Spinning Kong

Spinning Kong
	; Spinning Kong in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
User	Donkey Kong
Universe	Donkey Kong
Article on DK Wiki	Spinning Kong

“	While it doesn't gain much altitude, this move covers a lot of horizontal ground, making it an effective recovery move.	”
—Melee's instruction manual

“	Poor vertical gain but great for horizontal recovery.	”
—Brawl's instruction manual

“	Spin for a combo attack. Can move left or right.	”
—Smash for 3DS's foldout

Spinning Kong (スピニングコング, Spinning Kong) is Donkey Kong's up special move.

Description

Donkey Kong rapidly spins with his arms outstretched, dealing multiple clothesline attacks. This move gains very little vertical height, but it goes almost as far horizontally as Meta Knight's Mach Tornado, making it a rather effective recovery move. When used on the ground, 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. Spinning Kong can also act as a pseudo shield for some projectiles which is helpful when recovering.

In all games, the aerial version of Spinning Kong does up to 36% damage, making it the second most damaging up special in the game if all hits connect (which is quite difficult to do), 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 hitbox 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. In Melee, it is the most damaging up special move when used aerially.

In Brawl, the move gives a fairly long landing lag animation if DK lands from too high up after using the move (similar to Bowser's Whirling Fortress). This can be avoided by recovering low enough to the ground.

In the first three games, the grounded move consists of only one hit dealing 10% damage. It has decent horizontal knockback, being an effective edgeguarding move and combo finisher. Additionally, when DK lands after using the move and he falls off the edge within the first few frames of landing, he will still be in helpless state.

In Smash 4, the grounded Spinning Kong no longer spins horizontally, instead spinning in a slight angle dependent on the direction he starts the move, increasing the attack's vertical range. It also hits multiple times and deals much more damage, doing 7% on the first hit, five 1% hits, and a moderate knockback finisher that does 4% for a total of 17%, making the grounded version a better out of shield move.

Origin

In Donkey Kong Country 2, Dixie Kong had the ability to spin in midair in order to slow down her descent; this ability also caused her horizontal movement in the air to dramatically increase. While Donkey Kong himself has never used the move in the series prior to Super Smash Bros., the overall animation for Spinning Kong is similar to Dixie Kong's spinning ability, though Donkey Kong uses his arms to hover instead of Dixie Kong's ponytail. Tiny Kong also had a similar spinning ability in Donkey Kong 64. However, Super Smash Bros. was released before Donkey Kong 64. In the Mario spinoff, Mario Sports Mix, Donkey Kong uses a move that strongly resembles the Spinning Kong; however, it is just a coincidence.

Customization

Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the variations:

Chopper Kong: Launches DK straight up, regardless of whether he is airborne or grounded. Gives better vertical distance and ascends much faster, but horizontal distance is reduced, and the move does no damage.
Kong Cyclone: Creates a tornado around DK that sucks opponents in from all directions. The attack portion of the move is much faster and only deals two hits; a weak attack at the beginning, and a stronger attack with KO potential at the end, and Donkey Kong gains super armor for the duration of the spin. This move also has soft and hard landing lag; if Donkey Kong is very close to the ground once using Kong Cyclone in the air, he receives minimal landing lag; otherwise, he suffers extreme landing lag.