SSBM/Donkey Kong

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Introduction

Donkey Kong combines the gameplay of both a grappler and a zoner, often suffering from the problems of both archetypes and only sometimes benefitting. At his worst, Donkey Kong gets completely stonewalled by opponents who refuse to interact on his terms, comboed extremely hard by much of the cast, and struggles to begin spacing without getting immediately called out. However, in capable hands or against less knowledgeable opponents Donkey Kong can feel nightmarish to fight, both spacing you out and killing you off just a single grab in the same stock. Additionally, while his movement is nothing to write home about, he can be deceptively speedy for a heavyweight character.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Throw Game - Cargo up throw leads into some of the best throw conversions in the game. It acts as both a combo starter and kill confirm in most matchups and is a huge enabler for Donkey Kong's monster punish game.

Large Normals - While the hitboxes themselves are often not meaningfully disjointed, many of Donkey Kong's normals occupy a large space and allow him to contest the range of essentially any other character in the game

Edgeguarding - Donkey Kong's Dair, Bair, and Up-b form a trio of moves that cover almost any conceivable edgeguard situation against many popular characters, enabling him to close out stocks on punishes that don't end with a kill confirm

Large Hurtbox - In addition to Donkey Kong's hulking size enabling your opponent to pressure you if they so much as sneeze in your general direction, he also has a hurtbox on his tie, so your opponent's don't even actually need to hit you to hit you

Long Startup - Many of Donkey Kong's otherwise completely fine normals have incredibly long startup that renders them nigh unusable in many situations

Picking a Direction to Face - In order to have a fighting chance against many of Melee's strongest characters, Donkey Kong needs to turn his back to them in order to access his zoning tool and saving grace in the neutral Bair. However, this also often stunts his ability to acquire grabs, which are his main way of acquiring strong punishes on the vast majority of characters

Physics

Weight	114 (2nd)
Fall Speed	2.4/Fast 2.96 (4th/6th)
Gravity	0.1 (12th)
Ground Movement
Walk Speed	1.2 (6th)
Initial Dash Speed	1.6 (9th)
Initial Dash Length	15f (2nd)
Run Speed	1.6 (6th)
Traction	0.08 (7th)
Jumping
Jumpsquat	5f (16th)
Jump Height	Full 37.8/Short 13.6/Air 28.968 (4th/13th/8th)
Air Speed	1 (6th)
Air Acceleration	0.04 (25th)

"A" Moves Analysis

Ground attacks

Normal

Neutral attack- A jab then an uppercut. 4%, then 6% damage.
Dash attack- Kicks in front to do 11%.
Forward tilt- Slaps in front of him. 10% damage.
Down tilt- Sweeps with his hand. 7%. Very fast and annoying to foes.
Up tilt- A fast upwards sweep. 9-11% damage.

Smash attacks

Forward smash- Claps in front of him for big knockback. Somewhat fast. 20% uncharged, 29% fully charged.
Up smash- Claps above him, good knockback. Somewhat slow, not to mention this will not hit a grounded foe at all. 18% uncharged, 24% fully charged.
Down smash- Brings his hands high and slams them down. 14-16% uncharged, 19-22% fully charged.

Other attacks

Floor attack- Gets up and punches on both sides. 6% damage.
Ledge attack- Launches his back to the floor with huge range, for a ledge attack. Does 8% damage.
100% ledge attack- Gets up and slaps anyone in front of him. 10% damage.

Aerial attacks

Neutral aerial- Rotates his body, good for close situations. 10-12% damage.
Forward aerial- 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. 16%.
Back aerial- Fast kick behind him, good edgeguarder. 9-13% damage.
Up aerial- Headbutts upward, does 14% damage.
Down aerial- Thrusts his foot down. 13-16% damage. Also a meteor smash.

Grabs & throws

Pummel- Karate chops the foe. 2-3% damage, pretty fast.
Forward throw- Picks the opponent up. If up and A are pressed, tosses foe upward and does 7%. If down and A are pressed, throws the opponent like a bowling ball, 6% damage. If the directional button is pushed in the direction behind and A is pressed, tosses opponent behind him for 8%. If the direction button is pushed in the direction in front of DK and A is pressed, launches foe in front of him for 8% damage.
Back throw- Tosses foe behind him. 11% damage.
Down throw- Violently shoves the enemy to the ground, does 7% damage.
Up throw- Throws foe above him with one hand. 9% damage.

"B" Moves List

Move Analysis

Neutral B

Giant Punch is Donkey Kong's neutral special move. By pressing the special move button, DK will start swinging his arm around, charging a punch. Pressing the button once more will deliver the blow, which gains power for every completed swing. If no button is pressed, after ten swings DK will become fully charged and stop winding up; his head will start smoking to indicate this. The fully charged punch can then be delivered at any time by pressing the special move button; the punch is weaker when used in midair.

If the player presses a shield button or presses the control stick left or right while charging, DK will save whatever charge he has and shield or roll. He can then continue charging later. Being hit while charging will cancel out any charge.

Side B

Donkey Kong performs a headbutt. This attack can meteor smash an opponent if used in mid-air, or plow them into the ground, rendering them temporarily immobile, if used against opponents on the ground. Headbutt comes out faster in Brawl than in Melee. It can be utilized to break shields.

Headbutt is useful for performing a KO combo. Trapping the opponent and then using a fully charged Giant Punch or side smash can result in a KO. This combo has a higher chance of working if the opponent has a medium to high damage percentage. The higher their damage is, the longer the opponent will stay stuck. Also this can only work in Brawl, as in Melee, nothing can dig out the trapped victim. Does 10% on the ground, 14% in the air.

Almost humorously, the Headbutt can be used as a Cape glide, though slightly inferior to Mario's.

Up B

Spinning Kong:In terms of vertical recovery, this move goes a very short distance, but it goes almost as far horizontally as Meta Knight's Mach Tornado, making it a fairly effective recovery move. When used on the ground, the 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. The Spinning Kong's first hit, in which Donkey Kong extends his fist to charge up the spin, has decent knockback. The Spinning Kong can also act as a pseudo shield for some projectiles which is helpful when recovering.

The Spinning Kong does up to 36% damage, making it the second strongest up special in the game if all hits connect.

Down B

When performing it, Donkey Kong delivers an earth-shaking blow to the ground, sending nearby enemies skyward because of its considerable power, consistent and repetitive damage, and large hitbox. In recent hands-on gameplay, this move can hold enemies in place while it is in action. It is unknown if they will be able to release themselves.