• Welcome to Smashboards, the world's largest Super Smash Brothers community! Over 250,000 Smash Bros. fans from around the world have come to discuss these great games in over 19 million posts!

    You are currently viewing our boards as a visitor. Click here to sign up right now and start on your path in the Smash community!

DK Crew: Three Experts Weigh In On Melee Donkey Kong

"He's the leader of the bunch, you know him well. He's back in Melee to kick some tail!" Returning to Melee from Smash 64 is Donkey Kong, described by the Melee Instruction Manual as "An ape with overwhelming girth and power" but he currently ranks 17th on the Melee tier list in the B tier. Is the manual wrong? Where does Donkey Kong really stand in competitive Melee? We brought in three experts to weigh in on the character!
  • NJzFinest - Has taken sets off of local heroes in the NJ/NY region. Been ranked top 3 in Melee netplay. Learned fro the 'original DK' Bum. 10+ year Smashboards veteran and moderator on the Donkey Kong forums.
  • CnB | Chandy - The most successful 'low tier main' in Texas having taken games off MT and Tirno, some of Texas's best. Formerly ranked 6th in Austin.
  • Mojo Monkey - Ranked 2nd in New Zealand (under Sin | Spud) during his brief stay, formerly ranked in British Columbia. Placed 9th at BAM 7 and has many high placements in the Australia/New Zealand region.

So how does Donkey Kong really stack up in Melee according to the experts? Let's find out!

Disadvantages

Among the big weaknesses for Donkey Kong that all the experts agreed on where issues with his hurt-boxes. "If you want to immediately feel bad for any DK main, take a look at his frame data thread." Chandy said with NZjFinest also commenting "Donkey Kong's hurt-boxes are simply ridiculous. He has a number of moves that extend his hurt-box past his hit-box. His tie is even a hurt-box. DK can end up getting punished for being on the offensive and is just simply very easy to combo."

These awkward hurt-boxes make another of his weaknesses. "DK is enormous." said Mojo Monkey. "He has a hard time not getting hit. He gets comboed by every character in the game due to his weight and size." Chandy added, "Despite having a fair amount of fast moves with a great damage output and decent frame data, a lack of disjoints really kills him, and makes the disadvantage of his size even more of detriment to his ability to threaten space and control stage."

NJzFinest also had this to say. "DK's shield does not cover his entire body, which allows characters to potentially poke through it when he is on the defensive. Marth is a top tier that has this issue too but DK's shield is worse to the point where even power-shielding lasers is basically impossible. Turning around does help this issue a bit. Adding shield pivots to quickly put up a "back facing shield" is very important to his gameplay."


Advantages

Despite these disadvantages, the experts still had some praise for the character, with all mentioned one of his key strengths is his punish game. "Donkey Kong can erase a fast-fallers' stock and net 30%+ on "floaty" characters with just one grab." NJzFinest explained. "His cargo grab provides interesting ways to setup grab combos that no one else can do. There are ways to mess up your opponents DI by changing they way DK faces. He can also carry an opponent to a platform or to the edge for easy followups."

"Unlike some low tiers, who can only claim to have particularly strong punish games in the spacie and Falcon match-ups, DK's punishes on semi-fastfallers and semi-floaties are also strong, albeit not necessarily with the same one-touch 0-death potency with which he operates in the fastfaller match-ups." Chandy mentioned. "Given an opening, DK can effectively combo characters like Marth, Sheik, Pikachu, and Yoshi, who usually don't have to fear low tier punishes that much. DK even has guaranteed throw follow-ups on the floatiest of characters, like Peach and Jiggs."

"DK's edgeguarding game is very strong, and his coverage at the ledge is remarkably impressive if you're comfortable at the ledge and aware of your opponent's options." CnB | Chandy​

Another thing they noted was how his Up-B, the Spinning Kong, is a very useful move. "He has a ton of hidden potentialin his Up-B." Mojo Monkey told us. "It is actually his fastest move and also grants him generous invincibility on the first hitbox. Up-B is an incredibly versatile and can be used to escape pressure, counter approaches, break out of aerial combos, set up for edgeguards, and more."

