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GanondorftheXXVI's DK Guide FINAL VERSION, I guess 1/27/05

GanondorftheXXVI

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GanondorftheXXVI's DK Guide

Intro

Donkey Kong, as stated by the latest tier list, is the 21st best character in SSBM. He sits in the low tier, below Ness and above Kirby. The big ape has quite a long history in Nintendo’s world of games, and it would have been a sin for Nintendo to leave him out of Smash Brothers. D.K. has been around for over twenty years, from the days of the NES when he kidnapped Mario’s girlfriend, to the days of the SNES, when he fought King K. Rool, to the days of N64 when he once AGAIN fought against King K. Rool. Yeah, don’t expect me to know much about this guy’s history, I only started playing videogames four years ago. Nintendo didn’t make D.K. as great as they made most of the other characters, but they did make him (in my opinion) one of the most fun characters to use.
I’ve seen that the lower-tiered characters can sometimes be pushed harder by a serious and dedicated player than the higher-tiered characters are pushed by another decent player. For example, I once saw a great Ness player fight against and marginally defeat a couple of Foxes and Falcos that were, at the very least, decent. Now, this makes me think, perhaps the lower tiered characters, due to their hindrances, force you to play harder, and perhaps this can help you play them as well, or even better, than other players who pick higher-tiered characters. This, I hypothesize, is due to the fact that the higher- tiered are just plain easier to get a hold of, and I don’t mean MASTER, I mean that they appeal to players more easily than lower-tiered characters do, and often decent players don’t push them as hard as a good low-tier player would have to push his/her character to be competitive in high-level play. Well, guess what, D.K. could still kick some major ***, an if you feel your D.K. is good enough, you might even be able to use him at a tourney. Well, the purpose of this document is to help you out whether you actually want to get serious with the simian, or if you just want to get grip on him for casual play.

Ok, now for DK’s pros and cons:

Pros:
Heavy
Good horizontal recovery
Powerful attacks
AWESOME air juggler
Good range

Cons:

Relatively slow
No projectiles
Priority isn’t great
Is a big target
Easily spiked due to his horizontal recovery
Strong shield doesn’t cover whole body. Often light shield is needed to defend.

Once you’re comfortable with these, you can start playing as D.K.

Now, you need to know DK’s moves or else you can’t play him, eh? Well, here they are, the simian’s full arsenal.


Ground Moves

Uppercut: A

Speed: Fast
Range: Short
Priority: Decent; can cancel out some projectiles if timed right
Start Time: Pretty much instantaneous
Knockback: Almost none; it’s a neutral A dammit.
Lag time: Virtually none

There’s not much to say about this. This is D.K.’s neutral A attack. It’s always good to know your neutral A. I wouldn’t use this too much. It doesn’t really set up for anything and there’s almost always a better option when you have the opportunity to use this move. A good use for this is to cancel out some projectiles like the Marios’ fireballs and the pill. However you have to kind of time it for it to cancel out the projectile. D.K. must be about halfway through the attack. Personally, I would always do Monkey Jabs instead of just one uppercut. But it’s up to you.

Monkey Jabs: A, A

Speed: Fast
Range: Short
Priority: Decent; same as uppercut
Start time: Pretty much instantaneous
Knockback: Almost none
Lag time: Virtually none.

DK’s neutral A combo. Yeah, two hit combo, nothing to be amazed at. Like the uppercut, it doesn’t do a great deal in the ways of knockback and damage. Just use this to cancel out projectiles and possibly to set up for a shuffled Kong Twirl (N-air). However, this is not a very solid option, and you have better bets most of the time. But it’s always good to mix up the game, and you might as well try this once in a while since it’s not really punishable.

Slap-away: left/right tilt + A

Speed: Fast
Range: Good
Priority: Good; again, can cancel out some projectiles
Start time: Slight, but noticeable
Knockback: Poor
Lag time: Very little

DK’s F-tilt. The F-tilt is more useful than the Uppercut or Monkey Jabs. It has pretty good range, and consequently it can be used o keep opponents at bay sometimes. Like the previous two moves it can be used to cancel out some projectiles (Sheesh, do all his moves cancel out projectiles?!?). This is quite a quick move that adds on some damage and gives you some breathing room by getting your opponent away. Its range is what makes it beautiful. In close-range combat, use this if you need some time to think, but usually with DK you’re going to want to stay in close range, since DK has no projectiles and does best chasing after the opponent and overwhelming him/ her with power.

Duck Slap: down tilt + A

Speed: Very fast
Range: Good
Priority: Good’
Start time: Very Fast
Knockback: Mediocre
Lag time: Very little

DK’s down tilt is one of his beloved moves. Again, because of range, you can use this to keep your opponent at bay. Usually this is a better option than the Slap-Away because it is faster and sometimes you can pull off two or even three before your opponent escapes. Another little use for this is to use this as a CCC (crouch cancel counter). At low percentages, you can usually crouch cancel an opponent’s attack and then attack back with this move while they are undergoing the lag of their move. However, this attack doesn’t deal much damage, so you might take more damage than your opponent as a result of the CCC. Of course, you should only crouch cancel relatively weak moves and such. As long as you think your opponent will take equal or greater damage than you, this isn’t a bad option. DK is heavy, and therefore can stand damage better than most other characters. Shield grabbing is usually a better option than CCCing, but every option is good to know, and sometimes a shield grab won’t reach your opponent but a Duck Slap will.

Overhead Smack: Up tilt + A
Speed: Fast
Range: Short
Priority: Decent
Start time: Fast
Knockback: Mediocre, yet again, ugh! Wait till we get to his aerials!
Lag time: Very little

DK’s U-tilt mainly serves the purpose of air juggling at early percentages. Against fastfallers, at percentages around 30s and 40s, you can do the up throw and follow it up with this. However, the cargo (that’s what I call carrying the opponent with the forward throw) almost always works better to lead into juggling. This attack has a small hitbox in front of DK. You can make a little use of this in close-range combat; it always helps to mix it up. You can use this to stop some attacks from above, but don’t expect it to go through everything.

Smellingsalt: Left/right smash + A
Speed: Slow
Range: Very Good
Priority: Very Good
Start time: Slow
Knockback: Great
Lag Time: Bad
Ah, DK’s fearsome forward smash. It does more damage when the opponent is very close to DK, rather than struck with DK's hands. Newbies tend to spam this for its awesome power, but in higher levels of play, don’t expect to land too many of these. A good player will most likely be fast enough to react, move out of the way, and punish you if you use this move predictably. However, if you do manage to land it (and there ARE a few ways to do so), well, you’ll inflict some major damage on your opponent, and have a high chance of KO’ing them. The forward smash almost always does over 20 damage, and sends your opponent at a nearly straight angle. A kill move, simply that. Don’t expect to get all of your KO’s with this, though, cause if your opponent notices that you are trying constantly to finish him with Smellingsalt, he’ll pick up on it and find some way to punish you. What I do most of the time with this type of move is not use it for a long time during a match, and then, once my opponent has become used to a certain “rhythm,” or flow, in the battle, I disturb that rhythm and surprise him with this move! It will cost your opponent if you’re both on your last stock, at mid-high or high percentage, and suddenly he gets hit by this and for a sec doesn’t know what the **** happened. Next thing he knows you’re edge hogging and he falls to his doom. You don’t always have to wait until you’re both on your last stock. Just use it when you think the opponent is least expecting it.
Another way that you could try to land this every once in a while is by wavesmashing. You wavedash forward or backward and pull this off with the C-Stick (or the control stick and A, though I believe using the C-Stick will make it easier). Usually, if you even attempt this, you’re going to want to Wavedash backwards and forward-smash. Use this to punish an opponent’s whiffed laggy move. However, this move is quite laggy itself, and therefore you have to make sure your opponent is not going to be able to shield/roll/jump out of the way in time. Furthermore, this is a KO/send the opponents off the stage move, so at low/mid percentages you should do a jump-cancelled grab after your wavedash backward to punish the opponent (unless you are sure you will not be able to combo) since a grab-CARGO can result in more damage.

Overhead Clap: Up Smash + A

Speed: Slightly faster than the F-Smash, but still slow
Range: Good
Priority: Very good
Start time: Slow
Knockback: Very high
Lag time: Punishable

Well, this is another clapping move, but I am not as fond of this one as I am of the F-Smash. This attack hits opponents strictly above you, and I find it rather difficult to land, other than in air juggles against fastfallers at around the 40s and 50s, and perhaps on mid-fallers at even lower percentages. Sure, it gives a good vertical kill if you get it in , but I’d say it definitely is not one of the better up-smashes in the game, largely due to its restricted hitbox. Even if you do see an opening for this, you’ll want to consider using a Head Smack (U-Air) for the possibility of initiating an air juggle. Conclusion: Use this move sparingly, if ever.

Kong’s Judgment: Down Smash + A
Speed: Decent-Slow
Range: Short, but covers either side of you
Priority: Very Good
Start time: Decent-slow
Knockback: Good
Lag time: Bad

First of all, this move looks very cool. It’s like DK is having an annoying Fox or Sheik running around him and all of a sudden he says, “ENOUGH!” using this move and hitting the opponent with fearsome force. Anyway, The property of hitting simultaneously (or almost simultaneously) on either side of you is always cool. It can be usedt to catch roll-spammers, but turning around with a well-timed grab is usually a better option, due to this move’s lag and due to the fact that grabs can lead into air juggles, and air juggles can lead into a KO. Plus, should you miss with this move, your opponent will have quite a few options to punish you with. Similar to the up smash, you can up throw a fastfallers at early percentages and then use this. It’s almost a guaranteed his around the 30s and 40s. If you can predict your opponent is going to roll behind you (at times such as when you respawn and are temporarily invincible), and he/she is at high damage, you can charge this and unleash it with the right timing for a KO. Don’t use this move A LOT. But throw it in once in a while.

Trip Kick: Running + A
Speed: Decent
Range: Short
Priority: Decent
Start time: Slow
Knockback: Mediocre—Bad for it’s low speed
Lag time: BAD

I've actually changed my mind about this one. It has bad range, pretty bad start up time pretty bad lag time, only decent priority, and knockback that doesn’t make it worth that much. It's bad, but not horrendous. If you pop your opponent up into the air with this move, you MIGHT be able to follow the DI with U-air, but often the opponent can double jump or air dodge away. If you miss, you can get punished, since this is a rather laggy dash attack with mediocre range. Just try not to use this move that much. Unless… you think you’ll catch your opponent off guard with the mind game of the startup time… or out of a dash-dance. But that’s really up to you. I wouldn’t rely on this move too much.

Air Moves:

Before we get started… L-CANCEL EVERY AIR MOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kong Twirl: A
Speed: Very fast
Range: Very short
Priority: Good
Start time: Almost instantaneous
Knockback: Decent
Lag time: Very little

This might not be DK’s most amazing aerial move, but it does serve its handy amount of purposes. The nature of this move is similar to that of Peach’s and Ness’s N-Air. IT covers either side of you, though it is slightly more reliable to use it against foes in front of you. What make this attack actually pretty useful are its lightning speed coming out, its priority, and its almost nonexistent lag time. This move is actually solid enough that you can use it as an approach technique, regardless of its short range (unless you’re facing, Marth… but that’s another story. I’ve seen Mike in some videos run up to his opponent and strike with a shuffled Kong Twirl; although it might leave you open to a shield grab, the lightning speed of this approach might catch your opponents off guard. Note that if you plan shuffle this you don’t want to fastfall immediately, because the move might not hit if you do. Instead, fastfall about as soon as your thumb leaves the A button.
Aside from an occasional approach tactic you can use this to shake your opponent away from you. You might find yourself in an aerial struggle, and you see that neither your B-Air nor your U-air is going to hit, and F-Air is too slow… Just pull this out, it comes out almost immediately, and due to its priority most of the time you’ll either win over or trade blows. Not always a bad thing, especially if it’s unsafe to land. This move kind of resets the fight. Use it, and use it as often as you need or want.

