Donkey Kong (SSBM)

Donkey Kong in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Donkey Kong
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Starter
Tier	B (17)

“	An ape with overwhelming girth and power.	”
—Melee's instruction Manual

Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング, Donkey Kong) is a default character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He returns from the original Super Smash Bros., but with faster moves and agility, as well as an improved recovery.

He is currently 17th on the tier list in the B tier. Donkey Kong, true to being a heavyweight, is difficult to KO, and this is aided by his fast falling speed. Donkey Kong also has powerful attacks, and he has excellent range to boot. Despite his weight and size, Donkey Kong is very agile; most of his attacks are executed swiftly, he has good air speed, and his jumping prowess is surprisingly good. His mobility facilitates combos, and this is further aided by his remarkable grab. However, Donkey Kong himself is easy to combo due to his large frame, and his recovery is among the worst in the game vertically (though it is rather good horizontally). Due to these traits, Donkey Kong is seen as a below-average character.

Attributes

Contrary to what his archetype might suggest, Donkey Kong has surprisingly high speed for a character of his power and weight class. In raw characteristics, Donkey Kong owns an above-average running speed, a high air speed, and a high falling speed, aspects that lead to a short wavedash, but an average SHFFL, and long, safe dash dance.

Owing to his relatively high speed, Donkey Kong owns a flexible, powerful comboing game. On the ground, Donkey Kong's various tilts are all fast and can be used to start aerial combos, and in the air, Donkey Kong's fast, low-lag neutral, up, and back aerial attacks can allow him to continue attacking enemies with little penalty against him; adding to this, his high air speed can allow him to pursue enemies that have been popped up into the air. Arguably his most important combo tool, however, consists of his throwing game; despite a below-average grab range, Donkey Kong's various throws have low-knockback and low ending lag, making them excellent combo starting tools. His forward throw, known as the "cargo throw" or "cradle", is especially useful, due to its ability to easily combo into his practical air options. While carrying his opponent, Donkey Kong is free to move around the stage, allowing him to move to areas where he can more easily combo his opponents without interference from platforms or other hazards. He can also use this feature of the cargo throw to perform a sacrificial KO by walking off the edge of the stage after cradling an enemy.

As expected for a character of his weight class, Donkey Kong also has a plethora of powerful attack options in addition to his faster, weaker offerings. All of his smash attacks can cover significant distances away from him, as well as packing significant power in order to KO opponents. Two of his aerials (back and forward) can be potent finishers to complement his aerial game, and his Giant Punch can easily be one of the most powerful attacks in the game if landed, though it does require a particularly good read or combo in order to be most effective.

Due to being a heavyweight with a high falling speed, Donkey Kong owns a below-average recovery. While these traits make Donkey Kong highly resilient to the upper blast line, Donkey Kong's survivability on all other blast lines is poor. Spinning Kong grants above average horizontal distance, but poor vertical distance, making meteor smashes and spikes extremely powerful against Donkey Kong. Owing to a lack of other options concerning his recovery, this also means that he has very poor recovery options compared to other characters; none of his specials can reduce his falling speed, and he cannot wall-jump or use any other tactics in conjunction with Spinning Kong, and as such, the character is simple to edgeguard.

Much like fellow heavyweight Bowser, Donkey Kong's various attributes also make him very easy to combo. In addition to having among the largest raw hurtbox sizes in the game, Donkey Kong's high falling speed and weight make it easy for characters to chain throw him, as well as combo him in the air. Compounding this is Donkey Kong's poor defensive game; a large hurtbox causes him to have a small shield that can easily make him vulnerable to shield stabbing, and his lack of a projectile can prevent him from easily approaching enemies that own one.

Changes from Smash 64 to Melee

Donkey Kong has received a large mix of buffs and nerfs, but was nerfed overall.

Aesthetics

• Donkey Kong's hair color on his default costume was darkened.
• His other costumes have different ties to them (black has blue; red has a slightly darker blue than the black costume; blue has purple; and green, which is no longer just a team battle costume, has a red tie that is very similiar to the original costume, but is a little darker).
• Donkey Kong's voice clips are retained from the previous game, though with better quality.
• The voice clips when Donkey Kong taunts and is KO'd in SSB are switched in Melee.

Attributes

• He now has faster air speed (went from below average in Smash 64 to among the faster air speeds in Melee).
• His attacks are generally faster.
• Donkey Kong is catastrophically lighter (being more than 20 units lighter).
• His attacks are generally weaker, such as his forward smash.
• His falling speed has increased. While this improves his vertical endurance, it also makes him considerably more vulnerable to combos and worsens his already poor recovery.

Ground Attacks

• Neutral combo now has a wider hitbox.

Aerial Attacks

• His new up aerial has better comboing ability.
• His forward aerial and down aerial have much slower start-up and only meteor smash when hit at the bottom. Additionally, the latter's hitbox length was shortened, but it has more range and power.
• Donkey Kong's back aerial's hitbox length has been slightly shortened.
• His new up aerial has less reach.