"Many players do not seem to remember that only a few characters can effectively KO off the top." NJzFinest explained, mentioning another of the character's strength. "DK's cargo up-throw to Up-Air vs floaties can link at percents higher than Fox's. Fox is not able to up-throw into an Up-Air on characters such as Luigi and Samus while DK has no problem. He can also jump to a platform before throwing and/or jump while holding the enemy to do an airborne up-throw into an U-air/F-air. This makes it so that DK is able to place the opponent higher to the ceiling before sending them off for vertical KOs."

Bad Relevant Matchups

So what are the hardest matchups for Donkey Kong among the top tiers? "The Falco match-up is so bad that it basically invalidates DK at any significant level of play." Chandy said and NJzFinest went into details. "Falco's lasers completely shut down DK. Lasers are easy to land because of the kong's enormous size. Since lasers turn your the opponent around, DK loses his main approaching tool (B-air). Falco's lasers and aerials can end up poking through DK's shield multiple times throughout a match. On top of not being able to move in neutral, DK is just too easy to combo."

He also went on to discuss the difficulties found in the Sheik matchup. "Despite seeing players such as Westballz and Iori do well vs notable Sheik players, it is actually a very unfavorable match-up. Needles can gimp DK's recovery at 0%, as long as the Sheik player constantly does SH canceled needles over and over. If the Sheik player is lame enough, she can just camp needles and D-throw reaction tech chase DK for a full stock. I truly believe M2K is the only one who plays the match-up correctly."

Among the difficult matchups are matches against Ice Climbers as well. Chandy gave us the details. "The Ice Climbers match-up most likely isn't as bad as Sheik or Falco, but it's sooooooo not fun. Ice Climbers are pretty floaty and can dair out of most juggles, which means you won't get to do any dank gfy combos on them, and you also can't start grab combos when both climbers are around because the other one will just hit you if you try anything. DK doesn't have any good separators aside from MAYBE down-B, which is such a terrible option in general that it's not even worth it. DK is easy to grab because of his size and weight so you'll be getting wobbled a lot. Your strategy consists mostly of spacing bairs on their shield, slow sequential edgeguards, and camping the top platform to charge Giant Punch."



Good Relevant Matchups

With that prior list it may seem like things are hopeless for Donkey Kong but that is not the case. He has several matchups he can perform well in among the top tiers including Fox, Jigglypuff, Marth, and Captain Falcon.

Chandy gave us his thoughts on the Marth matchup. "Marth is the one top tier who has reason to worry about DK. DK's dash dance and aerial mobility allow him to at least keep up with all but the best Marths in neutral. DK's uair juggles and guaranteed KO set-ups from grab like jump cargo uthrow double jump fair or Giant Punch are inescapable regardless of DI. DK's weight makes crouch canceling very effective against Marth, and his weight will allow DK to live to ridiculously high percents as long as he can avoid edgeguarding situations."

NJzFinest also commented on Marth and how some of his weaknesses were shared with Captain Falcon in the DK matchup. "Marth and Falcon definitely have an easy time comboing and KOing, but the same can be said on DK's end. DK's B-air and tilts are pretty good for combating their approaches, his grab punishes are ridiculous, and he edgeguards them for free (even at low percents). Because Marth and Falcon do not have projectiles, DK has "time to turn around" for B-airs."

"Fox and Falcon get comboed and edgeguarded by DK pretty harshly, and with solid bair spacing and dash dancing, neutral isn't completely hopeless against them." Chandy said.

NJzFinest also mentioned Jigglypuff as a good top tier matchup for the Kong. "Jigglyuff is up-throw into Up-Air fodder (similar to the Fox vs Puff match-up), down-throw to Giant Punch is an actual combo which kills early, and her aerial approach loses to DK's Back-Air. Since Puff is slow, DK can literally run away and charge his punch. Like Puff vs Samus, Puff actually needs to respect the charged B move since she doesn't actually have an answer for it when hovering at a certain distance."

Is Donkey Kong Viable?

So after weighing all the evidence is Donkey Kong viable on a national level? Unfortunately the resounding answer was no, but Mojo Monkey had a little hope. "In the sense that DK will win a national, no. In the sense that he could cause upsets and place somewhere in the top 32? What I see for Donkey Kong is that he won't do much at nationals as a solo main but as a counterpick we might start seeing those upsets. In fact they're already happening if you look at Iori beating Overtriforce."