Head Banger: Forward + A

Speed: Slow
Range: Great
Priority: Very good
Start Time: Very slow
Knockback: Depends on where it hits: with the sweet spot, great; without, it’s a spike.
Lag Time. Quite bad, but can be great

This is an interesting move. It will trigger one of two different possible effects, depending on which part of Kong’s hands you hit with. If you hit with the bottom part of the hit box, basically where DK’s hands are “banging,” you get a spike effect. This will mostly happen when your opponent is below DK’s hands. Well, I’m not sure regarding the extent of the usefulness of this spike. You could use this to edgeguard, I guess. Just stand near the ledge (very near, if you intend to have the spike effect) when you’ve sent your opponent off, then if he attempts to go over the ledge rather than sweet spot, you can full jump, use this move, and fastfall. The fastfall will cause it to have greater vertical range. When using this to edgeguard it’s better to full-jump than to short hop; it is still possible to pull off this move with a short hop when you’re standing in place but it’s a tad difficult due to its startup time; you have to execute the move right after you leave the ground in order to get the actual hitting part. It will still be difficult to spike, as your opponent has to be below DK’s hands when the attack hits, and from most recovery angles this wont happen very often. But even if you don’t manage to get the spike effect (heh, sometimes you will spike your opponent onto the floor of the stage), this it will yield good results, due to the second possible effect of the move, which is….
If you hit your opponent with the part of DK’s hands closer to his fingers rather than the bottom part of his hands, this move will not serve as a spike but instead will send your opponent flying horizontally with quite great knockback. So even if you fail the spike you might send your opponent far enough away that you’ll be able to edgehog to get the kill, or start using back kicks for further edgeguarding. More on this in just a bit.
Don’t think this move is a must for edgeguarding; in fact, it’s not even that reliable for this purpose. You’ve got the back kick for edgeguarding, and most of the time it does the job just fine. However, it’s always nice to have some extra options.
Now… all that rambling was about using this move to edgeguard, but that’s not the only thing it’s for; in fact, edgeguarding is not even its main purpose. If that were the case, this move would suck. But luckily, it has a much better purpose: Offense. Yeah, this is another one of those moves with which DK can approach the opponent. It’s a bit risky before you get used to it, but once you do, it allows you to attack while staying out of shield grab range. The things you need to master to receive the full benefits of this attack’s potential are:
1. Making it hit with short hops. Obviously if you’re going to approach with this you’re not going to full jump above your opponent and then fastfall. That will get you a McCloud Flip in the ***. You should short hop this move, but be careful with the fastfall it; if you fastfall too early, it will never come out. You should fastfall as soon as you see the sparkle on DK’s hands. That will get ayou back in fighting stance a few frames earlier, not really noticeable, but anything’ something. Run to your opponent or approach him with a series of fast-fallen short hops, then short hop and slam forward + A or forward on the C-stick as soon as you’re in the air. When you see the sparkle, fastfall. That should get you a proper shuffled Head Banger. If you do the C-stick/control stick + A motions a little too late, it won’t come out, so practice the timing.
2. Spacing the move. Obviously, you’ll want to exploit this move’s ability to keep you out of shield grab range, but the only way to do this is to space it right. You should know how close you must get before using this move so that you hit while staying as far away as possible from the opponent. Also, be wary if you plan to execute this move with the control stick, as the momentum will carry you forward and might put you within shield grab range. Sometimes it is important to DI back when using this move. Be aware that this move, leaves you open at a certain area below/in front of you. I've been hit by Ganondorf's down B when trying to approach with this, and I'm sure it's not the only thing that can punish an F-air. Learn how to use this move and take advantage of it's range. Do not spam it; that's the fastest way to **** up your air game.

Well, practice this move, and use it well. It is not an attack to be overlooked, and mastering it could definitely improve your DK game.

Kong Stomp: Down + A
Speed: Slow
Range: Good
Priority: Good
Start time: Decent-slow
Knockback: Decent
Lag Time: Punishable

This is Donkey Kong’s main spike. It is a “stomp” kind of move, and it functions similarly from Ganondorf and Captain Falcon’s spikes. These guys’ spikes’ ranges can be extended by fastfalling. The same is the case with DK’s D-Air, but the fastfalling issue is slightly different. With Ganondorf and Captain falcon, you can fastfall pretty much whenever you please. With the Kong Stomp it’s different. Similar to the F-air, if you short hop this move and fastfall too early it won’t come out due to its startup time. The correct time to fastfall is as soon as you can see the palm of DK’s stomping foot.
A nifty little trick that you can do with this move at early percentages is to hit a grounded opponent with it, causing the opponent to become stunned, then repeating this move (if they don’t react fast enough), which should send your opponent into the air, and if he/she fails to tech upon landing you can do a third stomp. That’s over 40 damage! And the nature of this move might surprise your opponent, suddenly they see they’re getting stomped and their mind freezes and by the time they realize they have to tech it’s too late to undo the damage! The stun effect can also be used to help you land your Giant Punch (if you have one charged up) on your opponent. Good stuff.
As for actually spiking with this move, you’re going to have to be careful. Since Donkey Kong sucks at covering vertical distance (low double jump and a mostly horizontal Up B), you have to be extremely careful not to go out too far and not to try using your second jump too early, before the D-Air animation has ended. If you jump off, your subconscious ambition might lead you to go farther out than you should, and you’ll find yourself being the one falling to your doom instead of your opponent. I’m not saying you should never try jumping out and spiking, just that you should be careful and do it with a cool head. Another form of spiking is to just go to the very edge of the stage and spike an opponent who did not sweet spot the edge. You don’t even have to jump off. Just spike in place at the very edge of the stage. With DK, you should face away from the ledge while spiking; this is because DK uses his right foot to spike, and he has better range facing away from the ledge.
Well, it’s handy to have any spike, even if it’s not the best one in the game. Try to incorporate this into your game; an easy kill is never a bad thing.

Back Kick: Back + A
Speed: Very Fast
Range: Great
Priority: Great; goes through most Up B’s
Start Time: Very Fast
Knockback: Good
Lag time: Very little; almost none if L-canceled

Ah, DK’s beloved Back Kick! What would DK do without his trusty back Kick? Hmmm… This move is great. Lemme get this straight: It’s very fast, has great range, great priority, comes out almost instantly, knocks the opponent pretty far away, and can be repeatedly shuffled to create a fearsome train of destruction? D@MN RIGHT! The Back Kick is a move that can come in handy during many situations. It can be used for approaches, to end air juggles, to edgeguard, and simply to do some damage. I’m sure anyone who has seen a video of Mike’s DK has seen him pull off repeated B-Airs in frighteningly quick succession. This can deal damage, build pressure on your opponent and perhaps even drive him back closer to the edge of the stage, at which time he should not be feeling too comfortable. The back kick, if used to its maximum range, allows you to stay out of your opponent’s shield grab range. It’s one of DK’s safest approaches and has pretty good power, too, great for its speed. This move is actually part of a KO’ing method, which, in my opinion, is one of DK’s most effective. When your opponent is off the stage, you can jump off (try to get as much distance as possible with the first jump), hit them with the Back Kick, then use your second jump and Up B (if necessary) to get back to the stage or edge hog. Back Kick pushes your opponent backward, and at most percentages when they are likely to be off the stage, a Back Kick to edgehog leads to a kill. You can also edgeguard with this while on the stage as long as your opponent is trying to go over the edge. This goes through most up B attacks so if your aim is good enough you can knock your opponent back off the stage over and over. Back Kick: good and simple. Use it a lot and use it well.

Head Smack: Up + A
Speed: Extremely fast
Range: Decent
Priority: Great
Start Time: Almost instantaneous
Knockback: Good
Lag Time: Very little.

NOW WE’RE TALKIN’, BOY! Oh yeah, U-Air, DK’s awesome air juggler. This thing can rack up insane amounts of damage. And it’s not that hard either. Just to make it clear, this move has one purpose: air juggling. And it serves that purpose more than well enough. A simple well-known way of getting into crazy air juggles that is worth mentioning a million times because it rocks, is grabbing, CARGOing, (That’s what I’ll call the forward throw carry) then up throw and start throwin’ these like there’s no tomorrow. You should always fastfall U-Airs as soon as you can so that you can get back to the ground in order to jump again to continue your madness. What enables this move to air-juggle like crazy is its stun effect. You hit your opponent with this and they are helpless; they must tap left and right repeatedly to escape stun mode, and they can only do this fast enough once your Head Smack has sent them considerably high up, once they regain their double jump before you can get to them again, and by that time they would have taken obscene damage. This works especially well against fastfallers, but you can also do it on floatier characters if you can fastfall, L-cancel, and get to them again fast enough, as shown in the video of Mike (DK) vs. Mow (Mewtwo). This is an awesome move. At low damage if you can CARGO-up throw your opponent you’re almost guaranteed a hit with one of these.
Don’t try to use this as a vertical kill move too much, however. You CAN try to get vertical kills with this on lighter characters like Peach and Jigglypuff (and Kirby, if you face one), who are harder to kill horizontally but, against pretty much everybody else, once they reach around 100-120% you should go for the Back Kick to edgehog, or other form of kill (Maybe F-Air, F-Smash, etc.).
Note: it is very useful to use the C-stick for this when juggling because it allows you to follow DI better.

Special Moves

Giant Punch: B

Speed: Decent
Range: Great
Priority: GREAT
Start Time (not windup time): Decent
Knockback: VERY high
Lag Time: Slight