Grabs and Throws

• His grab range was reduced, going from the longest non-tether grab in Smash 64 to below average in Melee.

Special Moves

• Giant Punch charges faster and has less ending lag.
• His new side special move, Headbutt, can bury opponents.
• Spinning Kong now goes a slightly longer distance and no longer has set knockback when it first comes out (now can KO). It also has less ending lag.
• Hand Slap has a little more power added to it and has slightly higher range. It also has less start-up.
• Giant Punch has less reach, damage, and knockback (now deals 30% instead of 36%). It now also leaves him helpless when used in the air, which, combined with his poor recovery and the move's lower power, weakens its offstage utility.
• Hand Slap has more ending lag as opposed to just none in Smash 64.

Moveset

For a gallery of Donkey Kong's hitboxes, see here.

Donkey Kong's aerial attacks

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			4%	A jab then an uppercut.
			6%
Forward tilt	↗		11%	Slaps in front of him. Spaces opponents out.
	→		10%
	↘		9%
Up tilt			9-11%	A fast upwards sweep. Good for juggling
Down tilt			7%	Sweeps with his hand. Very fast with long range.
Dash attack			11%	Kicks in front with a bit of ending lag.
Forward smash			20%	Claps in front of him for big knockback. Somewhat fast.
Up smash			18%	Claps above him, good knockback. Somewhat slow, not to mention this will not hit a grounded foe at all.
Down smash			16%	Brings his hands high and slams them down.
Neutral aerial			10-12%	Rotates his body, good for close situations.
Forward aerial			16%	Similar to Mario's, brings his hands together and brings them down. This can meteor smash at his arms as opposed to his hands, which yields good horizontal knockback.
Back aerial			9-13%	Fast kick behind him, good edgeguarder.
Up aerial			14%	Headbutts upward. Combos into another up aerials.
Down aerial			13-16%	A Stomp attack. Thrusts his foot down. Also a meteor smash.
Grab			—
Pummel			2-3%	Karate chops the foe. It's pretty fast.
Forward throw			8% (Forward/Backward), 7% (Up), 6% (Down) 10% (Drop)	Picks the opponent up. If up and A are pressed, tosses foe upward and can chain Fox, Falco and Captain Falcon. If down and A are pressed, throws the opponent like a bowling ball. If the directional button is pushed in the direction behind and A is pressed, tosses opponent behind him. If the direction button is pushed in the direction in front of DK and A is pressed, launches foe in front of him.
Back throw			11%	Tosses foe behind him.
Up throw			9%	Throws foe above him with one hand. Can chaingrab fastfallers, like his cargo up throw.
Down throw			7%	Violently shoves the enemy to the ground. Can chaingrab.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Gets up and punches on both sides. 6% damage. Hits twice.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	Throws his feet in the air and gets up.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			8%	Launches his back to the floor with huge range, for a ledge attack.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			10%	Gets up and slaps anyone in front of him.
Neutral special		Giant Punch	12% uncharged; 30% fully charged	An auto-charge special with a saveable charge. He swings his arm around up to 11 times. Each swing adds more damage when it eventually hits. A white steam appears above DK when the attack is fully charged. The attack itself has good range and decent speed.
Side special		Headbutt	10% (Ground), 14% (Air)	Plows the foe into the ground. If used in the air, this attack becomes a meteor smash. This attack is also able to quickly break shields.
Up special		Spinning Kong	36% (Total)	Donkey Kong twirls around like a helicopter, hitting multiple times. Has great horizontal coverage, but is very lacking vertically.
Down special		Hand Slap	10%	Donkey Kong delivers an earth-shaking blow to the ground, sending nearby enemies skyward. It has considerable power, consistent and repetitive damage, and a large quake hitbox. This attack has transcendent priority.

Taunt

• Looks at the camera, shrugs his shoulders, and then makes a confused noise.

Victory Theme

A flourish originating from Donkey Kong Country that played whenever a Kong defeated a boss or completed a bonus level.

In Competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups

Avg.

Notable players

See also: Category:Donkey Kong professionals (SSBM)

Active

•  Chandy
•  Green Ranger
•  Phish-It

Inactive

•  Bum
•  Captain Jack
•  MEXICAN
•  Nedech
•  Strong Bad

Tier placement and history

Donkey Kong is currently ranked as 17th on the tier list in the B tier, making him relatively non-viable for serious tournament play. This tier placing, however, is significantly better than his initial tier placings; Donkey Kong was initially viewed as a low-to-bottom tiered character in the early Melee metagame, placing at 20th/21st with Roy on the first tier list. In future tier lists, Donkey Kong would frequently appear at this rank, with his lowest ranking being 22nd on the sixth tier list. Much like Bowser, Donkey Kong was often derided for his large hitbox and high falling speed, making him an easy target for combos and attacks in general, and despite his slightly better base speed than Bowser, he was regarded as too slow to keep up with many characters that were higher-tiered than him.

