Changes to Dedede's B-Air, D-Air, D-Grab and D-Tilt

[greatbernard]

All of Dedede's other Air, Tilt, Smash and Grab attacks are the exact same (to my knowledge), but three things got modified.

Back Air

DDD used to use his feet to kick the enemy and knock them back really far. This was removed in favor of a mallet strike that is similar to his Forward Air

IMO: This was a nerf as it takes away one of his kill options and limits his moveset a bit.

Down Air

DDD used to very quickly spin his hammer down and perform a several-hit attack on the opponent - much like his F-Tilt and U-Air. Now it's a one hit strike that causes more knockback. The problem is that its slower and has serious end lag.

IMO: Its more unique than his other attacks but much less versatile. Nerf.

Down Grab

This is DDD's infamous chain grab. It causes a little more knockback so Dedede can't grab again in succession. The overall hitbox of Dedede's grab was weakened too. The hitbox in brawl was a bit big relative to the size of the character's arms and hands.

IMO: The DDD fanboy in me is wistful, but this is for the best so DDD can be seen as a legit character. Nerf.

Down Tilt

Dedede originally used his foot to trip the opponent and knock them back really quickly. Instead, he does a somersault (a very slow one). Maybe there could be more use for this as it has a greater range, but the previous D-Tilt was quicker.

IMO: Maybe nerf. But its really funny to troll with.

 

[ndayday]

so what are we trying to say here HMMM?

back air kills though, much earlier than forward air.
down air meteors/spikes or whatever on sweetspot and anything else has very nice horizontal knockback, even slightly down. I like using it on things like Fox Illusion, yoshi egg roll, various dash attacks etc. as a punish.
Down grab combos into everything imaginable.
Down tilt isn't as good imo but I do like it.

and nair in general seems buffed to me.

 

[HolePuncher]

I actually like D3's down tilt. It functions almost like a dash attack and comes out quick. (Faster than f-tilt?)

At low percents I can usually go fast-fall nair to dtilt.

 

[Jabejazz]

Down Grab

This is DDD's infamous chain grab. It causes a little more knockback so Dedede can't grab again in succession. The overall hitbox of Dedede's grab was weakened too. The hitbox in brawl was a bit big relative to the size of the character's arms and hands.

IMO: The DDD fanboy in me is wistful, but this is for the best so DDD can be seen as a legit character. Nerf.

The nerf here isn't the throw itself, but the fact that the game prevents actual chaingrabs from happening.
The throw in itself is a buff, as it allows far more options than his old dthrow would've given in this iteration.

 

[WingedKnight]

BAir is a loss, but what we have is still more than fine even if it's a downgrade. The spike on DAir is so nice, especially for an offstage-chasing character like Dedede. I'd call it a upgrade or at least a sidegrade since the old hammer drill was, as you said, pretty versatile. Loss of chaingrab is a nerf, but that's a mechanic change as mentioned by Jabejazz. I can live with a good combo starter in its place. DTilt is more amusing, quick, and has better range, I don't know how to compare their overall effectiveness because they're such vastly different moves.

Opinions!

 

[EpixAura]

It's worth noting all the other buffs to D3 as well, though. His recovery auto-sweetspotting the ledge is a massive buff, his Fair feels much faster at the cost of some damage, which I think is a great tradeoff, and Gordos are better than his old side-B by a lot. Also, I'm really liking the ability to Pivot F-tilt, and jab dealing like, 17% and doubling as a kill move is fantastic.
I don't really think D3 was nerfed particularly hard in this game, but he was changed more than a lot of characters. Given that every other Brawl top tier got some pretty solid nerfs, I think D3's really strong in this game.