Template:SSB4 to SSBU changelist/King Dedede

Aesthetics

• Due to the aesthetic used in Ultimate, King Dedede's model features a more subdued color scheme. His clothing and general design is more cartoonish, with higher contrast colors and greater detail in his clothes; the fur on his coat and hat appears fluffier and more detailed, and his sash has more depth.
  • Normal map changes to the star textures on his hammer give the illusion that they protrude slightly more, as depicted in his official artwork.
• Like many other characters, King Dedede is more expressive. For instance, he now squints in a humorously seductive manner during his crouching animation. King Dedede generally has more furious expressions during attacks, his Screen KO, and his helpless animation.
• Down taunt now has a more exaggerated animation.
• Two of King Dedede's victory poses were slightly altered:
  • His up-inputted victory pose now shows a Waddle Dee walking up to him. The ending animation is now more exaggerated, with Dedede bouncing while laughing gloatingly.
  • His right-inputted victory pose now finishes with him charging Jet Hammer.
• King Dedede's star KO voice clip has been shortened, as it no longer extends past the KO's animation.
• King Dedede's Boxing Ring alias has been changed to "Self-Made King", a direct translation of the Japanese title, for consistency with its appearance in Kirby Star Allies.

Attributes

• Like all characters, King Dedede's jumpsquat animation takes three frames to complete (down from 6).
• King Dedede runs faster (1.36 → 1.496).
  • Initial dash is much faster (1.4 → 1.815), enabling foxtrotting for boosted ground mobility.
• King Dedede walks faster (0.98 → 1.029).
• King Dedede's air speed is much faster (0.63 → 0.735), now being nearly on par with Luigi's.
• King Dedede's gravity is higher (0.08788 → 0.097).
  • His short hop and jump are shorter as a result (38 frames → 36 frames (short hop), 55 frames → 48 frames (jump).
• King Dedede is much heavier (119 → 127), allowing him to survive even longer.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first hit has less ending lag (FAF 38 → 33).
  • The first two hits of neutral attack can now lock.
  • Neutral infinite has less startup lag (8 → 5), is faster, and connects more reliably.
  • Neutral infinite's finisher has less startup lag (6 → 4) and deals significantly more knockback (scaling 150 → 162).
  • Neutral infinite's finisher has 2 hitboxes rather than 1 (10u → 7u/7u), and the hitboxes extend farther vertically (Y offset: 10u-12u → 7.5u-13u (both)). The finisher has more range overall as a result.
  • The finisher has more ending lag (FAF 47 → 50).
  • Except for the finisher, each hit of neutral attack deals less damage (first hit: 4% → 2.5%, second hit: 4% → 2.2%, neutral infinite: 1% → 0.5%).
  • The infinite has gained a shieldstun multiplier of 5×. This allows it to lock opponents into their shields between each hit, and thus pressure them more effectively, but also allows them to cancel shieldstun and punish King Dedede more easily if they shield 10 hits or more.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack deals more knockback (40 base/100 scaling → 65/92 (clean), 35 base/100 scaling → 55/92 (late)), improving its already potent KO potential. This is boosted further by the changes to the Sakurai angle on the ground.
  • The clean hit and first late hitbox extend further inwards (Z offset: 7.8u-11.8u → 5u-11.8u), improving their ability to hit opponents at the edge, and combined with the changes to jostleing remove its blind spot.
  • Dash attack hitbox duration lasts longer with 2 new sourspot hitboxes (Frame 26-36 → 26-42).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt's looping hits have altered angles (25°/96° → 22°/100°) and have altered knockback (20 base/24/80/90 set/100 scaling → 60/50/30/26 set/100 scaling), allowing the move to connect more reliably.
  • Forward tilt has an altered animation.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has less startup (9 → 7) and ending lag (FAF 44 → 39).
  • Up tilt does slightly less damage (12%/10% → 11.5%/9.5%).
  • Up tilt deals more knockback (50 base/80 scaling → 65/94), making the move much stronger despite the damage reduction.
  • Up tilt's hitboxes are smaller (7u/8u → 6u/6.5u), reducing its range.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt's clean hitbox now extends inwards (Z offset: 12u → 12u-6u), removing its blind spot.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash has less startup (42 → 40) and ending lag (FAF 82 → 78).
  • Forward smash deals more damage (15%/24%/6% → 16%/18.5%/25%/11%), and all but the shockwave and early hitboxes deal more knockback (30 base/93 scaling → 50/70 base/85/74 scaling).
  • There is now a hitbox on the handle during the early hit which instead of launching opponents pushes them into the sourspot of the main hit (which is still stronger than the early hit), making it slightly easier to land the main hit.
  • Forward smash has a new sourspot on the hammer's handle that's much weaker (though is still powerful in its own right), and the early hit deals less knockback (30 base/93 scaling → 85/55), hindering its KO potential despite its increased damage.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash deals more damage (14%/9% → 16%/10%) with no compensation on knockback, improving its KO ability.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (15 frames → 10 (neutral), 30 → 19 (forward/down), 21 → 14 (back), 22 → 14 (up).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial possesses much greater combo potential due to its reduced landing lag and King Dedede's shorter jumpsquat, especially when hitting with the late hit.
  • Neutral aerial causes King Dedede's belly to wobble around during the move.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has a snappier animation, with a significant delay on when King Dedede flips.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial is now a horizontal hammer swing, which better matches the move's hitboxes.
  • Back aerial now has 3 unextended hitboxes rather than 1 extended one (10u → 6.5u/6.5u/6.5u). Compared to the previous hitbox, the new hitboxes have both less vertical range (Y reach: 20u–0u → 16.5u–3.5u), and less horizontal range (Z reach: -25u–1u → 0.5u–-24.5u).
  • Due to his reduced short hop duration, King Dedede can no longer jump out of a short hop back aerial before landing.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has altered knockback (50 base/150 scaling → 55/147).
  • Up aerial launches at a lower angle (70°/80° → 60°), greatly hindering its KO potential close to the upper blast zone, while also making it much more susceptible to DI and LSI.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial has a more forceful animation.

