Why NO ONE Plays: Banjo & Kazooie | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

How ironic that the reason nobody plays B&K is because they are fair, sheerly because other characters can do what they do, but better. They aren’t bad, but it goes back to “Why settle for good, when you can have better?” Can’t help but feel sorry for them, especially after how many people lost it after that Jiggy bounced across the screen.

You forgot to credit Banjo for the best slow-walk in the game. Does 100% damage to the opponents morale after a K.O.

Toriguri’s Banjo from Japan is actually surprisingly good, he beat Protobanham and MuteAce recently.

They’ve been my main since they dropped. People can put them wherever they want on a tier list but they are my main and I’m sticking with them because I enjoy that they’re in the game and want them to have more players. Thanks for posting about them because nobody everrrrr does

If Banjo's up-tilt scooped like Snake's, and/or his up-air was a move that actually has damage or knockback, and/or his up throw did something, he could be so much more viable. Banjo has no juggle game, especially at mid percent, which a bunch of edge guard and ledge trap characters have and that is probably his most fatal flaw fundamentally. But that's okay because he has the best taunts in the game.

I just feel bad for this iconic duo since they did deserve better for being put into the game.

Honestly, the saddest part about Banjo is that his problems as a character aren’t a core part of his design like Little Mac or Ganondorf. All he needed was a few well placed buffs and he could’ve been a much better character. But, as of now, most of his moves just don’t feel like they do much. Not to mention Banjo has the second highest aerial landing lag in the game. Only Sephiroth’s is higher. What were they thinking?

I really do feel like Banjo should've at LEAST gotten the ability to fly like in his game. Also I like HDR's changes of changing aerial wonderwing to beak bomb, which uses red feathers that re-charge over time. This character deserved better, but at least he's fun to play in friendlies.

I think why nobody plays Pac-Man, would be very interesting. Pac is generally regarded as a high tier character, number 14 on the official tier list, and with tons of potential, but is only repped by Tea at a top level.

Banjo was my most wanted and even before the Direct, I KNEW he wouldn’t be high or top tier. If Sakurai was gonna be faithful to the bear and bird, he’d make them a zoner/trap character and that’s exactly what we got. I love these two and I’m glad they made it in, but I wish some of their moves were made better. Have U-tilt scoop, make Uair have less endlag for more combos, make Dair so you can survive it offstage. Hell, let Banjo get back Wonderwing feathers after taking a stock. I still appreciate that they’re in, but if they return in the next game they should definitely get a rework.

My friend mains Banjo, and he’s actually pretty fucking good at him. I struggle to beat it, despite being far more experienced at this game and placing Top 16 out of almost 100 people at my community college’s tournament last year (CAN I MENTION THAT IT WAS SPONSORED BY HYPERX?) He uses the projectiles as a trapping tool, but more in the sense that he is luring you into a trap. He does use wonder wing in bullshit scenarios, but he is VERY aggressive, which I admire.

In a game where so many characters can dish out 35-60% combos left and right, Banjo just cant keep up. At the end of the day, his lacking damage output is by far his biggest flaw. I think it makes sense that the reason for his underwhelming damage and kill confirms is because the developers were scared of overturning the rest of his kit specifically because of wonderwing. This monster of a move does almost 30 percent in a single blow, is invincible, and has insane kill power. So they were overly conservative with the damage/kill power of the rest of his kit. Problem is, relying on a laggy move like wonderwing in competitive play is a recipe for disaster, so the developers balancing him around such a move left Banjo doomed to meta irrelevance.

So sad his wonder wing is on a limited resource when Steve's gold cart & normal cart is on a unlimited resource. The latter can even command grab :) so cool

Realistic buffs this character should’ve gotten: -neutral B eggs can have slightly improved frame data and damage -up tilt sweet spot NEEDS a bigger hitbox -up air def should do more damage or be a better combo tool

I love Banjo so much, he is my unofficial 'third main' with how much I play him, and also the only person in my friend group who does play Banjo in any capacity. What is most remarkable is their versatility-- being able to swap strategies on the fly and frustrate the efforts of, well... just about anyone! The levels of creativity that can come out of them with projectile setups and keep-out game is very impressive, but they also require you to use your brain-- not instant gratification fighters like most competitive players choose to play, so it's not likely that he will be climbing up the ranks anytime soon... Banjo & Kazooie are one of the most balanced DLC fighters in Smash's history, and have no broken DLC jank to abuse for easy K.O.s, so no one plays them. It's quite unfortunate, since all it takes is for someone like Toriguri, Raito, or Tearbear to plug respectable results in one-to-two tournaments, and the player count would skyrocket.

ive seen two directions people lean towards to attempt and fix him with "DLC vibes": 1) Smash Vs. Tilt Aerials. Similar to Robin, let him do Kazooie aerials for speed/range and Banjo Aerials for Power/Damage 2) "Collect-a-thon" meter of sorts where each hit on the opponent rewards him with a resource (Golden wing, Eggs, Grenade Egg) and then just buff those projectiles so that he can truly threaten in the zoning side of things so long as he has the ammo, making him a true "jack of all trades, lacking in none" Both seem like very interesting takes to me

Alright, we have one animal combo down. This must mean we’re getting close to a Duck Hunt episode!

At first when he was revealed the crowd popped, Only to see his representation has dropped, All witness bear and bird fall, The dumbest and thickest of them all! Grunty's voice

I main banjo and i can say hes better then people give him credit for

Ohhh I was waiting for this one. Can I just mention that you and MockRock are my favorite SSBU content creators? Always intelligent and well put.