Donkey Kong (SSBB)

Donkey Kong in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	Donkey Kong
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Konga Beat
Tier	D (21)

“	The large king of the jungle. He moves with surprising agility.	”
—Brawl instruction manual

Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング, Donkey Kong) is a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He was first shown very briefly at the E3 2007 press conference. Donkey Kong now uses a new set of gorilla sound effects as opposed to reusing his voice from SSB and Melee.

Donkey Kong is currently ranked 21st out of 38 on the tier list in the Mid tier. This is an improvement over his ranking in Melee, were he is ranked 17th out of 26 in the lower mid tier. Donkey Kong possesses a combination of incredible power with many great finishers (especially in his smash attacks), and incredible reach in his attacks. Along with this power and reach combination, Donkey Kong possesses above average movement with remarkably good mobility for a character of his size, and many fast attacks (such as his back aerial and tilts). Additionally, Donkey Kong possesses by far the greatest horizontal endurance with his great weight and Spinning Kong momentum cancelling, as well as one of the strongest vertical endurances, and a recovery that gains great horizontal distance while protecting Donkey Kong, making Donkey Kong one of the hardest characters to KO. Donkey Kong's incredible weight is a double-edge sword however; while it makes him incredibly difficult to KO, it also makes him incredibly easy to combo, juggle, and chain throw, including making him vulnerable to infinite and zero to death chain throws (most notoriously from King Dedede). Additional problems of Donkey Kong include most of his attacks having heavy ending lag (making it easy to punish most of his attacks if he misses), being very vulnerable to meteor smash gimps due to his recovery gaining much less vertical distance, his shield being too small for a character of his size leaving him heavily vulnerable to shield stabbing, and lacking a projectile, which when combined with his very large size and aforementioned shield issues, gives Donkey Kong severe issues dealing with camping. While his rolls and air dodge are about average, his sidestep is the second slowest, after Bowser. Overall, Donkey Kong has decidedly poor matchups while being countered by the majority of top and high tier (and is also hard countered by two, but Donkey Kong also hard counters three), and has achieved average tournament results.

Attributes

Donkey Kong is a very heavy character with very powerful attacks, great attack range, and high knockback capabilities. Despite these pros, Donkey Kong lacks projectiles and a reliable way to deal with them, which makes his moveset and style of approach unvaried. He is one of the fastest heavyweight characters; his movement speed is above average: fast running, fast walking, fast air speed, and very high initial jump. Donkey Kong's weight helps him stay alive longer, though he is a big target and has very poor vertical recovery, but extremely long horizontal recovery. He can even use Spinning Kong to cancel knockback from an attack that would even KO Bowser, Snake, or King Dedede. Despite his extremely long horizontal recovery, it is vulnerable to disjointed attacks and has poor vertical height which means even weak meteor smashes can be devastating, though it's hard to edge guard without a disjointed attack due its initial invincibility frames. Combining his impressive weight and good horizontal recovery with good directional influence, he will be extremely hard to KO.

Although he can take a lot of damage before being KOed, he gets hit very easily due to his large size. His large size and heavy weight also leaves him open to many chain grabs (e.g. King Dedede's infinite chain grab without a wall, which is truly problematic at such a high level), except Bowser's ground releases. Though given his attack range and speed, it can be difficult for characters with short-ranged grabs like the Ice Climbers to grab him to begin with. His Headbutt attack allows him to get a free attack on the opponent, as many of his follow-up attacks have low startup time, and it also does very high damage to shields. His fully charged Giant Punch also heavily damages shields, and the armor it grants may allow him to trade KO moves with an opponent and survive. Even his grounded Spinning Kong does high damage to opponents or shields. Having three high shield damage attacks he can give high shield pressure. Donkey Kong has no problems KOing: all his smashes are powerful, with his up & down smashes coming out very fast; up aerial can compensate for a missed edge-guard, three reliable meteor smashes, back aerial & throw, Giant Punch (10 charges is actually more powerful than fully charged, but doesn't have armor) and the cargo stage spike.

