Diddy Kong (SSB4)

Diddy Kong in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Donkey Kong
Other playable appearance	in Brawl
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Rocketbarrel Barrage

Diddy Kong (ディディーコング, Diddy Kong) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. He was confirmed on February 21st, 2014, coinciding with the international release date of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Diddy Kong retains his realistic chimpanzee screeches from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.[1]

Attributes

Diddy Kong falls into the "quick and weak" archetype, however has many strong finishers. He has notably long reach for a character of his size, and when combined with his remarkable frame data, makes it easy for him to string together attacks. Diddy Kong has excellent camping, approach, and neutral courtesy of his Peanut Popgun, Monkey Flip, and Banana Peel. His grab and throw game, despite having been overwhelmingly nerfed over time, is also decent, with his up and down throws capable of leading to long combos at low percents. As mentioned, he has decent KO power, with his smash attacks and down aerial (additionally formerly his up aerial) capable of KOing below 130%.

However, Diddy Kong has some flaws. Arguably his biggest weakness is his very poor recovery; although the distance of it is potentially very long, it is one of the most linear in the game, and Rocketbarrel Pack needs to be charged to go far at all, and as such Diddy Kong can SD simply by being too far below the stage, and has very small ledge sweetspots, and if it hits the stage, it will leave Diddy Kong helpless and stage spike him. Diddy Kong does, however, possess wall jump and wall cling. He also has a poor damage output, meaning his combos have to be very long to rack up the same damage most other characters will be able to deal in far fewer hits. However, his strengths significantly overpower his flaws, and Diddy Kong is one of the most highly represented characters in the game along with Sheik. However, after being subsequently nerfed by updates 1.0.6 and 1.0.8, his success has noticeably decreased.

Diddy Kong receives very few benefits from customs, with only one noteworthy alternative: Rocketbarrel Attack. Although it makes his already poor recovery one of the worst in the game, it has significant KO power even when uncharged (capable of KOing under 60%), and is consistently powerful throughout the attack. However, most of his other custom specials are either only subtle improvements (such as Shocking Banana Peel) or direct downgrades (such as Exploding Popgun).

Changes from Brawl

Initially, Diddy Kong was heavily buffed in his transition from Brawl to SSB4 despite already being a top or high-tier character, but since patch 1.0.8, he is considered to be slightly nerfed overall. He has received a major nerf to his Banana Peel move, which was previously the key to his past success, and many attacks deal less damage, weakening his damage racking abilities. To make up these nerfs however, he has attained many new easily usable combos, which are further benefitted by the removal of hitstun canceling, and some of his moves were buffed to KO better. Overall, he is still seen as one of the most successful characters in competitive play.

Aesthetics

• Like Donkey Kong and Fox, Diddy has more stylized fur than he did in Brawl. His proportions have been tweaked to match his more recent appearances in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. For example, Diddy's head is smaller in proportion to his body, and his cap matches the one with the differently-colored Nintendo logo as shown in Tropical Freeze. However, his arsenal of weaponry (namely his Peanut Popgun and Rocketbarrels) are not from these recent installments and remain aesthetically unchanged. Like other veterans, Diddy Kong's pigments are more prominent than they were in Brawl, with the visual sharpness of his red attire and brown fur increased. This coincidentally makes Diddy Kong similar to his appearance in Donkey Kong 64. Diddy's general expressiveness has also been exaggerated, like Donkey Kong. Many of his animations are now accompanied with look of distraught surprise.
• Diddy's teeth are no longer visible while performing his side taunt.

Attributes

• Diddy Kong's more elastic limbs stretch out farther in his attacks, which gives a significant increase in the reach of his attacks.
• Diddy dashes slightly faster (1.721 → 1.824).
• Diddy's air speed is slightly higher (0.82 → 0.88).
• Diddy's falling speed is faster (1.43 → 1.75).

