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 maintains his traditional archetype, being the classic super heavyweight fighter (he is the second heaviest, being lighter than Bowser and heavier than King Dedede) who has a surprisingly fast dashing speed, a fast falling speed (making him one of the only two fast-fallers to be heavyweight, alongside Captain Falcon; he shares the same falling speed as Roy), an average air speed, and decent attack reach; as a result of his weight and falling speed, Donkey Kong inherits the second best horizontal and third best vertical endurance, losing only to Bowser horizontally and Captain Falcon and, unusually, Wolf vertically (despite Wolf being catastrophically lighter than Donkey Kong, more than 2 dozen units, to be almost exact). 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 fast-fallers. 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 and knockback 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 powerful finishers.

True to his weight, Donkey Kong is one of the strongest fighters in the game, possessing a myriad of reliable and powerful finishers in his repertoire. His unusually fast mobility, combined with his amazing power, allows him to execute devastating combos, similar to Captain Falcon who has very similar stats. Donkey Kong's aerial game is above average, as his array of aerial attacks have great utility and strength; his forward and down aerials send his opponents downwards, with the latter being a strong meteor smash (especially with his foot) and the former being a powerful spike with the late hitbox. He also has incredibly deadly options out of shield.

However, Donkey Kong suffers from approach issues. A combination of a long jump squat and an above average traction gives him a slow and short wavedash. Additionally, while his high weight and falling speed make him extremely tough to KO off the stage horizontally and vertically, said factors also make him significantly easy to combo, compounded by his large size. As well as this, while he has an above-average horizontal recovery, his vertical recovery is quite sub-par compared to the rest of the cast, and is overall among the worst. Donkey Kong's greatest weakness, however, may be his lack of means to combat projectiles. Being the large target that he is, Donkey Kong is forced to play aggressively against projectile users, who may have the ability to punish Donkey Kong if he gets close.

Despite his flaws, it is generally agreed that he is much more viable than he was before, and that his fighting skills have vastly improved.

Changes from Melee to PM

Donkey Kong in his Punch Out outfit.

Attributes

• Donkey Kong dashes slightly faster (1.6 → 1.8), now running as fast as Marth, Pikachu, and Sheik.

Ground 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, and its late hitbox now spikes opponents instead of meteor smash, meaning it cannot be meteor canceled anymore.
• Down aerial's ending lag has been shortened.

Grabs and throws

• Back throw's knockback has increased, making it a reliable KO move against light characters.

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.
• Headbutt no longer meteor smashes, as it now spikes opponents, making it much more useful for edgeguarding than before.

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.

v3.6

Beta

• White costume's tie is made blue as a reference to Super Kong in Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Full

• Headbutt's angle for both grounded and aerial changed from 290 and 315, respectively, to 300.