He can counter any ground grab releases because of his unique extremely short grab release animation, making him escape from release lag 10 frames earlier than any other character does and being immune to Bowser's grab release game with the addition of only Snake and Yoshi being able to force him to jump break from grabs. Donkey Kong is unique to be able to carry crates, barrels and Bonsly without a reduction in speed, but small items have unusual long end animation (though he has one of the best Glide Tosses in the game). DK also has a large grab range with powerful throws, and he is even able to chain-grab some characters, DK can infinite-Cargo release Lucas and Ness, he can KO characters in low damage percentages when using the Cargo stage-spike. Donkey Kong can also perform Kongocide, although it's not the most useful of the sacrificial KOs. Although Donkey Kong has his share of problems, he fares decently against the majority of the cast, and there are very few problems he can't overcome.

Changes from Melee to Brawl

In the transition from Melee to Brawl, Donkey Kong was heavily buffed overall. He has been improved in several aspects, including his mobility, endurance potential, power, recovery, and range.

One noticeable nerf he received was to his grounded Spinning Kong. The hitbox grounded Spinning Kong once possessed which came out on frame 2-5, had invincibility and could kill opponents under 100% was completely removed completely hindering grounded Spinning Kong's utility (although he does now have the "Invincicopter" to give his grounded Spinning Kong some new utility). Besides the change to his grounded Spinning Kong, Donkey Kong did not receive any other significant nerfs to his moveset.

Overall, DK is a stronger character than he was in Melee although he still struggles against much of the cast.

Aesthetics

• Like all characters, Donkey Kong has received a massive boost in quality, having brighter and more detailed fur, matching his most recent appearances at the time of Brawl's release.
• Like Bowser & King Dedede, the screen now visually shakes whenever Donkey Kong lands onto the ground.
• Donkey Kong has received new voice clips.
• Donkey Kong no longer vocalizes when using Headbutt.
• Donkey Kong now vocalizes when jumping from the ground.
• Donkey Kong has a new white costume with a red tie. His black costume now has a yellow tie instead of a blue tie, and his blue costume now has a pink tie instead of a purple one.
• Donkey Kong's teeth are yellow-ish white instead of white.

Attributes

• Donkey Kong's shield size was increased (although it is still very small for his size).
• The introduction of buffering has made it easier for Donkey Kong to punish his opponents after they grounded grab release him.
• The changes to aerial grab releases hinders Donkey Kong as it makes him more susceptible to followups as he travels in an unfavourable arc. While DK usually cannot be forced air released on the ground, DK himself lacks air release followups on most characters including Squirtle and Meta Knight due to his only above average mobility combined with his poor grab release animation, dash attack, dash grab, lack of a fast forward hitting aerial and his ineffective DACUS.
• Donkey Kong's dashing speed is slightly faster (1.6 → 1.622).
• Donkey Kong's air speed is faster (1 → 1.081).
• Donkey Kong's air acceleration is higher (0.04 → 0.06).
• Donkey Kong is slightly heavier (114 → 116).
• As with the returning veterans, Donkey Kong's falling speed was reduced (2.4 → 1.58). Compared to the returning veterans, however, Donkey Kong falls slightly slower. While worsening his endurance, it slightly improves his poor vertical recovery and makes him harder to combo. However, Donkey Kong is still one of the easier characters to combo on and his vertical recovery is still very poor.
• Donkey Kong's gravity is lower (0.1 → 0.081).
• Donkey Kong's traction is lower (0.08 → 0.0529), especially when comparing with the returning veterans, now going from the 7th highest in Melee to only the 28th highest. This makes it harder for him to punish out of shield.
• Spotdodge has less end lag (37 frames → 30) although it is still one of the longest spotdodges in the game.
• Donkey Kong's forward glide toss covers much more distance.

