The characters from Rare’s classic platforming series “Banjo-Kazooie” are coming to “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” later this year, Nintendo announced during its E3 2019 Direct on Tuesday.
For the uninitiated, Banjo is a bear and Kazooie is a big red bird. While Banjo first appeared in “Diddy Kong Racing” on the Nintendo 64 in 1997, he got his first solo title — and his feathery sidekick — a year later on the same platform. The first “Banjo-Kazooie” was a critical and commercial success, and it spawned a number of sequels up until 2008.
Additionally, Nintendo revealed the protagonist from the role-playing game “Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age” is coming to “Smash” this summer. Simply called Hero, he represents the main character from several games in the long-running series, including “Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation,” “Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen,” and “Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King.”
“Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” first launched in December 2018 and has sold more than 13.81 million copies worldwide, making it the fastest-selling Nintendo Switch title. Between January and March, about 26% of consumers who bought a new Switch console played “Smash” on their first day of using the system, Nintendo said in a recent report.
E3 2019 is coming to Los Angeles on June 11 through 13, and we’ll cover all the highlights of the event here at Variety as well.