Throws and other attacks

• All grabs have more startup (standing/dash/pivot: 7/9/10 → 8/11/12) and ending lag (standing/dash/pivot: FAF 36/45/42 → 40/48/43).
• Pummel is faster but deals less damage (3% → 1.6%).
• Standing grab's grabbox extends farther (Z offset: 4u-11.5u → 4u-12.5u), improving its range, making it more similar to how it was in Brawl.
• Dash grab's grabbox extends slightly farther (Z offset: 4u-14u → 4u-14.4u), slightly improving its range.
• Pivot grab's grabbox extends a slightly shorter distance (Z offset: 4u-19.5u → 4u-19.3u), which combined with the changes to jostling hinders its utility.
• Due to King Dedede's faster jumpsquat, Up throw possesses combo potential into moves such as up aerial.
• Down throw has an altered animation, with him slamming his opponent face-first onto the ground.

Special moves

• Inhale:
  • Inhale has less startup lag (frame 17 → 14).
  • Inhale acts as a reflector, giving a 1.5x damage boost to any projectiles spat out. Once Inhaled, the projectile is spat out almost immediately, and eliminates almost all of the move's ending lag.
    • Inhale can catch and spit Dedede's own Gordos. This gives him an option to relaunch Gordos that are hit back at him, and manually allows him to launch Gordos forward much further and at a much faster velocity compared to throwing one with Gordo Throw.
  • Inhale has a much larger grabbox.
  • Inhale's spit deals more damage (10% → 12%).
  • Spat out opponents deal more knockback to bystanders (70 base/70 scaling → 77/78).
  • Inhale has an updated, more opaque visual effect.
• Gordo Throw:
  • Gordos have significantly larger hitboxes that cover their bodies and spikes.
  • Gordos gain a surprised expression when deflected. Additionally, they have animated spines.
  • Gordos stick to the edge more consistently, significantly improving their edgeguarding potential.
  • Gordo Throw has less ending lag (FAF 64 → 61).
• Super Dedede Jump:
  • Super Dedede Jump's landing hit deals more damage (11% → 12%).
  • Super Dedede Jump deals more knockback.
  • Super Dedede Jump will snap to edge when reversed.
  • Super Dedede Jump has far less ending lag when canceled.
  • Super Dedede Jump descends more quickly.
  • King Dedede has blue trails form around him when using Super Dedede Jump, indicating armor.
• Jet Hammer:
  • Jet Hammer breaks shields when fully charged.
  • Jet Hammer deals more damage (grounded: 11%-38% → 12%-40%, aerial: 10%-27% → 11%-32%) and knockback.
  • Jet Hammer has heavy armor during the swing (frames 1-14) when used on the ground.
  • Uncharged and fully charged Jet Hammer's hammer head hitbox is larger (7.5u → 9u).
  • The fire from Jet Hammer is blue instead of red.
  • Fully charged Jet Hammer triggers Special Zoom upon hitting an opponent.
• Final Smash:
  • King Dedede has a new Final Smash called Dede-Rush, which features King Dedede taking his "Masked Dedede" persona from Kirby Super Star Ultra before trapping opponents inside of a caged boxing ring, attacking them with a barrage of missiles, and launching them with his Jet Hammer.
  • It deals more damage (46% → 59.6%) and knockback.
  • Unlike Dedede Burst in SSB4, it is not possible for opponents to escape once trapped.
  • Dede-Rush cannot trap more than one opponent at a time for extra damage.