Donkey Kong (SSBB)

Donkey Kong in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	Donkey Kong
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Konga Beat
Tier	E (23)

Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング, Donkī Kongu) is a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He was first shown very briefly at the E3 2007 press conference. Like most other characters in Brawl, has been graphically updated to match his more recent appearances. His fur is more brightly colored, and he also appears furrier, especially around his head. Due to his heavy weight, the screen will shake slightly when Donkey Kong jumps and lands, like Bowser and King Dedede.

Donkey Kong is currently ranked 23rd on the tier list in the middle 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 plus 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. Overall, Donkey Kong has decidedly poor matchups while being countered by the majority of top and high tier (including a near unwinnable matchup against King Dedede), 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 spikes can be devastating, though it's hard to edge guard without a disjointed attack due it's initial invincibility frames and being a high priority move. 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 launch resistance 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 launch resistance) 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

Donkey Kong has been significantly buffed from Melee to Brawl. Overall, he is a faster, stronger, and longer ranged character with increased priority in most of his moves. For example, both his back air and down smash have highly increased knockback. Giant Punch has shorter range and has less knockback when fully charged (the 10 charge is much stronger but doesn't have launch resistance like the fully charged), but he can now also reverse it. In addition, it also charges faster. Headbutt comes out faster and deals more damage. Additionally, Headbutt can now dig if Donkey Kong uses it in the air and the opponent is in the ground rather than just Donkey Kong in the ground as well. Furthermore, since buried characters can now receive knockback, and the duration is increased if the victim has higher damage, Headbutt can now easily be comboed with Giant Punch. Hand Slap is a better move in general, as it covers more range and deals 14% instead of 11%. Spinning Kong does less knockback but grants launch resistance just before its released. Landing on the ground from a moderate vertical distance after using his Spinning Kong leaves him vulnerable as he lands on his back and has to get up. However, Donkey Kong won't have a landing animation if the landing was from a small height. Spinning Kong also gives slightly more horizontal and vertical distance. Donkey Kong's shield is larger, but it's still small in relation to his body. His side smash has higher knockback, and a fully charged side smash has higher knockback than fully charged Giant Punch. His up smash can now hit grounded characters, and his down tilt now trips foes, leaving them vulnerable. Players escape out of his carry throw automatically, even without touching the control stick. Additionally, only the opponent takes damage if released. Donkey Kong's falling speed is much slower (no longer among the fastest), which has both advantages (such as making chain grabs less effective) and disadvantages (such as making approaching with aerials less effective). His dash attack now has horizontal knockback instead of vertical knockback. Forward carry throw has more vertical knockback and less horizontal knockback. He has 10 less frames on his grab-release animation, which gives him 10 frames to counter attack everyone except Bowser.

In terms of cosmetics, Donkey Kong has more realistic gorilla roars (similar to other characters having more realistic noises). His costume is lighter and very different from Melee (making him comparable to his appearance in Donkey Kong Jungle Beat with his furrier appearance), and his black costume now has a yellow tie instead of a blue tie.

Brawl Manual Description

The large king of the jungle. he moves with surprising agility.

Moveset

For a visual representation of Donkey Kong's attack hitboxes, see this page.

