King Dedede

King Dedede (sometimes spelled DeDeDe) is a large penguin-like creature and the self-proclaimed king of Dream Land, a rival and frequent antagonist of Kirby. He is from the Kirby series, first appearing in Kirby's Dream Land, and appearing in every game afterward (with the exception of Kirby & the Amazing Mirror).

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
King Dedede is a heavy and large character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, acting like Bowser and Donkey Kong. King Dedede's Final Smash move is Waddle Dee Army, and his main weapon is a large hammer that he always carries around, which gives him a long reach. King Dedede is also able to multi-jump, like Kirby, Jigglypuff, Pit, Pokémon Trainer's Charizard, and Meta Knight. He is a very slow character, but has the fastest falling speed in the game.

Although he did not appear as playable in Super Smash Bros. or Super Smash Bros. Melee he did make an appearance as a trophy in Melee. Also, in the Dream Land stage of the original Super Smash Bros. (and later Melee) he could sometimes be seen flying in the background along with some other enemies of Kirby games. He was originally planned to be playable in Super Smash Bros., but had to be cut due to memory limitations and time constraints.

King Dedede is voiced by the director of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Masahiro Sakurai, who is also his creator.

Solid Snake Codec Conversation

 * Snake: Look at the size of that hammer...
 * Colonel: That's King Dedede you're fighting, Snake.
 * Snake: Dedede? You mean it's not a penguin, Colonel?
 * Colonel: He's the king of Dream Land. Well, so he says, anyway.
 * Snake: Are you sure he's not a penguin?
 * Colonel: One full swing from that hammer can level an entire building. It may look like just a big wooden mallet, but it's actually outfitted with special mechanical systems like turbo jets and precision bearings to boost its effectiveness.
 * Snake: I don't think I could even lift that thing. And he's swinging it around like it was nothing...
 * Colonel: But he also leaves himself wide open. Just make sure you avoid the swing, Snake.

The Subspace Emissary
In the Subspace Emissary, King Dedede finds out about Tabuu's motives, and about his Off Waves, and worries that if all the fighters of this world are all turned into trophies, then there will be no one to change them back. Therefore, he develops special brooches that are set to turn trophies back into fighters after a specific amount of time. It is also revealed through the Smash Bros. DOJO!! that King Dedede engages Meta Knight in combat as the Subspace Army takes his Halberd, though this scene was cut from the final version of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

He is first seen attacking Luigi with his mallet and turning him into a trophy. However, Wario and his car with the Princess (Princess Peach or Zelda) trophy and Ness trophy come along. King Dedede hides and leaves the Luigi trophy out in the open. Wario takes it, but King Dedede's Waddle Dees come and attack Wario. Wario lets go of the Luigi trophy, which King Dedede takes. After that, he steals Wario's car and drvies off with the Princess trophy and Ness trophy. He later attempts to take either the Mario and Pit trophies or the Link and Yoshi trophies, until Kirby shows up, frees them, then all five characters give him a chase. In his castle, he puts a special badge on all the trophies he collected. However Bowser also starts attacking the others, turning him into a trophy and after some fighting, Bowser escapes with the princess trophy (who dropped the badge King Dedede put on her) and Mario, Link, Pit, Yoshi, and Kirby run away leaving the King Dedede, Luigi, and Ness trophies behind. Later, King Dedede's castle is blown up by the Subspace Bomb. However the King Dedede, Luigi, and Ness trophies manage to survive. Meanwhile, Kirby finds the other Dedede badge that the princess dropped and swallows it.

The caps actually have the power to turns trophies back to life after some time. After Tabuu turns everyone into trophies, the caps start working and they turn Luigi and Ness back to life, who in turn bring King Dedede back to life as well. King Dedede then decides to help Ness and Luigi save everyone. Meanwhile, Kirby who swallowed the cap is turned back to life. The four go around turning everyone back to life. When King Dedede brings Bowser back to life, Bowser attacks. However King Dedede turns him back into a trophy and then back to life again. Bowser is about to attack again but King Dedede lightly hits him in the nose, then points over toward the staircase to the Great Maze.

