Smasher:ProtoBanham
| ProtoBanham "プロトバナム" | |
|---|---|
| |
| Ultimate mains | Lucina, Min Min |
| Retired Ultimate character |
Inkling |
| SSB4 main | Cloud |
| Other SSB4 characters |
Mario, Lucina |
| Sponsor(s) | Crazy Raccoon |
| Former sponsor(s) | Team Vrilliant |
| Skill |  High level (retired)  Top level
|
| Ranking | UltRank 2022: 10th OrionRank 2022: 7th |
| Additional info | |
| Real name | Naoto Tsuji |
| Birth date | |
| Location | Kanto, Japan 
|
ProtoBanham (プロトバナム) is a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Lucina and Min Min main from Japan who formerly used Inkling. He is considered the best Lucina and Min Min player in the world, and one of the best Inkling players in the world before dropping her. ProtoBanham is currently ranked 2nd on the Experimental Smash Player Rankings, 7th on the OrionRank 2022, and 10th on the UltRank 2022; he was also ranked 10th on the discontinued Japan Player Rankings.
ProtoBanham won his first major at Kagaribi 4 in 2021 using Lucina and Min Min. Throughout the year, ProtoBanham was often considered to be the best player in Japan, finishing in 1st place at Seibugeki 8, Maesuma TOP 6, SWT: East Asia Ultimate Regional Finals, and Eastern Powerhouse Invitational 2. Although in the following year he had lost the title to acola due to weaker performances in Japan, he turned it around with his stellar performances overseas, with a 3rd place finish at Smash Ultimate Summit 4, where he defeated many top players in the loser's bracket, including MkLeo and Tweek, and victories at Double Down 2022 and Smash Ultimate Summit 5, defeating Leo twice in the former as well as Sparg0 and Light in the latter.
In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, ProtoBanham was a Cloud main. He had set wins over the likes of Nietono, T, and Somé.
On January 5th, 2021, ProtoBanham joined the newly founded Japanese organization Team Vrilliant (Vrilliant Owl X at the time) as their first Smash player, along Lea.
Playstyle[edit]
With both Lucina and Min Min, ProtoBanham is known for being extremely aggressive and utilizing an excellent advantage state. He uses Lucina's Dolphin Slash's intangibility during the beginning frames and fast startup to escape combos as well as an edgeguard (by hitting recovering opponents towards the ledge). He is well known for his Shield Breaker mix-ups, often catching opponents off-guard.
With Min Min, ProtoBanham utilizes her large hitboxes to accumulate damage by ledgetrapping and suppressing his opponent in neutral with the Ramram and Dragon. He is also known to go off-stage with Mega-Watt to finish off a stock, as well as using her up special to hit opponents above him and keep them in disadvantage.
Tournament placings[edit]
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U[edit]
| Tournament | Date | 1v1 Placement | 2v2 Placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Umebura 19 | August 29th, 2015 | 25th | — | — |
| Umebura Japan Major | May 6th-7th, 2017 | — | 17th | Laki |
| Umebura 30 | November 18th, 2017 | 9th | — | — |
| Umebura T.A.T. | December 23rd-24th, 2017 | — | 5th | FurudoLaki |
| Kurobra 8 | February 10th, 2018 | — | 2nd | FurudoLaki |
| Umebura 32 | May 12th, 2018 | 65th | — | — |
| Umebura Smash 4 Final | December 1st-2nd, 2018 | — | 4th | FurudoLaki |
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]
| Tournament | Date | 1v1 Placement | 2v2 Placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Umebura SP 2 | January 12th, 2019 | 25th | — | — |
| Weekly Smash Party 21 | January 30th, 2019 | 3rd | — | — |
| Toryumon Kiwami 6 | February 12th, 2019 | 1st | — | — |
| Ueno Smash Ultimate Weekly 8 | March 28th, 2019 | 1st | — | — |
| Weekly Smash Party 32 | April 8th, 2019 | 3rd | — | — |
| Umebura SP 3 | April 13th, 2019 | 4th | — | — |
| Umebura Japan Major 2019 | May 1st-2nd, 2019 | 2nd | — | — |
| Ueno Smash Ultimate Weekly 15 | June 6th, 2019 | 2nd | — | — |
| Weekly Smash Party 40 | June 10th, 2019 | 7th | — | — |
| Weekly Smash Party 42 | June 24th, 2019 | 3rd | — | — |
| CEO 2019 | June 28th-30th, 2019 | 13th | — | — |
| Kurobra 17 | July 13th-15th, 2019 | 1st | 1st | FurudoLaki |
| Weekly Smash Party SP 27 | July 19th, 2019 | 1st | — | — |
| Weekly Smash Party SP 28 | July 29th, 2019 | 2nd | — | — |
| EVO 2019 | August 2nd-4th, 2019 | 5th | — | — |
| Umebura SP 5 | September 28th, 2019 | 5th | — | — |