	Move	Description	Segment		Damage	Angle	Hit Frames		BKB	KBG	WBKB	Type
Neutral attack	Double Punch	Does a quick cross punch and follows up with an uppercut. Certain hitboxes can jab lock.	Hit 1	Arm	4%	*	5	7	0	100	0
				Body		140
			Hit 2		6%	70	16	21	40
Forward tilt	Backhand Swipe	Swats in front. Large range and fast but low knockback. DK's arm is intangible while the hitboxes are out, allowing it to be used safely against most other attacks. Has a 15% chance of tripping when angled down.	Angled up		12%	*	8	11	10	100	0
			Angled side		10%
			Angled down		9%
Up tilt	Upper Swipe	Swats above his head. Fast with a good arch range. Again, DK's arm cannot be injured while the hitboxes are out.	Hand		9%	100	5	11	40	105	0
			Elbow		10%					110
			Arm		11%					115
Down tilt	Trip Swipe	Swats at his opponent's feet. This move causes opponents to trip 40% of the time. Slightly less range and similar start-up than his forward tilt, but barely any ending lag and still has long range. A great lock move at low percentages and a trip can be combined with his Hand Slap.			8%	*	6	9	10	80	0
Dash attack	Sliding Kick	Skids to a halt doing a side-kick. High lag and poor shieldstun. Similar to a move from Donkey Kong 64.	Clean		11%	50	9	11	100	20	0
			Late		9%	100	12	20	0	0	120
Up smash	High Clap	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.			Template:DamageWhenCharged	90	14	16	40	93	0
Down smash	Simian Slam	Does a double back-handed punch by bringing his closed fists down 90 degrees at both sides. Very fast, great vertical knockback, and one of the strongest down smashes in the game.	Hands		Template:DamageWhenCharged	115	10	14	35	100	0
			Arms		Template:DamageWhenCharged	98
Forward smash	Clap Smash	Claps hands together in front of him. The two stronger hitboxes have increased hitlag, making it easy to tell which one has connected.	Fingers		Template:DamageWhenCharged	*	22	23	30	94	0
			Hands		Template:DamageWhenCharged
			Arms		Template:DamageWhenCharged				18	100
			Body		Template:DamageWhenCharged
Neutral aerial	Fist Spin	Spins with arms extended. Similar to the Spinning Kong, but much faster to execute.	Clean		11%	*	10	13	20	100	0
			Late		8%		14	26	10
Forward aerial	Fist Pound	Puts fists together above his head, then does a powerful ax-handle smash. A powerful meteor smash when sweet spotted, which also causes a significant hitlag increase. Great for catching edge guarders while recovering. Looks almost exactly like a move from Donkey Kong 64.	Windup		16%	*	25	26	20	100	0
			Clean	Hands		270	27	29	30	85
				Arms		*			50
Back aerial	Rear Kick	Back-kicks behind him. Very fast, long ranged and strong, is an effective wall of pain	Clean		13%	*	7	8	20	100	0
			Late		8%		9	16	10
Up aerial	Head Swipe	Headbutts above. Extremely quick, can be used to juggle at low percentages and Star KO at high percentages.			14%	90	6	9	32	90	0
Down aerial	Flex Stomp	Stomps down whilst holding his arms up in a macho pose. When this move hits, it will always meteor smash, and it is his strongest meteor smash. Has Star KO potential. Can be used on many characters by cargo down throwing, then jumping and down aerial.	Foot		16%	270	18	23	38	90	0
			Body		13%				20
Pummel	Karate Chop	Does a slight karate chop at the enemy's neck.			3%	80	9	10	0	100	30
Forward throw	Cargo	Reardless 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. Donkey Kong is unable to use his forward throw on enemies in the Subspace Emissary, making him the only character unable to use one of his standard throws for said reason. If the input for the forward throw is used, he will use his up throw instead.	Breakout		6%	*			0	100	30
			Forward throw		8%	60	13		80	50	0
			Back throw			55	15
			Up throw		7%	90	14		90	30
			Down throw		6%	28	16		65	26
Back throw	Rear Fling	Swings his arm back and throws the opponent. A very good KO throw and it has fast start-up.			11%	40	15		60	65	0
Up throw	Vertical Fling	Swings his arm back and throws the opponent. A very good KO throw and it has fast start-up. Can combo into an up smash or up aerials at low percentages.			9%	90	14		70	50	0
