I was a tiny bit surprised that Banjo and Kazooie joined the cast of Super Smash Bros. Microsoft acquired Rare from Nintendo a little after Melee, and they basically killed Banjo’s chances of making it to Brawl. But Microsoft actually has a pretty friendly relationship with Nintendo now, so both companies have no problems giving Banjo/Smash fans the chance to play as one of the most requested characters in Smash history. Ironically, I never played their games on N64, and that Xbox 360 game they had seemed like a joke.

Banjo and Kazooie are one of the best fighters in the game. They got strong smash attacks and some pretty cool powers. I like the grenade toss and it really can be a thorn in the side of a player who’s trying to chase you as you flee. It’s saved me a good number of times.

His best is a sideways charge which deals a lot of damage and it’s pretty difficult for any character to stop. You only get five of them per life, so you REALLY need to use these wisely.

I’d say his biggest weakness is his recover. It isn’t terrible but if you get knocked too far off stage, you can easily fall to your doom.

His final smash is also pretty easy to miss with. Like Corrin’s final smash, it attacks by getting a player above your range.

If successful, Banjo and Kazooie with summon this statue creature. Apparently it’s what defeated the final boss of the first game when Banjo and Kazooie were powerless.

And it certainly will give a lot of pain to an unlucky foe.

When Kirby takes Banjo’s power, he gets his own Kazooie who can spit out eggs.

Which can be fired in two different ways. Not the greatest neutral special but I found it useful in certain situations.

My win ratio with Banjo was pretty high, and I only had one match were I was overwhelmed, but that was more the stage and item’s fault on that one. I main Palutena and I’m pretty good with her, but since I often get paired with high-ranking players as her, I’m not surprised to see Banjo a lot. I would say he’s easily in the top five fighters in the game.