Donkey Kong (Super Smash Flash 2)

Donkey Kong is a playable veteran character in Super Smash Flash 2. He was the last newcomer announced in the original trailer, and could only be seen at the very end after the credits; here, he was seen with his sprites from DK: King of Swing. However, in his appearance in the game, he has custom made sprites which is based on his appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He presents several moves from the Smash Bros. series and many new ones. He is one of the heaviest characters in the game.

Donkey Kong is currently ranked 24th on the tier list; a large drop from his 10th place position last demo. Donkey Kong has good reach in most of his attacks, decent combo potential and strong finishers in all of his smash attacks, a sour spotted forward aerial, Giant Punch and his back throw. Donkey Kong has great horizontal endurance due to his weight (being the heaviest character in the current demo) and good vertical endurance due to his falling speed. His recovery Spinning Kong covers decent horizontal distance and gives him knockback resistance in the moves initial frames. His down special Hand Slap lets him deal with projectiles close to the ground.

However, due to Donkey Kong's size, wieght and falling speed; this leaves him vulnerable to juggling, combos, chain grabs and zero-to-death combos. His recovery covers little vertical distance and it leaves him vulnerable to meteor smashes when the moves super armor frames are up. Donkey Kong lacks a projectile and a reliable way to deal with them; hand slap only deals with projectiles close to the ground, along with having sub par mobility gives him problems approaching. His cons easily over shadow his pros and that is why he is ranked close to the bottom.

Attributes
Donkey Kong's playstyle differs from the typical heavyweight; while the others rely on powerful attacks to overwhelm the enemy with little combo potential, Donkey Kong has an amazing aerial and grounded combo game, due to his good reach and decent air speed, without sacrificing much power. His up and down throw can chain grab at lower percentages or link into his up tilt or up, neutral, and back aerials, and he can easily follow up anywhere with powerful combo finishers. All of his smash attacks have excellent KO potential, being able to KO lightweights as low as 70% and KOing reliably on almost all characters at around 100%. Donkey Kong doesn't lack finishers outside of his smash attacks, however- his sourspotted forward aerial deals excellent horizontal knockback, and his sweetspotted forward aerial and down aerial meteor smash opponents with amazing speed which almost guarantees a KO if the enemy fails to meteor cancel. Despite these amazing strengths, there is a reason why Donkey Kong is not top tier. He is slow and lacks a reliable approach besides his dash attack, lacks a projectile, and is a target for combos and chaingrabs due to his large size and weight. Donkey Kong's recovery is also terrible, as Spinning Kong's horizontal distance has been slightly nerfed from Brawl while its vertical distance has still not been fixed, and he has no ways to extend it. This also makes him very vulnerable to meteor smashes himself if he has already used his midair jump. Despite these notable shortcomings, Donkey Kong is a very powerful character that takes some skill to use, and is sometimes risky, but can hold his own very well.

Ground attacks

 * Standard attack 1: Swipe. 4%
 * Standard attack 2: Uppercut 6%
 * Down tilt: Low swipe across the ground with his arm. 8%
 * Down smash: Slams down his fists on either side of him. 17% uncharged, 24% fully charged.
 * Side tilt: Swipes his arm out in front of him. 10%
 * Forward smash: Slaps both hands together. Fast for a heavyweight. 20% uncharged, 28% fully charged.
 * Up tilt: Swats his hand over his head. 10%
 * Up smash: Claps his hands together above his head. 18% uncharged, 26% fully charged. Hard to hit on grounded opponents due to low horizontal range yet excellent vertical range.
 * Dash attack: Forward roll. Taken from Donkey Kong Country. 11%

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial: Spins quickly, swinging his arms around himself. 11%
 * Forward aerial: Clenches his fists together and swings them forward in a meteor smash. Very risky to do. 15%
 * Back aerial: Backwards kick. 13%
 * Up aerial: Headbutt. Good finisher. 12%
 * Down aerial: Stomps downwards underneath himself. Meteor smash. 16%

Grabs and throws

 * Grab: Reaches out with both arms.
 * Pummel: Karate chops opponent. 3% for all hits.
 * Forward throw: Picks up and carries opponent. No damage, but Donkey Kong can walk forwards and perform certain actions.
 * Standard attack button: Throws the carried opponent forward. 8%
 * Back: Throws the carried opponent backwards. 8%
 * Back throw: Flings opponent backwards. Powerful horizontal knockback. 11%
 * Up throw: Throws opponent upwards. Can chain grab. 9%
 * Down throw: Slams opponent into ground. Can chain-grab most characters. It also provides very decent follow-ups. Can Chain grab. 7%

Other

 * Ledge attack: Body slam, back-first. 8%
 * 100% Ledge attack: None.
 * Wakeup attack: Swings up head first. 6%

Misc.

 * Entrance: DK bursts out of a DK barrel.
 * Taunts:
 * Standard: Faces camera and shrugs shoulders.
 * Side: Holds out banana with mischievous look.
 * Down: Same as side taunt.
 * Fanfare: Bonus Clear fanfare from Donkey Kong Country Returns.
 * Wins: Does a backflip, then shows his muscles and smiles.
 * Loses: Claps slowly.

Trivia

 * Donkey Kong, along with Wario, are the only characters to have a different dash attack than in Brawl.
 * Donkey Kong's third dojo art looks very similar to his artwork in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * In addition, his current artwork is taken directly from his artwork in Donkey Kong Country Returns.
 * Steven Borgers stated that Donkey Kong and were his hardest character projects. In DK's case it was due to his inexperience with spriting.
 * Donkey Kong, along with, are the only characters so far to have a different Final Smash than the one they had in Brawl. However, before the roster change and before DK's redesign, his Final Smash was supposed to be Konga Beat (His Final Smash in Brawl).

External link

 * Donkey Kong's page at Smash Flash DOJO!!