Donkey Kong is making moves in the competitive Super Smash Bros. 4 scene. At the Umebura Japan Major this weekend, the king of grabs himself showed why the ape is popping up more and more at high-profile tournaments.
Jason “Mew2King” lost his first game against Takuto “Kameme” Ono during the tournament Saturday and needed to switch it up to get a point on the board in the best-of-three set. Mew2King busted out a Strawberry Nesquik-pink Donkey Kong to counter Kameme’s Sheik and immediately got to work.
Mew2King landed a down-air on Kameme’s Sheik and followed up quickly, grabbing Sheik, slamming her down, tossing her up, and hitting her onto the platform for better height. That was an impressive combo on its own, but the next sequence is where the magic happens.
Once Kameme is on the platform, Mew2King goes for another grab, hits for some extra damage, throws Kameme into the air, and finishes with an up-air hit near the top edge of the map sending Kameme flying into oblivion.
The gist of that combo — an upward throw into an up-air for a KO — is called the Ding Dong, and it’s making Donkey Kong a much more viable pick in the competitive Smash 4 scene.
Proper Ding Dong execution can KO characters at pretty low percentages, especially those who soar easily. On stages with platforms (like the one in the video above), heavy characters like Sheik can be KO’d without much trouble, too.
For players like Mew2King who have mastered the art of grab combos, this can be a particularly deadly combo. It also requires a lot less tech skill compared to Mew2King’s infamous Marth chain grabs from Melee.
The Ding Dong has been used to great success before, including in Mew2King’s run through Pax Prime 2015 and Hikaru’s run at 2GGC Civil War.
H/T: Kotaku
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