| Weekly Smash Party SP 34 | October 7th, 2019 | 1st | — | — |
| Umebura SP 6 | October 22nd, 2019 | 5th | — | — |
| Toryumon Kiwami 42 | October 30th, 2019 | 9th | — | — |
| Weekly Smash Party SP 38 | November 11th, 2019 | 2nd | — | — |
| Umebura SP 7 | November 16th, 2019 | 257th | — | — |
| Toryumon Kiwami 45 | November 20th, 2019 | 1st | — | — |
| 2GG: Kongo Saga | December 7th-8th, 2019 | 25th | 13th | Raito |
| EGS Cup 3 | January 13th, 2020 | 4th | — | — |
| EVO Japan 2020 | January 24th-26th, 2020 | 9th | — | — |
| TSC 13 | December 26th, 2020 | 1st | — | — |
Tamisuma Championship 1 |
February 17th, 2021 | 1st | — | — |
| Tamisuma Championship 2 |
March 18th, 2021 | 5th | — | — |
| SWT: Japan Ultimate Online Qualifier |
April 17th-18th, 2021 | 4th | — | — |
| Winner! | June 21st, 2021 | 9th | — | — |
| Kagaribi 4 | June 26th-27th, 2021 | 1st | — | — |
| Winner! #2 | July 5th, 2021 | 1st | — | — |
| Shinosuma #96 | October 9th, 2021 | 2nd | — | — |
| Seibugeki 8 | October 10th, 2021 | 1st | — | — |
| DAWN 1 | October 17th, 2021 | 3rd | — | — |
| Maesuma TOP 6 | October 22nd, 2021 | 1st | — | — |
| Kagaribi 5 | October 30th-31st, 2021 | 5th | — | — |
| Mjolner 1 | November 21st, 2021 | 2nd | — | — |
| SWT: East Asia Ultimate Regional Finals | November 27th-28th, 2021 | 1st | — | — |
| Eastern Powerhouse Invitational 2 | December 11th, 2021 | 1st | — | — |
| Smash World Tour 2021 Championships | December 17th-19th, 2021 | 7th | — | — |
| Kagaribi 6 | January 8th-9th, 2022 | 9th | — | — |
| MaesumaHIT #8 | February 24th, 2022 | 2nd | — | — |
| Smash Ultimate Summit 4 | March 3rd-6th, 2022 | 3rd | — | — |
| Maesuma TOP 7 | May 1st, 2022 | 17th | — | — |
| Kagaribi 7 | May 4th-5th, 2022 | 13th | — | — |
| Shinosuma HEROES 1 | May 21st, 2022 | 2nd | — | — |
| Shin-Ken League | May 16th-June 4th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Maesuma TOP 8 | June 11th-12th, 2022 | 7th | — | — |
| Wave 1 | June 18th, 2022 | 9th | — | — |
| Weekly Smash Party! #55 | June 21st, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Seibugeki 11 | July 2nd, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Double Down 2022 | July 8th-10th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Kagaribi 8 | July 30th-31st, 2022 | 5th | — | — |
| JINGI 1 | August 15th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Maesuma TOP 9 | August 27th, 2022 | 5th | — | — |
| Wave 2 | September 4th, 2022 | 7th | — | — |
| Smash Ultimate Summit 5 | September 15th-18th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Maesuma TOP 10 | October 15th-16th, 2022 | 5th | — | — |
| KOWLOON 3 | November 5th, 2022 | 4th | — | — |
| WINNER! -Next 1- | November 27th, 2022 | 4th | — | — |
| Smash Ultimate Summit 6 | March 23rd-26th, 2023 | 5th | — | — |
Trivia[edit]
- ProtoBanham's signature look is his baseball cap. He wore a Le Coq Sportif cap in every major tournament pre-quarantine. Fanarts depicting Proto consisted of Lucina wearing this cap.
- After the quarantine and his signing to Team Vrillant, he changed it in favor of a cap from his new sponsor. He also switched when he joined Crazy Raccoon.
- ProtoBanham was able to place 5th at EVO 2019 despite suffering from kidney stones. However he dropped out of Super Smash Con 2019 to have treatment.
- Proto is one of five players to win an Ultimate major while being seeded outside of the top 16 (Kagaribi 4 as the 25th seed), alongside Kuro (won Umebura SP 6 as the 37th seed), Quidd (won Let's Make Big Moves 2022 as the 32nd seed), acola (won Kagaribi 7 as the 57th seed), and Miya (won Kagaribi 8 as the 17th seed)..
- ProtoBanham was dubbed "The Iceman" by the community as he is often known to ice his opponents.
- This is mainly due to ProtoBanham's medical issue of kidney stones, in which drinking copious amounts of water is recommended. When ProtoBanham defeated Light at Smash Ultimate Summit 5 in Grand Finals, Light claimed ProtoBanham won due to "icing". However Light apologized soon after learning about ProtoBanham's medical issue.
External links[edit]
Gameplay videos[edit]
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]
- EGS Cup #3 Winners Quarters - Zackray (R.O.B.) vs. ProtoBanham (Lucina)
- EVO 2019 Losers Top 8 - Light (Fox) vs. ProtoBanham (Lucina)
- Smash Ultimate Summit 4 Losers Semi-Finals - MkLeo (Pyra/Mythra) vs ProtoBanham (Min Min, Lucina)
- Smash Ultimate Summit 5 Winners Quarters - Sparg0 (Cloud) vs ProtoBanham (Min Min, Lucina)
