Editing Donkey Kong (SSBU)

'''Donkey Kong''' ({{ja|ドンキーコング|Donkī Kongu}}, ''Donkey Kong'') is a playable character in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''. Initially teased in the then-unnamed ''Ultimate''{{'}}s announcement trailer, Donkey Kong was confirmed on June 12th, 2018. Donkey Kong is classified as [[Fighter number|Fighter #02]].

Donkey Kong is ranked 68th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him in the D+ tier. This is a significant drop from his 22nd out of 54 placement in ''SSB4'', and it is his worst placement in the series to date. Donkey Kong has surprisingly good mobility for a superheavyweight, having both a good dash and air speed, while possessing good KO power fitting for his weight class. He has the highest amount of conventional [[meteor smash]]es by default (forward and down aerials, [[Headbutt]] and [[Hand Slap]]), which gives him many options to net early kills on recovering opponents. His down tilt has a chance to trip; his up tilt is a solid anti air that can kill at high percents, his forward tilt is a good spacing tool, and his dash attack is a long-reaching, general-purpose move that has late-hit combo potential. His aerials are all good as they serve their purpose in Donkey Kong's strong advantage state, with back aerial as a good walling and edgeguarding option, up air as a strong juggling and KO tool, and neutral aerial as a good get-off-me or landing option. Donkey Kong also possesses one of the best throws in the game with his cargo throw, which works exceptionally well against characters with poor to mediocre recoveries, and can also net early KOs while on platforms. His specials are also effective: [[Giant Punch]] can now be used in the air without becoming [[helpless]]; Headbutt can punish overuse of shields and can [[armor]] through opposing attacks; grounded [[Spinning Kong]] has armor and functions as a powerful kill move and [[out of shield]] option; and Hand Slap can be used to set up for kill confirms and deny grounded approaches.

Donkey Kong is unsurprisingly a large [[Weight|super heavyweight]], having the same weight value as {{SSBU|King Dedede}}, and is the third-heaviest character in the game behind {{SSBU|Bowser}} and {{SSBU|King K. Rool}}. Despite this, he's one of the fastest heavy characters in the game, both in terms of general mobility and attack speed. He has the 10th fastest [[walk]]ing speed, the 29th fastest [[dash]]ing speed, the 16th highest [[traction]], above average [[falling speed]] and jumping force, and is tied with {{SSBU|Mario}}, {{SSBU|Sonic}}, {{SSBU|Little Mac}}, and {{SSBU|Inkling}} for the 13th fastest [[air speed]]. In contrast, he has below average [[gravity]] and moderately slow [[air acceleration]].

A typical heavyweight is expected to possess moves with high power, and Donkey Kong is no exception to this - it is possibly his greatest attribute. Donkey Kong has no problem with setting up into KOs with moves that have both high power and decent [[range]]: his sweetspotted up tilt, smash attacks, aerials, back throw, [[Giant Punch]], and grounded [[Spinning Kong]] are all prime examples. His ability to take stocks with his powerful attacks is made easier with his decent approach. His mobility and size work together to give him an effective grounded approach and longer range, respectively. All of these attributes combined allow him to have an easier time fighting in close quarters and landing attacks on his opponents. He also has very strong survivability thanks to his aforementioned high weight and above average falling speed, which is also common for his archetype. In total, Donkey Kong's attributes give him some of the best overall endurance in the game, with only {{SSBU|Bowser}} and {{SSBU|King K. Rool}} surpassing him horizontally.

