Super Smash Bros has two Kong characters. The problem is that Donkey Kong is a crappy fighter and Diddy Kong… well I just plain hate Diddy. Always have, always will. It’s time to bring a respectable monkey into the fray.
~ Dixie Kong ~
For the record, I would also accept Salsa, the monkey from Mother 3. But that’s another post entirely.
Dixie is one of the many, many third-string members of the Kong family. Even though she’s had two starring roles and played back-up at least three times, you really don’t see or hear very much about her. It’s really too bad, because as far as gameplay goes, she’s probably the most useful Kong that there ever was or ever will be. That ponytail twirl is a force to be reckoned with.
After Donkey Kong Country 3, where she got to be the main hero, Dixie was stripped of her relevance and only really appeared in spin-off games. She barely even got a mention in Donkey Kong 64, where she was replaced by her younger sister, Tiny Kong. Only recently did Dixie return to the limelight when she was included as one of the support characters in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Even then, her appearance was overshadowed by the megaton announcement of Cranky Kong also being a support character in the same game.
So let’s give Dixie the respect she deserves! I can’t imagine for the life of me what her regular attacks would be, because I just focus on the show-stealers: the smashes and the specials. I think that she’d probably move and attack fairly similarly to Diddy, even going to far as to have most of her standard attacks copied over directly from Diddy. That’s quite alright though, as Diddy doesn’t have a terrible set of basic attacks.
Her one defining trait in that regard, naturally, would be the ponytail. She would put it to its best use in the air, where with would allow her to spin indefinitely to slow her descent. It’s not an attack, but it would be excellent for recovery. Her dashing attack would also use it, recreating her main attack method in the DKC games. She’d more than likely use the ponytail for her throws as well. God knows how that works. Is there… is there another limb inside her ponytail?
So how about them smashes? I really like the idea of Dixie throwing a barrel as her forward smash. No reason it can’t be a medium-range attack. Where did the barrel come from? It doesn’t matter. Smash characters pull props out of nowhere all the time. Down smash would be a ponytail sweep in front and then in back. Up smash is harder, but I think it would be funny if she swiped upwards with the guitar that she plays after clearing a stage in DKC2.
Dixie’s up special should have her pull out Squawks the parrot and hang onto his talons as he flies her upward. Just like Snake’s cypher. Only difference here is that you could have Squawks spit out coconuts by hitting the attack button until he reaches his apex and Dixie lets go. Coming in contact with Squawks himself might cause a little damage too.
Neutral special would have Dixie steal Tiny Kong’s feather bow from DK64. Again, it’s a similarity to Diddy, but his peanut popguns have a slowish rate of fire, while the feather bow would shoot faster but cause less damage. Actually, when you think about it that way, it’s more like Fox’s blaster than anything.
Side special makes Dixie hop on Rambi the rhinoceros and charge forward, though you can steer him left and right. Rambi will smack anyone in his way with his horn, which does moderate damage and has a high knockback rate. If someone attacks Rambi, Dixie will be knocked off and Rambi will run into the void. If not hit, Dixie will automatically dismount after a few seconds and Rambi will run off. Think a living version of Wario’s bike.
It took a while to come up with Dixie’s down special, but eventually I decided on having her pull out a TNT barrel, which can then be thrown for big damage. It’s a little like Link’s bombs, but much heavier and slower, since it’ll hit a lot harder. You could also conceivably put the barrel down instead, where it will explode on its own after a few seconds. Perhaps the odd time when you put down the barrel, instead of exploding, a Kaboom will emerge and run at the nearest player.
For the final smash, Dixie calls in her little cousin Kiddy Kong, who throws a massive tantrum. Anyone caught in the “scream field” will be stunned, and Kiddy’s pounding on the floor will cause quake damage to anyone nearby. Not the most damaging or deadly final smash, but it will annoy the crap out of any other players, and I feel like that’s more than enough to make it worthwhile. Of course, feel free to spitball some other ideas if you don’t like it.
I maybe didn’t build Dixie as impressively as I could have, but I think that with a skillset at least somewhat resembling the one I’ve outlined, she could be a real contender. It’d be nice to finally have a competent Kong in the game. Plus, Dixie was supposed to be in Brawl, but got scrapped at some point (she still has fighter data on the disc), so there’s probably a good chance that she will actually show up in Smash 4. I’ve got money on her being a slightly modified Diddy clone.
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