Donkey Kong (PM)

Donkey Kong; in Project M and Project+
	;
Universe	Donkey Kong
Base game appearance	Brawl
Moveset inspiration	Donkey Kong (SSBM)
Alternate costume	Punch Out!! Outfit

Donkey Kong is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. In Project M, Donkey Kong was remade as a buffed version of his Melee counterpart.

Attributes

Donkey Kong is a heavyweight fighter who hits hard, has decent range, and has incredibly deadly options out of a grab. Donkey Kong has a unique throw that allows him to carry opponents on his back. He is able to walk in either direction, jump, and throw in any direction while he has an opponent in cargo. The up throw out of cargo is notorious for setting up both combos and KOs, especially on fastfallers. Donkey Kong has many moves with decent range like his back air and his Hand Slap, the latter of which is great at tech chasing, as it can cover multiple options at once. With his heavy damage dealing moves and his aerial and grab combos, Donkey Kong doesn't have much trouble setting up a hit with his forward aerial, his Giant Punch, or any of his other finishers.

However, DK suffers from mobility issues. A long jumping animation gives him a slow wavedash, and while his dashing speed is high, he suffers from a low air speed and an incredibly short return. Combined with his large size, this makes him an easy target to combo or kill. As well as this, while he has a great horizontal recovery, his vertical recovery is quite sub-par compared to the rest of the cast.

Changes from Melee to PM

Donkey Kong in his Punch Out outfit.

Standard Attacks

Dash attack has been changed. It is now a roll similar to that of the Donkey Kong Country series. It acts much like the original one, but has light armor and can roll off edges and platforms similar to Kirby's Melee dash attack. Can be jumped out of in midair. Overall has more utility than the old dash attack.

Aerial Attacks

Neutral aerial is now an effective approach option; it was given more range and slight invincibility on his arms during part of the attack.
Forward aerial comes out faster and has more KO potential.
Down aerial's ending lag has been shortened.

Grabs and Throws

Back throw's knockback has increased.

Special Moves

Hand Slap now has much wider grounded hitboxes that ground-bounce the opponent and only slaps the ground twice per button press (making it optionally much shorter); it functions well for shield pressure and tech-chasing.
Giant Punch no longer causes DK to become helpless if used while airborne.

Revisions

v2.1

Donkey Kong's cargo drop from platforms glitch has been fixed
Fixed Donkey Kong's dash attack grabbing the edge bug
Donkey Kong is now be able to Fastfall his dash attack when it goes offstage
Donkey Kong's Up-Aerial received an animation adjustment

v2.5b

Donkey Kong's Dash and Run slightly increased in speed
Donkey Kong's Jab 1 comes out faster and links better into Jab 2
Donkey Kong's Jab 2 hitbox sends at a higher trajectory than previously
Donkey Kong's Neutral-Air has better coverage and comes out slightly sooner
Donkey Kong's Cargo hold mashing formula adjusted, and it is no longer possible to break out by holding up or down on the control stick
Donkey Kong's Up-B can now be reversed on the ground during startup
Donkey Kong's Forward-Air reduced slightly in damage and knockback, and a misplaced hitbox was moved from his body to his arm
Donkey Kong's Down-B knockback has been adjusted, extra shield damage removed, and is slightly less safe on block
Donkey Kong's hurtboxes adjusted
Donkey Kong's Forward-Air spike sends slightly outward like other spikes do to be outside meteor trajectory range
Donkey Kong's Down-Air leg hitbox position adjusted
Donkey Kong's Up-B multihits hit at the same times as they did in Melee

v2.6b

Back-Aerial's sweetspot damage increased slightly. Duration on weaker hit increased slightly
Cargo Hold is now fastfallable
Fixed an issue with dropping through a platform while Cargo Holding an item
Forward-Aerial damage and knockback reduced slightly
Dash-Grab distance reduced significantly. Grab boxes adjusted to better match animation
Pivot Grab range reduced slightly
Neutral-B shoulder hit damage/knockback decreased significantly
Down-B range reduced significantly, graphical effects adjusted to match. Damage reduced slightly, knockback mostly compensated. Outer hitboxes send very slightly inward instead of straight up
Neutral-B graphical effect visible at the appropriate time
Dash Attack duration reduced slightly. Strong hit damage increased slightly. Armor changed from 6/3% damage to Light Armor throughout. Grounded version can now be Jump Canceled a few frames after the hitbox terminates

