Swanky Kongs Bonus Bonanza: Adding Style To Your Banana Game, The Swank Style

[DiSQO_BuNNY]

It's a potassium overload! It's barrage of bananas! It's everyone's favorite mini game!​

SWANKYS BONUS BONANZA​

Now that we've got double the jungle beat with the addition of the quicker kong, it's time we brush up on some slippery moves to keep those pesky Kremlings off our back.

As a diddy main in brawl, developing what we call "banana game" was crucial to any success in a match. And not just understanding glide tossing and instant throws, but being able to force reactions and situations to come out on top was what made a diddy better. This is "banana game" at it's core. Getting inside your opponents head, getting the hit, getting the kill, and doing that mess all over again! Sounds fun right!? Well it comes with some thinking and some work, and just because this is melee doesn't mean you won't have to know your stuff!

This thread will be dedicated to the betterment of our own thought process when bananas are on the field.

Well first things first, primates. You need to know how YOU, the Kong, play when your nanas are out. Do you go for the hit/trip as soon as possible? Do you wavedash around and bait for a punish? Do you torture your enemy with traps and make them go nuts trying to get away from your African rage? Think to yourself how you play. This will eventually describe your style and build your game early on.

Ultimately, the smart thing is to become familiar with everything you can in order to keep your enemy's guessing. You never wanna be that diddy who everyone knows how to beat because you do the same thing over and over. Mixups are your friend, whether that be with bananas or without. Be the smarter Kong!

Next, we will discuss how to condition your opponent into falling for your every move. This includes your wavedash shenanigans, popgun cancels, glide tosses on the ground and in the air, and Monkey Flips. In brawl, just because you pulled out a banana didn't mean you had to go get it. Just because you had the banana didn't mean you had to throw it at your opponent either. Knowing your options and switching between them will be the next layer of your banana game. Know it well, for this is where things get complicated when opponents know their own options against yours. It's your job to be one step ahead, and secure your combo when you need it. Remember not to force anything, this only narrows your thinking.


Lastly, the icing on the cake and that Swanky style to your diddy. Building momentum. Don't you yourself hate the moments when you just get ran over? You shield, they grab. You spot dodge, they read it. You roll, you get hit. You jump, they spike you. You tech, they smack yo *** all over the stage. Well screw them. Pull out your bananas, grab your nuts and put em in their face. Your focus should be controlling the pace of the match from the get go. It doesn't have to be fast all the time, or slow all the time, but it has to be your pace when you want it and when they don't want it. Force your situations, shut down options, punish accordingly and make them frustrated. The more you play, the more you'll understand your options and how to choose them quickly and efficiently.

My fellow Kong brethren, this is only the start, only the beginning. You have been admitted into the secret society of Kongmunism. Let this thread be words of wisdom and only the start of a great journey towards enlightenment, towards victory! Make Mother Africa proud!




I bless the rains down in Africa ​

 

[DiSQO_BuNNY]

Post reserved and stuff for my bananas and stuff.

 

[BlinkIV]

This just changed my life, Diddy secondary for life. Kongmunism for life. The children will be proud, the famine shall be fed, the drugs will stop being sold in the community!

*CUE THIS MUSIC WHILE READING http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V7bXX--Ecc"

Let the evolution of the monkey begin, let the year of the monkey strive, let the bananas be retrieved from King. K. Rool, let us ride on Funky's airboard to victory. Let us glide toss into mindgames, let the reading rainbow flow through us. Let the konglomerate come together, let us save our progress with candy kong, let us collect banana coins to show Cranky who's boss, let us bust out our boomboxes to overthrow swag with swank. Diddy's unite?

Hyped yet? "CUE THIS TO ENSURE MAXIMUM HYPE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVgt3Iv0fK0"

 

[hamyojo]

I very much look forward to this expanding, especially since my 'Naner play is so poor as I have only ever played Diddy in P:M.
Also more Diddy mains in DFW yay

 

[SpiderMad]

Hyped yet? "CUE THIS TO ENSURE MAXIMUM HYPE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVgt3Iv0fK0"

Time to make my friend make that into his Brstm Victory music O_o, then I'll post it back here

 

[BlinkIV]

I already have it as my brstm music, lol. I can send you the brstm?

 

[SpiderMad]

Yes please

 

[Generically Epic]

Wavedashing is by far the best way to pick up the bananas. You can even waveland or just wavedash in place. Say you start running forward, you can go past the bananas, then wavedash backwards to pick up your banana. :D

 

[DiSQO_BuNNY]

Wavedashing is by far the best way to pick up the bananas. You can even waveland or just wavedash in place. Say you start running forward, you can go past the bananas, then wavedash backwards to pick up your banana. :D

Wave dashing is definitely going to be an integral part of Diddys metagame. SpiderMad is especially good at including bananas and banana placement into his stage movement and control. In other words, dude be everywhere.

 

[tripwire]

You guys should see Vro's Diddy. Was too sick.