NJzFinest shared the sentiment that he could be a good secondary, but not good enough to be solo viable. "I believe solo DK will never be viable on a national level. Bum was the first and last. However, I do believe DK is a solid secondary for certain match-ups such as Puff and Samus. The character being very easy to pick up could perhaps lead to us seeing that one day. Overall, Donkey Kong is simply too limited / poorly designed. His movement and lack of approach options nerfs him from being a strong offensive threat. His hurt-boxes, size, and terrible shield makes matters worse. He has a top tier level punish game but this is almost irrelevant when he has a hard time getting in and not getting beat on."

Advice For Donkey Kong Mains?

Each experts had their own advice to share for anyone out there looking to be main Donkey Kong.

Mojo Monkey: "DK is a really fun character and I would recommend anyone who has fun with him to give him a try and don't get discouraged if you can't zero-death spacies on your first try! I'm seeing a lot of people picking up DK casually these days. It's great that people are giving this usually overlooked character another shot. Just remember that like any low tier he's going to have some disadvantages but also has a toolkit shared by no other character in the game. Just have fun with this goofy character, pull him out in pools, and beat some scrubs!"

NJzFinest: "First off, the standard 20XX is bad for DK practice. CPUs breakout at inhuman speeds because of some of the coding. The most recent 20XX 4.01 Beta build I would heavily recommend. I think anyone looking for a low tier to quickly pick up should consider DK first (the Links are a close second). As a low tier enthusiast, I find that most are either just not entertaining enough or require too much time to invest for the average player. Donkey Kong is fun to play, easy to pick up, and can turn out to be rewarding for certain match-ups. I suggest taking a look at the DK forums as there is more than enough info there to help anyone main this character."

Chandy's was quite long but also informative (and quite entertaining) so we included it within a spoiler below.
"Unless Donkey Kong is the only character that you enjoy, you probably shouldn't put much time into him. Donkey Kong is fun to watch and screw around with, but the patience and time commitment required to succeed with him will likely diminish that initial feeling of fun considerably. The dank gfycat Green Ranger combos probably make up less than 1% of what you'll be doing as Donkey Kong. The reality of it is a lot of dash dancing, spacing bairs, and being super defensive so you don't get your lunch eaten by anyone who knows how to combo well.

Once the novelty of seeing a low tier played well wears off, people are going to get bored of watching scrubby Fox players run into your bairs and DI into all of your follow-ups all day. I catch a lot of shade in my local scene for playing lame, because that's pretty much the way you have to use DK to beat skilled players; you will get camped a lot, people will get really salty when they lose to you, and your victories will likely get written off on the basis of match-up inexperience.

If you want to play a nonviable character because you're a unique smash snowflake and the rules don't apply to you, then at least pick one that is still fun to play at a high level, like Mario or Ganondorf or whatever. Donkey Kong is not a good choice for this type of attention-craving, "counter culture for the sake of counter culture" Melee hipster who thinks they're going to change the meta and prove all the haters wrong. Play a low tier because it's fun for you and you're willing to put in the work and deal with the frustration of losing a lot and being constantly underestimated. Don't play a low tier if you want recognition, results, or money.

If, knowing all that, you still think that Donkey Kong is right for you, then I'm sorry that your life has to be this way. Study Phish-It footage if you want to improve in the neutral, study Green Ranger footage if you want to work on your combo game, and study Chandy footage if you really like uair and spaced bair.

In all seriousness, the Melee DK board on smashboards is where all of us poor souls hang out and talk shop. Specific questions and advice should be directed there."

---​

A special thank you to NJzFinest, Chandy, and Mojo Monkey for giving their expertise for this article. With so much excellent information from our experts there was no way we could fit it all into one article. For the full interviews be sure to check out the Donkey Kong forums here on Smashboards and learn a bit more about the character.

Agree or disagree with these Donkey Kong experts? Have a suggestion for the next character we should cover? Sound off in the comments below and stay tuned to Smashboards for future expert analysis on characters from all Smash titles
 
Last edited:

Comments

Njzfinest is a total scrub, and these other players live in scrub regions. DK is terrible, he does NOT have good matchup vs. Fox/Falcon or Puff. Throw follow ups on Puff? That's great, good luck getting a grab on a good puff. Any laggy move done on shield, any launcher = immediate rest. All and all, DK is trash and there's no reason to main or secondary him aside from the joy of playing the character. Don't expect to get results though.
 
