Banjo & Kazooie Amiibo

Banjo-Kazooie were originally Rare's Nintendo-published 1998 N64 platformer protagonists. Microsoft acquired Rare in 2002, and Banjo became a Microsoft IP, which created a multi-decade situation where the bear-and-bird duo had been Nintendo-property characters but were now owned by Microsoft.

The franchise's negotiation to bring Banjo back into Smash Ultimate (2019 DLC) required Sakurai personally working out a Microsoft-Nintendo licensing arrangement. Banjo's roster announcement at E3 2019 was one of the franchise's most emotionally-loaded Smash reveals because the licensing acrobatics were widely considered impossible until Sakurai pulled them off. The amiibo released March 26, 2021.

In Smash Ultimate their FP trains with the tag-team moveset: Banjo handles the heavy melee, Kazooie handles the ranged-egg-firing and the Wonderwing super-attack. The bear-and-bird duo functions as a single moveset rather than rotating fighters.

The figure: brown-furred Banjo with the red backpack and yellow shorts, Kazooie's red head poking out.

They pair with the third-party-guest fighter subset (Snake, Cloud, Bayonetta, Joker, Hero, Banjo, Terry, Min Min, Steve, Sephiroth, Pyra/Mythra, Kazuya, Sora).