Banjo-Kazooie Smash Ultimate Trailer Analysis
The Super Smash Bros Ultimate DLC pack has promised five fighters, and at this point we know three of them. The first was Joker from Persona 5, the next was The Hero from Dragon Quest XI, and the best, sorry the next, is the highly anticipated Banjo-Kazooie. The end of Nintendo’s E3 Direct revealed that Banjo-Kazooie would be the third fighter, and I, as well as many other people, couldn’t be happier. With all the hype from the trailer though, I’m here to analyze it and show what you could have missed, and what we know so far.
The trailer opened with a prerendered CGI bit very similar to the reveal of King K. Rool. It’s him and Donkey and Diddy all hanging out when the see Banjo’s silhouette, but it turns out to just be Duck Hunt. However, Banjo-Kazooie kicks out Duck Hunt as the Rare trio cheer them on. This was the best way to bring in the bear and bird, as it’s funny, and pays homage to their history at the helm of Rare. That’s also shown by the tagline that appears “Banjo-Kazooie are Raring to Go!” Notice the capitalized R.
Right after that, the trailer jumps into gameplay. We see some smaller stuff first, like a taunt, and just like in the games, Kazooie is the one doing the sprinting.
The combo’s physical attacks are split, with Banjo seemingly delivering the standard attacks with punches, while Kazooie deals out the faster aerials and tilt attacks. Later on we see that, at least for the side smash, Banjo hits the opponents with Kazooie.
We see a look at all of the specials, the neutral of which is Kazooie shooting eggs as a projectile. What’s interesting is that Banjo can grab Kazooie and run while she’s still shooting eggs. The down special seems to be Kazooie laying a grenade (yes, it could be done in the games. Yes, it is weird) which can be grabbed and thrown. The side special has Kazooie dash forward and ram into anything, while five feathers shows the amount of hits they can take before they get hurt and/or stop. Again, this is pulled from the games, expect for the unstoppable and damage dealing parts, those are creative interpretation. Finally, the up special has Banjo-Kazooie leap off of a labelled platform into the air, and then Kazooie starts flying into the air.
Banjo-Kazooie’s Final Smash takes their roots back to the collectible nature of the original games by sending out a bunch of the four Jinjos to activate the statue of The Mighty Jinjonator, who then attacks the opponents. This attack is likely going to be activated by a dash, as that’s how most Final Smashes are activated nowadays.
As for the stage that comes with Banjo-Kazooie, that would be the iconic Spiral Mountain. In the background it shows places like Banjo’s house, and different characters from the Banjo series will appear on the stage. Two examples are Bottles the Mole and Gruntilda, but it’s likely that more characters will appear. The stage’s main platform is at the top of the mountain, but the trailer shows that the stage itself will turn and a bridge will extend from the mountain’s peak to the entrance of Gruntilda’s lair. This will allow a much more spacious and horizontally focused fighting area, as opposed to the mountain’s vertical focus.
As for the other things like songs, extra spirits, and alternate costumes, not much is known, but some reasonable assumptions can be made. For spirits, there are obviously going to be characters like Mumbo, and hopefully some Banjo transformations like the washing machine. All of the Banjo-Kazooie games have incredible songs, but aside from the song played in this trailer, there are any number that could be included. Finally, his alternate costumes might reference other rare series like Conker, or they might just be color changes. Either way, it is just incredible that Banjo-Kazooie is going to be a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. This is a great return for a much beloved character, who has unfortunately been absent from current games for years. Banjo-Kazooie will be available to download as a part of the Fighter’s Pass sometime this Fall.