Njzfinest is a total scrub, and these other players live in scrub regions. DK is terrible, he does NOT have good matchup vs. Fox/Falcon or Puff. Throw follow ups on Puff? That's great, good luck getting a grab on a good puff. Any laggy move done on shield, any launcher = immediate rest. All and all, DK is trash and there's no reason to main or secondary him aside from the joy of playing the character. Don't expect to get results though.
Lmao I've missed your kind words OTG. You should come back to the DK forums.

Also I got more than enough grabs on Hungrybox's Puff <3
 
"He's the leader of the bunch, you know him well. He's back Melee to kick some tail!" Returning to Melee from Smash 64 is Donkey Kong, described by the Melee Instruction Manual as "An ape with overwhelming girth and power" but he currently ranks 17th on the Melee tier list in the B tier. Is the manual wrong? Where does Donkey Kong really stand in competitive Melee? We brought in three experts to weigh in on the character!
  • NJzFinest - Has taken sets off of local heroes in the NJ/NY region. Been ranked top 3 in Melee netplay. Learned fro the 'original DK' Bum. 10+ year Smashboards veteran and moderator on the Donkey Kong forums.
  • CnB | Chandy - The most successful 'low tier main' in Texas having taken games off MT and Tirno, some of Texas's best. Formerly ranked 6th in Austin.
  • Mojo Monkey - Ranked 2nd in New Zealand (under Sin | Spud) during his brief stay, formerly ranked in British Columbia. Placed 9th at BAM 7 and has many high placements in the Australia/New Zealand region.

So how does Donkey Kong really stack up in Melee according to the experts? Let's find out!

Disadvantages

Among the big weaknesses for Donkey Kong that all the experts agreed on where issues with his hurt-boxes. "If you want to immediately feel bad for any DK main, take a look at his frame data thread." Chandy said with NZjFinest also commenting "Donkey Kong's hurt-boxes are simply ridiculous. He has a number of moves that extend his hurt-box past his hit-box. His tie is even a hurt-box. DK can end up getting punished for being on the offensive and is just simply very easy to combo."

These awkward hurt-boxes make another of his weaknesses. "DK is enormous." said Mojo Monkey. "He has a hard time not getting hit. He gets comboed by every character in the game due to his weight and size." Chandy added, "Despite having a fair amount of fast moves with a great damage output and decent frame data, a lack of disjoints really kills him, and makes the disadvantage of his size even more of detriment to his ability to threaten space and control stage."

NJzFinest also had this to say. "DK's shield does not cover his entire body, which allows characters to potentially poke through it when he is on the defensive. Marth is a top tier that has this issue too but DK's shield is worse to the point where even power-shielding lasers is basically impossible. Turning around does help this issue a bit. Adding shield pivots to quickly put up a "back facing shield" is very important to his gameplay."


Advantages

Despite these disadvantages, the experts still had some praise for the character, with all mentioned one of his key strengths is his punish game. "Donkey Kong can erase a fast-fallers' stock and net 30%+ on "floaty" characters with just one grab." NJzFinest explained. "His cargo grab provides interesting ways to setup grab combos that no one else can do. There are ways to mess up your opponents DI by changing they way DK faces. He can also carry an opponent to a platform or to the edge for easy followups."

"Unlike some low tiers, who can only claim to have particularly strong punish games in the spacie and Falcon match-ups, DK's punishes on semi-fastfallers and semi-floaties are also strong, albeit not necessarily with the same one-touch 0-death potency with which he operates in the fastfaller match-ups." Chandy mentioned. "Given an opening, DK can effectively combo characters like Marth, Sheik, Pikachu, and Yoshi, who usually don't have to fear low tier punishes that much. DK even has guaranteed throw follow-ups on the floatiest of characters, like Peach and Jiggs."

"DK's edgeguarding game is very strong, and his coverage at the ledge is remarkably impressive if you're comfortable at the ledge and aware of your opponent's options." CnB | Chandy​

Another thing they noted was how his Up-B, the Spinning Kong, is a very useful move. "He has a ton of hidden potentialin his Up-B." Mojo Monkey told us. "It is actually his fastest move and also grants him generous invincibility on the first hitbox. Up-B is an incredibly versatile and can be used to escape pressure, counter approaches, break out of aerial combos, set up for edgeguards, and more."

