Rare talks about Banjo-Kazooie’s appearance in Smash Bros. Ultimate, Paul Cunningham helped with the design
Yesterday, Rare published a blog post covering all of the news related to the game developer at E3 2019. For Nintendo fans, one of the biggest announcements made was the reveal of Banjo-Kazooie for Smash Bros. Ultimate as a DLC character.
Rare says it was working with Nintendo “since last year, on everything from movesets to musical choices”. Paul Cunningham was also specifically mentioned as “our point man on getting everything about Banjo and Kazooie’s appearance just right.” Cunningham is Rare’s lead marketing artist and has been with the company since 1995.
Here’s the full excerpt from Rare about Smash Bros.:
What cards we are, because as you undoubtedly know if you’ve read this far, there was also a Nintendo Direct where it was announced that Banjo and Kazooie would be joining the roster in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. That’s right – we have been listening, as have the folks at Nintendo, and it was a very proud moment for us finally NOT to have to keep this a secret any more and share the glorious news far and wide.
Banjo and Kazooie’s inclusion gave us an opportunity for a fantastic partnership with our old friends at Nintendo, and as the bear and bird appeared with Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong and King K. Rool in the reveal trailer it was a joy to see just how warmly the news was received. 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.