Bowser then runs off to attack the Ganondorf trophy because Ganondorf was the one who had turned Bowser into a trophy in the first place. After they are all turned back, everyone, including King Dedede, fights Tabuu. After Tabuu is defeated, the Super Smash Bros. World returns to its normal state and Tabuu disappears.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U
King Dedede returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U. A change to his moveset is that he now throws Gordos rather than Waddle Dees and Waddle Doos and that his Final Smash has been changed.

Inhale


King Dedede's version of Inhale is much like Kirby's, although it does not copy the other fighter's abilities for Dedede. Rather, it is able to suck in more than one opponent, and fires them back out, dealing 10% damage to them. Kirby can gain this ability as well by copying it with his own Inhale move.

Waddle Dee Toss


When this move is used, Dedede will pull a Waddle Dee out of nowhere, and toss it at his opponent, similar to Peach's Vegetable attack. After the attack is used, the Waddle Dee will continue to walk around the stage by itself, acting as an item. A Waddle Doo or Gordo may appear instead of a Waddle Dee. The Waddle Doo can shoot a beam of energy out, which can cause additional damage. The Gordo, however, is an extremely powerful projectile. Occasionally, he will also throw a Capsule which will explode or release an item.

Super Dedede Jump


When used, King Dedede jumps up very high. It appears that it damages any player nearby. After jumping, he lands back down again with incredible force, sending a large shock wave around himself. This does a large amount of damage on any player nearby him, but also leaves Dedede stunned for a few seconds. However, hitting down on the Control Stick will cancel Dedede's stomp in mid-air, allowing him to simply land without force, thus, preventing him from being stunned. If canceled right before he lands, he will have lag for even longer time than if it wasn't canceled. Dedede will be put into a helpless state if you hit a ceiling with this move or if you cancel it.

Jet Hammer
Jet Hammer is Dedede's Down Special Move, in oppose to Side Special Move, which is how to use Kirby's Hammer attack. Unlike in the Kirby series, Dedede uses a mechanic Hammer during the attack, and the way he does Jet Hammer is similar to Kirby's Hammer move. When it is used, King Dedede will swipe his hammer sideways, hitting his player with the fire coming out of the jet on the hammer. This results in a powerful explosion, that blasts opponents away when hit. Holding down both the and the attack button will result in the hammer being charged up, which will multiply the power of the attack. Dedede can even walk around with the hammer when it is charged up, but apparently, using the shield button lowers the charge. If the hammer is charged too much, it will grant 1% per second on him if he is below 150%, otherwise it will not do any damage on him regardless the time of charge.

The Jet Hammer will be returning in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, but it's unknown if any changes have been made to the move yet.

Waddle Dee Army


This is King Dedede's Final Smash. Using a group of Waddle Dees, like he does for Waddle Dee Toss, Waddle Dee Army is made to reflect King Dedede's somewhat lazy personality. When King Dedede smashes open the Smash Ball, he calls a group of Waddle Dee's onto the stage, which appear out of nowhere, similar to items. These Waddle Dees are much faster than the normal ones Dedede relies on, and as such, are more difficult to dodge. They also cause more damage, and their incredible speed can push opposing players right off the stage. Another advantage to the attack is the large amount of Waddle Dees on the stage at one time. As is the case with Waddle Dee Toss, the Waddle Dees themselves are not the only thing in the army. Gordos, stronger than the ones in Waddle Dee Toss, may also appear amongst the army, and cause much more damage than the Waddle Dees.

Trivia

 * King Dedede's plot in the episode "Un-Reality TV" of the animated series Kirby: Right Back at Ya! is remarkably similar to Bowser's plot in the Super Mario World episode "Rock TV."
 * King Dedede is the only main antagonist of a series to appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and not lead the Subspace Army in the Subspace Emissary. However, as revealed in a removed cutscene, he did briefly lead the Subspace Army during the Halberd takeover.