works well as a roll dodge and air dodge trapper as the hitbox is swept around Dedede and like his other attacks, it too has a hitbox with a long duration. Despite being the least powerful of his smash attacks, his down smash can be considered Dedede's most reliable smash due to it being faster than the other two smashes while having a favorable hitbox. This is occasionally his preferred ground finisher against short characters on platformless stages like Final Destination, where landing an up tilt would be difficult. Does 15% uncharged and 21% fully charged. Like Dedede's other smashes, the hitbox of the down smash has transcendent priority.
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 Attack - Quickly kicks to the side his feet are facing, then kicks in the other direction.
  • 100% Floor Attack - Slowly gets up and swings his hammer in front of him, then sticks his hammer behind him and spins it.

Aerial Attacks[]

  • Neutral Aerial - Sticks his arms out and legs back, body slamming with his large stomach. Very fast start-up with a hitbox that covers Dedede's entire body and has a long duration but below average knockback. Minimal landing lag. Has properties similar to a Sex Kick, with the initial hitbox being much stronger than the subsequent hitbox. Both the initial and subsequent hitboxes have transcendent priority. Can fastfall the attack so the later hitbox hits the opponent, setting up well for other attacks like his grab or up tilt. Does 12% with the initial hitbox and does 7% with the subsequent hitbox.
  • Forward Aerial - Swings hammer upwards in front of him. Somewhat slow start-up lag and is generally awkward to use against grounded opponents, especially due to its noticeable landing lag. While difficult to utilize against grounded opponents, it is very useful for edgeguarding due to its good top-to-bottom coverage, strong knockback, and low ending lag, which allows it to be used in Wall of Pains in conjunction with his B-air. Due to Dedede's extreme fastfall and fair's vertical reach, Dedede can fastfall while attacking to great effect giving it humongous range. Does 15%.
  • Back Aerial - Thrusts a foot out behind him, kicking with it. Overall a quick attack in both starting and ending, good horizontal reach, strong horizontal knockback, and a hitbox with long duration. Dedede can string multiple B-airs at low percentages and use it in conjunction with his fair in Wall of Pains. When it is not stale, it is also a reliable KO move, reliably KOing under 150%. It does have some landing lag, but is difficult to punish when properly spaced. Arguably the best back air in the game and is often considered Dedede's best attack. Has properties of a Sex Kick, with the initial hitbox being stronger than the subsequent hitbox, though the subsequent hitbox only does 3% less damage with its knockback not being that much lower. Does 13% with the initial hitbox and 10% with the subsequent hitbox.
  • Up Aerial - Sticks his hammer above him and spins it. Multiple hits, good for racking up damage. Final hit deals pretty good vertical knockback. Good anti-air move. Somewhat quick along with good, disjointed vertical reach though its hitbox is not that wide, making it difficult to hit some characters in the air, though it is hard for floatier characters with poor aerial mobility to avoid it. Does a minimum of 2% with a maximum of 19%.
  • Down Aerial - Similar to his Up Aerial, but extends his hammer below him and is a bit slower. It also has more hitlag with each hit. It has decent start up and low end lag, along with low vertical knockback on the final hit, which sets up well for many of Dedede's other aerials (including another down air) at low to medium percents. Also like up air, its long duration and fairly low end lag make it great at countering certain vertically oriented moves, like Meta Knight's Shuttle Loop. If he uses his Dair when he's flying past the upwards blast line, a glitch will occur that causes the spinning sound effect to last the entire time he's being star KO'd. Does a minimum of 2% and a maximum of 17%.

Grabs and Throws[]

Note: King Dedede has the longest non-tether grab in the game, which when combined with his weight and high traction, make him the best shield grabber in the game, being able to shield grab even powerful attacks.