"Many players do not seem to remember that only a few characters can effectively KO off the top." NJzFinest explained, mentioning another of the character's strength. "DK's cargo up-throw to Up-Air vs floaties can link at percents higher than Fox's. Fox is not able to up-throw into an Up-Air on characters such as Luigi and Samus while DK has no problem. He can also jump to a platform before throwing and/or jump while holding the enemy to do an airborne up-throw into an U-air/F-air. This makes it so that DK is able to place the opponent higher to the ceiling before sending them off for vertical KOs."

Bad Relevant Matchups

So what are the hardest matchups for Donkey Kong among the top tiers? "The Falco match-up is so bad that it basically invalidates DK at any significant level of play." Chandy said and NJzFinest went into details. "Falco's lasers completely shut down DK. Lasers are easy to land because of the kong's enormous size. Since lasers turn your the opponent around, DK loses his main approaching tool (B-air). Falco's lasers and aerials can end up poking through DK's shield multiple times throughout a match. On top of not being able to move in neutral, DK is just too easy to combo."

He also went on to discuss the difficulties found in the Sheik matchup. "Despite seeing players such as Westballz and Iori do well vs notable Sheik players, it is actually a very unfavorable match-up. Needles can gimp DK's recovery at 0%, as long as the Sheik player constantly does SH canceled needles over and over. If the Sheik player is lame enough, she can just camp needles and D-throw reaction tech chase DK for a full stock. I truly believe M2K is the only one who plays the match-up correctly."

Among the difficult matchups are matches against Ice Climbers as well. Chandy gave us the details. "The Ice Climbers match-up most likely isn't as bad as Sheik or Falco, but it's sooooooo not fun. Ice Climbers are pretty floaty and can dair out of most juggles, which means you won't get to do any dank gfy combos on them, and you also can't start grab combos when both climbers are around because the other one will just hit you if you try anything. DK doesn't have any good separators aside from MAYBE down-B, which is such a terrible option in general that it's not even worth it. DK is easy to grab because of his size and weight so you'll be getting wobbled a lot. Your strategy consists mostly of spacing bairs on their shield, slow sequential edgeguards, and camping the top platform to charge Giant Punch."



Good Relevant Matchups

With that prior list it may seem like things are hopeless for Donkey Kong but that is not the case. He has several matchups he can perform well in among the top tiers including Fox, Jigglypuff, Marth, and Captain Falcon.

Chandy gave us his thoughts on the Marth matchup. "Marth is the one top tier who has reason to worry about DK. DK's dash dance and aerial mobility allow him to at least keep up with all but the best Marths in neutral. DK's uair juggles and guaranteed KO set-ups from grab like jump cargo uthrow double jump fair or Giant Punch are inescapable regardless of DI. DK's weight makes crouch canceling very effective against Marth, and his weight will allow DK to live to ridiculously high percents as long as he can avoid edgeguarding situations."

NJzFinest also commented on Marth and how some of his weaknesses were shared with Captain Falcon in the DK matchup. "Marth and Falcon definitely have an easy time comboing and KOing, but the same can be said on DK's end. DK's B-air and tilts are pretty good for combating their approaches, his grab punishes are ridiculous, and he edgeguards them for free (even at low percents). Because Marth and Falcon do not have projectiles, DK has "time to turn around" for B-airs."

"Fox and Falcon get comboed and edgeguarded by DK pretty harshly, and with solid bair spacing and dash dancing, neutral isn't completely hopeless against them." Chandy said.

NJzFinest also mentioned Jigglypuff as a good top tier matchup for the Kong. "Jigglyuff is up-throw into Up-Air fodder (similar to the Fox vs Puff match-up), down-throw to Giant Punch is an actual combo which kills early, and her aerial approach loses to DK's Back-Air. Since Puff is slow, DK can literally run away and charge his punch. Like Puff vs Samus, Puff actually needs to respect the charged B move since she doesn't actually have an answer for it when hovering at a certain distance."

Is Donkey Kong Viable?

