Donkey Kong (SSBM)/Edge attack (fast)

Hitbox visualization showing Donkey Kong's fast ledge attack.

Overview[edit]

Donkey Kong hoists himself up off the ledge, before rapidly flinging himself backwards, hip first, towards the center of the stage. The move was nerfed in the transition from 64 to Melee, getting less intangibility and active frames; regardless, it is one of his most used ledge recovery options, and arguably his best option, as it has a lot of stand-out traits as compared to other ledge attacks, and his advanced ledge options have issues of their own: namely, his ledgedash is worse than average, granting him a paltry 7 frames of GALINT, and his attacks from ledge (not to be confused with his ledge attacks), done by letting go of ledge and immediately double jumping, are terrible for attacking opponents on-stage (with the notable exception of his aerial Spinning Kong).

Compared to other less-than-100% ledge attacks, DK's is markedly swift; in fact, it's the 2nd-fastest ledge attack in the game, coming out in ³⁄₂₀ of a second, and is only 1 of 3 to be unreactable, the others being Bowser's and Peach's. In addition, the move has incredible range, covering almost ⅓ of Yoshi's Story, and is slightly disjointed. It even has the possibility to lead to a tech chase, as it will tumble every character lighter than Ganondorf at 0%. This is counterbalanced by the move's weaknesses, however. It loses to both shield and crouch cancelling, owing to the move's long end lag. In addition, if it misses, it leaves him a sitting duck, making baiting the move out and standing just outside its range a very strong counter-option.