Diddy Kong

For fighter info, see Diddy Kong (SSBB), Diddy Kong (SSB4), and Diddy Kong (SSBU).

Diddy Kong
File:DiddyKongSMP.png Official artwork of Diddy Kong from Super Mario Party.
Universe	Donkey Kong
Debut	Donkey Kong Country (1994)
Smash Bros. appearances	Brawl SSB4 Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	WarioWare: Get It Together! (2021, cameo)
Console/platform of origin	Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Species	Kong
Gender	Male
Place of origin	Donkey Kong Island
Created by	Gregg Mayles
Designed by	Kevin Bayliss
Article on Super Mario Wiki	Diddy Kong

Diddy Kong (ディディーコング, Diddy Kong), often shortened to Diddy, is the secondary main protagonist of the Donkey Kong series and a recurring character in the Mario series. He debuted in Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. He was created by Rare and has starred in many other titles, such as Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, also for the SNES. He also has his very own racing games, Diddy Kong Racing for the Nintendo 64, and its Nintendo DS remake sequel Diddy Kong Racing DS. He is Donkey Kong's best friend, sidekick and surrogate nephew, and is known for his fast running speed, incredible agility, high jumps, great strength and super climbing.

Origin

Official artwork of Diddy from DK: Jungle Climber, which inspired his design in Brawl.

Originally, Diddy Kong was conceived by Rare as a redesign of Donkey Kong Jr., but Nintendo realized the new design was too different from the original. They advised Rare to either change the design back or make this new design an entirely new character, to which Rare opted for the latter.

Diddy Kong is a young monkey who is Donkey Kong's best friend and sidekick in the Donkey Kong series, although he has at times held protagonist roles. He wears a red hat with the Nintendo logo on it and a red shirt with stars on it. He has a girlfriend named Dixie Kong.

In Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong hires Diddy to guard the Kongs' banana hoard from the Kremlings who might want to steal it. Overhearing this, King K. Rool sends an attack on Diddy, who is tossed in a barrel and thrown into the bushes. Donkey Kong soon finds and frees him, and the two set out on an adventure to get their bananas back. In the game, Diddy Kong was used either for two-player mode or as a sort of hit point. As long as either Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong were alive, life was not lost. The missing teammate could then be retrieved by breaking open a barrel with the letters DK on it, similar to the one Diddy was initially trapped in. At some point, Donkey Kong and Diddy make a bet with Cranky Kong that they can't do their original adventure again on weaker hardware, which leads the the events of Donkey Kong Land.

Prior to the events of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, the Kremling Krew captured Donkey Kong and took him to Crocodile Isle. Diddy calls upon Dixie Kong and go after the kremlings, eventually defeating Kaptain K. Rool and rescuing DK. DK and Diddy later get captured again on a fishing trip and get contained within KAOS. Dixie and Kiddy Kong end up rescuing both. Diddy continues to be a valuable partner to DK, especially as a member of the DK crew in Donkey Kong 64 and a pseudo-powerup in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.

In Diddy Kong Racing, Diddy Kong would go on another adventure without Donkey Kong; rather than established characters from the Donkey Kong Country series, this game used an original cast of characters created by Rare, notably including Banjo and Conker the Squirrel, who would later star in their own series. In the story of the game, Diddy is called to help by his friend Timber in order to defeat the evil alien Wizpig in a series of racing competitions and prevent him from taking over his island. A remake was released for the Nintendo DS, once again developed by Rare, but Banjo and Conker were replaced by Dixie Kong and Tiny Kong because of the Microsoft acquisition of Rare from a few years earlier.

Diddy has also been a recurring cast member in many of the Mario spin off games, including various entries in the Mario Kart, Mario Party, Mario Tennis series and many others.

In Super Smash Bros.

Diddy Kong is briefly mentioned in Donkey Kong's biography.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

Diddy Kong is briefly mentioned in Dixie Kong's trophy description. Also, he is mentioned in the DK Rap, which plays on the Kongo Jungle stage. However, despite his prominence within the Donkey Kong series as the secondary main protagonist, he lacks a trophy of his own.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

As a playable character

Diddy Kong, as he appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Diddy Kong is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, available to play as from the beginning. He uses many unique special attacks, such as his Rocketbarrel Boost, and Peanut Popgun attacks, both of which are used in his Final Smash, the Rocketbarrel Barrage. His small size and power, combined with the use of weaponry offer a completely different fighting style than Donkey Kong, despite their alleged familial relation. Due to the strategic use of his banana peels, great combo potential, great speed, great agility, great acrobatics, great jump, great strength, and an overall impressive amount of tournament wins, he is currently in 4th position on the official tier list.

According to Masahiro Sakurai, Diddy Kong was initially planned to be teamed with Dixie Kong, where the two could swap out with each other in the midst of battle, emulating their tagging out mechanic in Donkey Kong Country 2. However, when Sakurai ran into technical difficulties in implementing the idea, he scrapped it, as well as scrapping Dixie Kong as a playable fighter, leaving Diddy Kong as a solo fighter and the lone new playable Donkey Kong fighter.

Trophy

Diddy Kong has a trophy that is awarded each time Classic Mode is completed with Diddy Kong on any difficulty. See Rocketbarrel Barrage for the trophy description of Diddy Kong's Final Smash.

Diddy Kong

The Diddy Kong trophy in Brawl

Donkey Kong's little buddy. He's famous for his quickness and his long tail. He usually plays second banana to DK, but he teamed up with his girlfriend, Dixie, to rescue DK when he got captured. He's spent some time playing music and competing in races, and he's also an expert at using barrels.