So after weighing all the evidence is Donkey Kong viable on a national level? Unfortunately the resounding answer was no, but Mojo Monkey had a little hope. "In the sense that DK will win a national, no. In the sense that he could cause upsets and place somewhere in the top 32? What I see for Donkey Kong is that he won't do much at nationals as a solo main but as a counterpick we might start seeing those upsets. In fact they're already happening if you look at Iori beating Overtriforce."

NJzFinest shared the sentiment that he could be a good secondary, but not good enough to be solo viable. "I believe solo DK will never be viable on a national level. Bum was the first and last. However, I do believe DK is a solid secondary for certain match-ups such as Puff and Samus. The character being very easy to pick up could perhaps lead to us seeing that one day. Overall, Donkey Kong is simply too limited / poorly designed. His movement and lack of approach options nerfs him from being a strong offensive threat. His hurt-boxes, size, and terrible shield makes matters worse. He has a top tier level punish game but this is almost irrelevant when he has a hard time getting in and not getting beat on."

Advice For Donkey Kong Mains?

Each experts had their own advice to share for anyone out there looking to be main Donkey Kong.

Mojo Monkey: "DK is a really fun character and I would recommend anyone who has fun with him to give him a try and don't get discouraged if you can't zero-death spacies on your first try! I'm seeing a lot of people picking up DK casually these days. It's great that people are giving this usually overlooked character another shot. Just remember that like any low tier he's going to have some disadvantages but also has a toolkit shared by no other character in the game. Just have fun with this goofy character, pull him out in pools, and beat some scrubs!"

NJzFinest: "First off, the standard 20XX is bad for DK practice. CPUs breakout at inhuman speeds because of some of the coding. The most recent 20XX 4.01 Beta build I would heavily recommend. I think anyone looking for a low tier to quickly pick up should consider DK first (the Links are a close second). As a low tier enthusiast, I find that most are either just not entertaining enough or require too much time to invest for the average player. Donkey Kong is fun to play, easy to pick up, and can turn out to be rewarding for certain match-ups. I suggest taking a look at the DK forums as there is more than enough info there to help anyone main this character."

Chandy's was quite long but also informative (and quite entertaining) so we included it within a spoiler below.
"Unless Donkey Kong is the only character that you enjoy, you probably shouldn't put much time into him. Donkey Kong is fun to watch and screw around with, but the patience and time commitment required to succeed with him will likely diminish that initial feeling of fun considerably. The dank gfycat Green Ranger combos probably make up less than 1% of what you'll be doing as Donkey Kong. The reality of it is a lot of dash dancing, spacing bairs, and being super defensive so you don't get your lunch eaten by anyone who knows how to combo well.

Once the novelty of seeing a low tier played well wears off, people are going to get bored of watching scrubby Fox players run into your bairs and DI into all of your follow-ups all day. I catch a lot of shade in my local scene for playing lame, because that's pretty much the way you have to use DK to beat skilled players; you will get camped a lot, people will get really salty when they lose to you, and your victories will likely get written off on the basis of match-up inexperience.

If you want to play a nonviable character because you're a unique smash snowflake and the rules don't apply to you, then at least pick one that is still fun to play at a high level, like Mario or Ganondorf or whatever. Donkey Kong is not a good choice for this type of attention-craving, "counter culture for the sake of counter culture" Melee hipster who thinks they're going to change the meta and prove all the haters wrong. Play a low tier because it's fun for you and you're willing to put in the work and deal with the frustration of losing a lot and being constantly underestimated. Don't play a low tier if you want recognition, results, or money.

If, knowing all that, you still think that Donkey Kong is right for you, then I'm sorry that your life has to be this way. Study Phish-It footage if you want to improve in the neutral, study Green Ranger footage if you want to work on your combo game, and study Chandy footage if you really like uair and spaced bair.

In all seriousness, the Melee DK board on smashboards is where all of us poor souls hang out and talk shop. Specific questions and advice should be directed there."

---​

A special thank you to NJzFinest, Chandy, and Mojo Monkey for giving their expertise for this article. With so much excellent information from our experts there was no way we could fit it all into one article. For the full interviews be sure to check out the Donkey Kong forums here on Smashboards and learn a bit more about the character.

Agree or disagree with these Donkey Kong experts? Have a suggestion for the next character we should cover? Sound off in the comments below and stay tuned to Smashboards for future expert analysis on characters from all Smash titles
A good DK is fun to watch. One that comes to mind is GreenRanger. Spinning Kong seems really good in Melee. And the Charged Punch is HYPE!
 