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack hit 3 now transitions into a finisher, making it much safer overall.
• All of Diddy Kong's standard ground attacks (except down smash's back hit and dash attack's final hit) deal less damage (ranging from a 1-3% decrease).
• Dash attack final hit does more damage, but has more endlag, making the move slightly less reliable for quick setups.
• Forward smash does more knockback (40 base/90 growth → 40 base/116 growth).
• Up smash's last hit has much stronger knockback (70 base/70 growth → 50 base/126 growth), no longer being the weakest.
• Down smash hits are reversed with the front hit being weaker and the back hit being stronger.
• Due to this change down smash's front hit is much weaker, dealing less damage (16 → 12) and knockback (40 base/72 growth → 40 base/69 growth).
• Down smash's back hit does more damage (12% → 15%) and slightly more knockback (35 base/72 growth → 35 base/74 growth).

Aerial attacks

• Forward and down aerials have slightly less ending lag.
• Forward and down aerials have slightly less landing lag (30 → 26, and 30 → 28 respectively).
• Forward and up aerials deal less damage (14/11 → 10/8%, and 11 → 6% respectively).
• Diddy Kong has a new up aerial; he now swings his leg up and halfway across his head.
• New up aerial sends at a better angle for combos (sending at a 75 degree angle), now being able to rack up damage quickly and reliably set up other aerials out of a down throw or short hop.
• Down aerial's sweetspot deals slightly more damage (12 → 13%).
• Down aerial now has a sourspot, which deals less damage (10%).

Throws/other attacks

• Grab is slightly quicker and more reliable.
• Forward and back throw's animations are much slower making them easier to DI.
• Forward throw deals 2% less damage.
• Back throw deals 2% more damage.
• Up throw has slightly lower knockback, allowing it to set up aerials more reliably.
• Down throw now sends opponents overhead instead of behind which makes it much more reliable for setting up aerials, now being able to set up any aerial until percentages as high as 135% (depending on the opponent's character) and start highly damaging combos.
• Down throw deals 3% less damage and has less hitstun.

Special moves

• Peanut Popgun's explosion from overcharging now has a very powerful hitbox.
• Peanut Popgun deals 5% less damage when fully charged, and has more endlag per shot, essentially slowing its rate of fire down.
• Monkey Flip now allows Diddy to pummel the opponent once he grabs onto them. The launch is also more powerful and can now KO at around 200%.
• Monkey Flip's 2nd ground attack release deals less damage.
• Rocketbarrel Boost is now able to move at horizontal trajectories, opening up more recovery options and making Diddy's recovery less linear in general.
• Rocketbarrel Boost needs to be charged longer to cover more distance than it did in Brawl.
• Diddy can now only have one Banana Peel out at a time, significantly reducing Diddy's ability to control the stage, and completely removing the double banana lock and the move's ability to 0-death opponents in Brawl. In addition, Banana Peels can now be destroyed by opponents and will disappear after touching the ground twice.
• Rocketbarrel Barrage no longer puts Diddy into helpless upon completion.
• Rocketbarrel Barrage deals less damage.
• The peanuts fired from the Peanut Popgun and Rocketbarrel Barrage no longer breaks into pieces, making the peanuts no longer consumable. It also hinders Diddy's potential of recovering damage this way.

Update History

Likely as a result of his dominance in early competitive play, Diddy Kong was significantly nerfed overall. In particular, Diddy was nerfed in patches 1.0.6 and 1.0.8, which greatly weakened the hitstun, damage, and knockback of several of Diddy's then-most frequently used moves, particularly the aforementioned down throw to up aerial combo, bringing Diddy's competitive usage more in line with other frequently used SSB4 characters. The changes on shield mechanics slightly hinder him, too, as banana out of shield comes out slower and he has to space a bit more his other moves in the neutral.

Nevertheless, while Diddy Kong initially seemed to be much less effective after the nerfs, his neutral game has not been nerfed significantly in these updates, and he has obtained slight buffs in other areas, so he is still seen as a popular and successful character in competitive play.