Donkey Kong works well with his grounded moveset. His neutral attack has decent damage and startup. Forward tilt's long range makes it one of his main spacing tools and works better with its intangibility. Up tilt is a safe move to interrupt his opponents, with the move covering Donkey Kong's entire body, acting as an anti-air, and hitting through low platforms such as the ones on {{SSBU|Battlefield}}. Down tilt gives him a long range crouching option and has a chance to [[trip]] opponents. His dash attack works as a combo starter and a situational KO option at low and very high percentages, respectively. All of his smash attacks are notoriously strong and relatively fast, making them his go-to options for hard reads and scoring KOs. His aerial options also have considerable utility. His forward and down aerials are some of his best edgeguarding tools due to both of them being [[meteor smash]]es. His neutral aerial is hard to interrupt, helps him break out of combos, and is one of the strongest of its type in the game when hit clean. His up aerial serves as an effective vertical KO option (if the situation he's in allows for it) thanks to its high knockback, and it is also safe, as his head is intangible during it and it has modest end lag. His back aerial is his fastest aerial and is debatably an even better spacing tool than his forward tilt, being fast, long-ranged, and having a [[sex kick]]-like hitbox, with a long duration and high knockback when hit clean. His air speed allows his aerial moves to be used at their fullest potential and, with the exception of forward aerial, they’re all decently fast.

A well-known part of his playstyle is his grab game, as he has a long grab that allows for setups into the rest of his moves. Although his down throw has little to no use, every other option does to some extent. His [[pummel]] is slower compared to many others in the cast, but deals decent damage. Up throw has combo potential into his aerials and back throw is his primary kill throw, but his forward throw is easily his most useful one and possibly the most unique part of his character. During his forward throw, Donkey Kong can move, jump, and walk off the stage while having the opponent in his hands, acting like he usually would outside of a typical grab (aside from being unable to use his other moves and having only one jump). Forward throw also gives Donkey Kong different types of throws based on what direction is pressed, basically giving him eight throws; these are commonly known as the "cargo throws." Cargo forward and down throw both work as niche edgeguarding options, with cargo down throw even being a [[semi-spike]]. Cargo back throw does good damage and is a very solid kill throw. It also has utility as a [[stage spike]] unless his opponent is able to properly tech it. Finally, cargo up throw has more combo potential than his vanilla up throw, being able to combo into his aerials at low percents. Cargo up throw also possesses fairly good kill power, since Donkey Kong can jump and then heave his opponents for additional height.

Donkey Kong's special moves are also helpful for his gameplan. [[Giant Punch]] is his surprise KO and punish move, can be used to pressure the opponent, and has [[super armor]] if fully charged. [[Headbutt]] can [[bury]] opponents, which can allow him to setup into KOs, and spikes in the air. It has super armor during the move's startup and deals very high [[shield damage]] while also having deceptively long range, giving him a shield pressure option and the ability to call out poor shield positioning. Grounded [[Hand Slap]] has very long range and allows for stage control, but has no usage for aerial opponents, as it leaves Donkey Kong immobile and its hitbox only deals damage to grounded opponents. The aerial Hand Slap is his last move which can meteor smash and is fast, making it effective and easy to land. His final special move, [[Spinning Kong]], acts similarly to Bowser's [[Whirling Fortress]] as his primary [[out of shield]] option. It is hard to disrupt and is a multi-hit move with high damage. In the air, it works as an incredibly fast horizontal recovery option and deals a lot of damage if all the hits connect. Due to the speed [[Spinning Kong]] has in the air, it can work as an effective combo breaker.

However, despite his versatile moveset and high power, Donkey Kong falls into a plethora of problems. His defensive game is very poor, a common issue for characters of his size. While his massive weight gives him very high endurance and his large frame is the reason his range is better than characters like {{SSBU|Mario}} and {{SSBU|Squirtle}}, it becomes a problem when having to dodge attacks which is hard for him because he is a very large target. His tie hurtbox is also extremely large, further exacerbating the issue. Coincidentally, just like those two previously mentioned fighters, he has frequent trouble dealing with characters that have disjoints due to his lack of projectiles, primarily against swordfighters such as {{SSBU|Shulk}} and {{SSBU|Ike}}, hitboxes on moves such as {{SSBU|Mewtwo}}'s up and back aerials, or fast multi-hits such as {{SSBU|Palutena}}'s neutral air. Donkey Kong's size also makes him vulnerable to combos and [[juggling]], which is worsened by his lack of combo breakers (outside of neutral aerial and up special). The reintroduction of directional air dodges makes his aerial defense even more linear, and the new air dodge's increased ending lag hurts all characters; it debatably hurts a character such as Donkey Kong the most. Moreover, his otherwise great forward throw (cargo throw) also has certain drawbacks - notably, the risk of trying to slam the opponent into the ledge with a backward cargo throw. Due to Donkey Kong's horrid vertical recovery, if the opponent either DIs fast enough, squat jumps on him or simply has better air reach, this attempt for an easy KO may backfire. The trajectory of both forward and back cargo throw also possess a minor challenge. Unlike traditional forward and back throws, Donkey Kong sends the opponent at a high vertical angle instead of horizontal. This makes it more situational if they will KO or not, especially cargo forward throw. Cargo back throw ironically has more vertical range than his cargo up throw and therefore has more usage KOing at the top of the screen than the side. Thus, the player may find more reliability in a normal back throw near the edge.