  • Pummel - Lays his hammer on the ground and headbutts them. Despite being a slow 3% pummel, only the first hit counts towards Stale-Move Negation. Does 3% per hit.
  • Forward Throw - Clubs opponent with hammer. A fast throw with high knockback for a throw, though it is weaker than his back throw. Does occasionally KO near the edge of stages if the opponent DIs poorly. Does 12%.
  • Back Throw - Hits opponent with hammer behind himself. It is the most damaging throw in the game and is also fairly powerful in knockback. It is slower than his forward throw, though it is still rather fast. Has KO potential at very high percents. Does 16%.
  • Up Throw - Hits opponent upward by sticking both his hands upward. Can KO easily in Sudden Death like most of his throws. Often neglected and rarely used. Does 9%.
  • Down Throw - Slams opponent on ground and sits on top of them. Is a weak semi spike of sorts. This throw has set knockback capable of chain throwing anyone weighing 87 (Marth) or higher (except Luigi, see below) by dash grabbing before the opponent can react. Lighter characters will tumble, thereby letting them bounce or tech off the stage, preventing another grab (tech chasing is possible, but most characters need only roll away from Dedede to prevent a counterattack). A small number of characters can cancel their reel before hitting the stage, these are: Captain Olimar, Mr. Game & Watch, Jigglypuff and Kirby. The heavier the character, the less distance he is knocked back, meaning lighter characters require better timing in order to chain throw. There are however other factors, such as traction, which makes a lone Ice Climber the most difficult (relatively) to chain throw, despite Marth being lighter. This also prevents Luigi from being chain thrown in this manner: due to his uniquely low traction, he slides out of Dedede's reach. Once reaching the edge of the stage, he can use another down throw or a forward throw to set an edgeguard situation, or alternatively, follow up with either his forward or down tilts while the opponent is still on stage. Forward tilt is a follow up on every character that can be chain thrown, including some lightweights that do not tech. Down tilt is however more specific, being a possible follow up on only a handful of characters: Bowser (can also be hit with down smash), Donkey Kong, Snake, Charizard, Samus, Yoshi, and ROB (the reasons for due to a combination of weight, character width, and ironically, falling speed, with the floaty heavyweights being knocked back slightly more vertically but less horizontally). On these characters, down tilt is seen as a better KO option at high percentages given its greater power and less directional influence ability than forward throw. Furthermore, due to a myriad of strange properties, down throw has a standing infinite on four characters: Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, and Samus, with an additional infinite in certain situations where the opponent slides just off the edge of the stage: Wolf, Bowser, and comically, Dedede himself (see chain throw for more information). Though like the down tilt follow up, these require decent timing (most obvious with the Mario Bros.) and can't be done by simply mashing the corresponding button (except on Bowser). This is also an easy infinite on anyone Marth's weight or more (including Luigi and again theoretically excluding the Ice Climbers against a wall. 8% damage.

Special Moves[]

King Dedede's Special Moves
Brawl 3DS/Wii U Ultimate
Standard Special Inhale
Side Special Waddle Dee Toss Gordo Throw
Up Special Super Dedede Jump
Down Special Jet Hammer
Final Smash Waddle Dee Army Dedede Burst Dede-Rush

On Stage appearance[]

Is carried in on a palanquin by four Waddle Dees, then jumps off, scattering them.


Taunts[]

  • Up: Hoists his hammer above his head and pumps it up and down. Oddly, the sound is out of sync 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.

Battle Entrance

  • He is carried by Waddle Dees in a sedan chair and he jumps off.

Matchups[]

According to the current SmashBoards matchup chart, King Dedede's matchup spread has the ninth highest unweighted rank, and eleventh highest weighted total. King Dedede has overall very positive matchups. He is hard countered in two matchups, countered in three matchups, and soft countered in three matchups. He has five even matchups, and soft counters six characters, counters eight, hard counters eight, and has one close to unloseable matchup which is Bowser. King Dedede's matchups are very polarized, however, as he has seven disadvantageous matchups and three advantageous ones against top and high-tiered characters, and seven disadvantageous and four advantageous against characters higher-tiered than him. Conversely, King Dedede has only one disadvantageous matchup and five even matchups against characters lower-tiered than him, and he harshly counters lower tier characters moreso than other top/high tier characters do besides Meta Knight. King Dedede tends to have advantageous matchups against characters he can chain throw with his down throw, and tends to have disadvantageous matchups against characters who can overwhelm him with fast attack speed, such as Meta Knight and Fox, as well as characters that can outcamp him and force him to approach, such as Falco and Olimar. King Dedede hard counters several characters due to his down throw chain throw; King Dedede can perform a small-step and/or infinite chaingrab on Wolf, Donkey Kong, Bowser, Mario, Samus, and Luigi, that can deal very heavy damage. King Dedede can also perform a standing infinite ground-release-chaingrab on Ness. Conversely, King Dedede struggles against characters that are too light to be chain-grabbed, such as Meta Knight, Olimar, and Falco, with the aforementioned characters possessing ways to easily camp him back. He is also hard countered by the Ice Climbers due to lack of safe options to approach without getting grabbed.