In patch 1.1.1, Diddy Kong had a glitch that had rendered him invulnerable to grabs of any kind until he performed any kind of dodging maneuver. This was later fixed in patch 1.1.2, nine days after 1.1.1's worldwide release.

1.0.4

• Range at end of rapid jab: 4 → 5
• Fixed bug where Diddy could use Peanut Popgun to cancel hitstun.
• Certain special attack properties have been removed and adjusted.

1.0.6

• Up air damage: 8% → 6%
• Up air's knockback is also significantly weaker, no longer killing until well beyond 150%
• Forward air damage: 12/10% → 10/8%
• Forward air is weaker.
• Up throw deals less damage (from 10% to 8%), but it also has less knockback, which allows Diddy Kong to combo into up aerial more efficiently.
• Down throw damage: 7% → 6%. Its hitsun is also reduced.
• Monkey Flip (kick) now has an extra hitbox that deals 10% damage near the end of the kick.
• Monkey Flip (grab) damage: 12% → 10%
• Monkey Flip (jump) damage: 10% → 8%
• Forward smash's ending lag increased.

1.0.8

• Jab improved; it transitions through to the second hit 2 frames faster, to the third hit 1 frame faster, and to the rapid-hitting portion 7 frames faster. The rapid hits additionally have reduced SDI capacity, and the final hit of the jab has increased reach, increased base knockback, and 4 less frames of ending lag.
  • The complete jab deals marginally less damage.
• Down tilt's damage was reduced by .5%, with decreased knockback, now only allows him to combo into his KO moves from down tilt later, preventing him from securing KOs early.
• Up aerial is worse. Its startup was increased by 1 frame, and can no longer hit opponents below and horizontal to Diddy, lessening its usefulness for spacing attacks. Its base knockback was increased, making it more difficult to combo. Its knockback scaling was additionally decreased, weakening its KOing capabilities, and it also autocancels 12 frames later. These changes have it perceived as now being situational or useless.
• All of Diddy's grabs have 3 more frames of ending lag.
• Up throw's damage was reduced by 3%, and its knockback was increased, reducing its followup capabilities, and removing his KO follow-ups.
• Down throw damage: 6% → 7%.
• Down throw has increased knockback scaling and a very slightly more diagonal knockback trajectory, reducing its followup capabilities and removing all guaranteed follow ups around 135%. Despite its higher knockback scaling, it still cannot KO at realistic percentages.

1.1.0

• Down smash has increased knockback growth on both hits: 69/74 → 72/76
• Up smash links better with stronger knockback: 45 → 48.
• Second hit of up smash sends opponents at a different angle and the third hit has adjusted hitboxes.

1.1.1

• Created glitch where Diddy Kong cannot be grabbed if he shield jumps or shield grabs a multihit attack.

1.1.2

• Fixed glitch induced by the previous update where Diddy Kong cannot be grabbed if he shield jumps or shield grabs a multihit attack.

Technical changelist

Change	Old value	New value
Jab 1 damage	1.5%	1.2%
Transition from Jab 1 to Jab 2	frame 10	frame 8
Jab 2 damage	1.5%	1.2%
Transition from Jab 2 to Jab 3	frame 9	frame 8
Jab 3 weight-based knockback	30	25
Jab 3 hitbox sizes	4/3.5/3	4.2/3.7/3.2
Transition between third hit and looping hits of jab	frame 22	frame 15
Looping hits of jab now use a large, single hitbox as opposed to many small ones
Looping hits of jab damage	0.6%	0.5%
Looping hits of jab angle	70/90	60
Looping hits of jab weight-based knockback	6	4
SDI capacity of jab rapid hits	1.3	0.7
Unknown parameters of rapid jab hits changed	Default	6.8/6.0
Final hit of jab animation length	frame 8	frame 4
Final hit of jab knockback growth	180	177
Final hit of jab base knockback	30	45
Final hit of jab hitbox size	5	7.2
Final hit of jab Y-offset	5.5	6.8
Unknown parameters of final hit of jab changed	5.5	6.8/6.0
Down tilt given an additional hitbox identical to its other two hitboxes
Down tilt damage	6%	5.5%
Up air startup	3 frames	4 frames
Up air autocancel window	Frames 0-2/15	Frame 27
Up air base knockback	65	100
Up air knockback growth	99	89
Grab total duration	28 frames	31 frames
Dash grab total duration	35 frames	38 frames
Pivot grab total duration	33 frames	36 frames
Up throw (hit 2) damage	4%	1%
Up throw (hit 2) base knockback	30	50
Up throw (hit 2) knockback scaling	100	120
Down throw damage	6%	7%
Down throw angle	105°	106°
Down throw knockback scaling	50	59

