Yeah, people seem to be taking the special at face value because it's an item that can bounce and do damage. Tip for everybody that wants to actually play Dedede without being bad: use Side-b and up-tilt during the animation. Suddenly you'll realize how good the Gordos are at spacial control.
The thing about Dedede is that he's not bad, but he's not really good, either.
I'd say he's definitely the Tager of this game, with some gimmicks that aren't actually that great but can be used in a great way.
An example of this is his his dtilt, with its (apparent) slight disjoint -- even good players will challenge your crouch because they never expect your dtilt to outprioritize them.
His aerial game is really weird and one of the previous guys was right about that nasty deadzone; Jiggs is a really tough matchup because of this, but as long as you remember that you don't have to sit there and take hits, it becomes a lot easier to clip her with your hammer.
I think this is a huge part of playing Dedede well, and it sounds obvious, but it isn't; you have to find a way to be near the opponent, but not necessarily be -there-.
I usually float around my opponents a fair bit before actually doing something, and it's all a matter of positioning and playing opportunistically, which I hate, but it's so necessary as Dedede.
Play in such a way that you prompt them to challenge your moves in trades they will always lose; always have a way out in case any approach/read you make doesn't go as planned.
I sometimes purposely set up a gordo behind me to catch my opponent in case they decide to roll and punish me.
Take advantage of Gordo's intimidation factor -- any time it's on the field, it's a gamble; either it hits them or it gets reflected.
If you expect it to be reflected, be prepared to knock it back or set it up to be out of your opponent's range by the time you've made your approach.
If you expect it to hit, try to find the angle of launch and follow up accordingly; you might've just set up for an early gimp.
Like I said, he's not bad, but he's not good, either.
If you've got a firm grasp on your opponent's style and you understand Dedede's optimal area of influence, he can be one heck of a monster.
People will eventually figure out that he's really not that hard to get past, even played well (all you have to do is camp him), but he's an excellent character for sharpening your attention to detail and your skill in making reads; if this is what you need work on (and you like getting punished dearly for having a huge hitbox), Dedede's the character for you.
