Nanerz, Nanerz, Nanerz!!!
Diddy Kong sometimes considered the “other” monkey is capable of turning around the course of a game in a heartbeat in a mixed flurry of fur and bananas. This matchup isn’t bad for Pit but it isn’t easy enough that you can be complacent and hope to win with no effort.
First lets a take a look at the main tool in Diddy’s game, his self produced item, the banana peel. Arguably the most annoying projectile in the game, Diddy Kong’s banana peels cause the opponent to trip whether Diddy directly throws them into an opponent or if you run over them while they are on the ground allowing Diddy Kong to follow up with either an attack of his choice or a grab. His ability to lay down two banana peels at once also gives him great stage control and enables him to shut down opponents who prefer to approach on the ground. However, bananas that hit an opponent while he is in the air will only cause damage and won’t have any adverse effects such as tripping. With that in mind, and an angel at your disposal you should know by the time I finish this sentence that you’re going to generally want to take this fight to the sky. However, that doesn’t mean you’re totally helpless on the ground, in fact you’re not really at as large as a disadvantage as you might think here.
Diddy’s ground game is mostly centered around his bananas and the ability to compile a large amount of damage in a short amount of time as long as the momentum of the match swings his way, conversely Pit has a number of ways with which he can interrupt Diddy’s momentum bringing the tempo of the game down to a level that you’ll be more comfortable with. Angel Ring and Palutena’s Arrow are going to be your main tools in disrupting Diddy’s momentum, each with its own significant purpose in the matchup. As you should know, Pit has two reflectors, the previously mentioned Angel Ring and the Mirror Shield, each with its own specific differences from the other. Ideally in this matchup you’re going to want to use the Angel Ring to reflect Diddy’s bananas as the lunge forward as well as well as the larger reflecting surface, really aid more in disrupting Diddy’s flow than the stationary Mirror Shield, which although can be useful at opportune times can result in an easily baited punishment from a smart player. Palutena’s Arrow is also ideal for limiting Diddy’s banana approach from a distance and even in relatively close areas can prevent Diddy from following up with an attack string or a grab.
With Pit limiting Diddy’s ground game somewhat as well as generally staying airborne during the course of the match Diddy will look to take the fight to the air and the chimp is no slouch in the aerial department and is quite capable of taking out an unprepared Pit. However you do generally outclass Diddy in this part of combat and with some smart playing you should come out on top most of the time. It should be noted that most Diddy’s actually combo into their aerials though their dash attack however, Pit’s Dtilt and SH Dair can easily punish a Diddy that decides to get dash happy. Back on the subject of aerials, versus a Diddy the main aerial attacks you’re going to be looking out for are his Fair and Bair, but Diddy’s won’t miss out on a possible chance to spike you with their Dair so that is something you should always keep in mind when offstage. Ideally you are going to want to either get over or under Diddy where you can either use your Dair to pop him into the air or your Uair to rack up damage but Fair, Bair and Nair all useful here with Fair having the potential of gimping Diddy and Bair capable of killing Diddy at relatively low percentages, while Nair as always being a decent move for racking up damage. SH Nair also doubles as a relatively easy way to pick bananas that are on the ground as well as bananas falling in the air. Wingdashing over banana peels also allow you to pick them up, so that’s one more thing to keep in mind.
As far as gimping is concerned it’s not going to be particularly easy for you to gimp Diddy as he has a fairly versatile recovery encompassing both his Side B and Up B. Diddy’s mostly recover using their Side B and only really use their Up B is necessary, however, if you do manage to force a Diddy to use his Up B then you have the option of gimping him with either your arrows or with any attack as either will force his rocket barrels to detach and most likely lose a stock, even throwing one of Diddy’s own bananas work, but keep in mind the rocket barrels can fly at you and have ko potential, so they should be avoided. On Diddy’s side it isn’t as hard as it is for most characters to gimp Pit but if a Diddy does somehow force you to use up all of your jumps as well as your glide and you have to rely on your WOI to recovery you should note than an aerial, a peanut from his peanut pop gun or simply a throw banana can spell doom for you in this state so if so take care to be especially careful against a Diddy in forced into this situation.
In the end, Diddy is a very momentum based character and allowing an opposing Diddy to get good momentum is not going to be a pretty picture for you. However, Pit has a fair amount of tools with which he can prevent Diddy from gaining momentum as well as bringing slowing down or even stopping him from gaining much momentum at all. This matchup isn’t extremely difficult nor is it a tremendously easy match, but stay on your toes, or rather in the air and you should be able to win this one without too much of a hassle.
.