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			1.5%	Diddy Kong slaps forward twice, turns around to quickly kick the foe, and proceeds to repeatedly whip them with his tail. The attack finishes with an upward lash.
			1.5%
			2%
			0.6% (infinite), 3% (last hit)
Forward tilt			10% (clean), 7% (late)	Diddy Kong leans to the side and thrusts both of his arms forward in a double punch. This attack can be tilted upwards or downwards.
Up tilt			6%	Diddy Kong swats in the air above him with a slap and looks similar to an uppercut.
Down tilt			6%	Diddy Kong, while crouching, claps forward.
Dash attack			2% (hits 1-2) 3% (hit 3)	Diddy Kong performs a cartwheel from Donkey Kong Country, and ends it with a ground-slap with both hands.
Forward smash			5% (hit 1), 11% (sweetspot hit 2), 9% (sourspot hit 2)	Diddy Kong spins and slaps forward, then swings his fist immediately after. The first hit has no knockback.
Up smash			2.5% (hits 1-2), 6% (hit 3)	Diddy Kong hops briefly and performs a stationary cartwheel. The attack's vertical reach is greater and his hands now form a punch.
Down smash			12% (front), 15% (back)	Diddy Kong performs a sweeping kick. It has less knockback than his forward smash.
Neutral aerial			6%	Diddy Kong does an aerial cartwheel similar to his dash attack.
Forward aerial			10% (clean), 8% (late)	Diddy Kong kicks both feet forward while spinning, similar to Mario and Luigi's old forward aerial in Super Smash Bros..
Back aerial			9%	Diddy Kong thrusts his leg backward and spins it behind him.
Up aerial			6%	Diddy Kong performs an overhead kick.
Down aerial			13% (clean), 10% (late)	Diddy Kong swings both arms downward in a double axe-handle punch. A strong meteor smash.
Grab			—	Diddy Kong grabs his opponent in a bear hugging style.
Pummel			2%	Diddy Kong jumps up to headbutt his target, angled from the side of his body.
Forward throw			9%	Diddy Kong tosses his opponent forwards. The throw is based on Diddy Kong's barrel toss animation from Donkey Kong Country. Can combo into Fair and Uair at very low percentages.
Back throw			12%	Diddy Kong tosses his opponent backwards.
Up throw			1% (hit 1), 4% (throw)	Diddy Kong throws his opponent up and handstand kicks them. Good combo tool before 110%.
Down throw			6%	Diddy Kong throws the opponent onto the ground and hops over them. Can combo into aerials, such as the infamous link into up air.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Diddy Kong gets up and kicks on both sides.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Diddy Kong gets up and kicks on both sides.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Diddy Kong gets up and kicks on both sides.
Edge attack Edge getups			7%	A spinning tail slap.
Neutral special	Default	Peanut Popgun	3-12% (Peanuts), 23% (explosion)	Diddy Kong shoots a peanut from his Popgun. The longer Diddy charges the attack, the farther and quicker the peanut will fly. If Diddy overcharges the attack, however, it will cause a very powerful explosion.
	Custom 1	Exploding Popgun	1% (Shot), 25% (explosion)	Diddy Kong charges his Popgun, solely for exploding, and it charges faster. If released early, Diddy Kong will then do a shot without a Peanut firing and it will hurt when up close.
