The dynamic duo Banjo & Kazooie are the latest challenger to enter the ring in Super Smash Bros Ultimate, and like every DLC character before, they’re quite a bit different from anyone else. Of course, you’ll probably want to know as much about playing the character as possible, and we’re here to help with their moveset, strengths, and some tips. Here’s how to play Banjo Kazooie in Smash Bros Ultimate.
How to Play Banjo Kazooie in Smash Bros Ultimate
Attacks and Special Moves
Banjo Kazooie is a heavy character similar to others like Bowser or Ganondorf. However, they are a bit quicker than most of the other heavy characters.
Banjo Kazooie has a big focus on close-range attacks, and their smash attacks are some of the most powerful out there for any character.
The really great thing about a lot of Banjo Kazooie’s attacks is that they’ll cause splash damage, hitting enemies in a small area around the character.
This is true of the forward smash, down smash, and down air. Banjo Kazooie’s smash attacks can KO characters at roughly 80 percent damage, and it only gets easier the more their damage goes up.
The combination of speed and strength can make Banjo Kazooie a dangerous opponent to any character in the game, however, super speedy characters, like Sonic, might have a bit of advantage based on pure speed.
Now let’s go over Banjo Kazooie’s specials.
Neutral Special – Breegull Blaster – Kazooie shoots and egg projectile forward in an arc. If you hold the button down Banjo will take Kazooie out of his backpack and have her shoot eggs like a gun, similar to Mega Man’s buster. When you use this mode, however, each subsequent egg shot reduces in power.
Side Special – Wonderwing – Banjo charges forward while Kazooie covers him with her wings. By far one of the deadliest attacks the duo has, but can only be used five times per stock, noted by the gold feathers above the character’s head. When the feathers run out the move will simply have you stumble and fall over. Wonderwing also works great as a sideways aerial recovery.
Up Special – Shock Spring Jump – Creates a Shock Spring Jump underneath you and launches Banjo up into the air. The longer you hold the button the more height you’ll get. If you hold the button down after launching you can get a little extra distance with a wing flap at the end. e
Down Special – Rear Egg – Kazooie shoots a grenade egg behind you, which will bounce but loses height on each bounce. The item can also be picked up and thrown.
Banjo Kazooie’s Strengths and Weaknesses in Smash Bros Ultimate
Strengths
- Heavy hitter, can cause a lot of damage with strikes.
- Incredibly powerful Smash attacks that can send opponents flying.
- Faster than other “heavy” characters
Weaknesses
- As a heavy character, Banjo falls much quicker than other characters.
- Has relatively short-range, outside of two specials.
- Doesn’t have great aerial recovery, especially with how fast they fall.
Banjo Kazooie Strategies and Tips for Smash Bros Ultimate
As we said earlier, your big focus when playing Banjo Kazooie is causing lots of damage, and launching opponents.
Banjo’s smash attacks truly are the most useful thing in your repertoire, especially Bregull Bash, the forward smash. It causes splash damage, does about 16 percent damage, and can launch an enemy at high percentage straight to their death.
Also make good use of Banjo Kazooie’s down air attack, as it makes the character slam straight into the ground and causes splash damage. The quickness of the attack can really take opponents by surprise.
You do need to be aware of how fast Banjo can fall, however, and if you don’t get a feel for it you can really be in trouble. They’re a heavy character, but luckily you can chain together two recovery moves.
The Shock Spring Jump (up special) can chain directly into Wonderwing (side special), so it can be very useful for getting up and then over.
Wonderwing is the other move that’s incredibly useful for Banjo as it causes lots of damage and launches opponents well. The fact that you only have five per stock can be pesky though.
It’s a good idea to at least keep one Wonderwing stock at all times, just in case you need to use it to recover. After all, it could be the difference between losing a life and fighting on.
Banjo can take a bit of a beating so get right into the thick of things and cause as much damage as possible, that should be your focus when playing the character.
That’s everything you need to know about how to play Banjo Kazooie in Smash Bros Ultimate. Make sure to check out our Smash Bros Ultimate guide wiki for plenty of other tips and walkthroughs.
Here are a few other character guides you might want to check out in the meantime.