 

[Oracle]

Vros diddy is freeeeeeeeeeee 3-0 in money matches vs my rob

Jk its pretty scary but needs more side b and down b

 

[Oro?!]

Wtf that's all he did vs me LOL. ***** was holdin out on you.

 

[DiSQO_BuNNY]

Maybe he learned that he needs em after playing rob?


Vro is pretty nasty

 

[Arcalyth]

I started picking up Diddy and thinking about the mindset to take when playing the character. I main Sheik. The way I think about playing Sheik differs vastly from how I personify Diddy's playstyle. Sheik is an intimidating ninja, with fast strikes and paralyzing pressure. Diddy is a silly chimp with silly chimp games. I think that the aesthetic and personality of a character can influence the kind of games you can play with your opponent himself.

Once you have a banana on the field, many, many options and mindgames become available to Diddy. As soon as you pull it out, the opponent is now focused on what you're going to with that banana. You don't have to grab the banana right away. Hell, you don't have to grab it at all... but keeping it at arm's reach will keep your opponent on his toes. Maybe your opponent likes to use the bananas against you. This means that you can pull out a banana and then bait the opponent into grabbing it.

A little story: a few years ago my roommate and I liked playing Melee with minimal item sets because they're fun to throw around and combo with. Eventually I picked up to the fact that he would always go for an item if it was on the field, even if going for the item meant he would be disadvantaged. I later told him after he asked how I was constantly beating him: "You always go for the items." You'd be surprised at how often using the banana as bait works.

The banana is an approach tool, a combo option, a zoning tool, a bait, a recovery tool, and an edgeguarding tool, all in one. Learning the dynamics of the banana and how its existence, position, and status affects the amount of pressure on your opponent is in my opinion one of the most interesting features of the character. Perhaps it's smarter in some situations to use a banana that's been on the field for 4 seconds as a bait rather than one that's been on the field for 6 seconds. Maybe you want to combo with a stale banana so that your opponent isn't so sure when he won't be trapped. The amount of possibilities and options that Diddy has with only a single banana are immense. The depth of the character increases exponentially when you factor in the second banana.

As a mindgame, the banana's power is augmented by Diddy's general mobility and his whimsical animations. I find it much easier to get into someone's head as Diddy than as Sheik. However, with Sheik I'm not as worried about getting into my opponent's head, I'm focused more on looking for an opening to punish hard with all of Sheik's ninja stuff. This is what I mean when I say the personality of a character can influence how you mess with your opponent. As Diddy, I want my opponent to get frustrated by my monkey shenanigans. I'll strategically laugh at them (taunt-cancel, and sometimes with the animation, if I have the space!), swing all around them with dash attack, monkey flip, and popgun wavelands while using the bananas as separate entity for my opponent to worry about. If you utilize Diddy's mobility properly, the bananas become synergistic to Diddy's game in almost every area of his play and will really mess with your opponent's head. Sometimes I really do find it helpful to think as if I really were a silly chimp while I'm playing.

Of course, any tactical information here should be taken with a grain of salt, as this is only one player's perception of a character he recently started playing. This is just my perspective and hopefully it helps anyone else who wants to play Diddy. Maybe someone will have more ideas.

 

[Arcalyth]

I guess for the sake of being able to read it, there are a few things that I think are important to remember about bananas:

1. Use bananas. You are severely limiting Diddy's potential if you don't use at least one banana. It doesn't need to be out all the time, but not using them is absurd.

2. Cover your bananas. Always account for the option of your opponent picking up the banana (either prevent it, or prepare for what they're going to do with it). Always make sure that your banana is within your reach, or at least well away from your opponent's reach. If they get repossessed, it's your call whether or not you need to get them back. Remember that you can pick up any item with Dash Attack (press Z as his hand is over the item) as Diddy.

3. Know your setups. It's worth taking the time to think about how the positioning of your bananas affects what space you control. You need to know when to mix up tech chases with physical punishes or with banana punishes, knowing when not to throw the banana, and all of the different angles and trajectories you can get you and the banana to fly.

 

[AbstractLogic]

I'm not sure if this is common knowledge due to the lack of posts here but I've found if you are facing AWAY from a character and you do a backward down glide toss, it forces a trip. if they don't tech it can be the good ol' fashioned brawl kill setup.

 

[DiSQO_BuNNY]

3. Know your setups. It's worth taking the time to think about how the positioning of your bananas affects what space you control. You need to know when to mix up tech chases with physical punishes or with banana punishes, knowing when not to throw the banana, and all of the different angles and trajectories you can get you and the banana to fly.

Fantastic thinking for a player new to the character. Its a hard road uphill when playing diddy. Keep up the good thinking

 

[Arcalyth]

I've been having lots of fun with Diddy lately. AGTing fresh bananas upward to control space is so great since you have the option to re-catch them and do whatever. I think people who never use two bananas are wrong. The possibilities are immense if you cover your bananas properly.

