Banjo & Kazooie Guide: Matchup Chart and Combos

This is a guide to using Banjo & Kazooie in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Banjo & Kazooie's bread and butter combos, how to unlock, frame data, alt costumes and skins, as well as Banjo & Kazooie matchups, counters, and tier list placement can all be found here.

Banjo & Kazooie Tier and Overview

Stats and General Info

Banjo ＆ Kazooie
Game Series	Banjo-Kazooie
Smash Bros. Debut	DLC
Fighter Number	73
Unlock Order	Fighter Pass 1
Number of Jumps	3
Weight	106 Units (19/87)
Dash Speed	2.18 (12/87)
Air Speed	0.92 (78/87)
Fast Fall Speed	2.816 (22/87)
Special Attributes	None

Tier List Placement

Tier

A brawler with many zoning tools and a powerful KO special

Banjo & Kazooie is a character that mostly relies on racking up damage via their projectiles (neutral B and down B), as well as some combos from grabs. He has several options for KOing, the best of which is his side special Wonderwing. This move is extremely powerful and grants invulnerability, but is has the drawback of only being usable 5 times per stock. He has several disjoints on his smashes and tilts, providing decent range as well.

Banjo's major flaw is in his poor frame data. Many of his moves, especially the ones he needs for KOs, have severe endlag, and are easily punishable. Wonderwing, his go-to KO tool can be shielded and punished by most characters, which hurts his general gameplan. He also doesn't have many good out of shield options, so it is hard for him to deal with shield pressure, and thus, he is best played passively, making use of his projectiles to zone out opponents.

See Our Tier List Here!

Banjo & Kazooie's Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths	・Several moves for KOing (Up Aerial, Down B, Down Throw) ・Very powerful Side B, which makes him invulnerable ・Down B can be used to pick up an item (grenade) ・Kazooie is used as a disjoint, allowing him to space attacks
Weaknesses	・Poor frame data on moves ・Rather low damage output ・Lack of out of shield options ・Easy to edgeguard, especially without Wonderwing

Banjo & Kazooie Matchup Chart

Matchup Chart

-2
-1
0
+1
+2

Notes About Matchup Chart

1. -2 = Disadvantage. -1 = Slight Disadvantage or Even. 0 = Even. +1 = Slight Advantage or Even. +2 = Advantage.
2. The matchup chart was based around both the opinions of professional players of each character, as well as our own experience through playing Banjo ＆ Kazooie.
3. Characters within each tier are unordered
4. Pokemon Trainer's individual Pokemon (Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard) as well as Echo fighters with no significant difference than their regular counterpart are not shown.
5. For other characters who are not shown here, we are still investigating the matchup.

Banjo & Kazooie Combos

Bread and Butter Combos
Down Special┳Throw Item━Side Special or Fair 　 ┗Shield━Side Special
Up Air━Up Tilt━Up Air
Up Tilt━Up Tilt━Up Air
Nair━Grab━Down Throw┳Up Tilt 　　　　　　　　　 ┣Down Smash 　　　　　　　　　 ┣Jab 　　　　　　　　　 ┗Forward Tilt

Down Special Combos Guide

Banjo and Kazooie's down special combos can be used to KO opponents. Once your opponent is around 80% or above, prepare a bomb and then either shield or jump up to let the bomb fall and detonate below.

Up Air Combos Guide

Banjo and Kazooie's up air combos can be used on opponents with lower percents. These combos will only connect at close range to your opponent, so try this combos on a guarded opponent who drops shield.

Up Tilt Combos Guide

Banjo and Kazooie's up tilt combos can be used on opponents with lower percents. If your opponent closes in with a dash attack, first block in and then drop shield to follow through with an up tilt and begin the combo.

Nair Combos Guide

Neutral air combos will connect with down throw at any percent. Aside from down throw, this combo works when you can read your opponents next move. Look to KO your oppoenent with this combo at higher percents.

Banjo & Kazooie Moveset

Jab (Neutral Attack)

Three Hit Jab or Flurry Jab

Banjo Kazooie's jab can go two ways, if you tap it thrice you end up with a three-hit jab that launches your opponent at the end, or if you continually tap it you will end with Banjo Kazooie's flurry jab, the Rat-A-Tap-Rap.

Dash Attack / Tilts

Forward Tilt

Forward Tilt is a medium ranged poke that does decent damage and on higher percentages, launches them

Down Tilt

Down Tilt is a long ranged crouching move where Banjo pokes with Kazooie. This is his best long-ranged tilt and is stronger than Forward Tilt.

Up Tilt

Up Tilt is used for catching landings or juggling opponents, but do note that it whiffs on smaller opponents as its hitbox is incredibly narrow and hard to hit.

