Donkey Kong (SSB4)/Forward throw

Hitbox visualization showing Donkey Kong's up cargo throw.

Hitbox visualization showing Donkey Kong's forward cargo throw.

Hitbox visualization showing Donkey Kong's down cargo throw.

Overview

Donkey Kong lifts the opponent over his head, and is able to walk and jump around with the opponent, and also throw them in the four cardinal directions. Like any normal grab, the opponent can mash out of it, although there is a bug where opponents simply hold up and for every frame up is held, it counts as an input. Because of this, it is near impossible to throw the opponent at very low percents when they aren't damaged enough to stay grabbed longer. When an opponent escapes from cargo throw, they take 3%. In order to input a throw, the attack button must be pressed with a direction corresponding to the wanted throw. Pressing attack without a directional input will count it as a cargo forward throw.

Forward/Back Throw

Both cargo forward and back throws are very similar to each other, having identical knockback angles, although cargo back throw does 2% more damage, and subsequently the most damage out of all of Donkey Kong's throws. The weak knockback and unusually high launch angles make it hard to kill with the throws, and the opponent is launched far enough away to where it is impossible to gain a followup. Both throws are used sparsely as a result,

Up Throw

Cargo up throw is Donkey Kong's main combo throw, and combined with his good grab, most of his gameplay revolves around getting a grab for cargo up throw, due to the plethora of combos that the move allows, as it has low endlag and knockback, as well as a good 10% damage output. With these factors, it can combo into back or neutral aerials at low percents, forward aerial's stronger non-meteor hitbox at mid percents, and notoriously his up aerial for a kill, unofficially known as the 'Ding-Dong'. With platforms, Ding-Dong can be performed easier and kill even earlier, and with rage, Ding-Dong becomes very dangerous, especially with Donkey'Kong's heavyweight status, granting him a good chance to abuse rage.

Down Throw

A gorilla slam that launches forwards, even when airborne. It has a lower knockback angle than cargo forward and back throws, but is tied with his regular down throw for dealing the least damage out of all his throws, at 7%. It has no combos, but the lower angle makes it a bit better for edgeguarding, and by turning around right as Donkey Kong goes offstage, it can stage-spike the opponent, provided they miss their tech. Otherwise, not used very much outside of offstage situations.

Update History

1.0.8

Cargo forward throw deals 2% more damage: 8% → 10%.
Cargo back throw deals 4% more damage: 8% → 12% and its knockback growth increased: 38 → 80.
Cargo back throw's angle altered: 55° → 72°. This improves its KO potential near the upper blast line, but significantly hinders its stage spike potential.
Cargo up throw deals 3% more damage: 7% → 10%.
Cargo down throw deals 1% more damage: 6% → 7%.
Cargo down throw's animation slightly changed. Donkey Kong now hops while performing it. This new animation allows Donkey Kong to go off-stage, use it and then safely recover back to the stage, regardless of whether or not it was used to stage spike an opponent.