Tier placement and history[]

In the early Brawl metagame, King Dedede was seen as among the best characters in the game, being ranked as high as 3rd on the first tier list. This was due to his strong down throw chain throw and back aerial, which were effective against many top-tier characters at the time, including Snake, Wario, and R.O.B., and gave him a strong presence at tournaments of the first years of Brawl's lifetime. Dedede was also known as one of the best counters to mid and low tiered characters, as his bair was highly effective agaist these characters, who lacked the variety of options compared to top tiers. However, the characters he did well against steadily lost their foothold on the Brawl metagame; Snake was no longer considered the second best character in the game, Wario fell to the high tiers, and R.O.B. plummeted to mid-tier viability. In addition, as character diversity declined, the mid and low tiers that Dedede countered became increasingly rare in the tournament scene. Meanwhile, faster characters who cannot be reliably chain thrown, such as Meta Knight, Olimar, and the Ice Climbers, have climbed to power and dominated tournaments. Dedede saw his own gradual fall on the tier list, first dropping into the high tiers, then falling to as low as 12th in the upper mid tier as of April 2013. His decline on the tier list, combined with the fact that his best players, such as Mew2King, Atomsk, CO18, and Coney, became inactive in the Brawl scene or stopped using him in favor of other characters, has resulted in a large decrease in tournament play and earnings.

Although King Dedede was eventually considered a non-viable character due to his severe matchup difficulties against Meta Knight and the Ice Climbers, the two most dominant characters in tournaments, he was still popular as a pocket character due to being relatively easy to play and having strong matchups against nearly every lower-tiered character, as well as several top-tiers; he notably has strong matchups versus Snake and Wario, and is the only character along with Meta Knight who has a winning matchup versus Marth. His most prominent player, Atomsk, usually played King Dedede only in favorable matchups or against lower-tiered characters, and used Meta Knight against most top tiers. Vex Kasrani, however, became known as a solo King Dedede main late in Brawl's competitive lifetime, and was able to defeat Vinnie, ADHD, and numerous top Meta Knight players in NY/NJ, despite the perceived matchup difficulties.

Role in the Subspace Emissary[]

Dedede Subspace Emissary

King Dedede in the Subspace Emissary.

It is revealed on the official website that King Dedede was involved in helping the takeover of the battleship Halberd. 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 during the end of The Battlefield Fortress, 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 cargo. King Dedede then steals the cargo 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. He goes to put the last badge on the princess, but finds he does not have enough, and ends up using the brooch he made for himself on the princess, another of his moments of kindness. He then intends to make another brooch for himself. 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 the Koopa Troopas 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 Ness and Luigi in Subspace. Bowser kidnaps the princess, and her broach falls off, which Kirby eats.

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 similar to his roles in the Kirby games. Glad to see that they are okay, and that they revived him, King Dedede sets out with Ness and Luigi to save the other fighters from Tabuu. 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 swallowed the badge for the princess earlier), and is very happy to see Kirby alive, giving Kirby a big hug before he literally drags Kirby off to Tabuu's residence. If the player revived Wario during gameplay, King Dedede is attacked by Wario while walking up the staircase to the Great Maze (Most likely as payback for stealing his Cargo). 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, and joins the trio. King Dedede joins the rest of the characters for the rest of the story, beating Tabuu with help from Sonic.

Playable appearances[]

King Dedede makes several cameo appearances before finally becoming playable. He first appears during the epilogue of The Battlefield Fortress. He appears once again in The Lake Shore, and The Path to the Ruins where he is crushed by the falling rubble from Bowser crashing into the castle from its roof, and turned into a trophy.


