Donkey Kong (SSB)

This article is about Donkey Kong's appearance in Super Smash Bros. For other uses, see Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong
Universe	Donkey Kong
Appears in	SSB SSBM SSBB
Availability	Starter
Tier	Low (9)

Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング, Donkī Kongu) is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. He is known as a slow yet powerful character, with his trademark move being the Giant Punch, which, when fully charged, deals 36% damage.

Standard Moves

File:Dk ssb.PNG

Weak attacks

• A Jab, 2-4%
• A-A Combo Punch, 2-4%

Strong attacks

• Forward Tilt Extended Punch, 5-13%
• Up Tilt Upward Knock, 5-13%
• Down Tilt Low Slap, 3-8%

Smash attacks

• Forward Smash Big Slap, 8-21%
• Up Smash Upward Clap, 8-21%
• Down Smash Spinning Splits, 8-19%

Aerial attacks

• Neutral Air Spin, 5-15%
• Forward Air Spinning Spike, 6-16%
• Back Air Backwards kick, 4-15%
• Up Air Upward Knock, 5-12%
• Down Air Spike, 4-13%

Throws

• Forward throw Trap Throw, 6-8%

Donkey Kong will hold his opponent on his back, dealing 8%. He can then move around before throwing them forward for another 8%.

• Back throw Backward throw, 14-18%

Other

• Dash attack: Konga Kick, 5-12%

Special Moves

• Neutral B: Giant Punch
• Up B: Spinning Kong
• Down B: Hand Slap

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Attacks deal lots of damage and have good knockback
• Long horizontal recovery
• Greatest grabbing range in the game
• Has two spikes
• Good reach, which allows for good combos despite slow attack speed
• Terrific throw combos
• One of the strongest throws in the game, in terms of knockback
• Heaviest character in the game.
• has an infinite called the Infinite throw trap
• Incredible use of the wall in hyrule

Cons

• Huge target
• Easily comboed/juggled
• Slow movement and attacks
• Poor and unvaried approach
• Low vertical recovery
• Kills require setup
• No projectile
• Poor shield cover

Combos and General Strategy

Infinite Throw Trap

DK has the ability to use forward throw as a method to constantly stack damage to most characters. In order to do this, DK must use the Trap Throw, but not throw. If the opponent wiggles out, they will likely wiggle out into DK's grab range whereupon they can be grabbed again. This throw trap can be broken if the opponent can shake towards DK and his grab. Yoshi can break out of this throw trap with ease.

Another infinite trap is to use Down B in the lower left part of Mushroom Kingdom (SSB) to continuosly damage the target. Unfortunely, this is not allowed in tournaments due to the stage being banned.

Ledge Dropping

Due to DK's laggy aerials, DK has very little comboing potential with his aerials except d-air or f-air into throw. However, if DK drops from a ledge, DK can quickly use a u-air and then land to move to do another attack. DK can also jump, use an aerial, and land on a ledge for a similar effect. As a result, on ledges, DK can juggle characters with u-air that he would otherwise never be able to combo.

In Single-player

In the game's single-player mode, you and two randomly chosen allies will fight a Giant DK on the Kongo Jungle stage.

Donkey Kong and Matchups

Donkey Kong is low on the tier list due to his weakness to combos and limited approach. He is too heavy and characters have a very easy time 0-death'ing him. Donkey Kong also counters jigglypuff due to his gimp combo cargo hold, re-throw into a fully charged giant punch. He has a better recovery however than many others and this helps his tier placement as much as anything else.

Palette Swaps

File:Alt-dk.jpg

Donkey Kong's changeable palette swaps in SSB