When people think about Super Smash Bros. Melee, one mantra comes to mind: “No items, Fox only, Final Destination.” It’s been memed all over the internet, symbolizing the dauntingly unbalanced nature of Melee’s character roster. If someone were to break the mold and bring the lower-tier characters into the limelight, one would think it’d take half a decade or so to make it to the top. For Arjun “Junebug” Rao, though, it took less than a year.
After repeatedly astounding performances with Donkey Kong, Junebug’s results were recently recognized by the Melee panelists who determine the national rankings. On Aug. 7, Junebug was ranked 45th in the world for the summer 2023 period. For the first time in Melee’s 22-year-long competitive lifespan, a Donkey Kong was globally represented in a top 50 ranking.
Throughout Melee’s lifespan, Donkey Kong has hovered around the lower mid-tier. As of 2021—when the most recent community tier list was posted on PGStats—DK ranked 16th out of a roster of 26. Melee is a game in which every high-tier character has either impeccable movement or can throw out attacks quicker than their opponent. Unfortunately for the big ape, he does neither, instead floating through the air and presenting himself as nothing more than a massive hurtbox, just waiting to be slashed by Marth’s blade or peppered with Falco’s lasers.
DK’s one saving grace, which has always been known about, was his powerful combo game. As you might expect from a giant gorilla, once DK gets his hands on you, you can kiss your life goodbye. His forward throw—colloquially titled the “Cargo Throw” by the Smash Bros. community—allows him to carry his opponent around before tossing them in any direction the player chooses. With this, DK can lift up his opponent, jump up to a platform, then toss them up into the air. Once his opponent is in the air, DK can juggle them with repeated aerial attacks that keep them in the air until he finishes the job with a charged-up winding punch.
Typically, a powerful combo game can only get you so far. After all, what point is there in killing off of one grab if you’re too big and slow to land the first blow? But Junebug is no ordinary Smasher; before trying out DK, he was a high-level Sheik player in Melee and arguably the best Diddy Kong in Project M (a mod of Super Smash Bros. Brawl that plays more like Melee).
While he largely stepped back from competing in 2019, Junebug has maintained a presence through his YouTube channel, where he does in-depth analyses of the mid-and-low tiers on the Melee roster and how they were fixed in Project M. To do proper research for these videos, Junebug would put aside a few months to learn the ins and outs of these characters and compete with them in tournaments for a short while to gather footage against high-level talent. Before DK, Junebug placed in the top 16 with Dr. Mario in March 2022 at Double Down, a major Smash Bros. event with 368 entrants, before DQing in hilarious fashion to attend a magic show.
After his success with Dr. Mario, Junebug got everything he needed to complete that video, so he turned to his next project. The first notable event that Junebug’s DK attended was M Series No. 8 on Jan. 28, 2023. M Series No. 8 was a monthly tournament in Baltimore, Maryland that also held a five-vs-five event for regional crew battles. Junebug’s region, Richmond, Virginia, dominated the crews event, with Junebug himself taking out half of the opponent’s team singlehandedly in the grand finals. In Melee singles, Junebug went on a remarkable run, beating former and current top 100 players like Khryke, mvlvchi, Polish, and JOJI. In the end, Junebug placed second, losing only to Kevin Maples, who currently holds the No. 1 spot in the Maryland-Virginia power ranking.
In the end, M Series No. 8 and Junebug’s astounding run showed just how knowledgeable he was as a player—and just how much potential DK had to offer. A month and a half later, Junebug attended Collision—a major event with 494 attendants, including several top 10 players in the world—and placed 17th. Within just a few months of competing with DK, Junebug got some of the best results that the character has ever seen—and back-to-back, no less.
Everything came together for Junebug at his next three events. It’s Not You It’s Melee had two monthly events on March 26 and April 23, followed closely after by Xanadu Legends, the 500th edition of one of Melee’s longest-standing tournament series. Junebug’s DK placed first at all three of these events without dropping a single set at any of them, beating former and current top 100 players in the world and most of Maryland and Virginia’s best players. At last, Junebug had demonstrated sheer mastery of the character.
On July 11, Junebug finally posted his Donkey Kong video on YouTube. “I’m here to tell you the sky is the limit with Donkey Kong,” Junebug said. While most of the Melee community chalked the Kong up as nothing more than a massive punching bag who was too linear in his approaches to get a combo started against a fast opponent, Junebug summarized him differently: “a heavy grappler character that can zone you out, scrap with invincible and disjointed options, and straight-up kill you with a single grab.”
For anyone looking to catch more high-level DK play, you won’t have to wait long. Super Smash Con, one of the biggest Smash Bros. tournaments of the year, will have a five-vs-five crew battle on Saturday, Aug. 12, pitting some of the best Melee Donkey Kong mains against Ganondorfs. Yasin “Mekk” Mekki, the captain of the Ganondorf team, put this event into motion to facilitate a friendly rivalry between mid-tier enthusiasts. Similarly to Junebug, Mekk has only been competing seriously with Ganondorf for the last year in an attempt to give the King of Darkness more high-level representation. Junebug will be leading the Kong team, alongside other talent such as Dashish DK Moe and Project M powerhouse Nogh.
Despite Melee being joked about as a broken mess of a game with only a few viable characters, more and more mid-tiers are pushing that boundary and showing off the beauty of perseverance. “The Donkey Kong Renaissance,” as people like to call it, is just one of many recent anomalies in the Melee competitive scene. Many fans are on the edge of their seats wondering which character will pop off next and just how far Junebug can push the DK meta.