To quote Mike: “It’s like an instant Warlock Punch.” Well, it’s not quite as powerful as the Warlock Punch, but it does the job well enough. This is DK’s ultimate KO move (well, his coolest, anyway). It comes out faster than the forward smash and is more powerful, and he fact that you can pull it out anytime once it’s charged really makes it great. It will keep your opponents on their toes. Now, it takes about three seconds to charge it up, and a good opponent will not give you three seconds if they can help it. However, you can always charge it a little bit, then stop with L, R, or Z, and continue charging when you have the time. If you really know the timing of your opponent's approaching moves and can avoid getting ambitious, then you should try to charge this whenever you can, even swing, stop, swing is good. You can do this against a Falco that SHL's in one place. Watch some videos of CJ's DK and you'll see how he tries to charge whenever possible. Get the idea out of your head that you should only charge when your opponent is at the other end of the stage or when he's flying off.
Even without a charge, by just tapping B twice, it does a whopping 12 damage, but you shouldn’t use it like that too much. Obviously you’re always going to want to charge this move when you’ve KO’ed your opponent and they’re coming back from the revival platform. So you should only taunt if you have time after you’ve finished charging J. The Giant Punch has more knockback if you hit with the tip of DK’s fist.
Now, it would be real stupid if, whenever you have your punch charged up, you just run up to your opponent and use it. Chances are they’ll be wary, at least at the beginning. And wasting a Giant Punch IS a waste. In high levels of play, the Giant Punch is valuable and not that easy to charge up, with an opponent that’ll be on you nearly every second of the match. This move serves as a kind of mind game on its own. Your opponent never knows when you’ll plan to release it, and if it lingers on his/her mind while you’re duking it out in close-range combat, it might cause your opponent to lose concentration in his wariness, or it might cause them to give up some close range exploits. The mind game on its own gives this move some worth.
We’ve all faced those annoying campers at one time or another. Well, this move’s readiness is DK’s punishment to a camper, instead of projectiles. You’ll be telling the camper, “Come to me, lest I gain the opportunity to KO you at any time I wish once I get close. What I like to do in close range combat is to let my opponent forget that I have my Punch ready. At first they’ll be wary, but most opponents will eventually set their minds at ease and engage in close range combat as they usually would. Charge it up, go fight, as you usually would, relax…let your opponent do the same… and once you feel they’re not expecting it, KABOOM. There goes a stock life.
You have to be aware that there are a few frames of startup time before the punch actually comes out. During this time frame, you are COMPLETELY vulnerable. That’s why you have to be careful when you use it, lest it be wasted. You don’t want to use it in between Fox’s or Sheik’s Rapid A attacks! Use it when you think your opponent is not going to barrage you with fast attacks, or just space it out for that matter. Try not to use it when the opponent is RIGHT next to you. You’ll probably get interrupted during the startup frames if you do so. You can wavedash back or forth, then use it, short hop forward or backward, then use it, it’s pretty versatile. The short hop is the best way to use it, in my opinion, as it leaves you slightly less vulnerable during the lag time, and if the momentum of your jump is “carrying” you in the air, it seems to give DK some startling speed and incredible range. The Punch is a little less powerful when used in the, but the speed and range are worth it.
Be aware that it is possible to get a “soft hit” with the Giant Punch. A soft hit will do slightly less damage, and has MUCH LESS Knockback. You get a soft hit when your opponent is right behind DK and DK’s arm kind of brushes past him/her before slamming forward. When this happens your opponent will be sent upward sent upward. But, eh, don’t worry about it. Any Giant Punch landed is good anyway.
There are a few ways to combo into a Giant Punch. One, which works only against fastfallers at very low percents, is to CARGO the opponent, U-throw them, and immediately release the giant punch. It’s a sure hit. Another way is to land an L-canceled D-Air and use the time during which it stuns your opponent to release your Punch. The percentages at which this works vary with the weight and falling speed of the opponent. It is more difficult to do against floaty characters. Note: Sometimes you will need to release the Punch on the ground, and sometimes you will need to jump after your flailing opponent who is in the air. Two other methods involve the CARGO and are slightly more tricky; these will mentioned in the Throws section.
You can also try edgeguarding with this move. Just stand at the edge of the stage, and hit your opponent with this when he comes close to the edge. It’s got great range, chances are you’ll nail them, unless they come in from above or below. But you should be able to intercept any roughly horizontal trajectory. One thing to remember: NEVER jump off the stage and use this move. It takes away all of your jumps and puts you in helpless mode once the animation has ended if you use it in the air.

Oh yes, a new section about the Giant Punch, contributed by Neophos (thanks Neophos :))!!!

"Some facts on the Donkey Punch!!

Dk swings his arm while he charges this. On the 10th swing, it's fully charged. Then it does 30% front and 18% reverse.

9½ swings (charge it to 9, then stop, use it again): 28 front, 30 reverse.

9 swings: 28 front, 26 reverse.

8 swings: 28 front, 28 reverse. (weird, huh??)

7 swings: 24 front, 26 reverse.

6 swings: 22 front, 22 reverse.

5 swings: 20 front, 20 reverse.

4 swings: 18 front, 15 reverse.

3 swings: 16 front, 16 reverse.

2 swings: 14 front, 14 reverse.

1 swing: 12 front, 12 reverse.

With no DI, on the respawn for player 2, the reverse 30% punch will kill Samus on lower % then the front one^^."

Thanks Neophos who took the time to find this out!!!

Yet another new thing I realized about the punch while watching CJ's videos. You can use this as a tool to turn around. Example: You've Punched an opponent across the stage and you want to pursue and edgeguard. The fastest way to get to your recovering opponent, is to run across the stage, jump off the edge, tab back quickly, then B, then press R to stop charging. You'll be off the stage but facing the away from your oponnent, putting you in perfect position for a back kick or up B on your opponent. The great thing about this is that you lose almost no momentum as opposed to running, turning around and short-hopping back. Plus, you get 1-3 winds. Awesome!

Headbutt: Left/Right + B

Speed: SLOW
Range: Decent
Priority: Poor
Start Time: Slow
Knockback: On the ground, none, as it buries the opponent. In the air, it’s a spike.
Lag Time: BAD

Eh, the other candidate for “DK’s Worst Move.” The headbutt is unforgivably slow, as DK reels his head backward, and then slams it into the opponent, burying them. Seriously, though, the chances of landing this attack on a decent opponent are low, and on a good opponent, slim to none. If you miss with this, you can be punished quite severely. ****, you can get punished for using this move even before you miss, due to the start up time. And even if you manage to get it in it’s not all that great. The headbutt does pathetic damage, and the burying effect is not as useful as it might seem. First of all, your gameplay will deteriorate if you are actually trying hard to land this move. You’ll be punished many times before you do, and many times after, should you attempt it anew. Second, at low percents, the opponent can escape his/her buried form, making your efforts futile. At high percents, you’ll be able to get in a few hits before they escape, even a Forward Smash, or a Giant Punch if you have it charged. But then again, at high percents you should be aiming for the kill. And by unleashing your Giant Punch when the opponent is in buried form, well, you take away its knockback. Perhaps this move could help in conjunction with the Forward Smash, but the Giant Punch is fast enough that you don’t need a buried opponent to strike with it. The only time I could see this giving some slight benefit is when the opponent is at mid-high percents, and you need that extra damage before you can go for the kill. There, Headbutt to Forward Smash could help. But even so, this move is still TOO **** PUNISHABLE. What can I say… use it if you’re feeling lucky, or don’t use it at all.
I recently found that this move also functions as a spike in the air. However, it is an extremely weak spike and it’s way too slow. The startup time comes to hinder once more, and the hitbox is very short. You can even get punished in the air for whiffing this one. DK has great aerials. Use those while in the air instead of this piece of crap. ****, he got two other spikes, you don’t need no more!

Spinning Kong: Up + B
Speed: Good
Range: GREAT
Priority: Great
Start Time: Slight
Knockback: First hit has decent knockback. Other hits sometimes trap the opponent.
Lag time: Slight, if you use it on the ground. In the air you’ll just be falling in “helpless” form after it’s done.

This is DK’s recovery move, and it goes quite far horizontally. You’ll be able to cover the distance you need more often than not, but sadly, this recovery is not all that hard to edgeguard. You’ll find that those pesky Falcos will have a great time spiking you with relative easy due to the horizontal movement of the Spinning Kong. Don’t think, however that you are completely vulnerable when using this attack. While DK spins, he goes on, what I like to call, a “priority rampage”. If your opponent screws up his/her edgeguarding and gets struck by this attack, depending on their falling speed and percentage, they might become trapped in the DK’s spin. I believe they might be able to DI away from the series of spins, but if they fail to do so, they’re in for some 20-25 damage, while you were doing what? No more than attempting to recover J!
Even though DK’s Up B has respectable priority, don’t try to use it as an offense move too much. When used on the ground there are a few frames when DK “winds up,” during which he is vulnerable at the front. Your opponent can realize what you are doing at this time, and he can move away and counterattack once you’ve stopped spinning. Maybe if you do it rarely, it’ll catch your foe off guard. Don’t rely on it for straight-up offense too much though. Rely on it for recovery… and for this…
You may be thinking that, when the Spinning Kong is used on the ground, during the aforementioned windup time, DK is completely vulnerable. He is not. When he “winds up,” there is actually a hitbox at the upper-back part of his body. You may be thinking, “When can I ever use this?” The answer is: out of a shield. It is useful to know that DK can use his Up B out of a shield. This could sometimes be an alternative to shield grabbing, and even though most of the time shield grabbing will be a better option, it’s good to mix it up. Sometimes, if your opponent goes for an aerial from behind you, you can shield, then as soon as their hit box has ended (or even sooner) use Up B out of your shield. At low percents, the first hit will not hit them far away, so you may have the opportunity to trap them in your “priority rampage.” At mid, mid-high, or high percents, the first hit will smack them away enough for you to chase them with your spins to try to press the offensive or Spin-Kong away to reset the stage. The latter I do not particularly like, because if your opponent has any projectiles, it gives them another opportunity to slow you down.
One more thing! You can use for some unorthodox edgeguarding. Simply, when your opponent is off the stage, jump backwards twice off the stage, do a Spinning Kong, which should hit your opponent with the upper-back beginning hitbox (or any part of the hitbox, for that matter), then use the rest of the move to recover.

Hand Slap: Down + B
Speed: Good
Range: Very good
Priority: Disjointed hitbox
Start Time: Very little
Knockback: Not very high, but can sometimes set up for air juggles
Lag Time: Slight.

This move… it is underrated. Sure, we’ve all used it to beat the 100-Man Melee or the 15-Minute Melee, but not many of us like to use it in an actual match. I don’t see why anyone would completely restrict himself or herself from using the Hand Slap. Maybe it’s the shifting hitbox that we distrust. The only thing I really don’t like about this attack is that it’s the one of the few in the game that cannot be used in the air. You jam down + B in the air, and nothing happens. Ugh. But otherwise, I like this move. Don’t listen to what the instruction booklet suggests about doing this move over and over again. That only works against the wire frames (and other CPUs). What I like to do is just tap down and B once so that only the first set of slaps comes out. The first set of slaps causes an earthquake in front of you that has surprising reach. This could even stop a rushing opponent who thinks he’s got you spaced out correctly. But I like to use this for offense more than for defense. I occasionally use Hand Slap to pop my opponent into the air, and many times this can lead to N-Air. What makes this actually pretty good is the range of the beginning hit box. The great range combined with the disjointed hitbox and the ability to set up for an N-Air, and possibly an air juggle has great potential. Something to remember though, is, DO NOT SPAM THIS!!! If you become predictable with this move, you will be punished just like a newbie. Use this occasionally; just toss it in as another way of doing some damage.

Throws:

Press Z to grab an opponent or A while shielding for a shield grab. Once you’ve got your opponent in your grips, you have these options.

Face smack: A while holding

When your opponent is at any damage percentages other than very low, you should always throw one of these is in for extra damage. Smack ’em!

To The Sky: Up while holding

The up throw is all right. It doesn’t have much knockback, but it allows you to start some air juggles at low/mid/mid-high percents depending on your opponent’s character. Against fastfallers, you can even chain these, starting at about 40%. Or, also against fastfallers, at about 30-40%, you can do an up throw followed by a D-Smash for an almost guaranteed hit. Or, at around 50%, you can U-throw and then juggle with U-Air a couple of times. Against average-weighted characters, you might be able to commence an air juggle if you up-throw them at 0%. That’s about all there is to it… you don’t need to use this that much, if at all… You’ve got the trusty CARGO….

Face Slam: Down while holding

DK’s worst throw. It doesn’t lead into anything. It does a little damage and then puts your opponent in front of you. Against some characters, if you’re near the edge you can do a D-throw and possibly follow up with some edgeguarding. If you’re extremely lucky you might be able to pull off D-throw to Giant punch, but there are way better options. I’d say, never use this throw, unless it’s an item battle and there’s a bomb in front of you and your opponent, then D-throw them and they crash into the bomb…

Hurl-Away: Back while holding

This is DK’s best throw as far as knockback goes. At mid-high/high percents, use this to hurl your opponent off the stage and then edgeguard with back kicks and/or edgehog.