Despite many of his moves having fast startup, Donkey Kong's moveset is made much slower by its ending lag, and most of his moves are not safe on hit at low percents. This forces him to be more careful with the moves he uses, as he can be heavily punished just for putting out one attack (a situation that can rapidly snowball due to his poor defensive options). Unlike the all-around heavyweight Bowser, perhaps Donkey Kong's most glaring weakness is his lack of out-of-shield options. Neither his neutral attack nor his tilts are enough to distance himself from an aggressive opponent if the player forces him to remain in shield. His forward tilt has good range, but lacks the power or perks of other super heavyweights, like Bowser's Tough Guy or King K. Rool's Belly Armour. A lot of his moves are also limited in some way despite their strengths: his smash attacks are slow and have very linear hitboxes; a chunk of his throws, despite their variety, don't have much utility; Giant Punch forces Donkey Kong to get up-close to the opponent to land the attack and needs to be charged for it to be effective; Headbutt and Hand Slap are both slow, causing them to be difficult to use for their intended purposes; and Spinning Kong, while it has decently long horizontal recovery distance, offers almost no vertical recovery and is prone to edgeguarding against meteor smashes, like {{SSBU|Captain Falcon}} and {{SSBU|Falco}}'s down aerials.

All in all, Donkey Kong's mixture of fast mobility, fairly long range, high weight, decent combo potential, and excellent kill power make him adept and flexible in many different situations, but killing and pressuring opponents stand out as his biggest strengths. Despite this, DK's high weight, large hurtbox, and lack of good escape tools make him vulnerable to many combos. In addition, his recovery is extremely poor, and his moveset is frequently punishable due to the end lag on many of his moves. As such, Donkey Kong has to capitalize on his power and range to limit opponents' approaches in order to win matches.

Donkey Kong has received several useful buffs, with those to his special moves being among the most notable. [[Giant Punch]] charges faster no longer leaves him helpless when used in the air, giving him a new edgeguarding option. [[Headbutt]] now grants him [[super armor]] before the hit comes, and moves also deal their full knockback when opponents are buried, both changes of which improve the moves' versatility. Grounded [[Spinning Kong]] has less difficulty linking its multi-hits and has faster super armor, while the aerial version is now a proper multi-hitting move with a finishing hit, making it safer. [[Hand Slap]] is generally faster and the aerial version has reduced landing lag, which gives Donkey Kong a useful combo starter and allows it to confirm into KOs at high percentages. Particularly, both it and Headbutt alleviate some of DK's difficulty with landing safely.

His biggest buff, however, comes from a vastly improved forward throw (cargo throw), which is much harder to mash out of and has had its cargo throws' properties improved; this grants him much more options and turns it into his most versatile throw, and arguably the best throw in the game overall. His [[dash attack]] also has less ending lag, giving him another combo starter if the late hit is landed and making it much safer if shielded. Donkey Kong's already impressive KO power has been further increased as well, as most of his moves deal more knockback. Further miscellaneous buffs include [[up smash]]'s previously infamous hitboxes being larger, making the move much easier to land.

Donkey Kong has been buffed via game updates. Initially, his most noteworthy buffs were to inconsistencies of two moves: forward aerial now autocancels properly (an issue that had been present since ''Melee'') and [[Giant Punch]]'s hitbox no longer shifts into the Z-axis, which would result in it missing opponents at point-blank range. Donkey Kong also benefits from the universal nerf on projectiles dealing less shield damage in update 3.0.0.

