Spinning Kong
| Spinning Kong | |
|---|---|
 Spinning Kong in Super Smash Bros.. | |
| User | Donkey Kong |
| Universe | Donkey Kong |
The Spinning Kong is Donkey Kong's up special move. In terms of vertical recovery, this move goes a very short distance, but it goes almost as far horizontally as Meta Knight's Mach Tornado, making it a fairly effective recovery move. When used on the ground, the Spinning Kong can be used in a fashion similar to Bowser's Whirling Fortress; it can be used out of the shield, or as a disruptive tactic. The Spinning Kong's first hit, in which Donkey Kong extends his fist to charge up the spin, has decent knockback. The Spinning Kong can also act as a pseudo shield for some projectiles which is helpful when recovering.
The Spinning Kong does up to 36% damage, making it the second strongest up special in the game if all hits connect, following Lucas in first with PK Thunder 2 which can do 43%. In Brawl, the grounded version of Spinning Kong grants a few frames of launch resistance just before the hitboxes will come out. The landing lag animation after the helpless animation has also been changed causing Donkey Kong to fall onto his back after finishing the move, leaving him vulnerable for a moment. An oddity will commence if Donkey Kong leaves the ground when using the grounded version of Spinning Kong, the launch resistance will last for the entire move instead of only the few startup frames but no vertical height will be gained. Another oddity is if the ground is close enough to Donkey Kong when the aerial version of Spinning Kong completes he will receive no landing lag. In Melee, it is the most damaging up special.
Origin
The moves seems to be unique to the Super Smash Bros. series. However, in Donkey Kong Country 2, Dixie Kong had the ability to spin to slow down her descent and cross large distances horizontally. Spinning Kong may have been loosely based on this move. The only difference between the moves is that Donkey Kong uses his arms to hover, while Dixie Kong used her ponytail. Tiny Kong also had a similar spinning move in Donkey Kong 64. However, Spinning Kong first appeared in the original Super Smash Bros., which precedes Donkey Kong 64's release, and resembles Dixie Kong's spinning move more than Tiny Kong's.
Brawl Manual description
"Poor vertical gain but great for horizontal recovery."