Moveset

Up to date as of version 3.6.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			4%	Donkey Kong performs a quick cross punch followed by an uppercut.
			6%
Forward tilt	↗		12%	Donkey Kong quickly swats his outstretched hand. Donkey Kong's arm is intangible while the hitboxes are out, allowing it to be used safely against most other attacks. This can be aimed up or down.
	→		11%
	↘		10%
Up tilt			9% (hand), 10% (arm), 11% (shoulder)	Donkey Kong quickly swipes his hand in the air. Fast with a good arch range. Again, DK's arm cannot be injured while the hitboxes are out.
Down tilt			9%	Donkey Kong does a quick swat across the ground.
Dash attack			10% (clean), 7% (late)	A roll attack similar to that of the Donkey Kong Country series. It has light armor and can roll off edges and platforms.
Forward smash			18%-19% (body), 20% (hands), 21% (arms)	Donkey Kong performs a very forceful clap.
Up smash			18% (hands), 16% (body)	Donkey Kong claps both his hands above his head. Both of DK's arms and his head are intangible while the hitboxes are out. This is one of the strongest up smashes in the game.
Down smash			16% (close), 17% (far)	Donkey Kong performs a double back-handed punch by bringing his closed fists down 90° at both sides. Both of DK's arms are intangible while the hitboxes are out.
Neutral aerial			14% (clean), 10% (late)	Donkey Kong quickly spins with his arms extended.
Forward aerial			17%	Donkey Kong puts his fists together above his head, and then does a powerful ax-handle smash. The move sends opponents downwards the moment Donkey Kong swings his arms in front of his face. However, unlike in Melee, it is now a spike rather than a meteor smash, meaning it is no longer meteor cancelable.
Back aerial			13% (clean), 9% (late)	Donkey Kong performs a quick kick directed behind him that lingers briefly.
Up aerial			14%	Donkey Kong performs a quick headbutt upwards. A great juggling move.
Down aerial			16% (foot), 13% (body)	Donkey Kong performs a downward stomp whilst holding his arms up in a macho pose. Serves as a meteor smash should it hit.
Grab			—
Pummel			3%	A fairly quick slap.
Forward throw			6% (breakout), 9% (forward & back throw), 7% (up throw), 6% (down throw)	Donkey Kong cradles the opponent on his back, allowing him to move and jump around while still holding the victim. Then, he can perform any of the following throws listed below. Forward: Tosses opponent forward. Back: Tosses opponent behind him. Up: Tosses opponent upwards. Can chain grab fastfallers. Down: Tosses opponent like a bowling ball.
Back throw			11%	Swings his arm back and throws the opponent.
Up throw			9%	Throws the opponent upwards.
Down throw			7%	Slams the opponent into the ground with his hand.
Floor attack (front)			6%	Gets up and swats both sides of himself.
Floor attack (back)			6%	Gets up and claps once both sides of himself.
Floor attack (trip)			5%	Gets up and does a wind-up spin around the floor.
Edge attack (fast)			8%	Throws his rear at the opponent.
Edge attack (slow)			10%	Climbs onto the stage and swats forward.
Neutral special		Giant Punch	12%/10% (uncharged), +2% per windup, 28%/30% (fully charged ground), 25%/27% (fully charged air)	Donkey Kong winds up and thrusts out his arm as a potentially powerful attack. The attack is at fully charged after eleven windups and gains intangibility frames right before DK unleashes the punch. The attack itself has good range and decent speed.
Side special		Headbutt	8% (bury), 10% (grounded), 14% (aerial)	Donkey Kong slams his head downward. When performed on a grounded opponent, they will be buried and will remain submerged the more damage they has taken. Like with his forward air, this attack was changed from a meteor to a spike (270° to 300°).
Up special		Spinning Kong	Ground: 12% (startup), 8% (loop early), 3% (loop late) Air: 10% (startup), 4-5% (loop early), 2% (loop late)	Donkey Kong spins in the air, getting great horizontal distance, but little vertical distance. Donkey Kong has intangibility frames during the startup of the move.
Down special		Hand Slap	12%	Donkey Kong repeatedly slaps his hands against the ground, causing earth-shaking vibrations in the process. The attack gives him some protection from opponents while grounded due to its good range but cannot hit airborne opponents. This move cannot be used in the air.
Final Smash		Konga Beat	Varies	Donkey Kong takes out a pair of bongos and begin to play them to the beat of "DK Island Swing", sending out shock-waves in the process. The attacks range and power is determined by the player's input. The player must push the attack button in succession with the song's beat in order have the greater range and power.

In competitive play

Notable players

•  Axxo
•  Chandy
•  Fire
•  Mew2King
•  Mojohnbo
•  POOB
•  Strong Bad
•  Freze
•  ScanmasterB

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.

Donkey Kong's alternate costumes in PM

Trivia

• His green recolor for the Punch-Out!! outfit is based off of Little Mac.
• Donkey Kong is one of the only two characters to be equipped with two spikes, alongside Roy, who coincidentally shares the same falling speed.

External links

• Project M character page