After receiving some minor buffs, patch 13.0.1 buffed Donkey Kong yet again. The second hit of Donkey Kong’s neutral attack was given more active frames and had it’s ending lag reduced. [[Giant Punch]] was given more super armor on both the ground and in the air. Most notably, Donkey Kong’s down tilt was given 5 additional frames of hitstun, this allows him to follow up with another attack in certain situations.

|neutraldesc=A hook followed by an uppercut. The second hit has above average power for a neutral attack, although generally speaking its KO potential is unimpressive. It can chain into itself fairly reliably at low percentages however.

|usmashdesc=An overhead clap. It grants intangibility to his head and arms (frames 12-15), effectively giving it disjointed hitboxes. It has immense power, being one of the strongest up smashes in the game, with it KOing Mario from the ground level of FD at 92% with optimal DI and no rage. In practice it will KO a bit sooner as it typically hits opponents in the air. Its startup is additionally rather fast for a move of its power (coming out in 14 frames), though it has a lengthy enough duration to be quite punishable (with the move's lasting 49 frames total). However it is hard to hit as its hitboxes are situated straight vertically above DK and aren't that large in size, while it lacks grounded launching hitboxes to launch grounded opponents into it like other vertically-placed up smashes have (e.g. Marcina's and R.O.B.'s up smashes).

|uairdesc=An upwards arcing headbutt that appears visually similar to his side special, Headbutt. It grants intangibility to his head on frames 5-10 and is one of the more powerful up aerials, killing Mario at around 140% from ground level. Those features, along with its fast startup and fairly low ending lag, make it a good move for juggling.

|nsdesc=A wind-up punch which fully charges after ten wind-ups. When fully-charged, the punch deals excellent damage, grants super armor and is overall faster than if used uncharged. Its charge can be [[charge cancel]]ed and saved, and chosen when to be released after being fully charged. Unlike in ''Melee'', ''Brawl'', and ''Smash 4'', Giant Punch does not induce helplessness in the air, much like in ''Smash 64''.

|fsdesc=Punches forward. If the initial hit connects, Donkey Kong will then perform a long series of rapid punches. Has about the same range as his forward smash, but extremely powerful, killing Mario as low as 24% on Final Destination.

*{{Sm|ChunkyKong|USA}} - One of the best Donkey Kong players of all-time and the best Donkey Kong player who solo-mains the character. Initially a Wi-Fi Warrior, he later became known for his performances in the second half of 2022, including placing 17th at {{Trn|Super Smash Con 2022}} over {{Sm|SHADIC}} and 13th at {{Trn|Let's Make Moves Miami}} over {{Sm|Kola}} and {{Sm|Aaron|p=Florida}}. Since then, he remains Donkey Kong's primary representative in North America, having defeated {{Sm|MuteAce}} at {{Trn|CEO 2023}} and {{Sm|Light|p=Connecticut}} at {{Trn|MomoCon 2024}}.

*{{Sm|HIKARU|Japan}} - Although known for using many characters, he has used Donkey Kong extensively in early-''Ultimate'' and as a secondary or co-main from 2022 onward, and is considered one of the best Donkey Kong players of all-time. He is best known for using Donkey Kong for most of {{Trn|Ultimate Fighting Arena 2022}}, placing 3rd while defeating {{Sm|Glutonny}} and {{Sm|Bloom4Eva}} along the way, marking the best performance for the character at a major. He retired in mid-2023 and has attended a couple of events since.

*{{Sm|Rarikkusu|Japan}} - One of the best Donkey Kong players in the world since 2023, playing the character alongside {{SSBU|Falco}}. He is best known for defeating {{Sm|Sparg0}} at {{Trn|DELTA 8}}, placing 13th overall, and has also placed 5th at {{Trn|Maesuma TOP 13.5 "U-22"}} using Donkey Kong to defeat {{Sm|Asimo}} and 9th at {{Trn|Maesuma'U22}}.

