Banjo-Kazooie coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, revealed at E3 2019

By Dan Thorp-Lancaster
published

Rare's darlings are set to join the Smash lineup later this year.

Banjo
Banjo (Image credit: Nintendo)

What you need to know

  • Banjo and Kazooie were revealed as the latest fighters headed to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
  • Rumors of Microsoft and Nintendo teaming to bring the pair to Super Smash Bros. have been swirling for weeks.
  • Nintendo also revealed heroes from Dragon Quest will be joining the fight.

Nintendo is tapping Microsoft-owned studio Rare for its next fighters headed to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Banjo-Kazooie will be the next additions to Nintendo's DLC character lineup for the brawler, and the pair look like they're ready to bring the fight to Mario and company.

In a brief trailer shown during its Nintendo Direct stream at E3 2019, Nintendo showed Banjo and Kazooie in action. Kazooie can fire off eggs at enemies for a ranged attack, while Banjo can whip Kazooie back and forth, slamming it into enemies. The pair can also double jump with a little help from Kazooie's wings to get back to safety.

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This marks the first time the pair have appeared in a Smash title, but Nintendo is no stranger to tapping properties outside of its own first-party offerings for characters. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate features the widest selection of characters of any Smash game so far, with characters ranging from Sonic to Pac-Man and Snake from Metal Gear.

Banjo-Kazooie will presumably be available as part of Nintendo's $25 Fighter Pass, which unlocks all DLC characters for the game. It's likely we'll see the pair available as a separate purchase as well.

Smash time

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate


Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has the most comprehensive lineup of fighters we've seen from any Smash game yet. Now, Banjo-Kazooie are set to raise that bar even higher, marking their first entry in the Smash series.

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Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the Editor in Chief for Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. Got a hot tip? Send it to daniel.thorp-lancaster@futurenet.com.

3 Comments
  • Sweet, hopefully we will see some other Rare characters make it to the roster - characters from the perfect dark series perhaps?
  • I really want Master Chief in SSB and have the plasma grenade as a move, I just think it would be hilarious to sticky bomb you opponent and have them deal damage to everyone else for you.
  • Heck yeah, a fight between a hunter and bowser would be entertaining to watch and participate in lol. Also when you think about the absurd characters SSB has - how about using a rocket launcher as a baseball bat as a charged smash attack lol. Other halo characters they could include is Cortana and other notable characters such as Arbiter. That plasma sword... Vs beam sword haha. When you think about it many of these characters would be quite well suited for other beat em ups like Killer Instinct and Mortal Kombat... hmm...