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[]

Costume Gallery[]

Alt-kingdedede

King Dedede's costume changes

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 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 (the Ice Climbers for example rely on chain grabbing heavily and have poor grab range, there are also strict timing limitations for each character and percentage).

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 a squeaky Golden Hammer, his hammer will not do any damage.
  • In the Subspace Emissary, when Dedede defeats Bowser, Bowser yells at him in which he appears to be saying, 'What's gotten into you?', and he points to Master Hand. This could be another hint that King Dedede was in fact affiliated with their army.
  • The in-game announcer in the JP version pronounces Dedede "day-day-day". This is because in Japanese, the "e" sound resembles the English "ay" sound. However, 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 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, which appears to be harmful, but turns out to be helpful in the end.
  • King Dedede is the only antagonist to KO a fighter without needing the use of a Dark Cannon in The Subspace Emissary.
  • Along with Snake, King Dedede was the first "Super-Heavyweight" character in the top tier. Neither are currently in the S Tier, however.
  • His uncharged, sweetspotted F-Smash is stronger than a fully-charged Jet Hammer. The former KOs Bowser at 56% from the center of Final Destination while the latter KOs at 60%.
  • King Dedede is voiced by Masahiro Sakurai, the game's director. He also voiced King Dedede in many other Kirby games as well.
  • King Dedede is the only fast-faller in Brawl that can perform two aerials in a single short-hop by using his bair.
  • King Dedede's forward smash has the same amount of frames as Ike's and Snake's forward smashes. When compared to them, Dedede's forward smash has the most start-up lag but the least ending lag.
  • King Dedede, Mario, Ness, Diddy Kong, and R.O.B. are the only characters to wear their default costumes in team battles, when they are on the red team.
  • King Dedede's battle entrance in the stage may be a reference to his laziness.
  • King Dedede carries his mallet at all times, like the Ice Climbers.
  • King Dedede is the only heavyweight character in Brawl that has up to four midair jumps.
  • Waddle Dee Toss and Waddle Dee Army are King Dedede's only special moves that were exclusively designed for Brawl. Both his Inhale and Super Dedede Jump debuted in Kirby's Dream Land. While Jet Hammer debuted in Brawl, it reappeared in another game, which is Kirby Super Star Ultra.
  • There exists a glitch on the Mushroomy Kingdom stage. If King Dedede were to grab Bowser while standing on the stack of blocks to the left of the first invisible block of the stage-scrolling cycle, and Bowser were to hit the block to solidify it and then jump backwards onto the stack of blocks to the right of the block, Bowser will rapidly flip between his aerial grab and grounded grab animation.


  • When King Dedede spot dodges, he goes so far into the Z-axis that even when his invincibility ends many attacks will still miss. This is especially noticeable when King Dedede spams his spot dodge, with most characters having only 2 frames to grab him.



External links[]

KirbySymbol Kirby universe
Characters Kirby (64  · Melee  · Brawl  · 3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)
Meta Knight (Brawl  · 3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)
King Dedede (Brawl  · 3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)
Side Characters Boss Marx
Assist Trophies Knuckle Joe  · Nightmare  · Chef Kawasaki
Mii Fighter Costumes Meta Knight  · Marx
Background characters King Dedede
Stage Hazards Whispy Woods
Enemies Bonkers  · Bronto Burt  · Gordo  · Parasol Waddle Dee  · Plasma Wisp  · Shotzo  · Tac  · Waddle Dee  · Waddle Doo
Stages Dream Land  · Fountain of Dreams  · Green Greens  · Halberd  · Dream Land GB  · The Great Cave Offensive
Items Bomber  · Dragoon  · Maxim Tomato  · Parasol  · Star Rod  · Superspicy Curry  · Warp Star
Music List List of Music (Kirby series)
Song "Gourmet Race"
Collectibles Trophies Melee Trophies  · Brawl Trophies  · 3DS Trophies  · Wii U Trophies
Stickers List of Stickers (Kirby series)
Spirits List of spirits (Kirby series)
Masterpieces Kirby's Dream Land  · Kirby's Adventure  · Kirby Super Star
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