A recent post on Rare's official Blog has revealed that Paul Cunningham, original character designer for the
Banjo-Kazooie series and
Diddy Kong Racing, was actually involved in the redesign for Banjo and Kazooie ahead of their debut on Nintendo's
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Both Banjo and Kazooie were redesigned in later entries in the Banjo-Kazooie series — specifically those that were not released on Nintendo consoles after Rare was bought out by Microsoft — and when the characters were revealed for
Super Smash bros. Ultimate, fans immediately noticed that their look was that of the Nintendo 64 titles.
As it turns out, they were right — as Banjo and Kazooie were intentionally redesigned(or rather updated) by Paul Cunningham. What's even more interesting is that the post reveals that Rare has remained tight-lipped about their involvement with
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate; revealing that they had worked on this project since last year.
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It’s been a tightly kept secret but we’ve been collaborating closely with the Smash team on this crossover since last year, on everything from movesets to musical choices — and while a core group of folks at Rare worked on this, we have to give a special shout out to our own Paul Cunningham who has been our point man on getting everything about Banjo and Kazooie’s appearance just right. Your favourite duo are in very safe (albeit fighty) hands and we honestly cannot wait for everyone to get their game on in the incredible Smash universe."
Banjo and Kazooie have been one of the most requested characters to join the
Super Smash Bros. series, with fans pretty much clamouring for them as fighters for almost 20 years. Now that they have been officially revealed, fans can rest assured that the people over at Rare and Nintendo are doing their best to do these characters justice.
Legendary game worlds and fighters collide in the ultimate showdown—a new entry in the Super Smash Bros. series for the Nintendo Switch system! New fighters, like Inkling from the Splatoon series and Ridley from the Metroid series, make their Super Smash Bros. series debut alongside every Super Smash Bros. fighter in the series…EVER!
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is currently available exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.