Diddy Kong (PM)

Diddy Kong in Project M and Project+
Universe	Donkey Kong
Base game appearance	Brawl
Moveset inspiration	Diddy Kong (SSBB)

Diddy Kong is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. He comes from the Donkey Kong series of games, and has been modified from his Brawl format.

Attributes

Diddy Kong is a quick, unwieldy fighter, able to rack up quick damage, combo well and make use of setups with his bananas. The ability to produce banana peels unlocks many techniques with Diddy Kong. The peels cause opponents hit by them or who walk over them to trip, making them fantastic tools for approaching, heckling, or setting up traps to extend combos. Diddy Kong can use his jab combo to transition into other moves or aerial combos. He is adept at gimping opponents with his refined Monkey Flip, his dash attack, and his dair. Peanut Popgun can now be used more liberally, as the gun shoots further and stronger. Diddy's aerials are solid for comboing, and the same stands for his tilts and up smash.

However, Diddy Kong cannot KO easily. His smashes are all very weak, with his forward smash (his most powerful smash attack) not being able to reliably KO until around 100%, even when fully charged. This can lead to opponents surviving much longer, and makes gimping opponents almost a necessity. In addition, his recovery options are somewhat limited. Rocketbarrel Boost flies in a mostly linear fashion, making it easy to disrupt for some characters.

Changes from Brawl to PM

Diddy Kong received noticeable buffs from Brawl to PM to fit with the Melee physics.

• Jab combo does more damage and as with Captain Falcon, the third hit of Diddy's neutral attack is now always separated from the rapid hits, so he can either launch foes with the third hit to then jab cancel and follow up, or rack up damage with the rapid hits against enemies at low percentages.
• Up tilt does slightly more damage.
• Foward tilt does slightly more damage and has more knockback, especially at its sweetspot.
• Down tilt has eariler IASA frames and set knockback, leaving foes open against attacks more easily.
• Foward smash does slightly more damage and is stronger in knockback and has less hitlag.
• Up smash links much better and is a stronger KO move while doing slightly less damage.
• Down smash has slightly stronger knockback.
• Foward air is faster, has more knockback, and has a more semi-spike angle.
• Back air does more damage.
• Down air has faster start-up, does more damage, and has a stronger meteor smash.
• Up air does slightly more damage and has weaker but horizontal knockback.
• Neutral aerial is considerably stronger, dealing twice the former damage.
• Back throw is stronger.
• Up throw does more damage and is now a KO move.
• Pummel does slightly more damage.
• Monkey Flip had its distance increased. Attacking regularly after grabbing now sends opponents upward, leading into aerials at higher percents and the kick comes out right away when you hold the special button and has more knockback.
• Bananas when thrown have greater distance and does more damage.
• The Peanuts from Peanut Popgun now travel in straighter arcs and are much more powerful. A fully charged peanut can travel across the entire distance of Final Destination. Diddy Kong can also air dodge out of his Peanut Popgun, allowing him to waveland between shots.
• Rocketbarrel Boost has its distance increased. Furthermore, Diddy has more control over both its arc and launch angle allowing for better and trickier recoveries. It can do 21% at full charge and its power is very dramatically increased, making it a viable combo finisher.
• Diddy Kong now benefits from from the addition of aerial glide tossing, both in his approach, combo, and movement options, and in his recovery.
• Dash attack does more damage, and hits connect more smoothly. Like Donkey Kong's, his dash attack now can move off ledges, setting up offstage KOs. It also has increased speed for longer range, and can be canceled in for a long DACUS, improving his ground game.
• Up tilt has its IASA frames later.
• Back air has less KO power.
• Foward air sourspot does less damage.
• Down throw does slightly less damage.
• Foward throw has slightly less KO potential.
• Diddy Kong can no longer infinite trip opponents with his Bananas, as tripping can now be teched.
• Monkey Flip's attack and kick both do less damage.
• His up taunt has been replaced with a juggling animation, possibly as a reference to his idle animation in Donkey Kong Country 2. Diddy will continue to juggle as long as the taunt button is held. His previous up taunt is moved to his down taunt.
• For his side taunt, Diddy now leans his head forward and puts a hand in his mouth with a burly expression, as if trying to contain his laughter from a foe (using the same SFX as the original side taunt).
• Original down taunt is now an idle pose.
• One of Diddy's victory poses now involves him wearing sunglasses while dancing around to the music playing on his beatbox.