Ground attacks

• The second hit of neutral attack has increased base knockback (0 → 40). The first hit has a new hitbox which launches opponents towards Donkey Kong (361° → 140°) improving its range and jab canceling potential.
• The second hit of neutral attack has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 5-11 → 6-11).
• DK now vocalises during the first frame of his dash attack. While this may seem insignificant, it allows him to mix his opponents up with a dash attack, a boost grab or a DACUS to throw his opponents off.
• Dash attack's clean hit does horizontal knockback instead of vertical (100° → 50°). Its knockback was also altered (115 (base), 15 (scaling) → 100/20).
• Forward tilt and up tilt now grant intangibility to DK's arm.
• Down and down angled forward tilt now have a 40% and 15% tripping chance respectively. Angled up forward tilt deals 1% more damage (11% → 12%), giving Donkey Kong another quick KO move under 150%.
• Up tilt has less startup lag and a longer duration (frames 6-11 → 5-11). It also has slightly less end lag (FAF 40 → 39).
• Down tilt deals more damage (7% → 8%).
• Forward smash's sweetspots have increased base knockback (22 → 30). Its hitbox sizes has also been increased (4.8u/5.6u/3.408u/2.4u → 6.4u/6.8u/4.3u/3u).
• Forward smash has significantly higher hitlag (1.0x → 1.4x). While this increase in hitlag makes it somewhat safer on shield, it makes it much easier to SDI, especially consider the increased hitlag overall from Melee to Brawl. The opponent can also SDI his forward smash to lessen its knockback, despite it being increased from Melee.
• The universally decreased falling speeds and the slightly altered knockback formula have improved Up smash's KO potential. It can also hit grounded opponents much easier as its hitbox size has been increased (7u → 9.5u) and it has less ending lag (FAF 54 → 50).
• Down smash's sweetspot deals 1% more damage (16% → 17%). Its hitbox size has been significantly increased as well (4.8u/3.6u → 7u/4.5u). It also has a slightly longer duration (4 frames → 5).

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial has less landing lag (20 frames → 15) and can now auto-cancel in a short hop due to DK's slower falling speed/gravity. It also has increased base knockback (0 → 20 (clean), 10 (late)) improving the clean hit's KO potential.
• Back and up aerials auto cancel later (frame 20 → 31 (back), frame 13 → 26 (up)).
• Neutral aerial deals less damage (12% → 11% (clean), 10% → 8% (late)).
• Sweetspotted forward aerial and down aerial can trip opponents if they don't take enough knockback to leave the ground. They are also superior for edgeguarding due to the meteor cancel changes and being much safer to use offstage due to DK's slower falling speed/gravity.
• Forward aerial's late hit has increased knockback scaling (80 → 85).
• Late forward aerial no longer consistently meteor smashes opponents (270° → 270°/361°). This improves its KO potential on stage but hinders its edgeguarding potential.
• Clean late forward aerial deals less knockback (50 (base), 80 (scaling) → 30/85).
• Back aerial can now be performed twice in a single short hop. It also has increased base knockback (10 → 20 (clean), 0 → 10 (late)), a longer duration (frames 7-15 → 7-16) and slightly more range. It also greatly benefits from the introduction of reverse aerial rush significantly improving its approach potential.
• Back aerial's late hit deals slightly less damage (9% → 8%).
• Up aerial has a longer duration (frames 6-8 → 6-9) and less landing lag (25 frames → 22). The universally decreased falling speeds also improves its KO potential.

Throws/other attacks

• Standing grab has slightly less end lag (FAF 31 → 30).
• Grab range is higher, going from below average in Melee to being the 4th longest reaching non-tether grab in Brawl.
• Dash grab has more end lag (FAF 41 → 50).
• Donkey Kong gains armor when carrying an opponent when using Cargo throw.
• Cargo forward throw launches opponents at a higher angle (55° → 60°).
• Donkey Kong's lowered falling speed combined with an improved vertical recovery makes it much safer to stage spike an opponent with the cargo back and down throw.
• Donkey Kong no longer takes damage if an opponent breaks free from his forward throw. Additionally, he can now perform an infinite on Ness and Lucas if they break out of his cargo throw due to their longer grounded grab release animations.
• An opponent takes 4% less damage if they break free from Donkey Kong's forward throw (10% → 6%).
• The changes to Brawl's physics have removed up throw's chaingrabbing and combo potential significantly reducing its utility. Cargo throw also has less combo potential because of this.
• The removal of DI against moves which don't put opponents into tumble makes down throw more reliable for chaingrabs despite its higher knockback scaling (45 → 50).
• Pummel is faster (24 frames → 15) and still deals 3%.