CARGO: Forward while holding

This… is DK’s insane forward throw. The forward throw, in my opinion, constitutes a big part of DK’s game. You just grab, tap forward, and DK will start walking while carrying the opponent on his back… YEAH!!! Grabbing and moving! And jumping! It can be DONE! An interesting fact to know is that, while carrying an opponent, DK moves at the same speed under any circumstances. The opponent’s weight doesn’t matter, so DK will walk carrying Bowser and Pichu at the same speeds. Even in Tiny Melee and Giant Melee, he’ll carry at the same speed, so a tiny DK could move faster CARGOing than dashing.

…Enough funny stuff. The CARGO can lead to all sorts of insane air comboage. Once you’ve got your opponent in your grip you can throw them up and shuffle a few U-airs. Or you can jump, throw them up, jump past them, turn around and release a Giant Punch. Or jump, throw then up, jump backward and release a Giant Punch. These are the two other methods that I know of that combo somewhat effectively into the Giant Punch. Or do a “dashdance” while holding your foe and then throw them off the stage and edge guard. Or you can lead into a chain of U-Airs until you feel you won’t be able to get anymore in, and then try to end with a Back Kick, followed by some edgeguarding. At higher percents, if you feel like experimenting, you can CARGO, jump, throw the opponent up, double jump, and U-Air for a vertical kill. If you’re lucky you might be able pull of a CARGO-U-throw followed by a Spinning Kong for some naughty damage (if you can trap your opponent in the spins), but this is not very reliable; often the opponent is sent away by the first hit of the Spinning Kong. Or, if you have two stock lives and the opponent has one, and he/she is at high percent, you can attempt the ol’ CARGO SUICIDE!!! Make sure they have like 150% before attempting this; otherwise chances are you’ll die and they won’t. This technique NOT to be used in competitive play. Just use it with friends to get a good laugh. There’s too many things you can do out of the CARGO. Be sure to experiment with this as much as you can.

I feel I should Enforce...

Master U-Air Juggling at different percents and using the cargo to get opponents at good heights for juggles. Also master those cargo-to-jump-to-up-throw-to-double-jump-to-turn-around-Punch- combos. These work as KO methods at different percents against different characters. I won’t list all the different percents at which the aforementioned tactics work for each character because these are best learned by experience rather than memorization. But I want to make it clear that knowing these tactics like the back of your hand is ESSENTIAL to having a good DK.

DK’s Taunt: Up on the Control Pad

DK raises his arms in front of him, shaking his head from side to side. Basically used to remind your opponent that they are fighting a big, sexy ape, who is cooler than them (use only if you have Giant Punch charged up!!!).

Advanced Techniques

Bleh, anyone could go to the Compendium for a list of advanced techniques and their descriptions. But I guess I ought to tell how these techniques apply specifically to DK. So let’s see.

L-Canceling:

How to do this: Press L, R, or Z, as you land after having done the aerial attack

What it does: This cuts short the lag of the landing animation from an aerial attack.
Uses: You will almost always a landing animation after having done an aerial attack. The only way this won’t happen is if the animation of the entire aerial attack finishes before you land. Most of the time this will not happen; it will never happen with short hopped attacks, and most of your approaches should be short hopped. L-canceling is a must if you plan to compete in higher levels of play. If you don’t L-cancel, you will lose the benefit of many of DK’s options, and you will make yourself prone to all sorts of punishment upon landing. I.e. My Ganondorf always lost to my friend’s Kirby because I didn’t know about l-canceling. All he needed was for me to do a D-Air or F-air, then he would roll away and grab me during the lag. With L-canceling you speed up your DK by a lot and you give yourself more combo options.
Without l-canceling, DK’s F-Air and D-Air would barely be useable, due to their lag. If you L-Cancel, however, F-Air becomes a solid approach and D-Air becomes somewhat of a combo starter! Without l-canceling, you would not be able to do the “Train of Destruction” (repeated shuffled back aerials), and you wouldn’t be able to get back as quickly to your air-juggled opponent from U-Air. N-Air would still be quick without l-canceling, but it is this nifty technique that makes it lightning quick and allows for follow-ups.
Since the core of DK mastery is his air game, l-canceling is a must. It is a must with every character, but with DK, if you don’t l-cancel, you’ll be playing a sluggish character that won’t win you many matches. In short… l-cancel, l-cancel, L-CANCEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wavedashing:

How to do this: Jump, then air dodge diagonally into the ground immediately after leaving it. Try it first with Luigi in Training mode on reduced speed if you are unsure about this technique. Note that THE CLOSER TO A HORIZONTAL ANGLE YOU HOLD THE CONTROL STICK, THE LONGER THE SLIDE WILL BE. Still, make sure you don’t air dodge completely horizontally, because that won’t get you a wavedash.

What it does: Wavedashing makes you do a little a slide on the ground that looks all professional. Basically what this does, is allow you to move while in standing positions. Your air momentum is canceled into the ground and you end up sliding while standing. Therefore, you can do any attack that you would do from standing position (almost) while moving. Example: tilts, smashes, etc. In addition, most characters move as fast as or faster than they do in their dash while wavedashing.

Uses: DK has one of the shorter wavedashes in the game. It doesn’t carry him very far and does not give him that nifty maneuverability and sudden burst of speed that it gives other characters, who have a good wavedash, such as Marth or Luigi. But any wavedash is a good wavedash to know, and DK’s wavedash still have its handful of uses. You should practice wavedancing (wavedashing back and forth), as it will improve your overall handling of DK, and if you master wavedashing and manage to use it instinctively, it will sometimes serve as an alternative to rolling.

Here are some common uses of wavedashing:

1.Edgehog wavedash: When you want to edgehog, face away from the ledge and wavedash backward. DK will slide off the ledge but cling to it. Some people prefer this rather than the good ole’ way of short-hopping backward while facing away from the ledge, since sometimes it is faster. DK is one of the slower jumpers, however, and therefore one of the slower wavedashers. With DK, a fastfallen short-hop is almost as good as a wavedash backwards for edgehogging. I favor the short hop, since, unless you’re a true master at wavedashing, there’s always the chance that you’ll air dodge off the stage. But practice this technique, become a true master… yeah.

2. The Good Ole Mind Game: For every character, the wavedash has always served the purpose of mind games. This quick, jerky movement can be used in an attempt to confuse your opponent. You can run up to him/her, tricking them into thinking that you’re on a reckless charge, then as soon as you’re within their attack range, you can wavedash backward. Sometimes, the opponent will use a laggy move, which you can then punish with your CARGO. Another variation of this mind game is to approach your opponent rather slowly and then try to startle him/her with the sudden jerk of a forward wavedash. If they do a powerful attack you can wavedash into a shield and shield grab them.
A good opponent, however, will know these mind games, and will respond to your mind games with their own mind games. It’s always good to know this, though, wavedashing forward and backwards will give you a certain rhythm of movement, and your opponent might make a reckless charge at YOU, which you can then punish with a tilt, shield grab, etc. This is basic but fairly useful.

3. Wavesmashing: This term refers to wavedashing forward or backward while doing a smash attack with the C-Stick. The idea of a “moving smash” could be helpful, but not groundbreaking for all the characters. Marth and Luigi can abuse this with their F-Smash and D-Smash respectively, but DK has no such trick. It’s still a useful defensive technique if you know range of DK’s wavedash. For example, you can wavedash backwards to where you’re just out of the opponent’s attack range and then do your F-Smash. The reach of this smash is long enough that it should strike almost any opponent that tries to press the offensive from in front of you at you move backward. I like to think of this as an offensive retreat. Wavesmashing forward with the F-Smash is not as useful as backward, since the F-Smash is slow, and an opponent who is anticipating your offense can quickly move out of the way or spot dodge and punish. I don’t see much use for wavesmashing with the U- or D-Smash. The U-Smash has a small hit box and it won’t do anything against opponents in front of you, and if you want to get to a falling opponent, you can simply dash and jump-cancel your U-Smash. As for wavesmashing with the D-Smash, I see but one use for it, and that it to catch and opponent who has rolled behind you. You wavedash back and catch them with this attack. But against most opponents, I would rather just turn around and grab them. The D-smash is laggy, and you’ll get counterattacked if you miss with it.

4. Ledge-Hanging Wavedash: You’ll notice that DK’s “get up from the ledge” attack below 100% is pretty powerful and has good range, getting you back in the fray without any problems. But once you’re over 100%, a good opponent will be able to time their counter to your “get-up” or edge roll, or whatever you do. So what do you do to get back in there and do some extra damage before you get KOed? Why, mix it up with the ledge-hanging wavedash, of course! All characters can let go of the ledge, then jump, and wavedash back onto the platform. This requires some practice, as you need to jump as early as possible after letting go of the ledge in order to make it back above/level with the platform to wavedash back onto it correctly. If you air dodge horizontally RIGHT ONTO the platform when DK is level with it (almost his entire body is above the ledge) you’ll get a wavedash, too. It will be a longer wavedash than your usual, since a wavedash from the air covers more distance with certain characters (DK included). Once you’ve wavedashed back onto the stage, you can try to clear your way with anything that you can do out of/during a wavedash, preferably a D-tilt or F-tilt, or a roll (making your action into a wavedash-roll). Whatever gets your arse back to the stage.

5. Wavedash Landing: The wavedash landing is essentially the same thing you use for the ledge-hanging wavedash. It means doing a wavedash out of the air to slide across the ground as you land, or wavedashing “in place” (directly downwards) to return to fighting stance without the landing animation. You’ll want to use this technique on stages with platforms. When you want to get to platform and in fighting stance as fast as possible, jump and wavedash downwards into it. This will put you on the platform and in fighting stance in no time. Another use for the wavedash landing is to keep up high-altitude air juggles. Suppose your opponent is at mid percent, you CARGOED him, jumped, threw him, U-Aired, and now you’re fastfalling trying to get to him again as fast as possible while he’s DIing away. If you use U-Air high enough in the air, the animation will end before you land, hence you will be able to do any aerial action you wish before landing. This is the time when there is no need to l-cancel, because the animation has ended before you hit the ground, and the best thing you can do in hopes of keeping up the air juggle is to do a wavedash landing in the direction your opponent is DIing. Hopefully you’ll get there and be able to continue your destruction.

Two More DK-Specific Uses of the Wavedash:

Wavedash Giant Punch: Wavedashing into a charged Giant Punch may not be the best way to use your punch, but it is useful to know. Most of the time short hopping forward into your Punch is the best way to unleash it on the offensive, but on the defensive, you should consider the WD back to Giant Punch. This is almost the same as wavesmashing F-smash, only the Punch comes out quicker. This could be a nasty surprise to an opponent who’s pressing the offensive on you. Suddenly DK’s hidden speed is revealed, as you WD backwards while unleashing your Punch, dodging your opponent’s would-be attack and punishing him with a KO.

Wavedash Hand-Slap: Another way to use the Hand-Slap is out of a wavedash. Again, the surprising range of its first hitbox is your main asset here. You can wavedash forward when your opponent thinks you’re way out of reach and hit him with the almost-absolute range of the Hand-Slap. If you’ve been mixing up different playstyles, your opponent might not expect this and you’ll be able to initiate and air juggle.
Alternately, you can use this conjunction in the same defensive fashion as the Wavedash Giant Punch. Wavedash backward to safe range and Hand-Slap the unsuspecting opponent who thinks they’ve got you in their control.

Shield Grabbing:

How to do this: While holding up a shield, press A.

What this does: This makes you grab directly out of a shield.