v3.0

Jab1 links more reliably into Jab2
Grounded Dash Attack Jump-Cancel removed
Neutral-Air bone invincibility duration reduced significantly
Dash Attack (ground & air) sweet/sourspot roles reversed from previously. Sweetspot now sends upward and has slightly less duration, sourspot sends outward
Up-B travels less horizontal distance, but gains more height. SDI multipliers on grounded multi-hits reduced to be normalized

v3.5

All aerials except down aerial are weaker, having reduced damage and knockback.
Can no longer jump cancel when using a grounded dash attack.
Arm invincibility in Giant Punch changed to intangibility to remove hitlag when interacted with an opponent's attack.
Arm invincibility in grounded Spinning Kong changed to intangibility to remove hitlag when interacted with an opponent's attack.
Wavedashing ability significantly improved.

Moveset

Up to date as of version 3.5.

	Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		4% (hit 1), 6% (hit 2) (10% total)	Donkey Kong punches the opponent twice.
Forward tilt		12% (high), 11% (mid), 10% (low)	Donkey Kong slaps the opponent with a wide-ranged back-hand.
Up tilt		9% (hand), 10% (arm), 11% (shoulder)	Donkey Kong swipes at the air. Can hit at the sides.
Down tilt		9%	Donkey Kong swipes at the ground.
Dash attack		10% (clean), 7% (late)	A roll similar to that of the Donkey Kong Country series. It has light armor and can roll off edges and platforms.
Forward smash		20% (hands), 21% (arms), 19%-18% (body)	Donkey Kong slaps both his hands together to smash the opponent.
Up smash		18% (hands), 16% (body)	Donkey Kong does a clap to the air.
Down smash		16% (close), 17% (far)	Donkey Kong smashes the ground with both fists.
Neutral aerial		14% (clean), 10% (late)	Donkey Kong spins in the air to hit opponents with his twirling arms.
Forward aerial		17%	A meteor smash. Donkey Kong hammers the opponent with large knockback.
Back aerial		13% (clean), 9% (late)	A short-ranged kick to the back.
Up aerial		14%	Donkey Kong does a mid-air headbutt.
Down aerial		16% (foot), 13% (body)	Donkey Kong steps on the opponent for a meteor smash.
Grab		—	Grabs the opponent.
Pummel		3%	A fairly quick slap.
Forward throw		9% (forward & back throw), 7% (up throw), 6% (breakout)	Donkey Kong carries the opponent like a barrel and can throw him/her up, forwards, or backwards.
Back throw		11%	Donkey Kong flings the opponent with stunning force.
Up throw		9%	The opponent is tossed upwards.
Down throw		7%	Donkey Kong slams the opponent into the ground.
Floor attack (front)		6%	Donkey Kong swats at the opponent.
Floor attack (back)		6%	Donkey Kong tries to clasp the opponent.
Floor attack (trip)		5%	Donkey Kong does a wind-up spin to the opponent.
Edge attack (fast)		8%	Donkey Kong rams into the opponent back first.
Edge attack (slow)		10%	Donkey Kong slowly gets up and swats at the opponent.
Neutral special	Giant Punch	1(10%), 2(12%), 3(14%), 4(16%), 5(18%), 6(20%), 7(22%), 8(24%), 9(26%), 10(28%), 10(30%)(sweetspot), 11(30%)(full)	An 11 staged punch, each more strong than the last. The Stage 10 sweetspot occurs when you are facing behind the opponent, and you charge to level 1. A slightly raised hitbox in the back of Donkey Kong becomes powerful.
Side special	Headbutt	8%, 10% (sweetspotted ground), 14% (sweetspotted aerial)	The opponent is headbutted into the ground so hard, that they become stuck for a few seconds.
Up special	Spinning Kong	Ground: 12 (startup), 8% (first 2 hits), 3% (last 3 hits) Air: 10% (startup), 5% (first 4 hits), 2% (last 3 hits)	Donkey Kong spins in the air, getting great horizontal distance, but little vertical distance.
Down special	Hand Slap	12%	Donkey Kong slaps the ground twice with each press of the down-special.
Final Smash	Konga Beat	4% (off beat), 10% (on beat)	Donkey Kong takes out his congo drums and plays a tune. By hitting the A button with a certain rhythm, the attack becomes much more powerful, along with having Donkey Kong clapping added.

In competitive play

Notable players

Alternate costumes

Donkey Kong has an alternate costume based on his secret boss fight in the Wii version of Punch-Out!! The costume has no gameplay effects. It also has green and blue recolors so that it can be used in Team Battles.