Special moves

• Giant Punch now has armor when fully charged, it charges faster and it can now be reversed, but reversing it does not increase damage or knockback, unlike Falcon Punch and Warlock Punch. The back hit additionally has more KO potential due to the universally decreased falling speeds with a level 10 back hit being able to KO King Dedede on Final Destination at 50%.
• Fully charged Giant Punch no longer has invincibility frames on frames 17-18 although this is compensated with super armor on frames 17-20.
• All variants of Giant Punch's grounded front hit deal 2% less damage (12%-30% → 10%-28%) and fully charged Giant Punch has less knockback scaling (90 → 80) hindering its KO potential and further encouraging Donkey Kong to use a level 10 Giant Punch. Additionally, aerial Giant Punch is much weaker dealing less damage (12% → 8% (back uncharged), 6% (front uncharged), 17%/26% → 15%/25% (fully charged). Lastly, all variants of Giant Punch's front hit have a sourspot which has less knockback scaling (100/90 → 60/50).
• Headbutt is faster, deals more damage when on the ground and in the air (5% → 10%/8% (grounded), 10% → 14%/8% (aerial)) although its knockback was compensated (0 (base), 100 (scaling) → 20/40 (grounded), 30/40 (aerial)), and DK can now also bury his opponents while he is in midair. Since buried characters now can receive knockback when buried, Headbutt can now combo more easily into Giant Punch or other attacks. It can also be used as an inferior version of Mario's cape glide, giving DK another edgeguarding option. Its meteor hitbox is also easier to land.
• Spinning Kong goes slightly farther, both horizontally and vertically. It can also be used to completely negate all momentum due to the introduction of momentum canceling, and the grounded version has super armor. The aerial version also deals 3% more damage (33% → 36%).
• DK now has access to the "Invincicopter" allowing him to use grounded Spinning Kong while being completely invincible.
• Grounded spinning Kong's loop hitboxes deal less damage (8% → 4-5%) and knockback reducing their damage output but making them connect more reliably.
• Spinning Kong and Giant Punch now have a landing lag animation with significantly higher lag when DK becomes helpless after using those in midair (7 frames → 30 (Giant Punch), 40 (Spinning Kong)), leaving him more vulnerable. The latter also has less reach and knockback when fully charged.
• The grounded version of Spinning Kong no longer has an initial hit with invincibility. This significantly hinders its KO potential as the new first hit comes out much slower (frame 2 → 19) and is significantly weaker dealing less damage (12% → 4/5%) and knockback (60 (base), 100 (scaling) → 50/70) and is incapable of killing opponents until beyond sudden death percents removing one of DK's best kill options. The aerial version also has more startup lag (frame 3 → 4) also meaning that he gains invincibility slightly later.
• Hand Slap does 3% more damage (11% → 14%) and has longer range (9.216u/9.216u/9.216u/9.216u/10.24u/10.24u/10.24u/10.24u → 13u/13u/13u/13u/13u/13u/13u/13u). It also has high base knockback and low knockback scaling, rather than set knockback (20/30 (base), 100 (scaling), 110 (set) → 82/23).