Uses: Shield grabbing is an absolute must-know. If you don’t know this, your idiot friend is going to beat you with those annoying dash attacks. The concept is simple, but infinitely useful: you shield against an attack and press A to grab your opponent during the imminent lag. This restricts your opponent from so many options, that if you’ve been wondering what mind games are for, shield grab and you’ll find out. Many dash attacks, like Peach’s and Fox’s, for example, may seem like excellent approaches at first. Not after you shield grab. You block, and usually have more than enough time to grab your opponent from their neutralized attack. If you don’t know shield grabbing, your opponent will have so many options to pick at you with, it’s not even funny. In higher levels of play, however, people are going to space out their attacks to avoid shield grabbing, and Foxes are going to use their reflector after, L-canceled aerials, so don’t expect this tactic to be one you can abuse against pros. But always, know this option, and get used to shield grabbing instinctively.
Know this, as it is often the best thing DK can do out of a shield: Grab and set up for an air juggle. Often a CARGO to an up throw is the best way to punish an opponent’s mistake.

Short Hopping:

How to do this: Tap X or Y very lightly, or tap the control stick up very lightly.

What this does: This makes your character (in this case DK) jump lower.

Uses: When one first learns of it, short hopping may seem like a waste of time. “Why would I want to jump lower?” is the question that many people new to the game ask themselves upon being introduced to short hopping. The answer is, that when you implement short hopping, fastfalling, and l-canceling, to your air attacks, you can execute them much faster and therefore open possibilities for comboing or repetition. In high levels of play, your opponent is not going to be hit by any sluggish, foreseeable aerial attack. You must use lightning quick moves, which the opponent has fewer possibilities to stop. When you short hop, you stay in the air for less time; this is a good this since you are more vulnerable in the air than on the ground. When you fastfall, you stay in the air for EVEN LESS time. And finally you L-cancel to be back on your feet and ready to roll. The main ideas behind the entire concept of shuffling are executing your air attack quickly to increase its chance of hitting, and minimizing your time in the air so that you can continue moving as desired sooner.
Another way in which all characters can use short-hopping is approaching the opponent with a series of fastfallen short-hops. This lets you do an aerial attack at almost any point during your approach if you wish. You can also play mind games: short hop and fastfall toward your opponent. Try to end up close to them, but not within their shield grab range. Since you’ve been short hopping and fastfalling, they may be expecting an aerial attack, namely F-Air or N-Air. Instead, you surprise them by landing next to them and grabbing them out of their shield. Note that there are some risks in doing this. An opponent with fast reflexes can roll or wavedash away from your grabs, or a really anticipant opponent can simply attack you right when you land. Nonetheless, it’s mind game to consider every once in a while.
Short hopping with the X and Y buttons is much easier than doing so with the control stick. When short hopping with X/Y, your fingers have to leave the button before your character leaves the ground. DK has a relatively easy short hop, so it shouldn’t give you too much trouble. Some people recommend tapping the corner of the button for a greater success rate in short hopping, but this isn’t really necessary with DK. As for short hopping with the control stick, I won’t go into that, I don’t do it, nor do I find it convenient (unless you have some godly handling).

Dash Canceling:

How to do this: While running, quickly tap the control stick down to crouch.

What this does: This quickly stops your running momentum and puts you in a crouching position.

Uses: Dash canceling is just a maneuver that you could add in to give some variation to your ground game and approaches. While it is not by any means a necessity, it could help you mix up your play styles every now and then. DK can dash-cancel into most efficiently into a D-Tilt or Down smash. As far as the D-Tilt idea goes, you can feign a reckless approach by dashing toward the opponent, and dash-canceling right when you reach D-Tilt range. If you’ve approached mainly with aerials up to a certain point in a match, you could suddenly come at your opponent with one of these. The D-Tilt has good range, but unfortunately doesn’t chain to other attacks very well. It does little damage, unless your opponent gets trapped in a series of them at low percents. Just try this every once in a while, then switch back to your standard approaches, and hopefully you’ll throw your opponent off and they’ll make SOME mistake. The Dash Cancel into a Downsmash has some uses I believe. The Downsmash is a fairly quick smash, and it can be used as a finisher or to set up for air you-know-whats.
As for using the Down + B out of a dash cancel…well for some reason I don’t like the idea. The Hand Slap has a slight startup lag, and if you’re using it out of a dash-cancel, you’re not feigning a reckless approach… you’re DOING a reckless approach. And your foe can respond to this as he would respond to reckless approach. He could run in and attack you during the startup lag; he could wavedash backward and possibly catch you during the lag of the move… I don’t feel too comfortable with this. But try it out. Perhaps it has some merits.
Conclusion… Dash-canceling isn’t essential. Just throw it in now and then, and, hopefully, the mind game will benefit you.

Crouch Canceling

How to do this: Before or when you are hit, hold the control stick down.

What this does: This reduces the knockback from the opponent’s attack.

Uses: Crouch canceling is simple: you crouch, and you don’t fly as far. This is most effective and useful when done at early percentages, where you can crouch cancel an opponent’s weak attack, reducing its knockback to virtually none, and then respond with an attack of your own, preferably one that will make your opponent take more damage than you did. Some characters have more/better uses for this than others. As far as DK goes, his crouch canceling game is not too shabby. Since he is a heavy character, crouch canceling can help him live to even crazier percentages than normal. DK has two possible responses after a crouch cancel, which I will refer to as Crouch-Cancel Counters (CCC’s), either his D-Tilt or his Hand Slap. There are the only two options that every character has actually, and a character’s crouch canceling game depends on the effectiveness of these moves as punishers.
Suppose you are at low percents. The opponent is coming at you with a tilt. You crouch cancel, neutralize the knockback, and respond with a hand-slap and an N-Air. Suddenly you are pressing the offensive. Now you can chase your opponent and follow with another aerial or a tilt of your own. Or, you can respond to the opponents tilt with CC’d D-tilt. If your opponent fails to DI away, you may be able to get him/her caught in a series of 3-4 D-tilts for some 20 damage.
Now, another scenario. You are at high percents, and the opponent’s tilt is probably going to KO you. You crouch cancel, make it back to the stage, and your opponent won’t be happy to see you living at 150%+, making the most you can out of a single stock life. Because as long as you’re in the fray, you can do some damage.

Dash-Dancing:

How to do this: Quickly and repeatedly tap left and right on the control stick

What this does: This makes you repeat your dash animation before it ends, alternating directions every couple of frames, allowing you to dash either way you want at a moment’s notice.

Uses: Dash-dancing is a technique that I am quite fond of. It gives your game some versatility. The idea behind dash-dancing is that you can choose to dash in any direction at any time you choose, yet your intentions remain concealed because your character is constantly turning around, and the opponent doesn’t know if you’re going to come in with an attack or simply retreat. Of course, retreating is lousy option; most of the time, you will use dash-dancing in an attempt to gain an opening against the opponent. This is especially vital against characters with hard-to-penetrate defenses, such as Marth. Of course you could dash in either direction from a standing position, too, but if you do so, your opponent has greater chance of picking up on the startup frames of the dash animation, and thus has a better chance of countering you. When you dash dance, your dash animations are overlapping each other, concealing each other, and when you decide to actually dash, it will be almost as though you came out of nowhere.
One way for DK to approach is through dash-dancing. This can be done with any character, and it goes as follows. You dash dance, then come out of your dash dance with a dash towards your opponent, then begin dash dancing again, dash out again, and so on. When you do this, you are covering ground in a more unpredictable manner. Plus, the jerky little movement might annoy your opponent into attacking J. And you can retreat or go in if you find an opening at any time you wish.
Now, as with most of these advanced tactics, some characters benefit from dash-dancing more than others. Donkey Kong happens to be a character that benefits decently from this technique. DK could come out of a dash dance with a jump-cancelled grab, an N-air, perhaps even an F-Air, a D-Air, or a dash attack. Out of a dash-dance is probably the best time o use the dash attack, but if you can go in for a jump cancelled grab, you should do that instead. F-Air would have to be spaced right, but it pays off if your opponent thinks you’re dash dancing and just out of range to land an attack. N-Air is quick and allows you to press the offensive if you land it, but you have to beware of opponents with fast reflexes who’ll shield grab. D-Air… don’t laugh at me for this. A shuffled D-Air out of a dash-dance is quite fast, trust me… I’ve seen Mike do it. MIIIKE! And, as you know by now, an l-cancelled D-Air can combo nicely into the Punch at certain percents.
So, use dash-dancing for the mind game, and try to gain openings with it when all other paths look bleak

Jump-Canceled Grab:

How to do this: While dashing, tap up on the control stick, then immediately press Z. The would-be jump puts you in a stranding position, and the grab cancels out the jump.

What this does: This cancels your jump and makes you do a standing grab out of a dash, while you are still sliding forward from your momentum.

Uses: DK’s standing grab is much faster than his dash-grab. In fact his dash-grab is extremely laggy and leaves you open to attack if you miss with it. So you should always avoid the dash-grab. However, you need some way to come out of a dash with a grab. This is your answer. The idea of this is quite ingenious. When you jump, right before your character leaves the ground, they are put in standing position. They remain in this position for a few frames before jumping. During these frames, pressing Z will make you grab in a standing position, and you’ll still get some forward momentum from your dash. So master this and never use the dash-grab. It’s almost like cheating. So, faster grab out of a run. Comprendo? Don’t feel like writing more about this thing, it’s simple enough :).


DK Style:

This is a section meant to give you a feel of how DK is played at his best, or close to his best. It is meant to get you “in tune” with DK. There will not be any strategies discussed in here, this is, as I’d like to call it, the philosophy of DK.


Donkey Kong has power, not as obscene an amount of it as Ganondorf or Bowser, but power nonetheless. His brusqueness may pale in comparison to that of those two, but what you lose in that area, you regain with DK’s surprising grace and mobility. Imagine a shuffled DK Back Kick…yeah, that’s the mobility I’m talking about. Now, imagine the ferocious sound of a fully charged Giant Punch as it hits your opponent full force. That’s the kind of power that allows DK to be classified as one of the heavyweights. So now, picture DK as another heavyweight, but one who has more balance between power and speed… one who will not KO at insanely low percentages like Ganondorf, but who won’t flail as much when hit with rapid attacks. That’s right… a giant with speed.

Picture yourself in the following scenario. You are up against Fox; you have two stock lives, having just returned from the revival platform, and he has three, with about 53% damage. The outlook is not that great, and you feel discouraged because he has KO’ed you with a U-Air juggle. Well, guess what, you get your *** back in there, shield grab him from his aerial, and begin your own U-Air juggle, fastfalling each one, which brings him up to 90%, at which point you manage an easy Back Kick. He tries to recover, but, guess what, another Back Kick goes right through his Up B, and he falls to his doom. Now all’s not so down anymore. You’ll feel the invigorating energy of DK ownage flowing through your blood…you know you can do again what you just did, and even though you’ll have to watch out for the speedster’s awesome combos and juggles, he’ll have to watch out just as much for your perfected juggling combos.

Now imagine fighting Link. You have no idea as of what to do since his projectiles could keep you away till kingdom come. You say “SCREW THIS!” find an opening, get him with your ferocious back kick, CHASE HIM, BOY. And CARGO HIM TO ****!!! Make him know that he might be able to keep you away, but that when you do find an opening and penetrate his defenses, IT’S OVER. Now, the Link is going to smarten up, and next time, you can count on him taking you on in close range brawls. He’ll still spam his bombs, but he’ll look for more openings for close-range onslaught following these bomb-throws. And this time you’ll keep the upper hand by slightly altering your style, just as link has slightly altered his. This time, you catch the bombs, throw them back at ’im, tell him not to play with fire and to go screw elsewhere. Now his own weapons’ll hurt him, and you’ll use the stun from the bomb to get a CARGO, then you juggle his heavy-equipped *** till he’s good to go for a back kick to edgeguarding or whatever you deem passable.

