Editing Giant Donkey Kong (SSB)

Giant Donkey Kong is the heaviest of all characters in ''Smash 64'', which grants him more survivability compared to the rest of the cast. He also has most of the traits that make {{SSB|Donkey Kong}} succeed: He has an excellent [[grab]] game, large hitboxes, a fantastic {{mvsub|Donkey Kong|SSB|up aerial}}, multiple [[meteor smash]]es, and a strong "get off me" tool in [[Spinning Kong]]. Naturally, this also means he can combo from [[Hand Slap]] and utilise the [[infinite throw trap]]. Giant Donkey Kong's improved reach does provide new opportunities in some areas, such as a forward throw combo into forward tilt, as well as increasing the reach of his grounded attacks to the point that he can [[edgeguard]] opponents without committing off-stage. In fact, his down aerial [[meteor smash]]es are made more efficient, being able to hit the ledge from a short hop incredibly easily, and even hit through platforms. Conversely, his ledge game is also improved, with his ledge attack often going through opponents and his rolls putting him roughly to centre-stage. Thus, it is much more difficult to keep Giant Donkey Kong at the ledge.

However, Giant Donkey Kong is, functionally, Donkey Kong with a significantly larger model and a worse [[jumpsquat]]; 8 frames compared to 6. While he possesses minor [[knockback]]-based [[armor]], it isn't nearly enough to save him from combo starters like {{SSB|Kirby}}'s {{mvsub|Kirby|SSB|up tilt}}, as he lacks the handicap used in [[1P Game]] when he's played in [[VS Mode]]. In fact, his higher [[weight]] even worsens this situation, causing him to have [[damage]] tacked on very quickly the minute he's touched, and the fact he can be grabbed unlike other giant characters in later games means many characters can [[chain grab]] him. His larger size also causes his hitboxes to not quite match his size — just being regular Donkey Kong's attached to larger bones — causing moves like his own [[grab]] to straight up miss up-close. Furthermore, this large frame makes Giant Donkey Kong's combos far more unorthodox, causing him to hit the ground earlier than one would expect, for example. Giant Donkey Kong's new weaknesses also tend to compound regular Donkey Kong's existing problems: His size makes him extremely easy to hit, which makes approaching {{SSB|Fox}} a nightmare, not to mention his otherwise linear [[approach]] tools. Ergo, Giant Donkey Kong is arguably an outright downgrade from the original.

*{{change|Giant Donkey Kong's Weight Multiplier is higher (0.83× → 0.93×), making him harder to [[KO]] but easier to [[combo]].}}

Due to being a boss character only playable through [[hacking]], Giant Donkey Kong has been banned in tournaments since ''Smash 64's'' inception. However, arguments have been made to legalise Giant Donkey Kong due to his attributes arguably making him worse than the regular Donkey Kong, as well as mods like [[19XXTE]] and [[Smash Remix]] making him much easier to access, which sometimes see use over the original game for their quality of life enhancements. Notably, they fix the results screen for unplayable characters like Giant Donkey Kong, making tournaments run more smoothly; in the past, this was problematic due to requiring resets, and thus reloading the chests to make him playable, delaying tournament sets. Due to his changes arguably making him worse than the regular character, it's argued that the metagame impact of Giant Donkey Kong's unbanning would be minimal, making the ban irrational. Due to a lack of novelty resulting from the very traits that make the argument, though, Giant Donkey Kong has seen very little competitive experimentation, and thus, few campaign for an unban.<ref>[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T99G_p8Nis5jwF2Y_r2zHEKvm0iKgz9jGVbEafkKl30/edit?usp=sharing Xanadu Origins Ruleset; stacked event where Giant Donkey Kong was banned]</ref>