Moveset

For a visual representation of Donkey Kong's attack hitboxes, see this page.
For a more detailed information regarding Donkey Kong's moveset and attack hitboxes, see this page.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			4%	Donkey Kong performs a quick cross punch followed by an uppercut. The tip of the first punch's hitbox will knock targets towards Donkey Kong instead of away, which can lead into a grab.
			6%
Forward tilt	↗		12%	Donkey Kong quickly swats his outstretched hand. Donkey Kong's arm is intangible while the hitboxes are out, allowing it to be used safely against most other attacks. This can be aimed up or down. KOs at 148% when angled up from the center of Final Destination.
	→		10%
	↘		9%
Up tilt			9% (hand), 10% (elbow), 11% (arm)	Donkey Kong quickly swipes his hand in the air. Fast with a good arch range. Again, DK's arm cannot be injured while the hitboxes are out. The arm hitbox KOs at roughly 110%.
Down tilt		Slouch Slap	8%	Donkey Kong quickly swats towards the opponents feet. A great lock move at low percentages and a trip can be comboed with his Hand Slap.
Dash attack			11% (clean), 9% (late)	Donkey Kong skids to a halt doing a side-kick. High ending lag and poor shieldstun.
Forward smash			20% (fingers), 21% (hands), 19% (arms), 18% (body)	Donkey Kong performs a very forceful clap. One of the strongest forward smashes in the game, KOing at 70% when uncharged and 37% when fully charged.
Up smash			18%	Donkey Kong claps hands above his head. Good for hitting from below a platform and a great running up smash. Both DK's arms and head cannot be hit during the middle of the attack. KOs Mario at 74% when uncharged and 43% when fully charged from the platfroms on Battlefield.
Down smash			17% (hands), 14% (arms)	Does a double back-handed punch by bringing his closed fists down 90˚ at both sides. Very fast, great vertical knockback and is the 3rd strongest down smash in the game, KOing at 91% when uncharged and 57% when fully charged.
Neutral aerial			11% (clean), 8% (late)	Donkey Kong quickly spins with arms extended. Similar to the Spinning Kong, but much faster to execute. KOs middleweights at around 150% from the center of Final Destination.
Forward aerial			16%	Donkey Kong puts his fists together above his head, and then does a powerful ax-handle smash, which at KO at 159% if hit with the sweetspot and grounded from the center of Final Destination, and 97% from the center of Battlefield without the sweetspot. A powerful meteor smash when sweet spotted, which also causes a significant hitlag increase. Great for catching edge guarders while recovering. Resembles his midair attack from Donkey Kong 64.
Back aerial			13% (clean), 8% (late)	Donkey Kong performs a quick kick directed behind him that lingers briefly. Very fast, long ranged and strong, is an effective wall of pain. KOs Mario at 126% from the center of Final Destination.
Up aerial			14%	Donkey Kong performs a quick headbutt upwards. Extremely quick, can be used to juggle at low percentages and star KO at 113% from the platforms on Battlefield.
Down aerial			16% (foot), 13% (body)	Donkey Kong performs a downward stomp whilst holding his arms up in a macho pose. Always treated as a meteor smash when it hits. KOs at 141% when grounded from the center of Final Destination.
Grab			—
Pummel			3%	Does a slight karate chop at the enemy's neck. A fairly fast pummel.
Forward throw		Kong Karry	6% (breakout), 8% (forward & back throw), 7% (up throw), 6% (down throw)	Regardless of the opponent's size, DK heaves the opponent onto his back, just like carrying a crate or a barrel. Can be released and regrabbed if he can react quicker, being an infinite on Lucas and Ness when turn releasing and turn grabbing. Both players gain knockback-based armor, similar to Yoshi's double jump.
Back throw			11%	Swings his arm back and throws the opponent. A very good KO throw with fast start-up.
Up throw			9%	Swings his arm back and throws the opponent upwards.
Down throw			7%	Slams the opponent into the ground with his hand. Can chain grab characters like Snake, Kirby, Squirtle, Charizard, King Dedede and much more.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Gets up and swats both sides of himself.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	Gets up and claps once both sides of himself.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Does a wind-up spin around the floor.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			8%	Throws his rear at the opponent. Good range for an edge attack.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			10%	Climbs onto the stage and swats forward.
Neutral special		Giant Punch	Ground: 12% (uncharged elbow), 10% (uncharged punch), 18% (fully charged elbow & body), 28% (fully charged punch) Air: 8% (uncharged elbow), 6% (uncharged punch), 15% (fully charged elbow), 20% (fully charged body), 28% (fully charged punch)	Donkey Kong winds up and thrusts out his arm as a potentially powerful attack, which can KO at 67% from the center of Final Destination when fully charged. The attack is at fully charged after eleven windups and gains armor right before DK unleashes the punch. A punch just under full charge (ten windups) deals more knockback but lacks armor. The punch can be saved and chosen when to be released after being fully charged.
Side special		Headbutt	Ground: 10% (grounded), 8% (air) Air: 14% (sweetspot), 8% (sourspot)	Donkey Kong slams his head downward.When performed on the ground, the opponent is buried and will remain submerged longer if the opponent has already taken a fair amount of damage. When performed in the air, the struck opponent is meteor smashed if hit by the sweetspot. Can be used to "stall" Donkey Kong in the air.
Up special		Spinning Kong	Ground: 5-4% (loop early), 3% (loop late), 4% (final hit) Air: 10% (startup), 5-4% (loop early), 2% (loop late)	Donkey Kong spins around with his arms extended. Has armor on the ground and arms are intangible in the air.
Down special		Hand Slap	14%	Donkey Kong repeatedly slaps his hands against the ground, causing earth-shaking vibrations in the process. The attack gives him some protection from opponents while grounded due to its good range, but cannot hit airborne opponents. This move cannot be used in the air and will be interrupted if Donkey Kong becomes airborne while using the move.
Final Smash		Konga Beat	Varies	Donkey Kong takes out a pair of bongos and begin to play them to the beat of "DK Island Swing", sending out shock-waves in the process. The attacks range and power is determined by the player's input. The player must push the attack button in succession with the song's beat in order have the greater range and power.