Dash Attack

Banjo's Dash Attack, called Forward Roll, is a roll similar to Donkey Kong's, and has a long lasting hitbox.

Smash Attacks

Forward Smash

Forward Smash, called Breegull Bash, is a strong attack that launches opponents. Additionally, you can use it on opponents hanging on the ledge.

Down Smash

Down Smash hits both sides as Kazooie spreads his wings downwards. It can hit hanging opponents on the ledge, similar to Forward Smash.

Up Smash

Kazooie charges up with his beak in their Up Smash, which is great for catching landing opponents but do note that on it doesn't have a good hitbox on the sides, so it may be hard to pull off.

Aerials

Neutral Air

Banjo's Neutral Air, Wing Whack, has Kazooie flapping his wings in a circular motion around Banjo, hitting anyone who gets close. This is good for catching edge guards or performing mixups.

Forward Air

Banjo's Forward Air is a strong downward swipe. It is a high damage dealing move has decent launch. It can be used to deal damage, edge guard, or deal finishing blows.

Back Air

Banjo's Back Air is a multiple hit flurry where Kazooie rapidly attacks with his beak. Because it is a really fast technique with a quick startup, it can be used to edge guard.

Up Air

Banjo's Up Air is a two hit move where Kazooie throws both his wings up. This is useful for juggling as well as launching opponents.

Down Air

Banjo's Down Air is a downward launch that immediately shoots Banjo to the ground. Beware of using this in the air as if you're not under a platform you will fall to your death.

Specials

Neutral Special (Egg Firing / Breegull Blaster)

Enlarge

Enlarge

Banjo fires bouncing projectile eggs from Kazooies mouth (Egg Firing), with the option to hold down the special button and make Kazooie continously fire eggs that don't bounce (Breegull Blaster). Be careful though, as each consecutive egg lowers in damage! You can cancel Breegul Blaster by crouching or shielding.

Side Special (Wonderwing)

Banjo Kazooie's side special, Wonderwing, only has five uses per stock, but it is a strong move. It basically beats out most moves in the roster, and has decent launch capabilities. The feathers above Banjo's head indicate how many uses are left, and since they don't appear until you perform the move, you have to manually keep track of them in your head.

Up Special (Shock Spring Jump)

Using a jump pad, Banjo launches himself into the air as his recovery move. The jump pad, if performed midair, falls down and can hit opponents as well.

Down Special (Rear Egg)

Kazooie launches a grenade from his mouth in an upward arc. It bounces and explodes on impact, or could be grabbed by Banjo as an item.

Grab and Throws

Forward Throw

Forward Throw tosses your opponent forward, which could be useful to throw them off edges.

Back Throw

Back Throw launches the opponent behind you, and because its launch is strong, you can KO with it at the ledge when the opponent reaches higher percents.

Up Throw

Banjo and Kazooie's up throw is a technique to launch your opponent upwards. It can't be used for combos, but you can use it against people with weak landings.

Down Throw

Down Throw plants your enemies into the ground, opening them up for other attacks to deal damage or launch them off altogether.

Final Smash

Banjo Kazooie's Final Smash is the Mighty Jinjonator which is hit by summoning a giant statue upwards from the ground in front of Banjo Kazooie.

Banjo & Kazooie Balance Changes

Version 12.0.0 Balance Patch

	Change
Up Tilt Attack	Extended launch distance.
Side Smash Attack	Extended launch distance.
Back Air Attack	Adjusted launch angle and maintained launch distance.

Version 11.0.0 Balance Patch

	Change
General	Matched the vulnerability with other fighters when falling in place.

Version 8.0.0 Balance Patch

	Change
Edge Attacks	Increased the backward attack range.

How to Get Banjo & Kazooie

Purchase Via the Fighter's Pass

Banjo & Kazooie is included with the Fighter's Pass, which can be purchased from the Nintendo eShop for $24.99 USD ($31.49 CD). The Fighter's Pass includes a total of five additional DLC characters (including Banjo & Kazooie), so be sure and purchase it if you want to have all characters.

Purchase Individually For $5.99 USD

If you just want Banjo & Kazooie, you can purchase him individually by getting the Challenger Pack 3. It will cost $5.99 USD ($7.55 CA).

Buying Banjo & Kazooie also includes the Spiral Mountain stage

If you purchase Banjo & Kazooie via the Fighter's Pass or Challenger Pack, you will also gain access to a new stage: Spiral Mountain.

Banjo & Kazooie Reveal Trailer

Reveal Trailer

In-Depth look

Smash Ultimate Character Guides

List of Fighters
Tier List	Unlocking Fighters

Character Stat Lists

Character Stats
Weights of All Characters	Run Speeds of All Characters
Air Speeds of All Characters	Fast Fall Speeds of All Characters