Chandy's was quite long but also informative (and quite entertaining) so we included it within a spoiler below.
"Unless Donkey Kong is the only character that you enjoy, you probably shouldn't put much time into him. Donkey Kong is fun to watch and screw around with, but the patience and time commitment required to succeed with him will likely diminish that initial feeling of fun considerably. The dank gfycat Green Ranger combos probably make up less than 1% of what you'll be doing as Donkey Kong. The reality of it is a lot of dash dancing, spacing bairs, and being super defensive so you don't get your lunch eaten by anyone who knows how to combo well.

Once the novelty of seeing a low tier played well wears off, people are going to get bored of watching scrubby Fox players run into your bairs and DI into all of your follow-ups all day. I catch a lot of shade in my local scene for playing lame, because that's pretty much the way you have to use DK to beat skilled players; you will get camped a lot, people will get really salty when they lose to you, and your victories will likely get written off on the basis of match-up inexperience.

If you want to play a nonviable character because you're a unique smash snowflake and the rules don't apply to you, then at least pick one that is still fun to play at a high level, like Mario or Ganondorf or whatever. Donkey Kong is not a good choice for this type of attention-craving, "counter culture for the sake of counter culture" Melee hipster who thinks they're going to change the meta and prove all the haters wrong. Play a low tier because it's fun for you and you're willing to put in the work and deal with the frustration of losing a lot and being constantly underestimated. Don't play a low tier if you want recognition, results, or money.

If, knowing all that, you still think that Donkey Kong is right for you, then I'm sorry that your life has to be this way. Study Phish-It footage if you want to improve in the neutral, study Green Ranger footage if you want to work on your combo game, and study Chandy footage if you really like uair and spaced bair.

In all seriousness, the Melee DK board on smashboards is where all of us poor souls hang out and talk shop. Specific questions and advice should be directed there."

---​
I like honest low/mid tier mains a lot LOL
 
ahh people don't think of me anymore when they think of DK, I think I prefer it that way.
What have you been up to? I saw you as the main leader in project m as you're the one who was the most (I think so at least) and now that project m development has ceased and PMDT has been disbanded, what have you been doing? Just wondering
 
What have you been up to? I saw you as the main leader in project m as you're the one who was the most (I think so at least) and now that project m development has ceased and PMDT has been disbanded, what have you been doing? Just wondering
It's been raining.
 
Dk is definitely viable to win nationals and majors, he has alot of untapped potential. He is most definitely viable.
 
Probably because Melee was rushed. DK is not the only one with defects such as this; Mewtwo's non-reflecting Reflector and the command grab portion of it which was an open invitation at getting Bair'd comes to mind. It's a good thing that nowadays stuff like this can be solved through patches.
Actually Mewtwos command grab is still unsafe on hit in Smash 4. Sad, huh?

Also I don't think this series will really work for Melee.
 
The world definitely deserves to hear green ranger's opinions on DK. He's made some great developments for the character, and has a solid grasp on some of the less frequent high/mid-tier matchups.
 
Actually Mewtwos command grab is still unsafe on hit in Smash 4. Sad, huh?

Also I don't think this series will really work for Melee.
Actually, Confusion grab is safe on most characters as it allows you to shield before they can act. But is true that some who have aerials with frame advantage such as Luigi can still punish you.
 
In what, friendlies? Let's see it in practice and then I will believe it, until then keep dreaming.
In a money match where I took him to his last life and he complimented me heavily.

I have also destroyed Swedish Delight's brother, Mr. F, in tournament. He is a very talented Puff player with a solid resume.

MM me with Puff and see what happens lol.
 
Last edited:
Max you should go ahead and take the L my friend.
He wouldn't be mentioned if he wasn't someone who can play with his main at the highest level. DK has some problems but isn't absolute trash. He's not pichu at least.
 
In a money match where I took him to his last life and he complimented me heavily.

I have also destroyed Swedish Delight's brother, Mr. F, in tournament. He is a very talented Puff player with a solid resume.

MM me with Puff and see what happens lol.
lmao oook man. I won't bother trying to MM you because you will just duck me as you have done in the past. Instead, if you can actually get to me in tournament before getting knocked out we can go from there.
 
Top Bottom