On-screen appearance

• Breaks out of a DK Barrel, grunts and makes a strongman pose.

Taunts

• Up taunt: Beats his chest.
• Side taunt: Shakes himself, as if his fur was wet.
• Down taunt: Faces the camera and shrugs his shoulders, making a confused noise.

Up taunt	Side taunt	Down taunt

Idle pose

• Bares his teeth and crosses his eyes while leaning forward.
• Bumps his fists together, then performs an uppercut punch.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer
Description	Don-key Kong!	Don-key Kong!
Pitch	Group chant	Group chant

Wii Remote selection sound

• DK roars, similar to his attack sounds.

Donkey Kong's selection sound

Victory poses

A peaceful flourish originating from Donkey Kong Country that played whenever a Kong defeated a boss or completed a Bonus Level.

• Up: Holds his hands above his head and shakes them.
• Left: Does a backflip, then holds up his arms (updated version of his "character chosen" animation in Super Smash Bros.)
• Right: Beats his chest. (Similar to his up taunt).

Up	Left	Right

In competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Donkey Kong has a fairly balanced matchup spread all around. He hard counters 3 (Ness, Lucas and Jigglypuff), counters 3, soft counters 5 and has 8 even matchups. He is soft countered by 6, countered by 7 and hard countered by 2 (Olimar and King Dedede).

Notable players

See also: Category:Donkey Kong professionals (SSBB)

•  Bill - 25th at Apex 2015, 7th at GOML 2016 and 13th at Super Smash Con 2016.
•  Bum - Has set wins over ANTi, Dabuz, Nairo and ADHD.
•  Cable - Placed 13th at KTAR 3, 33rd at Apex 2010, 25th at Pound 4 and 17th at Clash of the Titans 6.
•  Nyanko - While Nyanko was a great Donkey Kong in Japan, he prefers doubles over singles. Nyanko has taken a set off of DIO's Snake and placed 1st in teams with Nietono at Umebura 3.
•  Ook - Wins over Mike Haze, Ripple, Overswarm, Mister Eric, and Kirk
•  Ripple - Has wins over Y.b.M., and Needle of Juntah. Notably placed 33rd at WHOBO 3.
•  Will - The best Donkey Kong player in the world. Placed 4th at KTAR 3, 7th at WHOBO 3, 5th at WHOBO 4, 25th at Apex 2012 and 9th at SKTAR 2. Japanese brawl players nicknamed him "Shining Donkey kong"

Tier placement and history

Donkey Kong was initally seen as a high tier character in Brawl, being ranked 10th on the first tier list. The buffs he received from his transition from Melee to Brawl made him a powerful character that could compete against a then inexperienced playerbase who didn't utilize much camping and chaingrabbing. As the metagame developed however, it became apparent that Donkey Kong's buffs were simply not enough to keep him as a high tier character, since he struggled to deal with projectile camping from the likes of Snake, Falco and Olimar and was heavily vulnerable to chaingrabbing, most notoriously from King Dedede.

Donkey Kong's decline started slowly, as he fell to 14th on the second tier list, and fell again to 18th on the third one, but he remained there on the fourth iteration. He slightly dropped to 20th out of 38 on the fifth tier list before going back to 18th on the sixth tier list. The seventh tier list marked Donkey Kong's lowest placing to date at 23rd out of 38, before rising to his current position of 21st out of 38 on the current tier list. While Donkey Kong struggles at high levels of play, his representation and results gathered by his playerbase have managed to secure his position as a mid tier character. In the mid tier and lower, there aren't many projectiles that heavily disrupt his approach and chaingrabbing is much less frequent, which allows him to fully take advantage of his great mobility, range and excellent endurance.