Devoted Donkey Kong mains, however, began to immediately improve Donkey Kong's metagame, notably by demonstrating that Donkey Kong's supposed speed issues were incorrect; it was demonstrated that Donkey Kong had a surprisingly fast and powerful aerial game, and that his dash-dance was also effective, especially when compounded with his throwing game. As a result of these improvements, Donkey Kong immediately jumped to the 16th place on the seventh tier list, and he ultimately peaked at the 13th position on the ninth tier list. His tier ranking, however, slightly fell following this, leading to his current tier placing.

In single-player

In Classic Mode

Donkey Kong appears in a one-on-one, as an ally, on a team with Fox, in a Giant battle, in a multi-man battle, or in the metal battle. Donkey Kong appears in Kongo Jungle or Jungle Japes except the metal battle, where he appears in Battlefield instead.

In Adventure Mode

Donkey Kong appears in Stage 2 of Melee's Adventure Mode, Kongo Jungle in two parts. In the first part, the player battles two tiny Donkey Kongs on the Kongo Jungle stage and after they are beaten, the player will battle a giant Donkey Kong on the Jungle Japes stage.

In All-Star Mode

Donkey Kong and his allies are fought on Kongo Jungle.

In Event Matches

Donkey Kong is featured in the following event matches:

• Event 2: Lord of the Jungle: As a giant DK, the player battles a tiny DK on the Kongo Jungle stage.
• Event 10: All-Star Match 1: DK is the second opponent the player must fight in this series of staged battles. Their character battles him on the Jungle Japes stage, and their character has 2 stock while DK has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat him and the other four characters with the overall time and life the player has: Mario, Yoshi, Peach, and Bowser.
• Event 13: Yoshi's Egg: As Yoshi, the player must protect a Yoshi Egg from Fox, Pikachu, and Donkey Kong on the Rainbow Cruise stage for 55 seconds. If the egg breaks, the event ends.
• Event 25: Gargantuans: A scenario designed as a homage to he kaiju movies and their various tropes. On the Fourside stage with unlimited time, the player plays as a giant-sized Bowser (symbolically representing Godzilla, a movie monster from Japan) with 1 stock against a giant-sized Donkey Kong (symbolically representing King Kong, a movie monster from the United States) with two stock. Two other characters on the match are a tiny Mario and a tiny Peach, who can be KOed within seconds by either Donkey Kong or Bowser.

Ending images

• Dk congrats screen 1.jpg

  Classic Mode

• Donkey kong Congrats screen 2.jpg

  Adventure Mode

• Donkey kong congrats screen 3.jpg

  All-Star Mode

Trophy descriptions

In addition to the normal trophy about Donkey Kong as a character, there are two trophies about him as a fighter, unlocked by completing the Adventure and All-Star Modes respectively with Donkey Kong on any difficulty:

Donkey Kong (Classic)

While he now prefers the laid-back jungle lifestyle to construction site mischief, DK is often forced back into action by the Kremling Krew. The great ape is quite fast despite his burly physique, and he keeps his strength up with a steady diet of his favorite food: bananas. His one extravagance (and only piece of clothing) is a monogrammed necktie.

Donkey Kong (Adventure)

Donkey Kong is a huge target in a fight, so he hates crowds. When he's in the fray, his Giant Punch deals serious damage to multiple opponents. The big ape's Headbutt hits so hard that it temporarily buries opponent's in the ground. DK is a lot faster than he looks, and he's lethal in the hands of a master. (B: Giant Punch, Smash B: Headbutt)

Donkey Kong (All-Star)

Being the strongest simian around, DK has the upper hand once he grabs an opponent. He can even lift his foe up and make him or her an unwilling traveling companion; if DK grabs you, shake your Control Stick as fast as you can to break his grip. His Spinning Kong covers more lateral distance than vertical, so use it quickly to recover. (Up & B: Spinning Kong, Down & B: Hand Slap)

• 

  Classic

• 

  Adventure

• 

  All-Star

Cheer

• Don-key Kong!

Alternate costumes

Donkey Kong's alternate costumes in Melee

Trivia

• DK has a hurtbox attached to his necktie, which may have been placed to prevent thin projectiles or other similar attacks from missing hits due to their chances of slipping between DK's arms and ending in the empty space of his standing animation. However, it also artificially inflates his overall hurtbox in many other animations.
• Donkey Kong is the only character in the game to have an aerial attack that cannot be autocanceled, being his forward aerial.
• Donkey Kong's side special, Headbutt, is the only move in Melee that can bury opponents.
• When Melee was in development, it was planned to use voice clips from Donkey Kong 64 instead of reusing clips from the previous game.

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