There was some optimism on Donkey Kong prior to the game's release: although Donkey Kong could no longer easily perform most of his throw-based kill confirms from ''Smash 4'', including his infamous "Ding-Dong" combo, many players noted how Donkey Kong received better frame data, speed, damage, and hitboxes in the E3 demo build. However, the optimism faded very quickly upon the game's release. Players pointed out how many of Donkey Kong's moves were punishable on hit at early percents, making his neutral rather egregious in the early metagame, which favored speed and punish games. In addition, his already poor disadvantage state was also made even worse due to his larger hurtbox and his out of shield options remaining poor. Finally, although Donkey Kong saw some early success from {{Sm|HIKARU}}, he eventually dropped Donkey Kong for other characters, and no other Donkey Kong player was able to match HIKARU's success, leaving him with below-average representation. As such, although Donkey Kong received a few buffs in subsequent patches, Donkey Kong was widely considered unviable, with a few even calling him one of the worst characters in the game.

2022 became a turning point for Donkey Kong. First, HIKARU began playing Donkey Kong again, and although often only used as a secondary or co-main alongside other characters, it nevertheless gave Donkey Kong some of the best results since the early metagame. Most notable among these results was HIKARU's run at {{Trn|Ultimate Fighting Arena 2022}}, which saw him use Donkey Kong extensively in top 64, defeating several of Europe's best players including {{Sm|Glutonny}} and {{Sm|Bloom4Eva}}, before ultimately placing 3rd. In addition, {{Sm|ChunkyKong}}, initially known for his online performances, began having a bigger impact on the offline metagame with his strong performances at majors, most notably 13th at {{Trn|Let's Make Moves Miami}} defeating {{Sm|Kola}} along the way. With both players ranking in [[OrionRank 2022]]'s top 100, among a few others also ranked with Donkey Kong despite minimal usage, many players began seeing Donkey Kong in a more positive light, and he was no longer considered a candidate for one of the worst characters. However, Donkey Kong is still considered to fall short when in comparison to the rest of the cast and is regarded to be a character that falls on the lower end of the tier list. This was reflected on his placement on the first tier list, where he was ranked 70th as a lower-mid tier character. His results would remain around the same in the following year: although HIKARU eventually retired and ChunkyKong's results saw a dip, {{Sm|Rarikkusu}} would break out onto the Japanese scene and begin placing well at events. As such, Donkey Kong remained around the same on the second tier list, rising slightly to 68th and ranking in the D+ tier.

After the second tier list, Donkey Kong experienced a "Donkey Kong renaissance" similar to what was happening to [[Donkey Kong (SSBM)|his ''Melee'' counterpart]] at that time. This renaissance not only saw many Donkey Kong players succeed at majors, but also saw many top players lose to Donkey Kong players, with notable examples being Rarikkusu defeating {{Sm|Sparg0}} at {{Trn|DELTA 8}}, ChunkyKong defeating {{Sm|Light|p=Connecticut}} at {{Trn|MomoCon 2024}}, {{Sm|MairudonaH.O}} defeating {{Sm|Hurt}} at {{Trn|Seibugeki 17}}, {{Sm|Duplex}} defeating {{Sm|MuteAce}} at {{Trn|S Factor 11}}, and {{Sm|Kuhaku}} defeating {{Sm|Doramigi}} at {{Trn|Maesuma'JAPAN West 24}}. This sudden rise in Donkey Kong's representation improved Donkey Kong's standing in the metagame, and many believed Donkey Kong would rise in the next tier list.

During the opening cutscene, Donkey Kong was present on the cliffside when [[Galeem]] unleashed his beams of light. Galeem's light beams vaporized Donkey Kong offscreen, placing him under Galeem's imprisonment along with the other fighters, excluding {{SSBU|Kirby}}.

He can be rescued in a jungle segment of [[The Light Realm]], on a space that looks like the treehouse where he lives on his series.

*Donkey Kong's pose in his official render resembles the pose he assumes after using [[Giant Punch]].

*Donkey Kong, {{SSBU|Joker}} and {{SSBU|Sephiroth}} are the only characters to face Master Hand and Crazy Hand on a stage other than Final Destination, not counting the [[Master Hand glitch]] in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]''.