Revisions

2.6b

• Down-Tilt deals a bit more overall knockback
• Up-Smash's hits link into each other more reliably
• Forward-Aerial's initial hit damage and knockback adjusted so that it doesn't send very far at low percents but scales more rapidly with higher percent
• Back-Aerial sends farther at low percents
• Down-Aerial's upper (sourspot) hitbox deals slightly more damage
• Dash-Grab box has an extra active frame and its total duration is increased slightly
• Turn-Grab range increased, and grabs slightly later to match other Turn Grab speeds
• Up-Throw clank bug from Brawl that caused him to freeze up fixed
• Neutral-B can be airdodged out of a couple frames earlier
• Side-B kick timing window now exists during the beginning portion of the move (startup + first 7 frames of grab). Once this window passes Diddy is unable to kick and continues the grab
• Up-B initial hit deals increased knockback
• Grounded glide-toss moves Diddy significantly farther
• Side-B Jump Throw angle slightly forward. Diddy leaps a bit shorter lower in height but now has an air dodge window as he goes airborne
• Footstool height reduced
• Forward-Tilt's hip hitbox removed. Arm (sourspot) hitbox damage matches the fist (sweetspot) but still retains a higher angle and less knockback
• Forward-Aerial's lingering hit knockback reduced overall
• Side-B's tilt/smash distances reduced and more noticeably vary in length. The tilt input sends Diddy at a much shorter distance than the smash input
• Side-B kick hitbox deals less damage and its knockback scales higher with percent
• Side-B Attack Throw ("A" or "B" Input from grab) knockback lowered.
• Up-B landing lag increased
• Diddy falls a bit faster while charging Up-B in the air
• Up-B's grounded startup now matches the aerial startup (7 frames) and no longer has invincibility
• Up-B damage decreases throughout the boost's duration
• Up-B's loose barrel moves 20% slower and deals slightly less damage
• Thrown Banana hitboxes are now clankable
• Dash-Attack now has multiple hits and sends at a lower angle. No interrupt window when done on the ground but still retains the no-lag feature when landing from the aerial version.
• Neutral-Aerial's initial hit angle is slightly higher
• Up-Aerial sends at a lower angle and damage no longer depends on leg hitbox positioning
• Banana knockback (air and grounded) is now weight dependent. Opponents are knocked away at different lengths depending on their individual weight properties (lighter characters are knocked farther than heavier characters, essentially)
• Throwing a banana downward (while grounded) near an opponent's feet will cause them to trip instead of being hit

3.0

• Shield size increased
• Jab angles and damage adjusted to better link into each other. Final jab (the kick) knockback increased
• Dash-Attack's hitboxes link more reliably and have had their sizes increased slightly. Grounded version can be interrupted earlier
• Forward-Tilt's hitbox sizes increased slightly. Forward and high versions have their damages increased slightly
• Up-Smash's hits link more reliably
• Diddy steps more forward on the second hit of Forward Smash. The first hit's knockback and timing changed to better link into the farther-reaching second hit
• Forward-Air's base knockback increased slightly
• Down-Air's active frames activate slightly earlier
• Neutral-B (Peanut Popgun): Air Dodge window activates slightly earlier
• Up-B (RocketBarrel Boost): Grounded startup reduced. Increase in damage from charging made slightly faster. Meteor hitbox more accurately reflects the blast graphic effects
• Down-B (Banana Toss): Grounded banana hits induce the trip effect and retain weight-dependent knockback. Aerial banana hit knockback slightly increased
• Down-Throw base knockback lowered but has higher knockback growth. Damage redone to be a two-hit move
• Up-Throw sends up and slightly forward
• Side-B (Monkey Flip): Tilt version now sends the same distance as the Smash version. You can now however hold back while jumping to shorten your overall distance. Attack ("A") Throw's trajectory moved inward slightly. Jump-Throw knockback growth and damage increased significantly, and Diddy's jump height has been reduced

3.02

• Fixed a bug where the sound effect for Diddy's shades breaking would play whenever he was hit after the shades were already broken

Moveset

Up to date as of [version].

	Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack	Combo Swat	3%, 2%, 4%, then 1% each infinite	Slaps twice, then turns around and kicks with one foot and keeps it raised, while repeatedly hitting by lashing his tail out. First hit can set-up a grab if jab-canceled or even a buffered down smash.
Forward tilt	Lean Punch	12%	Places both arms together above his head. Stands on one foot, leaning to the side and punching with both fists together above his head.
Up tilt	Jump Swipe	8%	Swats in the air above him with a slap. Quick and can combine with other attacks. This can be used to juggle at low damage percentages.
Down tilt	Low Clap	8%	While crouching, slaps forward. Combos well into more down tilts and even a down smash. Extremely useful for racking up damage at low percentages.
Dash attack	Cartwheel	3 hits of 4% (12% total)	Does a cartwheel spin, resembling the one from the Donkey Kong Country games. A great move due to having almost absolutely no ending lag and combines well with his up smash or up tilt.
Forward smash	Spinning Punch	5% then 14% (19% total)	Spins, slapping forward twice. The first hit has no knockback, comboing into the second hit, although this can be escaped rather easily. When fully charged and both hits connect, it can KO at 92% on heavyweights and 85% on lightweights.
Up smash	Fliparound	3% (hits 1 and 2), 9% (3rd hit); 15% total	Hops a little and does a sort of cartwheel, hitting three times with extremely low knockback that doesn't KO until 115%. Fills in combos and can rack up damage easily.
Down smash	Breakdance Kick	16% (front), 13% (back)	Performs a sweeping kick. It has less knockback than his forward smash and sends enemies at a more horizontal angle.
Neutral aerial	Air Cartwheel	12% (clean), 9% (late)	Sticks out hands and feet and spins. Only hits once with decent knockback, making it a sex kick. Looks similar to his dash attack.
Forward aerial	Two-Legged Kick	14% (clean), 9% (late)	Kicks both feet forward. Diddy's strongest aerial, a great edgeguarding option, and a good move to use in a short hop (though a bair is quicker and better for spacing). On the edge at above 100%, edge drop -> jump -> fair is considered one of the best options available.
Back aerial	Rear Kick	12% (foot), 11% (body)	Sticks leg out and spins it behind him. His fastest aerial, a great option for spacing whether a short hop is used or not.
Up aerial	Flip Kick	12% (clean), 8% (late)	An overhead flip kick. Decent knockback, fairly fast.
Down aerial	Two-Fisted Pound	15% (sweetspot), 14% (sourspot)	Punches both arms down, meteor smashing powerfully as soon as it connects, but with some start-up lag.
Grab		—	Grabs the enemy with both of his hands.
Pummel	Headbutt	3%	Headbutts his target, angled from the side of his body. Hits almost instantly.
Forward throw	Toss	11%	Tosses opponent forward. Based on how Diddy Kong would throw barrels in Donkey Kong Country. Best used to get opponents offstage to set up an edgeguard, can combo into an fair.
Back throw	Rear Toss	10%	Tosses opponent backward, very similar to his f-throw in that it is useful for getting opponents offstage.
Up throw	Vertical Kick	12%	Throws opponent up and kicks them. Is a decent option for getting opponents into the air. It is his strongest throw.
Down throw	Ground Bounce	8%	Performs a leapfrog-like manoeuvre and throws the opponent underneath him. Has fair backwards knockback. Can be followed up by multiple moves and is a good combo starter.
Floor attack (front)	Spin Swipe	6%	Gets up and kicks to both sides.
Floor attack (back)	Swirl Kick	6%	Gets up and kicks to both sides.
Floor attack (trip)	Spin Kick	5%	Another two kicks to either side.
Edge attack (fast)	Quick Flick	8%	Spinning tail slap.
Edge attack (slow)	Slow Kick	10%	Short kick.
Neutral special	Peanut Popgun	5-17%	Diddy Kong pulls out his peanut popgun and fires a peanut. Can be charged, but if charged for too long the popgun will explode and stun Diddy Kong for a second.
Side special	Monkey Flip	12% (grab), 7% (air kick)	A sideways hop, which grabs opponents and can be kicked out of. Can be used to gain some extra recovery distance. If Diddy jumps off the opponent in the air, it can set for a neutral aerial immediately after. If the special move button is pressed after the flip, Diddy will kick, being a great combo move that can lead into a fair if a midair jump is available. However, if the kick is used, Rocketbarrel Boost cannot be used until landing. An impractical sacrificial KO is possible with this move by using it in the air and falling to the lower blast line with the opponent (referred to as "Diddycide").
Up special	Rocketbarrel Boost	10-21%	Diddy charges up his barrels and launches himself upwards. Can be angled with the Control Stick (but not by much if the move is uncharged). Diddy's primary recovery move, but leaves him vulnerable during the charging and can also self-stage spike on stages such as Final Destination. If Diddy is attacked out of the move, the barrels will fly around and can damage opponents.
Down special	Banana Peel	8% (dash thrown), 6% (thrown), 5% (dropped)	Pops a banana peel into the air.
Final Smash	Rocketbarrel Barrage	8% then 15% (per shot fired), 18% (contact), 20% (ending blast)	Diddy flies around shooting explosive peanuts.

In competitive play

Notable players

•  AbstractLogic
•  Boss
•  DISQO_BUNNY
•  GuruKid
•  Junebug
•  Vro

Palette swaps

Diddy Kong's palette swaps remain unchanged from Brawl.

Diddy Kong's palette swaps in PM

External links

• Project M character page