by Noah, Guest Contributor
Banjo was easily my favorite of the three new DLC amiibo to train. My training style is very similar to the way that Japanese amiibo trainers train their amiibo. I treat it more as if I’m fighting them in a competitive 1v1 match rather than teaching specific combos and emphasizing specific moves. While I know this may not be the most effective method of training, I will say it’s extremely fun to train this way and I believe Banjo may benefit the most from this training method.
Banjo is relatively easy to learn as a character. His physical moves have good hitboxes and his aerials can be pretty powerful when used properly. His special attacks require a lot of strategy. You can only use Wonderwing, Banjo’s Side B, only five times in a regular match. Down B requires good spacing as you shoot a grenade backwards rather than forwards or hold it when summoning it. Neutral B isn’t very powerful, yet you can fire it as long as you want or until you get hit. Finally, Up B is very similar to a weaker version of Sonic’s Up B, where the Shock Spring Pad is weak, yet gives you a lot of options to recover as Banjo. Banjo has many more recovery options when Up B is paired with Banjo’s third jump and even being able to use any available Wonderwings in the event you’re too far away from the stage.
The AI is very fun to play against. I have a habit of challenging it offstage by attempting to get them far away with forward or back air. They’ve been able to pick up this habit pretty easily in the later levels of my training. However, I don’t recommend using down B often, as they have a tendency to use it a little too much when you use the move. I also don’t believe Neutral B is a viable move to teach them for the same reason. I recommend you keep them grounded and focus on teaching them to punish opponents above them. Side note, down throw and back throw are both good for them to learn when they get their opponents to a high percent.
In conclusion, based off of my personal experiences, I think that the Banjo amiibo is one of the best new amiibo you can purchase now. They’re geared a lot more towards casual players, but there’s still a lot of potential to be had with Banjo’s AI for the more competitive trainers as well. If you have 16 dollars and you’re able to get your hands on one of the new amiibo, I’d highly recommend picking up a Banjo. They’re a prime example of a character and its AI that received a lot of care in its design.
Amiibo Doctor 