	Custom 2	Jumbo Peanuts	7-11% (Peanuts), 18% (explosion)	Diddy Kong shoots a giant peanut from his Popgun. The peanuts don't fly as far, but are more powerful than normal. Requires slightly less time to fully charge.
Side special	Default	Monkey Flip	14% (clean midair kick), 12% (mid midair kick), 10% (late midair kick), 1% (pummel), 3% (grab attack hit 1), 7% (grab attack hit 2), 3% (jump attack hit 1), 5% (jump attack hit 2)	Diddy Kong performs a sideways hop that has the potential to launch Diddy onto an opponent's face if timed correctly. Once Diddy has clung onto his foe's face, he can double chop them and leap away with the attack button, or can perform a footstool jump with the jump button. Finally, tapping the special button while he is flipping will cause Diddy to attack with a flying kick instead.
	Custom 1	Back Flip	17% (clean), 12% (mid), 8% (late)	Diddy Kong hops backwards, and can perform a flying kick forwards with another button press. Can't grab however.
	Custom 2	Flying Monkey Flip	10% (clean midair kick), 8% (late midair kick), 1% (pummel), 3% (grab attack hit 1), 5% (grab attack hit 2), 7.5% (jump attack hits 1-2)	Diddy Kong jumps higher, but his flying kick and regular grab attack is weaker. The jump attack, however, is a much stronger meteor smash.
Up special	Default	Rocketbarrel Boost	10% (launch explosion), 6-8% (collision with opponent)	Diddy Kong charges his rocketbarrels from Donkey Kong 64 in a powerful attack. Can potentially fly very far and very fast, but hitting a surface (or being hit) will make Diddy Kong lose his rocketbarrels and will fall helplessly. Diddy Kong will gain 5% damage for hitting a surface.
	Custom 1	Rocketbarrel Attack	18% (launch explosion)	A more powerful attack than Rocketbarrel Boost, but has less maneuverability. Requires slightly more time to fully charge.
	Custom 2	Rocketbarrel Kaboom	7% (launch explosion), 6-8% (collision with opponent)	Charges faster and controls better than Rocketbarrel Boost, but will explode if Diddy Kong hits any terrain during the move.
Down special	Default	Banana Peel		Diddy Kong tosses a banana peel over his shoulder and into the air to have it fall onto the ground. Opponents who touch the peel will slip and trip. Unlike in Brawl, only one banana peel can exist at one time, and it disappears when hit by an opponent.
	Custom 1	Shocking Banana Peel		Diddy Kong tosses a banana peel into the air to have it fall onto the ground. Opponents who come in contact with the peel will be stunned momentarily. The stun time is longer if the opponent steps on the peel as opposed to getting hit by it.
	Custom 2	Battering Banana Peel		Diddy Kong tosses a banana peel straight up. Opponents who come in contact with the peel will be launched upwards as well.
Final Smash		Rocketbarrel Barrage	5-10% (Peanuts), 12% (collision)	Diddy Kong flies around on his rocketbarrels, shooting explosive peanuts everywhere. The peanuts fly great distances and have great power, but crashing into enemies does more damage. Has greater movement speed than it does in Brawl, but is even harder to control. It no longer puts Diddy Kong into a helpless state when ended in the air.