Role in the Subspace Emissary

Donkey Kong in the SSE

The Koopa Troopas and Bowser steal Donkey Kong's Banana Hoard. As a Hammer Bro. drives off in a car which contains all the bananas, Donkey Kong watches him from a cliff. The Hammer Bro. and the Goomba aboard the car spot Donkey Kong and shoot Bullet Bills at him. However, Diddy Kong comes out from a bush and expertly shoots the Bullet Bills with his Peanut Popguns. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong then follow the Hammer Bro. to retrieve the Banana Hoard. After following him, they see Bowser with a strange type of gun called a Dark Cannon, revealing that he is working for the Subspace Army. When Bowser charges the cannon, Donkey Kong quickly charges his Giant Punch and launches Diddy into the sky and out of the way, sacrificing himself. Bowser shoots Donkey Kong and turns him into a trophy. Later in the story, Diddy Kong, Fox and Falco see a ship which is carrying Donkey Kong as a trophy to a mysterious floating island. Falco then helps Diddy by following it with his Arwing and having the little Kong with him. Falco then does a barrel roll and drops Diddy out. Diddy fires up his Rocket Barrels and takes out his Popguns and shoots the ship. After seeing this, Captain Falcon and Olimar decide to help him and jump to the ship, where Diddy frees Donkey Kong. All four then fight the Primids and other enemies on the ship.

The ship takes them inside a factory producing Subspace Bombs, and encounter various R.O.B.s that happen to live on the island. They later meet up with Pikachu and Samus where they see the Ancient Minister and a whole lot of R.O.B.s. After Ganondorf controls the R.O.B.s into activating all of the Subspace Bombs, the Ancient Minister is shown to be R.O.B., the leader of all the lesser R.O.B.s who were forced to work for the Subspace Army. R.O.B. then fights with the others. When Diddy Kong points to leave, R.O.B just slumps and is so depressed that Donkey Kong has to carry him out. When trying to escape Captain Falcon calls for his Falcon Flyer and tries to leave the cave when Meta Ridley appears and they must fight him. After that they all meet up with the others.

Donkey Kong and the other heroes enter Subspace and meet Tabuu, who turns everyone into trophies with his Off Waves. However, King Dedede had anticipated this and created badges that revived certain fighters back into their original form. With his team consisting of Luigi and Ness, Dedede rescues Donkey Kong and most of the others, although some of them were rescued by Kirby. They also recruit Bowser, Ganondorf, and Wario when they learned about Tabuu. At the end of The Great Maze, Sonic shows up and helps weaken Tabuu's Off Waves so Donkey Kong and the others would be able to beat him and restore the World Of Trophies to normal (except the Isle Of The Ancients that was impossible to return due to the massive number of Subspace Bombs going off at once).

Playable appearances

• The Jungle
• Outside the Ancient Ruins
• The Subspace Bomb Factory (Part II)
• Entrance to Subspace
• The Great Maze (if rescued in Subspace (Part I)

Using stickers

Donkey Kong's attacks are primarily punches. Arm stickers are effective, as they will cover all moves bar dash attack, neutral aerial, up aerial, back aerial, down aerial, ledge attack when under 100%, Headbutt, Spinning Kong and Hand Slap. A Leg sticker covers back aerial, dash attack and down aerial. Head stickers affect his up aerial and Headbutt. Spin stickers affects his neutral aerial and Spinning Kong. His ledge attack when under 100% is affected by body stickers but has next to no use otherwise and Hand Slap is boosted by Specials: Direct stickers. While this may seem situational, Hand Slap is a very effective move when dealing with multiple grounded enemies as well as grounded bosses.

Exclusive stickers

These stickers can only be used by Donkey Kong or a select few including him.