And, to end this rant… think of DK U-Air’ing the opponent through platforms, racking up massive damage… and think of DK leaping forward with his murderous Giant Punch on the murder!

End of Rant


This section was just a little DK Zen, or whatever you want to call it… you read this when you want to get the DK chi flowin’… get what I mean? It’s like a few things, or images to get into your mind to overcome the psychological tediousness and discouraging feel of fighting certain characters with Donkey Kong. I always get this tediousness with Peach… and Link. Anyway, hope this section is good for something. Those two paragraphs above are by no means the character strategies for Link and Fox… Character match-ups come now.

Character Matchups

Before I go on with this section I want to make clear that I will provide general ideas of the advantages and disadvantages that DK has against the other characters, how to exploit a given opponent’s weakness, and what to watch out for from certain foes; I will NOT provide in depth strategies and lists of tricks against every character, as the success rate of most of these long strategies and tricks depends on the skill of the opponent, and you will find the best combos and approaches from your own experiences rather than reading them in a guide. Note that I’m not doing this because I am lazy (though I am, indeed, lazy) but because I do not believe that the character matchups would be of much help otherwise. So, with that said and behind, we’ve got…

Mario

Mario is an overall well rounded character, and while that ensures that a decent Mario player will at least be a solid foe, it also means that it is very difficult to excel using Mario. If you’re up against a good Mario Player, chances he’ll give you a hard time, simply because he’s better-rounded than you and solid in all aspects of play. There is one thing you clearly beat Mario at, and that is range. When playing against Mario, your range is probably your greatest asset. Your tilts could keep him at bay as long as you don’t spam them, and your F-air outranges pretty much everything he’s got. But keep in mind that Mario beats you in speed and agility, plus he’s got a projectile to boot.
Use your F-Tilt to stop his fireballs. Otherwise short hop over them and make your approach. The former seems like a defensive option, and the latter an offensive one. As with any character, you’re going to have your DK FAST, no matter what, or else Mario will have the upper hand, no contest. Your shuffled B-airs could help you in putting him on the defensive and gaining an initiative.
As always, your CARGO serves as great weapon, but you’ll have to watch out for his N-air, which could interrupt your air juggles, and is overall a great aerial. Other things to watch out for are his forward- and down-smashes. The forward smash is quite powerful if it hits correctly, and it’s not difficult for a Mario players to make it hit right. It’s a quick and deadly smash, which can send even the heavy Donkey Kong flying. The down smash you’ll have to watch for even more than the forward, as it comes out quick, has good power and range, and has little lag for a smash. It’s among the minority of spammable smashes in the game, and is VERY spammable for that matter. Mario players will use it constantly to get them out of sticky situations, so keep your guard up. As always, use your punch as a mind game to make him wary and, of course, as a KO move when the opportunity presents itself.
Mario’s recovery is not bad, but not great, either. The annoying thing about this guy is the sweetspot range of his up B. You can edge guard him as usual with your Back Kicks, or spike, if you feel like it. Just remember that his Up B has great priority and can tear through most of your Back Kicks and Stomps, so, be careful when edgeguarding. Hitting with the tip of the back kick might make you trade blows, which would be a good thing when you’re edgeguarding.
Unfortunately for you, Mario has a very deadly recovery-screwer, as I like to call it, which goes by the name of the Cape. Mario can jump out when you’re doing your Up B and turn you right around with his cape, leaving you falling to your doom. There’s really nothing much you can do against this, except try not to use your Up B for recovery unless you have to. Mario also has a spike (his F-air), which I think is worth mentioning. Fortunately for you, this is not a very strong spike, and Mario will have a hard time landing it through your Up B. Even if he DOES land it, it’s meteor-cancelable, so I would not consider it a MAJOR threat. You better watch out for the Cape more. Overall you beat Mario in range, power and weight, and he beats you in agility and speed, which amounts to a pretty even matchup.

Doctor Mario
Not going to take long with this, as he’s very similar to Mario. He’s a bit slower but his attacks pack more of a punch overall than those of his counterpart. Just be extra careful of his F-Smash, which sends ANYBODY to ****. Don’t overlook the fact that his pills do more damage than Mario’s fireballs. He can also use the dreaded pills for setups- specially positioned pill barrages that help him gain an opening, or lure you into making a mistake. The pills help Doc control the match... Do your best not to fall for his traps, and avoid as many of them as you can.
Be aware that Doc's F-air, while not a spike, is much more powerful than Mario’s, and an experienced Doc player can use it as an approach tactic and space it right to avoid shield grabbing. His F-air is very much like Ganondorf’s Skull Crusher, packs a whallop, although without the killer angle of Ganon’s move. But STILL, it’ll send you flying farther than you think. That, and, his recovery is suckier than Mario’s.

Luigi

Mario’s younger brother is more threatening than Mario himself, due to the fact that his powerful and high-priority aerial game rivals, or even exceeds, yours. Luigi’s aerials are all stronger, and have better knockback and priority than the two Marios’ aerials, with the exception of his F-Air, which is an awesome move nonetheless. An aerial game that rivals or even exceeds yours is nothing to be happy about. On top of that, Luigi is a floaty character, which means you won’t be able to combo him well at all. On the ground, Luigi is no easy task, either. He boasts the longest wavedash in the game, and he can maneuver quite with it, too. In fact, any decent Luigi player who wants to cover distance will barely ever dash or walk; seasoned Luigis cover ground almost solely by wavedashing, and they can use their wavedash for an unnervingly speedy approach. Luigi can wavedash into smash (mostly down smash), wavedash into tilt, wavedash into a grab, you name it (****, he can even wavedash away and start hurling green fireballs at you, though his fireballs are slower than Marios fireballs and Doc’s pills, and are not as annoying), and he’s better at it than anybody else, so be ready and learn to anticipate that obscenely-ranged down smash. Treat Luigi as you would treat a fast character and use your own range against him. Remember, you always have your tilts.
A little weakness that you’ll want to exploit is Luigi’s floatiness. While this makes Luigi difficult to combo, it also makes him slower in the air. Regardless of the high priority of his aerials, Luigi can be made suffer some in the air. Your Back Kick, with its range and priority, is your best friend in this task. Take advantage of Luigi’s sluggishness and punish with your shuffled aerials. Sometimes you can even catch him by surprise with the speed and range of your short-hopped Giant Punch
A good Luigi’s offense will consist of a swift, wavedash-orientated ground game, and a hurtful, high priority air game. Make no mistake; any decent Luigi will avoid floating through the air, but there are still ways to get him to the sky and above you.
As far as recovery goes, Luigi has quite a decent one. He can use his forward B move as many times as he desires, then his second jump (a very BIG second jump, mind you), followed by his up B. While his up B goes straight up and has a small sweetspot range, his forward B and second jump will usually get him close enough that he doesn’t need to sweetspot the ledge.
Luigi is a fair edgeguarder, as well. He could jump out and hit you with his aerials if you try to recover below or level with him. So your best bet is to use your jump and up B as soon as possible to grab the ledge or go past him. The threat of being edgeguarded only comes when you reach higher percents. Note that if he hits you with the area around his *** with his d-air, you’ll be spiked, but it's not that easy to pull off that spike.
Overall, Luigi is a formidable foe, as much, or perhaps more so, than the two Marios. But it's still a pretty even matchup He beats you in overall priority and mobility, but you are heavier and have better overall range. Plus, you have the Punch :).

Pikachu

Pikachu should not prove a very big threat to DK for the reasons that he has poor range and his aerial priority is pretty bad. However, any foe could be dangerous in the right hands, and Pikachu has quite a few strong points that you should watch out for. First of all, his smashes are all quick and formidable. His forward smash is quite devastating, doing great damage, and sending you off quite a ways. His down smash could rack up some nasty damage. And his Up Smash is arguably the best in the game, having the greatest knockback for an uncharged up smash. Pika also has his Thunder Jolts to spam, which can give you some trouble; cancel them out with your f-tilt. So, on the ground, you’ll want to use your range (tilts, grabs) to try to keep the match under control. And, another thing to beware of is his deadly Thunder. Because DK is such a big target, Pikachu has more possibilites of following up his attacks with the slow, but very punishing thunder. If you're not careful and don't DI, you'll get severely punished by this. Last, but not least, Pikachu's speed can give you problems, since he can get to you/away from you easily, and juggle you somewhat since his U-Air outprioritizes you from below.
You have the option of going aerial against Pika, which I recommend. Pikachu has little that he can do against your air game. His only decent aerial is N-Air, which has pathetic range, and whose priority is matched by any of your aerials. All his other aerials are abysmal in almost all aspects (His U-Air can spike, but your Up B out prioritizes it most of the time) . Pikachu will have a hard time getting through your Back Kicks, and your F-Air also far outranges him. His falling speed allows for decent air juggles, and the poor priority of his air attacks makes it even more difficult for him to escape. Pikachu is also light, always a good thing, which also means that sometimes you can aim for the CARGO to U-Air kill. Or you could kill him with the Punch at devastatingly low percents.
As far as edgeguarding Pikachu goes, there’s probably not much you can do, because Pikachu has an excellent recovery. His recovery allows him to cover huge distances quite safely- and also in an unusually unpredictable manner. He could jet in any two directions he desires, and most of the time you won’t be able to do much except play guessing games. Sometimes, though, you can get a rough idea of where he’ll try to land, and attack there; but then again, he could play mind games and teleport above the stage or something, where it usually would not be safe, but at the same time where you were not expecting him.
As far as Pikachu edgeguarding you, I’d say his edgeguarding capabilities are solid. His U-Air is a spike, and an intimidating one, at that. It’s priority is pretty good, so sometimes he'll be able to make it hit through your Spinning Kong. This spike is one of the harder ones to pull off, due to the small hitbox that actually spike, but seasoned Pika players can do it with no problem, so be aware. Also, be aware that this spike is NOT meteor cancelable. When you are off the stage, the major threat is that of his smashes, especially his forward smash, which reaches over the stage. Either come in from above and fastfall your freefall if you think you can make it without being caught or severely punished, or sweetspot the ledge perfectly from below. The latter is rather difficult to do without receiving a forward smash, so avoid it, and, if the stage has any platforms, try to land on one of those. Pikachu can also edgeguard you with his D-Air, which cuts through your Up B, but this move is rather laggy. If you get hit by it, you can probably do your Up B again and get to the stage before he can recover to further edgeguard you.
On the whole, Pikachu is one of DK’s easier matchups, largely due to his lack of range and priority. Yet he is still tough. Just be aware that where he’s good, he’s dangerous. You, however, beat him in range, power, priority, pretty much every aspect except for speed and agility. Play your DK fast as always, utilize your power and juggles, and the match should be in your favor.

