Quick Tips
- Down-smash after down-throw? Sometimes, it's weird.
- Bucket anything? NO
- If DK grabs you into a cargo hold, simply hold up and you will pop out (this is faster than trying to mash out). Be careful though, if you are at high percent, DK will still be able to carry you off the ledge.
Videos
- N/A
General Matchup
- Donkey Kong's major strong suits are his weight, power, and range. He'll be using all of these to their maximum extent to take you down so learn how to get around them or to cope with them.
- DK's priority is pretty well matched up with his range. Most of his attacks aren't disjointed like gw's are however, which will allow you to win in most cases. If your attacks collide, either expect to win or for them to cancel out. The only time dk will hit you through your attack is if he has invincibility frames, super armor frames, or he simply went around your hitbox somehow.
- DK's power is nearly unmatched in this game. Only characters like ike and ganon can really compete in terms of strength, although not even close in speed. DK is loaded with kill moves that can strike gw down in the early 70's, even 60's depending on placement. Downsmash and neutral b are probably the most devastating ones. Downsmash is quite good because it is extremely fast out of the shield, hitting above him in what seems like just a few frames. This move kills upward in the 70's for gw, and has a surprising amount of range. The neutral b, when charged, gets SA frames, which can really throw off how you approach DK. A fair that looks like a free hit will turn into an early demise if you aren't careful. Other kill moves of note are fsmash (really incredible forward range), upsmash (good range, fairly quick), up air and bair sometimes (although usually used a lot so not often killed with).
- Dk's recovery looks pretty terrible at a glance, but upon further inspection, its not half bad. Im pretty sure that the first 10 frames or so of the move grant invincibility frames, the move hits a lot for a lot of damage, covers more vertical distance than in melee, can cancel well for combos near the stage. Dair from above will def knock him out, but good spacing w/ the fair and bair will be needed.
- Dk's edgeguarding usually involves aggressive bairs, or up b's that are started off the stage and then maneuvered in. Both of these would require dk not to go too far down, which means your in the clear for most situations.
- Dk's combo game is somewhat lacking, although thats not where he specializes. It isn't too unusual to see some nifty bair combos, up air combos, although these will be harder for DK to unleash on gw because he is so small.
- Dk has a large frame, is fairly heavy, fun combos : )
Basic Strategies
- Your biggest problem in this matchup will be competing for the range. Ftilt, fsmash, bair, dtilt, and down b all have enormous ranges that match yours. You'll find yourself keeping your spacing tight if you want to land hits to start combo's up. If the dk plays right they'll be able to punish you for messing any of your spacing up w/ down b's and the works.
- The second biggest problem? winning the percent game. In order to beat dk's you need to minimize the amount of damage you take, and maximize theirs. This seems obvious to beat any character, but because the weight gap between the two characters is much larger than most matchups, this because quite the issue. He'll be killing you in the 70's, you'll be killing him in the 110's most likely. Theres a good 40% you need to make up on every stock, putting you at a disadvantage, keep that in mind.
- If your opponent is very precise with the neutral b's SA frames, then you could be in a lot of trouble. When he has his punch charged up, you need to avoid approaching mindlessly, no matter how good your spacing is. Learn to empty your shuffles into grabs, or learn to air dodge through him into grabs to keep them on their feet. If they think theres a good chance that you'll drop in for a grab, then they won't be so eager to throw the donkey punch around.
- Whenever possible, learn to keep the match controlled in the air. GW's aerials will blow dk's out of the water in almost every situtation. Bair is the only real pain, only because its so fast and has so much range. Fair, nair, dair, and up air either don't have enough range, have no priority, or are too slow to compete with gw's aerials.
- Although i've been raving about Dk's speed, don't compare the two. GW is miles ahead of dk's speed, i just don't want you to underestimate how fast dk can be. Learn to use your superior aerial mobility to weave in and out of dk's range to score hits and combos.
- Make good use of the chef in this matchup, especially when dealing with a fully charged donkey punch. Chef will cancel out his approaches, he's huge, so he can't just avoid them.
- Best thing to do against a recovering dk is to try and get as much damage in as possible. He's pretty difficult to gimp, so settle for racking up that extra damage you'll need to kill him. Fair/bair/dair should all knock him out with proper spacing.
Stages
- Moving stage = huge advantage. Take him to rainbow cruise, place has a lot of vertical movement, lots of places for him to die. Frigate orpheon would also work really well i imagine.
- Avoid stages with small boundaries as you'll die way to early here to make a dent on the DK. Also, if your teching game isn't spot on, stages with lips could pose a problem as well. Any stage with a walk-off ledge may also want to be avoided because of the cargo throw setups he can utilize.
Frame Data
- Neutral B: 18 (charged, super armor 17-20) or 25 (uncharged)
- Side B: 20
- Up B: 4, 12, 20, etc (+8, aerial) or 19, 24, 29, etc (+5, grounded)
- Down B: 19, 30, 46, 57, etc... (+11, +16)
- Fsmash: 22
- Dsmash: 10
- Usmash: 14
- Ftilt: 8
- Dtilt: 6
- Utilt: 5
- Nair: 10
- Fair: 25
- Bair: 7
- Uair: 6
- Dair: 18
- Jab: 5, 16
- Dash Attack: 9
- Standing Grab: 8
- Dash Grab: 10
- Pivot Grab: 10