: Donkey Kong Country

: Donkey Kong 64

Stickers

Name	Game	Effect	Character(s)
Diddy Kong	Donkey Kong 64	SpecialLaunchPower+020 +20	DK Diddy
Diddy Kong	Donkey Kong Country	AttackTail+028 Attack +28	Diddy
Diddy Kong	Mario Hoops 3-on-3	AttackLeg+028 Attack +28	DK Diddy
Diddy Kong	Mario Superstar Baseball	AttackLeg+012 Attack +12	DK Diddy

Diddy Kong (DK64)

Diddy Kong (Donkey Kong Country)

Diddy Kong (Mario Hoops 3-on-3)

Diddy Kong (Mario Superstar Baseball)

In Super Smash Bros. 4

As a playable character

Diddy Kong as he appears in Super Smash Bros 4.

Diddy Kong returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4, once again available from the start. His reveal corresponded with the US release of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. His design is based on his appearances in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. His limbs stretch farther in his attacks, significantly improving his reach. Although he was already a top tier character in Brawl, he was heavily buffed with his KOing moves being strengthened and has gained many options to deal with his opponents, but at the cost of his Banana Peel move being significantly nerfed.

Notably and infamously, Diddy Kong dominated the competitive play of SSB4 for the first six months following the game's release. Diddy Kong was easy to use and had quick and powerful attacks, alongside effective combos to rack up damage and KOs, including his infamous down throw to up air combo (christened the name "Hoo-Hah" by competitive players). However, as of patch 1.0.6 that was released on April 15, 2015, Diddy Kong received major nerfs to the damage and knockback of several of his most frequently used moves, causing his overall tournament usage to decline.

Yet, regardless of the above, Diddy Kong ranks 3rd on the current tier list, placing him in the S tier. He still retains his fantastic mobility, and a strong combo game thanks to his generally low knockback, quick frame data, and long reach despite his small size. He also has a few usable finishers, such as his smash attacks and Monkey Flip. His biggest flaw, however, is his recovery: Rocketbarrel Blast. He is required to charge it up to gain any decent distance, leaving him incredibly open to edge-guarding, and the rocket barrels themselves can be detached by any attack, leaving him helpless. Despite his heavy nerfs in updates, Diddy Kong's positives still remain notable, still allowing for excellent tournament representation and results, with his current tier placement possibly being a result of nerfs to other top-tier characters after he himself had been nerfed, such as Sheik and Zero Suit Samus, allowing him to rise above them.

Trophies

Trophy descriptions

Diddy Kong

Donkey Kong's trusty partner. He sports his signature look: red hat, red shirt, Rocketbarrel Pack. In Smash Bros., he's incredibly agile. Charge the Rocketbarrel Pack by holding down the button before launch, and you can steer with left and right. Don't forget to drop banana peels—enemies love it!

Red cap? Red T-shirt? Rocketbarrel Pack? Yep, it's Diddy Kong. His agility lets him get attacks in quickly in this game. Fire up his Rocketbarrel Pack and keep the button held down to fly further. You can even steer him in the air! Tip: If you don't mind fighting dirty, make your opponent slip on a Banana Peel, then hit 'em while they're down.

Diddy Kong (Alt.)

The Banana Peel Diddy throws when you use his down special can be picked up and used against you, so be careful. His Monkey Flip side special is a rolling leap followed by a grab (or a kick if you press the button again midjump). If you grab someone, press the button again to attack or jump off them to go high into the air.

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  Classic (3DS)

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  Classic (Wii U)

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  Alt. (3DS)

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  Alt. (Wii U)

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

As a playable character

Diddy Kong, as he appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Diddy Kong returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, though he is unlockable for the first time in the series. He has a new Final Smash, Hyper Rocketbarrel.

Spirit

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  135. Diddy Kong

Names in other languages

Language	Name
Japanese	ディディーコング, Diddy Kong
English	Diddy Kong
French	Diddy Kong
German	Diddy Kong
Spanish	Diddy Kong
Italian	Diddy Kong
Chinese (Simplified)	迪迪刚, Diddy Kong
Chinese (Traditional)	狄狄剛, Diddy Kong
Korean	디디콩, Diddy Kong
Dutch	Diddy Kong
Russian	Дидди Конг
Portuguese	Diddy Kong

Trivia

• Unlike in most Donkey Kong games and Mario spin-offs, where Diddy Kong has a cartoonish voice, voiced by Katsumi Suzuki, the Super Smash Bros. series has Diddy Kong using realistic chimpanzee screeches. This also applies to Bowser, with realistic roars instead of Kenneth W. James, Bowser's current voice actor in most Mario games, Petey Piranha, who is giving monstrous roars instead of Toru Minegishi, Petey’s current voice actor in the Mario games, Donkey Kong, who uses realistic gorilla roars instead of using voice clips from his current voice actor Takashi Nagasako, and King K. Rool, who uses realistic crocodile grunts instead of his current voice actor in the Donkey Kong games, Toshihide Tsuchiya.
• Being a Rare creation, Diddy Kong is the first playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series who was created outside of Japan, instead, he was created in the United Kingdom.
  • In addition, he is the first playable character hailing from a Nintendo-created universe to have been created by an external company. He would later be joined by Dark Pit (created by Project Sora), Dark Samus (created by Retro Studios), and King K. Rool (also created by Rare).
• Diddy Kong is one of only two characters in the Smash Bros. series to have placed at the very top of the tier list and then later lose that position (the other being Sheik), having been at the top of the second Smash 4 tier list.
• Diddy Kong is the only Donkey Kong fighter to never have played an antagonistic role.
• Diddy Kong is the first character to wear a piece of clothing that has a real-life brand on it, preceding Terry.
• Despite not making a physical appearance, Diddy Kong has at least been mentioned in every Super Smash Bros. game to date. In Super Smash Bros. 64, he was mentioned in Donkey Kong's character description, while in Melee he was mentioned in Dixie Kong's trophy description.