Bowser

To be honest, I don’t know much about Bowser. He’s rarely played, but I think he’s highly underrated. Bowser is slow and perhaps the easiest character to punish, but he’s got some good things going for him. One is his power, but another, and a more important one IMO, is his priority. He’s also extremely heavy, and at low-mid percents it can get annoying that your attacks don’t lift him far off the ground. He’s still vulnerable to your cargo combos, however, and those promise some good damage. Try to get in that grab, which in general should not be too hard. Be thankful Bowser has moderate range, which allows for relatively easy shield grabs most of the time. At higher percents, you should, as always, go for the punch. Bowser won’t die as easily from it as other characters, but it still kills him quicker than anything else. Around 85-100% the punch should kill him and set him up for edgeguarding.
Bowser’s recovery is not too shabby, but you can edgeguard, with back kicks, which can get through his up B. Spiking Bowser is tricky, so I recommend stick to the back kicks. Edgehogging after one should usually do the trick.
In the air, Bowser can get a bit dangerous. His F-air is a great all-purpose move, his n-air is great at interrupting (beware of this when you are trying to do a combo!) and his b-air sends foes at a deadly angle. Be careful and don’t get ambitious. Every hit Bowser lands on you is punishing. Bowser can also grab (Koopa Klaw) from the air. It’s a nice mind game, and if you are a shield fool and you put your shield up automatically every time an opponent jumps at you, you’ll get punished. If he does this once on you, the next time you might want to try to roll-dodge behind him. If he Koopa Klaws, you can punish the lag with a grab or possibly the punch. If he plays smart and does f-air instead, you might still be able to punish. At worst, you’ll reset the scenario.
Bowser can edgeguard nicely with f-air, d-tilt, b-air, what have you, so you’ll either want to sweetspot or go way over the edge. Bowser cant spike, but being on the receiving end of a sweetspot b-air is sometimes just as bad. No real trick to recovering, just try not to get hit. An interesting thing I found is that if you know your recovery range well you can stall with side-b headbutt and then jump or up b. The side-b makes you lose almost no height, so it might be useful as a mind game.
According to Luke (Grabfest Bowser), Bowser can edgeguard DK very well. He can hit DK back out with F-air if DK tries to go high above the ledge. If DK tries to sweetspot, Bowser can hit him back out with F-tilt. Either way Bowser takes no damage, so even if it takes him a while to get the edgeguard kill, it's pretty easy and secure. DK is likely dead once off, so you must beware here and try to keep to the center of the stage .Note: I have not tested this out, this is word of Luke, but I'm going to trust him because he's only, what? The best Bowser ever? So I believe he knows his stuff. Thx Luke.
Bowser can juggle you at low percents, with throws, up tilts or w/e, so keep that in mind…
That’s about it, take advantage of your greater mobility, play smart, and you should be fine.

Peach

Peach is tough; not only for you, but for many other characters as well. She has that annoying priority, and those turnips. And of course, she has the feared down smash; but you can’t go about worrying about this. Just try to avoid this. Let’s see about Peach’s advantages over you: mobility and priority. When I say mobility, I am referring mostly to her float canceling. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I think those float cancels are a big issue for DK. For example, her F-air float canceled into a down smash is almost a sure hit because of your small shield, or otherwise it will that shield even smaller. So against Peach, it’s a good thing to know your light shield, in case you get trapped in one of those combos. The crappy thing about doing this is that you’re not really gaining any initiative. So, whenever possible, avoid the float cancels (note they’re quite slow and you can predict a float canceled aerial when you see peach floating) and look for an opening. Maybe you should roll-dodge behind a floating peach if you can anticipate the aerial. But be aware that roll-dodging is never good to spam. I just see it as another mind game. It can get really punishing if your foe doesn’t see it coming, but people catch on quickly. There are other things to do, like WD back, going aerial, etc.
When I say Peach has priority over you, I mean mostly the priority of her N-air, F-air, and B-air. Hence, it’s not the end of the world. Your Back Kick should be able to at least trade hits with any of her aerials, since it’s about as fast as and has more range than them. Your F-air and D-air, however, are too slow to be use reliably in air-to-air combat. The f-air with DI back is always good to throw in. If you can grab peach, you can probably get a free U-air with your CARGO. She’s also light and floaty, meaning she’ll die relatively early to this. The bad thing is that you won’t be able to combo her like crazy because she can just float away and airdodge or w/e. At least, her D-air can’t compete with your U-air.
Peach has pretty crappy range, another thing to take advantage of. Try charging up your Punch whenever you can. That’s the best way to kill Peach. Peach needs to poke in for openings, and she’s somewhat slow, so opportunities for the Punch should arise occasionally, and you need to be on the lookout for them. It kills her really early and comes out faster than any of your other KO moves, so it’s really your best bet. Back Kick edgeguarding does not work on Peach. She can float way above…you know the story. Another thing about range; her grabbing range is poor. That means dash-grabs are a no-no for her, and it also means that approaching with a well-spaced F-air is not a bad idea every once in a while. I should throw in that while dashing is not that great for peach, she has one very good option out of it: the dash attack. She has what is probably the second best dash attack in the game (second to sheik’s). It has great priority and combos very well for her.
Ah yes, the turnips. Those are going to be a great big problem, unless you learn how to catch them. You should really get used to catching these and throwing them back, by whatever means you deem best. The airdodge + A is probably the easiest. But aerial Z and ground A are more rewarding. Find a good Peach player and play against him/her until you can catch turnips consistently! That will make you much better. Yeah, I should do that. If you don’t catch turnips, or at least, try to get around them, you’re just helping Peach get more free hits and add pressure.
Throws, I guess I should touch upon those. Peach has a solid grab game. Her down throw and up throw she could use to combo you at different percents. They often guarantee her a free hit. Her back throw is probably her least threatening, but it could still get you off the stage. Her forward throw is her most powerful and most dreaded… If you know she’s going to do this just try to DI up. With your weight, you should survive this long enough. The thing to keep in mind is that there is no excuse for getting grabbed by Peach many times. Her grab range is not so great. So spacing is key.
As far as edgeguarding is concerned, Peach can just float out and hit you with B-air. If the Peach knows the timing, getting back is tough. If you can go way above the stage or land on a platform, that’s great. A good peach player will back throw you if you land on the stage. If the edge is free, try to sweetspot. Not much to this
Whew, that’s a lot on Peach; don’t know how it all came. Just try to be offensive, even if it’s tough, because defensive against Peach isn’t going to get far. Use your priority and mobility, gain openings, charge and land the Punch whenever possible… Yeah

Yoshi

It’s tough to analyze the match-up against Yoshi, largely because I do am not very familiar with his strategies and I have seen VERY little expert Yoshi play. One match, in fact, the one on Jack’s site. So I am going to base this match-up on the belief that the Yoshis that we will be facing are of the caliber of Fumi, that crazy Yoshi player. In which case… Yoshi will be somewhat tough.
My main concern with Yoshi is that he can DJC n-air and l-cancel into a dilt or other fast move (let us call that DJCLC). DJCLC keeps him safe from shield grabbing if done correctly, and this doesn’t really help us. With DK, as you know by now, grabs are a big part of the game. Be aware that if you do get a grab, Yoshi’s weight leaves him open to plenty of damage by way of CARGO-Up throw- U-Air. The way I would try to go for the grab, if the Yoshi is flawless with his DJCLCing is to go offensive but always defending when necessary. What I mean is that well-placed Jump-cancelled grabs are your friends here AND that when you’re shielding and he’s barraging you with aerials, you should not be afraid to roll away and reset the stage.
You beat Yoshi in the air, for the most part. His N-air has fearsome priority and his D-air can rack up tons of damage on you, but there’s little that Yoshi can do against the back kick. It just has too much range for him to handle well. I am not telling you to spam this (that would lead to horrendous move decay AND predictability) but I’m saying that you should see it as one of your “safe” options, the kind you use for thinking space and for interrupting pursuits.
Note that while you may have a hard time grabbing Yoshi as I mentioned earlier, he has a hard time grabbing you. The difference is that whereas you have to deal with DJCLCed aerials, Yoshi has to deal with his overall plain crappy grab game. Even if he manages to grab you, I don’t think it would lead to a lot of damage (I may be wrong, but I have yet to see a Yoshi performing high damage combos from grabs). On the other hand, if you grab him, you can punish greatly. It’s kind of that eye-for-an-eye thing, only slightly in your favor.
Just to get the orthodox stuff out of the way, let’s look at recovery and edge guarding issues. As far as I can see, Yoshi’s best edge guarding options are jumping out with D-air or N-air, OR staying on the stage and using D-smash. I have to tell you that this last option is quite formidable. The thing is, he can crouch cancel most things at low percents and send you back out with D-smash, so you have to be very careful when using attacks to get back up. Jumping from the ledge or going way above with your Up B when possible are safer methods. Of course they might leave you prone to his other options (N-air or something), but that’s where you have to mix it up.
As for you edge guarding Yoshi, I suppose you could go with the usual stuff like back kick and Up B. Be aware that he is invulnerable to any knockback (though not damage) while executing his second jump. This is so, as most of you know, to make up for his lack of a third jump. Regardless, if he’s falling from his second jump toward the stage, do whatever you can to hit him, do that and he’s dead. As for his stupid ledge eggs, I’d say do what Nessby did against Fumi and try to stick around the edge while avoiding the eggs. Don’t make it easy for him!
A last issue I feel I should touch upon is that Yoshi cannot jump out of his shield. This is a big limitation in my opinion, and I feel you should exploit it as much as possible. For example, you can apply great pressure on him once you’ve made him put up a shield, since his roll sucks, too. Not being able to jump out of a shield limits Yoshi’s punishing options, as well. He can’t punish a shielded dash attack with a D-air or anything of the sort.
Overall, I feel this match-up is slightly in DK’s favor as long as you keep a cool head and ignore all those annoying Yoshi sounds. Oh, and use the Punch too. It kills him.

Donkey Kong

… Do I even have to do this? Ok, I’ll just say what you can do to effectively fight an opposing Donkey Kong. Just remember, he can do the same to you…
DK’s heavy weight, combined with his more or less average falling speed, leaves him quite susceptible to U-Air Juggles once you can get him on the ground. Any way you get him off the ground that should mean some good damage. The Punch is your best KO method as usual, and the Back Kick is effective as always. You can edge guard well with it… Man, I’m out of ideas. Tell me if I missed anything.
 

TWP

Smash Ace
Joined
Jun 15, 2004
Messages
506
Location
Penn State University
Ok here are just a few things that I think you hsould add/change :

- A con is his normal shield doesn't cover his whole body. Players should get used to light Shielding (Lightly holding L)

- Another con is he is easily spiked due to his horizantal recovery nature

- Before you go into moves, I recomend adding a termonology basis of advanced techs, because you never know who could be reading this

That's all i got for now...keep it up this could be a good DK guide
 

Neophos

Smash Ace
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ok, im not a DK pro, but short ranged attacks?? i thought DK had huge range....


maybe im wrong...

EDIT: and i dont know is you really can say Very heavy...more like Heavy...IIRC, Ganon and Samus are heavier....but hey, its your FAQ, you write what you want.
 

GanondorftheXXVI

Smash Journeyman
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I thought DK was about as heavy as Ganon, and I was sure he was heavier than Samus.... Heh, there's a lot I don't know. As for short ranged attacks, maybe I should replace it with "Relatively short-ranged attacks" reffering to that he has no projectiles, and, well, he ain't got range like ganon or marth.

TWP, I'll add what you said, shouldn't have missed those things, thanks. But I don't think I need a terminology of advanced terms. We've got the Compendium for that.
 

Neophos

Smash Ace
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Messages
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well....he got huge range, and Ganon...has he that huge range??


ok, a example. the not really mucg used, but still: B. just stand still ,and fire. it got long range, almost like Marths sword.

his fair. pause just when his hands are in front of him. it can hit with the tip of that. thats some neat range.

his f tilt. got long range also.

his dair. proably the spike with most vertical range. i mean, his strecthes his really long legs all the way out when he does that move.

down B range isnt shabby either, not *** long as others, and seems short due to himslef taking all the place, but it can outrange many smashes and so.



Thats my 3 cents. pay them back later, ok??

and credit me!!!!!
 

Neophos

Smash Ace
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when do you think the next update will be ready??

me wanna read and correct you more=P
 

Neophos

Smash Ace
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im reading for 3 reasons.

1) it never wrong to help someone.