Also, using a held peanut in conjunction with a banana is pretty awesome because your opponent either needs to commit to something to avoid it or catch the peanut (preventing them from catching a banana and also cutting off a lot of their attack options) and both of those things leave enemies open to bananas. This character is so much fun.

Throwing bananas down to mitigate shield pressure is also pretty neat. (Is this stuff all known by Brawl players already? lol)

It's still difficult for me to punish trips and missed banana techs though, I'm bad =/ At least I'm getting good at his combos without SDing though. hahaha

 

[AbstractLogic]

I figured this counted for the swank factor, but coming from brawl I am very used to the banana play. I'd like to post a video demonstrating it, but if you time upward banana tosses right, you can keep doing upward AGTs and you get a ladder like effect. I don't know if this is old news or not but I figured it was worth sharing.

 

[ELI-mination]

Its good to know some people are interested in developing Diddy's nanner game, it could lead to some awesome stuff. *thumbs up*

 

[Giygacoal]

Is it really possible to pull out the Boombox during a match, like in the character trailer?

 

[SophyBer]

Is it really possible to pull out the Boombox during a match, like in the character trailer?

No.

 

[MegaGuy]

Got back into Diddy recently. I pride myself on my banana game, and I like to think I'm at least decent at controlling and utilizing them. Using 'naners to cover platforms is way too strong, and can really assist in edgeguarding. Speaking of edgeguarding, I also like to smash banana pull by the edge and let their arc cover the on-stage option.

Something useless: if you chuck a 'nana at Link/TLink's shield, it'll bounce off and trip them. Funny, but as mentioned; useless.

 

[AbstractLogic]

As promised here is the sliding banana glitch performed on skyloft along with a short clip of a banana ladder. What are the uses of these? YOU DECIDE. A kong is not worthwhile without the swank factor so abuse/incorporate/taunt people with these if possible!

The banana ladder is at the very end, sorry for the sloppiness AGT on wifi codeset is weird sometimes for me.

www.youtube.com/embed/BLF_MWbk4S8

 

[Nausicaa]

Remember that you can pick up any item with Dash Attack (press Z as his hand is over the item) as Diddy.

Cool.

I find that I get best results by just building the presence of them. Have 1 in your hand, don't throw it. SH towards them and Z-drop it right inside their Shield/Hurtbox, and cause that monkey-chaos in close quarters. Crap like that after establishing your naner-game seems like it will be the dynamics that the Diddy meta-game will eventually turn to. Just throwing that out there.

 

[AbstractLogic]

Also, the sliding banana trick works on a few other stages as well. The right side of metal cavern, The right side of the Fire transformation of PS1 and Delfino plaza has several spots that this works on. I have a feeling Delfino will be an interesting counter pick stage for Diddy.

 

[DiSQO_BuNNY]

SUPER BUMP FOR THIS THREAD NOW THAT BANANAS TRIP ON HIT!!!

WILL HAVE TRIP SHENANIGANS ON VIDEO EVENTUALLY.

DTHROW GLIDETOSS ON SHIELDING OPPONENTS IS BROKEN, ABUSE MORE!

 

[Lex Jewthor]

DTHROW GLIDETOSS ON SHIELDING OPPONENTS IS BROKEN, ABUSE MORE!

Above all else, this. ****s on people, especially if they don't know the matchup at all.

 

[MoosyDoosy]

I tend to keep a banana behind me to space between me and my opponent in case I screw up and need a cover-up and fall back on it. The second banana I will often actively use.

 

[Searing_Sorrow]

granted its situational, doing a cross over z drop banana nair on a person's shield is a really nice followup. This works best when you do it to someone above you on a platform, but if you do it right , you can land and forward tilt them straight on the banana and then do a forward smash. If too difficult, hold upb under them and follow their wakeup.

 

[Soft Serve]

granted its situational, doing a cross over z drop banana nair on a person's shield is a really nice followup. This works best when you do it to someone above you on a platform, but if you do it right , you can land and forward tilt them straight on the banana and then do a forward smash. If too difficult, hold upb under them and follow their wakeup.

I going to make a video witg a lot of guard breaks using shield pushes like that. The easist is z drop early in front of them and bair the back of their shield. Works best on lucas btw. Ill have a vid up sat/sunday by the latest

 

[Searing_Sorrow]

I going to make a video witg a lot of guard breaks using shield pushes like that. The easist is z drop early in front of them and bair the back of their shield. Works best on lucas btw. Ill have a vid up sat/sunday by the latest

Didnt realize this meta was already created lol my bad. Didn't try it with Bair, does it work better? Both are same speed and you land fast enough to block in wakeup situations, but does bair have more shield knock back? If so, it is best option. Thanks look forward to the vid. Also did you try the throw followups yet?

 

[Glish]

I already have it as my brstm music, lol. I can send you the brstm?

I know this is old, but can I get a brstm as well?