Taunts

• DiddyKongUpTauntSSB4.jpg
• DiddyKongSideTauntSSB4.jpg
• DiddyKongDownTauntSSB4.jpg

• Up Taunt: Tosses his cap in the air and has it land on his head. This is a reference to his winning pose from Donkey Kong Country.
• Side Taunt: Claps his hands above his head four times, switching feet in the process.
• Down Taunt: Does a playful fighter's stance and cackles.

On-Screen Appearance

Diddy Kong bursts out of a DK Barrel and briefly strikes a pose.

Idle Poses

• Jumps in place twice.
• Scratches his rump, gets down on all fours, and shakes his fur.

Victory Fanfare

A flourished remix directly from Brawl based on the jingle that would play whenever Diddy Kong completely cleared a bonus room or defeated a boss in Donkey Kong Country. He shares this with his uncle/best friend, Donkey Kong.

Victory Poses

• DiddyKongPose2WiiU.png
• DiddyKongPose1WiiU.png
• DiddyKongPose3WiiU.png

• Does a little dance and claps his feet while standing on one hand.
• Shoots the camera lens with his Peanut Popguns.
• Spins around with his Rocketbarrel and does a jig.

In Competitive Play

Official Custom Moveset Project

Character	Custom sets available
Diddy Kong	1121	1123	1113	1131	1133
	1211	3111	1213	1112	3121

Notable players

•  ADHD
•  Angel Cortes
•  Firehao
•  Jtails
•  Mew2King
•  MVD
•  Nietono
•  RAIN
•  ZeRo
•  Zinoto

Trophies

Diddy Kong

Donkey Kong's trusty partner. He sports his signature look: red hat, red shirt, Rocketbarrel Pack. In Smash Bros., he's incredibly agile. Charge the Rocketbarrel Pack by holding down the button before launch, and you can steer with left and right. Don't forget to drop banana peels—enemies love it!

Red cap? Red T-shirt? Rocketbarrel Pack? Yep, it's Diddy Kong. His agility lets him get attacks in quickly in this game. Fire up his Rocketbarrel Pack and keep the button held down to fly further. You can even steer him in the air! Tip: If you don't mind fighting dirty, make you opponent slip on a Banana Peel, then hit 'em while they're down.

: Donkey Kong Country (11/1994)

: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (11/1995)

Diddy Kong (Alt.)

The Banana Peel Diddy throws when you use his down special can be picked up and used against you, so be careful. His Monkey Flip side special is a rolling leap followed by a grab (or a kick if you press the button again midjump). If you grab someone, press the button again to attack or jump off them to go high into the air.

: Donkey Kong Country (11/1994)

: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (11/1995)

Rocketbarrel Barrage

Diddy Kong's Final Smash is an attack on all fronts! Diddy takes to the air with his Barrel Jet, tackling opponents as he fires explosive shots from his Peanut Popguns. His Final Smash is nearing its end when he begins flashing, so get as close to your foes as you can-the Barrel Jet will explode at the end of this Final Smash!

With a Peanut Popgun in each hand, Diddy showers his foes with a hail of explosive destruction. This Final Smash lets him fly freely through the air, dealing damage to anyone in his way. When his body starts to flash, that means the Final Smash is about to end, so try to catch your foes in the Rocketbarrel Pack's explosion!

• Diddy Kong Trophy.png

  Classic (3DS)

• Diddy Kong All-Star Trophy.png

  Alt. (3DS)

• 

  Classic (Wii U)

• 

  Alt. (Wii U)

• 

  Rocketbarrel Barrage

Alternate costumes

Gallery

• 

  Diddy Kong in the Nintendo Direct from April 8th, 2014.

• 

  Diddy Kong's amiibo.

• 

  The pic of the day shown during Diddy Kong's reveal.

• 

  Forward tilt on Mario.

• 

  With Donkey Kong.

• 

  Rocketbarrel Boost.

• 

  Diddy hitting Villager and Little Mac with Rocketbarrel Boost.

• 

  Up smash with Little Mac.

• 

  Looking at Pikmin.

• 

  Peanut Popgun overloading.

• 

  Back air with Lucario and Samus.

• 

  Teching or rolling with Fox and Wii Fit Trainer.

• 

  Up taunt in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

• 

  Down taunt with Fox and a Banana Peel.

• 

  Damaging Bowser with an overcharged Peanut Popgun.

Trivia

• Diddy Kong's confirmation was the first time a character was revealed for an international release of a game as opposed to just the Japanese release.
• The elastic quality of Diddy Kong's limbs is similar to another Donkey Kong character, Lanky Kong.
• Prior to update 1.0.6, Diddy Kong's down-throw to up-air combo had quickly gained notoriety as a quick KO string. It gained the name "Hoo-Hah" after StaticManny interrupted a set between Hungrybox and Player-1.