2) i like playing as DK for fun, and always good to learn more about him

3) to correct you

and i start point 3 now^^

the punch. doing a reverse punch, hitting while they are behind you, makes them fly upwards, and a fully charged does 18%. however, on sometimes, i dont know how, it will do 28%!

second, the damage is always the same on the ground when hitting them n front of you, biut the knockback is greater on the tip. also, doing a aerial does less damage, but is a little faster, and short hopping it towards the enemy gives huge reach.'

also, mention that using the punch in the air takes away all your jumps, meaning jumping out and edgeguard with this is not good^^


nothing i can add on the headbutt, it sucks. Edit: found out. it isa meteor=/

on the up B, it can be used for edgeguarding. jumping out, hitting with the first hit, and return isnt that bad of a edgegaurd.....


the handslap is one of the few moves that cant be used in the air. correct tath from the only. and it sounds like you listened to my talking about the handslaps range^^


the up throw should be mentioned, that around 20%, you can chain it into loads of u tilts on fastfallers like Fox and Falco.


the d throw is pretty useless, however, on some chars it can throw them out to be edgeguarded on really low %.


b throw pwns. you covered that^^

and well, i cant add much on the f throw now.=P


also, mention that dair is a good way to combo into punch on lower/mid %'

Edit: on the f throw, throw up, then use spinning kong. sometimes you can trap the opponent for 20-30 %^^
 

Neophos

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1. i never written a FAQ, and dont really know how the best way is...

2. i dont really know much about characters, its just that i picked up a little knowledge here and there.

3. im pretty lazy^^


but i thinking of maybe writing a Jigglypuff FAQ...or atleast help Kone with his:D
 

Neophos

Smash Ace
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Messages
792
you written this now, and havent you written a Ganondorf FAQ??

and well, im going to my mom, to get some stuff, so i cant do anything now for a week. cant correct you :( :( :(

so, well, i look here in a week or 2, and if the guide isnt uppdated much, i do something evil...:skull: :grrr:
 

Konkey Dong

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DUDE, are those the official nintendo names for his moves?! where did u get those?! like i remember a long while back where somehow someone knew all the ganon moves and posted them. we had so much fun sayin those out loud! now i have the dk ones. thx sooooo much.
 

GanondorftheXXVI

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Heh, I made those up... I guess they sound official enough:D! Sorry if thats a dissapointment... But hey, let's make them the official SWF DK names!

EDIT: Sorry to hear you won't be here for a week, Neophos. I hope I can get some meat in this guide for you to enjoy yourself with by the time you come back on:).
 

Neophos

Smash Ace
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Messages
792
good job!!

cant correct much, hard to say more uses of a l cancel then to cancel aerials.....:D

but, keep updating! if you want help with match ups, i help as much as possible!
 

TWP

Smash Ace
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Well while he finishes that part of his guide (which is lookign really good by the way...keep it up) I can try and help you on specific DK matchups. Ask away and I'll see if I can help you.

DISCLAIMER : By no means am I saying I am an expert DK player...I am just tryign to help out.
 

GanondorftheXXVI

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GREAT!!!!

Hey it's great to see you back, Neophos... Nobody checked my guide when you were not around LOL:D.

I wasn't sure if I'd do specific matchups, but if you guys are willing to help me on it (since I don't have much competitive experience playing against humans and different character types) then sure I'll do it! First I'll finish the advanced techniques (It's almost done), then I'll have another little section on "DK Style" that shouldn't take too long, and in 2 or 3 days I probably could get started on the matchups. I'll post whatever I know of how DK fares against the other characters, and you guys can add any information you think should be in there. Just tell me and I'll update. And don't worry, I'll credit you :D.

Any help on this work is greatly appreciated.

Oh, and if you feel I've missed any advanced techniques that should be in there (I'll add Crouch canceling, jump canceling, and dash dancing tomorrow) then tell me, cause I want this to be complete.

Later.
 

Neophos

Smash Ace
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Messages
792
here´s a match up for you.


Mewtwo vs Donkey Konga


Spam bair. shuffled or not, Mewtwo cant do much to get through this. an example is the Mow vs Mike. as you see there, Mewtwo gets pwnd by bairs.

and since hes floaty, i think a cargo to uair at 90 or 100% can do the job.
 

SabreAnt

Smash Lord
Joined
Nov 20, 2002
Messages
1,419
Currently, I'm at TAFE, so I wont go into loads of detail and stuff, but I can give your guide advice for readers regarding fighting high level Fox/Falco/Marth/Peach/Sheik players. Most of my friends use at least one of those characters. And they are all v.good. I play DK seriously, so I'm not fussed abot what people think is correct or not, because I can speak only from the experiences I've had vs those upper tier characters.
 

Neophos

Smash Ace
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of course, you may do as you please, but isnt it better to disucss it here, so everybody can give advice, oppoinins and stuff....


or maybe not O.o
 

Neophos

Smash Ace
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Messages
792
Puff vs DK


i cant comment this, never played this match up. ever.

however, Pound should eat through anything DK can dish out, except maybe the punch....

so in priority, Puff wins. however, she hasnt DKs range. Puff really dont have any long range moves, so DK should always keep her a arm length away^^

even though hes big, DK isnt the easiest target for rest. hes decent fast, isnt easy to rest ombo nor should let Puff that close.

his bair can put up a fight towards her air game, but in the long run, DK should stay grounded and spam tilts.

i dont know what to give i numbers, but i say a 5/5, even match...

i add more on this on later^^
 

Neophos

Smash Ace
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The DK style??

energic, imagineing, and weird, but hey, its a ok section^^

and yeah, next match up coming up in some hours...too lazy right now^^


oh, and on Smelling Salt (nice name, ya know=P) add that it has more damage and knockback really close to DK instead of hittig with the hands...sucks, really...i mean, whats up with range if you cant use it well?? (Roys major problem)
 

SabreAnt

Smash Lord
Joined
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Messages
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Ok, I have a little free time atm, so here is my suggestions for:

DK vs Marth: OMG most unfair matchup of the century. Ok, well maybe not, but you need loads of good timing and luck to pull a win on anyone who can find the c-stick. Try to bait Marth into whiffing his forward smash, those eager tip whores usually fall for a dash dance, but sometimes at low percent, you just might have to resign yourself to trading a blow for a blow. Go in hard, crouch cancel your butt in, and Ankle slap him if you need to pull out. If you get inside tiprange, you chances are slightly improved. Try to stay away from tip range. Its sucks. Of course Marth has godly grab range, so you may also want to be wary of this. Going on the offensive vs Marth isnt always a great idea, and shieldgrabbing *can* get you a long way, refer to juggling segment of guide for further detail. Cargo throw etc. But beware, and good l-cancelling Marth will be tricky to grab. **** up tilt and what not. Bair works very well, as you can almost float in and out with it. If you get close and have a moment to strike, Nair, Ftilt and even wimpy are good options. These moves are all fast, which is something DK needs to have against the Pretty Boy. When recovering, try to anticipate and edgehog and dont limit yourself to sweetspotting, or whatever you call it. If Marth appears uncommonly unaggressive while waiting, chances are hes going to wavedash off and edgehog or similar. Look to see if he faces away from you! I cant count the amount of times I whirled over the edge and stayed alive. Dont rely too heavily on Uair for KO's, Marth's Dair will meet you, greet you, then beat you. Still, if you see an opening, by all means go for it. Giant Punch is my favoured KO move, seeing as a full charge is very quick to unleash. Tapping the button twice is a lot slower. Try to imprint on your brain that if you get a grab in at anything over 60%, always slap at least twice. DK needs every last % he can get. Sounds obvious, but the amount of people that just grab and throw is astounding. The amount of dmg in the long run is well worth it. Always slap them! I would avoid side-step dodging, this is asking for trouble, Marth can almost grab 3 times in the time it takes DK to even start dodging. *sigh* Overall, spacing is the most important thing you have to deal with against Marth, that, and DIing away from the *******.. Oh, and never miss an opportunity to taunt ^^
 

Neophos

Smash Ace
Joined
Jul 9, 2004
Messages
792
Some facts on the Donkey punch!!


Dk swings his arm while he charges this. on the 10th swing, its fully charged. then it does 30% front and 18% reverse.

9½ swings (charge it to 9, then stop, use it again): 28 front, 30 reverse.

9 swings: 28 front, 26 reverse.

8 swings: 28 front, 28 reverse. (weird, huh??)

7 swings: 24 front, 26 reverse.

6 swings: 22 front, 22 reverse.

5 swings: 20 front, 20 reverse.

4 swings: 18 front, 15 reverse.

3 swings: 16 front, 16 reverse.

2 swings: 14 front, 14 reverse.

1 swings: 12 front, 12 reverse.



With no DI, on the respawn for player 2, the reverse 30% punch will kill Samus on lower % then the front one^^

i think this move is really messed up...
 

Neophos

Smash Ace
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Jul 9, 2004
Messages
792
we need to 1. revive and finsih this and 2. write more match ups.

i, however, dont know aany more match ups.

we need more contributions!!!

Live, DK forum, live!!!
 

Dr.Capsule

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jun 13, 2004
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It was some time ago I read this now but now when I've actually decided to make DK a char in my crew, I read it again.
Great FAQ really, especially the Cargo-part and the encouragement to use Down-B. I'll check this one up every now and then. :)
 

VilNess

Smash Champion
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Thanks for the guide! DK is my 3rd most used character because he´s the goofiest and coolest to win with!
Keep´ en coming!
 

Dr.Capsule

Smash Apprentice
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Messages
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Västerås
I could try DK against C.Falcon.

C.Falcon is a pretty challenging match-up I believe. His dreaded knee will make the big monkey scream out of sheer terror and his sheer speed makes him able to dodge in between your shffl's.
Well, this makes Falcon a great sparring partner since you're gonna need all speed you can gather with DK. At low percentages, you're actually able to string a shffl'd N-Air to grab. Use this one lots, it can really help you in the beginning. And remember, he's a fast-faller so after a Cargoed Up-Throw you'll be able to get in a free DK-punch or maybe a F-Smash. Otherwise you'll need all the range you can gather. Use your tilts, wavedash a lot to get away from his smashes and knees, and try staying on the ground and short-hop as much as possible, he'll own you in air.

Maybe nor very informative, but let me play a little more and I'll update it. :)
 

Neophos

Smash Ace
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Messages
792
IIRc, the knee isnt that bad for DK since hes decent heavy, and have huge horizontal recovery. the spike, however, kills him fast. it can hit once on one recovery, and thats too much for the poor ape.
 

VilNess

Smash Champion
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Hmm... I readed about your character matchups and they seem to be good and true. I was just wondering that is luigi such a threat to DK? I watched video of Mike play against some luigi in 5 stock and Mike won with 2 or 3 DK´s left (don´t remember) I saw him do lots of KO´s with charged donkey punch, where luigi had some trouble against it.
And when Mike needed to recover he started the upB usually as early and high as possible(well not too high but hopefully you understand). if luigi came towards DK with karate chopping in air Mike just simply stopped moving forward and sweetspotted the ledge. And I think, if remember correctly, Mike edgeguarded luigi (in Battlefield) quite good mostly with Fair.
 

GanondorftheXXVI

Smash Journeyman
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NYC. This is "THE PLACE," so why are the
Hmm... I believe that match was Mike vs. Cava. First off, you gotta realize that Mike >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Cava lol (no offense Cava!). I guess I overrated Luigi's edgeguarding capabilities, cause now that I think about it, DK's up B is actually pretty fast getting on the stage, and luigi's pretty slow full jumping to stop DK. Then again, it seems to me batlefield kind of gives DK the advantage... but yeah, I gotta fix that.
 
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