Microsoft Suggests Banjo Kazooie for Next Super Smash Brother's DLC

Last week, after the Nintendo Direct conference revealed the Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem crossover, Nintendo invited fans to submit ideas for fighters they’d like to see in the latest Super Smash Brothers title for the Wii U as a downloadable character. Now, it was April Fools still, so it very well could have been Nintendo playing a long game with a prank, but that hasn’t stopped Nintendo fans from flooding the big N with suggestions. After all, the ability to pick the next character to find themselves in Smash Brothers is just about every fan’s dream (Solare of Astora for me: Press B to praise the sun, up-B is praising the sun HARDER), and gamers have been arguing about the next character they’d like to see in Smash for ages.

Well, step aside, Crash Bandicoot, Master Chief, and Goku—it seems there’s a third-party character that may very well find itself in Smash Brother’s ranks: Banjo-Kazooie. And not because it’s getting the most votes—to the best of my knowledge nothing has been tallied yet—but because the creator of the character, Microsoft’s Phil Spencer, seems really keen on the idea.

In a tweet, he had the following to say:

“I think it would be cool if Banjo was in the next SSB DLC. We've worked with Nintendo on Rare IP before, no issues."

Granted, it’s not quite the ‘begging’ Hideo Kojima famously did to get Snake into the roster of Brawl, but it’s certainly something. Plus, Diddy Kong, while part of Nintendo’s IP, is technically created by Rare, so it’s not as if there’s no precedent. But will it actually happen? Meh… it’s doubtful, but still, it’s cool to know that if Nintendo likes the idea, they won’t run into any legal problems.

Still, neat little tidbit.