Donkey Kong (SSBM)/Forward aerial

Hitbox visualization showing Donkey Kong's forward aerial.

Overview[edit]

Donkey Kong winds back, before slamming downwards with both hands in an axe-chop. It has two knockback angles, depending upon when DK hits the opponent. The early hit, despite technically having the Sakurai angle, will always launch the opponent diagonally up and away because of its incredibly high knockback (capable of KO'ing Bowser at 128% from center stage, which is comparable knockback to Game & Watch's neutral aerial). The late hit is a meteor smash. The move is a very slow aerial that is very risky to use in neutral, though it does see use in some niche applications, such as a whiff punish due to its long range and wind up, or as an overshoot option against opponents that like to dashback a lot, in a similar vein to Falcon's stomp. It's also not wise to use it off-stage to edgeguard opponents, especially from the bottom of the stage instead of a platform, since the move's end lag is a full half of a second, which, thanks to DK's weak vertical recovery, risks a self-destruct. Where the move really shines in DK's kit, however, is as a combo finisher and kill move.

The move can true combo from his Cargo up throw and down aerial at high percents against some characters like Sheik and Marth, and will false combo against many other characters, such that their only escape option is to airdodge out. This makes the aforementioned combos into common kill confirms against a lot of the cast. It's also an extremely common combo-ender for his up air juggles when his giant punch is uncharged. In both of these situations, the desirable hit is the early one, since the meteor smash hitboxes can be meteor cancelled, potentially allowing the opponent to punish DK or get back to stage for free.

In the event that a combo ended with forward aerial fails to kill, it almost always puts the opponent into an edgeguard situation, which is very advantageous for DK, as he has numerous powerful edgeguarding tools to ensure an off-stage opponent's stock is taken. These tools include his difficult-to-challenge aerial Spinning Kong, which has intangibility on his limbs and a large amount of full-body intangibility when performed immediately after a ledge grab, his disjointed back aerial, and his spammable down tilt which can cover ledge.

Hitboxes[edit]

ID	Part	Damage	SD	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			Sound
Clean hit
0	0	16%	0	20	100	0	7.0308	52	7.319844	0.0	0.0	Punch
1	0	16%	0	20	100	0	7.0308	30	7.319844	0.0	0.0	Punch
2	0	16%	1	20	100	0	3.1248	51	2.659986	0.0	0.0	Punch
3	0	16%	1	20	100	0	3.1248	29	2.659986	0.0	0.0	Punch
Late hit
0	0	16%	0	50	80	0	6.2496	52	7.319844	0.0	0.0	Kick
1	0	16%	0	50	80	0	6.2496	30	7.319844	0.0	0.0	Kick
2	0	16%	1	50	80	0	3.1248	51	2.659986	0.0	0.0	Kick
3	0	16%	1	50	80	0	3.1248	29	2.659986	0.0	0.0	Kick

Timing[edit]

Clean hit	25-26
Late hit	27-29
Ending autocancel	85-
Animation length	59
Interruptible*	85

Landing lag[edit]

Animation length	30
L-cancelled animation length	15

Normal

L-cancelled

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)
Lag time	Hitbox	Hitbox change

Trivia[edit]

The move should become interruptible on frame 60 but due to the late auto-cancel window, the move is programmed to not be interruptible until frame 85. Despite this, the move still has an FAF of 60 due to its animation length. The developers most likely intended the move to be auto-cancellable from frame 56 but due to a timing error, it cannot be auto-cancelled until frame 85. This auto-cancel window would not be fixed until Ultimate version 2.0.0.
The move has the longest startup of any aerial in the game at 24 frames, which is 3 frames longer than the 2nd-longest aerial, Bowser's up-air, which has 21 frames of startup.
The move draws inspiration from Donkey Kong's midair attack in Donkey Kong 64, which itself was inspired by his forward air in Smash 64.