Character Moveset Speculation: Donkey Kong

Smashgoom202

Dry Bowser
Retired Wiki Staff
So here's the second part of this series of topics I'm making. Like with the previous one, this is mean to be a general discussion and speculation on what kind of a moveset a character would or could have if they were in Super Smash Bros. This is not meant to be a debate topic, nor are there any real limitations to whom you can suggest. The only requirement is that if you suggest a character, you have to think of a reasonable moveset for them. It doesn't have to be a detailed, fully fleshed-out moveset either, it can just be suggestions as to how the character would attack, possible strengths and weaknesses, special move ideas, etc. The sky's the limit as to who you can suggest, just be sure to think it out and really consider if there's a good moveset to be had with the character.

Okay, with that out of the way, it's time for characters from the Donkey Kong universe! You know what I find interesting about the Donkey Kong universe is that, even though it's shared with the Mario universe, it's not really a spin-off series like Yoshi or Wario. Both Mario and Donkey Kong debuted at the same time in the same game, and both of them continued to start in separate games. In a since, it can be considered it's own series, that just so happens to cross paths with the Mario series relatively frequently.

But as for characters, the first and most obvious choice is King K. Rool. Aside from Ridley, he's the most suggested newcomer villain for the Super Smash Bros. series, in addition to being a pretty popular choice in general. I honestly don't want him THAT badly, or at least not as badly as Ridley (seeing as Donkey Kong has plenty of characters to work with and get representation from, whereas Metroid doesn't have nearly as much to work with and Ridley is an iconic character of that series that can theoretically work, YES HE CAN and NO I'M NOT GOING TO DEBATE IT HERE), but he'd still be a fun choice. I see him being another heavyweight, obviously, though in particularly, I can see him weighing the most out of all the characters, perhaps on par with King Dedede. I can also see him being an incredibly powerful character while not being that mobile, similar to his playable appearance in Super Mario Sluggers. Though then again, since Super Smash Bros. is a very mobile game, I'm not sure how this could work. He'd have to have at least a decent jump, or failing that, a highly useful recovery to make up for his lack of mobility. His smash down can just me him doing a small hop and creating shockwaves around him (you know, 'cause he's so fat. :P)! For his special attacks... Well, he can toss his crown, which can act like a boomerang (taken from Donkey Kong Country), and take out his blunderbuss and shoot slow moving but high damaging bullets/cannonballs (taken, sort of, from Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest); either one of these can be his neutral special move or his side special move. His up special/recovery can be his helicopter device from Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble, and it can cover a lot of distance to make up for his otherwise poor jumping skills (he can even attack while on it). Not sure about what his down special could be... keep in mind I haven't played Donkey Kong 64, so I don't know about what he does or could do in that (other then apparently he challenges DK to a boxing match). As for a Final Smash, I always imagined that he could make a huge leap, and when he lands, a bunch of gigantic cannonballs fall from the top of the screen, just like one of his attacks from Donkey Kong Country. Somehow, I feel like I could to better or be more creative then that. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to toss them out!

Along with King K. Rool, Dixie Kong is frequently suggested as far as Donkey Kong characters go. In fact, for me, I feel like both she and King K. Rool are a "full package" type of deal. I'd rather see both of them in the game then just one or the other. The cast would just seem incomplete without one. As far as a moveset would go, I can definitely see her ponytail being put to good use, particularly in terms of grabbing opponents and also used as her recovery. What else she can do is hard to say, since I don't want her to be too similar to Diddy Kong. For some reason, I imagine that bubblegum would be used as one of her special movies. Like I can see her neutral special being a "bubblegum pop" move or something. As for a Final Smash, she can whip out her guitar and do some sweet shredding on it, kind of like the Barbara Assist Trophy from Brawl. Some might say this is too similar to DK's Konga Beat Final Smash. I say, I'm fine with having more then one Final Smash being similar to another.

So you would think that's it for possible playable Donkey Kong characters? Not quite, because I have one more idea, that being Cranky Kong! Now, what's weird about this idea is that I was pretty much with the vast majority in not thinking he'd be likely at all or not being all that interesting or whatever. Then Greninja got confirmed for the new Super Smash Bros. I'll be honest, even though he looks awesome to play as and "made sense", I'm STILL a little flabbergasted to see him playable... which is why I'm suddenly all over the idea of Cranky being playable. See, a lot like Greninja, he's not really "expected" to be in the game, but he also makes sense in many ways; he's been in the DK series ever since the first Donkey Kong Country, he's consistently been in almost every major Donkey Kong game since, he's frequently stated to be the ORIGINAL Donkey Kong from the arcade game... Hell, much like Rosalina, who's playable in a lot more games lately, his popular got boosted by being playable in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze! So yeah, he might be unexpected, but his inclusion WOULD make sense, much like Greninja being a representative of the 6th generation of Pokémon! But what would his moveset would be like? Well, he'd definitely get a lot of use of of his cane. I also want to se ehim use his beard, but I can't think of many attacks that could work like that... Also, whenever he kicks, he uses both legs, and would typically use his cane as a means to keep himself steady. He's be surprisingly agile for someone of his age. Of course, his down special would be his Scrooge McDuck-style pogo cane from Tropical Freeze, in which he'd be able to bounce around on it. He could also bounc of opponents, but I'm not entirely sure how to balance this move out, like after a certain number of bounces he'd stop or something... I guess he could also use his "denture popgun" from the same game, but I'm not too keen on that, particularly since even in that game it felt like a lame knock-off of the peanut popgun. But here's the kicker: his Final Smash would involve him turning into his old arcade self! He'd just jump up and down, causing tremors that would either stun/bury opponents or send them flying (not sure which to go with)! He'd also throw barrels and summon springs and those fire creatures! This is seriously a brilliant Final Smash idea, I'm actually a bit proud of myself for coming up with it (#HumbleBrag :P).

So those are all the characters I can think could work as playable characters. There are other DK characters like Funky Kong, Candy Kong, etc., but I either don't think they're cut out for fighting (not that that's ever stopped other characters from being playable, hello Villager) or don't have that much to work with. Not to mention, they wouldn't be AS unique as the others I mentioned above... in my opinion.

But if you think differently, by all means, say so! I'd love to see if anyone can make a good moveset out of Stanley the Bugman! XD
 
©2014 Smashgoom202 Wall o' Text

I'm not knowledge about the DK series, although I like to see King K. Rool set up a Boxing Ring for his Final Smash or something like that. Greninja, I feel, is a worse choice than Cranky Kong anyway, because not only Cranky Kong has a unique build (being elderly and seemingly unfit for fighting), Cranky Kong also has the personality and the quirk to be playable. I probably won't use him, but I'll praise Sakurai if he became a newcomer.
 
The only "Donkey Kong" game I played was the original Donkey Kong, via Virtual Console on the Wii, which I count as a Super Mario game. Donkey Kong should use barrels as an attack.
 
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