NJzFinest - Has taken sets off of local heroes in the NJ/NY region. Been ranked top 3 in Melee netplay. Learned fro the 'original DK' Bum. 10+ year Smashboards veteran and moderator on the Donkey Kong forums.



CnB | Chandy - The most successful 'low tier main' in Texas having taken games off MT and Tirno, some of Texas's best. Formerly ranked 6th in Austin.



Mojo Monkey - Ranked 2nd in New Zealand (under Sin | Spud) during his brief stay, formerly ranked in British Columbia. Placed 9th at BAM 7 and has many high placements in the Australia/New Zealand region.

Disadvantages ​





Advantages ​

"DK's edgeguarding game is very strong, and his coverage at the ledge is remarkably impressive if you're comfortable at the ledge and aware of your opponent's options." CnB | Chandy​ CnB | Chandy​

Bad Relevant Matchups ​



Good Relevant Matchups ​

Is Donkey Kong Viable? ​

Advice For Donkey Kong Mains? ​

Spoiler: Chandy "Unless Donkey Kong is the only character that you enjoy, you probably shouldn't put much time into him. Donkey Kong is fun to watch and screw around with, but the patience and time commitment required to succeed with him will likely diminish that initial feeling of fun considerably. The dank gfycat Green Ranger combos probably make up less than 1% of what you'll be doing as Donkey Kong. The reality of it is a lot of dash dancing, spacing bairs, and being super defensive so you don't get your lunch eaten by anyone who knows how to combo well.



Once the novelty of seeing a low tier played well wears off, people are going to get bored of watching scrubby Fox players run into your bairs and DI into all of your follow-ups all day. I catch a lot of shade in my local scene for playing lame, because that's pretty much the way you have to use DK to beat skilled players; you will get camped a lot, people will get really salty when they lose to you, and your victories will likely get written off on the basis of match-up inexperience.



If you want to play a nonviable character because you're a unique smash snowflake and the rules don't apply to you, then at least pick one that is still fun to play at a high level, like Mario or Ganondorf or whatever. Donkey Kong is not a good choice for this type of attention-craving, "counter culture for the sake of counter culture" Melee hipster who thinks they're going to change the meta and prove all the haters wrong. Play a low tier because it's fun for you and you're willing to put in the work and deal with the frustration of losing a lot and being constantly underestimated. Don't play a low tier if you want recognition, results, or money.



If, knowing all that, you still think that Donkey Kong is right for you, then I'm sorry that your life has to be this way. Study Phish-It footage if you want to improve in the neutral, study Green Ranger footage if you want to work on your combo game, and study Chandy footage if you really like uair and spaced bair.



In all seriousness, the Melee DK board on smashboards is where all of us poor souls hang out and talk shop. Specific questions and advice should be directed there."

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"He's the leader of the bunch, you know him well. He's back in Melee to kick some tail!" Returning to Melee from Smash 64 is Donkey Kong, described by the Melee Instruction Manual as "but he currently ranks 17th on the Melee tier list in the B tier. Is the manual wrong? Where does Donkey Kong really stand in competitive Melee? We brought in three experts to weigh in on the character!So how does Donkey Kong really stack up in Melee according to the experts? Let's find out!Among the big weaknesses for Donkey Kong that all the experts agreed on where issues with his hurt-boxes.Chandy said with NZjFinest also commentingThese awkward hurt-boxes make another of his weaknesses." said Mojo Monkey.Chandy added,NJzFinest also had this to say.Despite these disadvantages, the experts still had some praise for the character, with all mentioned one of his key strengths is his punish game.NJzFinest explained.Chandy mentioned.Another thing they noted was how his Up-B, the Spinning Kong, is a very useful move. "He has a ton of hidden potentialin his Up-B." Mojo Monkey told us. "It is actually his fastest move and also grants him generous invincibility on the first hitbox. Up-B is an incredibly versatile and can be used to escape pressure, counter approaches, break out of aerial combos, set up for edgeguards, and more."NJzFinest explained, mentioning another of the character's strength.So what are the hardest matchups for Donkey Kong among the top tiers?Chandy said and NJzFinest went into details.He also went on to discuss the difficulties found in the Sheik matchup.Among the difficult matchups are matches against Ice Climbers as well. Chandy gave us the details.With that prior list it may seem like things are hopeless for Donkey Kong but that is not the case. He has several matchups he can perform well in among the top tiers including Fox, Jigglypuff, Marth, and Captain Falcon.Chandy gave us his thoughts on the Marth matchup.NJzFinest also commented on Marth and how some of his weaknesses were shared with Captain Falcon in the DK matchup.Chandy said.NJzFinest also mentioned Jigglypuff as a good top tier matchup for the Kong. "Jigglyuff is up-throw into Up-Air fodder (similar to the Fox vs Puff match-up), down-throw to Giant Punch is an actual combo which kills early, and her aerial approach loses to DK's Back-Air. Since Puff is slow, DK can literally run away and charge his punch. Like Puff vs Samus, Puff actually needs to respect the charged B move since she doesn't actually have an answer for it when hovering at a certain distance."So after weighing all the evidence is Donkey Kong viable on a national level? Unfortunately the resounding answer was no, but Mojo Monkey had a little hope.NJzFinest shared the sentiment that he could be a good secondary, but not good enough to be solo viable.Each experts had their own advice to share for anyone out there looking to be main Donkey Kong.Mojo Monkey:NJzFinest:Chandy's was quite long but also informative (and quite entertaining) so we included it within a spoiler below.A special thank you to NJzFinest, Chandy, and Mojo Monkey for giving their expertise for this article. With so much excellent information from our experts there was no way we could fit it all into one article. For the full interviews be sure to check out the Donkey Kong forums here on Smashboards and learn a bit more about the character.Agree or disagree with these Donkey Kong experts? Have a suggestion for the next character we should cover? Sound off in the comments below and stay tuned to Smashboards for future expert analysis on characters from all Smash titles