Down throw	Dirt Shove	Slams the opponent into the ground with his hand. Can chain grab characters like Snake or Kirby. At low percentages, this can combo into Hand Slap and can start aerial juggles from there.			7%	*	41		60	50	0
Floor (back)	Double Clap	Claps once to each side.	Hit 1		6%	*	9	10	80	50	0
			Hit 2				20	21
Floor (front)	Double Swat	Swats with his hand in a wide arch.	Hit 1		6%	*	20	21	80	50	0
			Hit 2				24	25
Floor (trip)	Ground Spin	Spins with his fists as he stands.	Hit 1		5%	*	19	20	60	50	0
			Hit 2				23	24
Edge (<100%)	Butt Fling	Throws his rear at the opponent.			8%	*	9	16	0	100	110
Edge (100%+)	Slow Swipe	Climbs onto the stage and swats forward.			10%	*	38	41	0	100	110
Neutral special move	Giant Punch	DK winds up a punch which is released once the button is pressed again. Damage increases by 2% for each arm swing he pulls off before punching (with the first having no effect); if he stops charging and his head starts smoking, it'll be fully charged.	Uncharged (ground)	Elbow (pullback)	12%	80	18		15	100	0
				Arm	10%	*	19	22
				Body						60
			Uncharged (air)	Elbow (pullback)	8%	80	18		15	100
				Arm	6%	*	19	22
				Body						60
			Fully charged (ground)	Elbow (pullback)	18%	80	18		40	80
				Arm	28%	*	19	22	10
				Body	18%					50
			Fully charged (air)	Arm (pullback)	15%	80	18		40	80
				Arm	25%	*	19	22	10
				Body	20%					50
Side special move	Headbutt	A sideways headbutt that sends the opponent straight down into the ground.	Ground	Grounded opponents	10%	270	20	21	20	40	0
				Aerial opponents	8%	70			15
			Air	Clean	14%	270			30
				Midswing (aerial opponents only)	8%	70			15
Up special move	Spinning Kong	DK spins around with arms extended. Has super armour on the ground and intangibility frames in the air.	Hit 1 (ground)	Arms	5%	*	19-23, 24-28, 29-33, 34-38		50	70	0
				Body	4%	140
			Hit 2 (ground)		3%	*	39-42, 43-46, 47-50, 51-54		5	50
			Hit 3 (ground)		4%		55	56	40	90
			Hit 1 (air)		10%		4	6	40	80
			Hit 2 (air)	Arms	5%		12-19, 20-27, 28-35, 36-43		20	70
				Body	4%
			Hit 3 (air)		2%		44-51, 52-59, 60-77, 78-85		0	100
Down special move	Hand Slap	An earth-shaking attack with okay range, but cannot hit opponents that aren't on the ground.	Hit 1	Center	14%	84	6	7	82	23	0
				Sides		78
			Hit 2	Center		84	17	18
				Sides		78
Final Smash	Konga Beat	DK breaks out the bongos and launches waves of sound at opponents. The waves increase in size and power based on music-matching button presses; the exact mechanics of this are unknown.	Startup	Unknown	3%	150	1		30	100	0
				Unknown	12%	*				80
				Unknown	11%				100	110
			Weak wave		2%	150			40	100	0
			Strong wave		7%	*			30	70

On-screen appearance

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

Cheer

Don Key Kong!

In Competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Role in the Subspace Emissary

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 McCloud and Falco Lombardi 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.

Donkey Kong in the SSE

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 Aran 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 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 the Hedgehog shows up and helps weaken Tabuu's Off Waves so Donkey Kong and the others would be able to beat him.

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 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

Costumes

Donkey Kong's alternate costumes in SSBB

Trophy

Donkey Kong's trophy in Brawl.

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

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, DK shows his teeth when charging his up smash, but not during the attack portion.
• When DK is tiny, he actually moves faster while carrying a Crate or Blast Box.
• DK is the only character in Brawl who has more than four different throws.
• When forward smashing with the Home Run Bat, DK has the longest range with the bat out of all the characters. However, if he is too close to the Sandbag or a character, he/she will be propelled upwards at a slight angle with drastically weaker knockback (though still powerful). This happened to him in Melee.

External links

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