• Chunky Kong: [Throwing] attack +31
• Diddy Kong (Donkey Kong 64): Launch power +20
• Diddy Kong (Mario Hoops 3-on-3): [Leg] attack +28
• Diddy Kong (Mario Superstar Baseball): [Leg] attack +12
• Dixie Kong: Launch resistance +39
• DK: [Head] attack +27
• DK Barrel: Launch power +53
• Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong Jungle Beat): [Arm] attack +22
• Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong Country): [Electric] resistance +10
• Donkey Kong (Mario Kart DS) : [Flame] resistance +41
• Donkey Kong Jr.: [Arm] attack +14
• Enguarde: [Body, Spin] attack +15
• Funky Kong: [Leg] attack +13
• Karate Kong: [Battering] resistance +25
• Lanky Kong: [Throwing] attack +6
• Party Monkey: [Head] attack +6
• Pauline & Donkey Kong: [Arm] attack +18
• Tiny Kong: [Arm] attack +4
• Wrinkly Kong: [Battering] resistance +4

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• Event 7: Diddy Kong Panic: As Donkey Kong, the player must defeat 15 tiny Diddy Kongs on Mario Circuit.
• Event 9: The Monster Beneath the Earth: If the player fails to KO both Diddy Kongs before reaching the underground section of Castle Siege, a giant Donkey Kong will face the player.
• Event 10: All-Star Battle Regulars: Donkey Kong is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents are starters from the original Super Smash Bros. game.
• Event 22: Monkeys Unite: The player controls Diddy Kong, who must work together with a giant Donkey Kong to defeat Sheik and Lucario on Rumble Falls.
• Event 27: Three-Beast Carnage: As a tiny R.O.B., the player must defeat a giant Bowser, a giant Donkey Kong, and a giant Charizard on New Pork City.

Co-op events

• Co-Op Event 4: The DK Tag Calamity: As a tiny Donkey Kong and a tiny Diddy Kong, both players must defeat one Donkey Kong and four Diddy Kongs on Mario Circuit.
• Co-Op Event 14: The Dark Guardians: Both players control Ganondorf and Wolf, who are tiny, and must defeat a giant Donkey Kong and a giant Charizard on New Pork City.
• Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Two players select a character and take on the entire roster on Battlefield.

Trophies

Donkey Kong's main and Final Smash trophies can be obtained by clearing Classic Mode and All-Star mode respectively with Donkey Kong.

Trophy descriptions

Donkey Kong

A carefree jungle dweller with the charisma of a natural leader. He keeps busy by foiling the plans of the Kremlings and their boss, King K. Rool. As his physique suggests, this ape is a powerhouse. He's got speed to match too, and his love for bananas is second to none. His famous necktie is adorned with his initials, DK.

: Donkey Kong Country

: Donkey Kong 64

Konga Beat

DK about to go to town with some bongos! His performance is so magnificent and upbeat that it creates damage-inducing sound waves. Press the buttons in time to the music, and the sound waves may grow stronger. DK's invulnerable when launching this attack, but he's also immobile, so be careful using it on scrolling stages.

: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

• 

  Classic Mode trophy

• 

  Konga Beat trophy

Alternate costumes

Trivia

• Even though Donkey Kong has teeth, he only shows them when performing certain attacks or taunts. He occasionally opens his mouth with no teeth showing. For example, Donkey Kong shows his teeth when charging his up smash, but not during the attack portion.
• Donkey Kong is the only character in Brawl who has more than four different throws.
• When forward smashing with the Home-Run Bat, Donkey Kong has the longest range with the bat out of all the characters. However, if he is too close to the Sandbag or a character, they will be propelled upwards at a slight angle with drastically weaker knockback (though still powerful). This also happened to Donkey Kong in Melee.
• Donkey Kong is one of only three characters that can't use their down special move in midair, the others are Peach and Pokémon Trainer, although he is capable of using Hand Slap in the air in Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
• Donkey Kong is one of the few known characters to have an obvious error in his moveset coding - his forward aerial cannot be auto-canceled, but the coding of the move shows that it was intended to be able to, but it cannot due to a minor error caused by using the wrong type of timing function.

External links

• Donkey Kong's page at Smash Bros. Dojo!!.
• Donkey Kong Character Guide on SmashBoards
• Donkey Kong's hitbox size of each of his moves
• Donkey Kong's Moves - History Behind Super Smash Bros. Brawl, by CrappyCaptureDevice