Smasher:ProtoBanham

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ProtoBanham "プロトバナム"
Protobanham.png
Character info
Smash 4 main Cloud
Other Smash 4 characters Mario, Lucina
Ultimate mains Min Min, Lucina
Retired Ultimate character Inkling
Team info
Sponsor(s) Crazy Raccoon
Former sponsor(s) Team Vrilliant
Rankings and results info
Most recent ranking Super Smash Bros. Ultimate LumiRank 2023: HM (Top 100)
Best historical ranking Super Smash Bros. Ultimate OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse: 4th
Best tournament result Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 1st / 987 at Double Down 2022
Personal info
Real name Naoto Tsuji
Birth date (age 31)
Location Kanto, Japan Japan

ProtoBanham (プロトバナム) is a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Min Min and Lucina main from Japan who formerly used Inkling. He is widely considered the best Min Min and Lucina player of all-time, one of the best Inkling players in Japan in 2019, and the best player in Japan from 2021 to early-2022. ProtoBanham is currently an honorable mention on the LumiRank 2023 Top 100 due to low activity, and was also ranked 2nd on the old Experimental Smash 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. ProtoBanham is famous for his incredible movement with Lucina, in particular being the only top player to heavily utlize wavelanding into his neutral game.

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.

A notable aspect of ProtoBanham is his unique creativity in both his playstyle and his gameplans. An example of this was during EVO 2019, where when grabbing his opponent, instead of the typical throws, he would instead grab release, opting for better positioning due to Lucina's lackluster throws. Another aspect of this is his counterplay game: he is well-known for switching his characters against his opponent even when winning games, either to switch up the tempo of his opponent or heavily utilize stage advantage.

Rankings[edit]

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

Panda Global Rankings Ultimate[edit]

Ranking Time period Rank Character(s) Notes
Spring 2019 PGRU February 1st - July 7th, 2019 23rd LucinaHeadSSBU.pngInklingHeadSSBU.png
Fall 2019 PGRU July 13th - December 15th, 2019 19th LucinaHeadSSBU.pngBanjo&KazooieHeadSSBU.pngInklingHeadSSBU.png
PGRU v3: Japan Top 50 Players to Watch March 1st - June 13th, 2022 Featured Player (Top 10) LucinaHeadSSBU.pngMinMinHeadSSBU.png

LumiRank[edit]

Ranking Time period Rank Character(s) Notes
UltRank 2022 June 18th - December 18th, 2022 10th LucinaHeadSSBU.pngMinMinHeadSSBU.png
LumiRank Mid-Year 2023 December 19th, 2022 - July 23rd, 2023 HM (Top 50) MinMinHeadSSBU.pngLucinaHeadSSBU.png
LumiRank 2023 December 19th, 2022 - December 17th, 2023 HM (Top 100) MinMinHeadSSBU.pngLucinaHeadSSBU.png

OrionRank Ultimate[edit]

Ranking Time period Rank Character(s) Notes
OrionRank Ultimate: Six Months In January 5th - June 30th, 2019 30th LucinaHeadSSBU.pngInklingHeadSSBU.png
OrionRank 2019 January 5th - December 15th, 2019 21st LucinaHeadSSBU.pngInklingHeadSSBU.png
OrionRank Pre-Quarantine December 27th, 2019 - March 15th, 2020 31st LucinaHeadSSBU.png
OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse April 2020 - December 19th, 2021 4th LucinaHeadSSBU.pngMinMinHeadSSBU.png
OrionRank Mid-Year 2022 December 22nd, 2021 - June 26th, 2022 15th LucinaHeadSSBU.pngMinMinHeadSSBU.png
OrionRank 2022 December 22nd, 2021 - December 18th, 2022 7th LucinaHeadSSBU.pngMinMinHeadSSBU.png

OrionRank Japan[edit]

Ranking Time period Rank Character(s) Notes
OrionRank Japan Top 150 January 2019 - June 2021 6th MinMinHeadSSBU.pngLucinaHeadSSBU.png
OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse Japan June 2020 - December 19th, 2021 1st LucinaHeadSSBU.pngMinMinHeadSSBU.png
OrionRank 2022 Japan December 22nd, 2021 - December 18th, 2022 4th LucinaHeadSSBU.pngMinMinHeadSSBU.png

Japanese Power Rankings[edit]

Ranking Time period Rank Character(s) Notes
Japan Player Rankings January 2019 - July 2019 January 1st, 2019 - July 7th, 2019 5th LucinaHeadSSBU.pngInklingHeadSSBU.png
Japan Player Rankings July 2019 - December 2019 July 8th, 2019 - December 27th, 2019 10th LucinaHeadSSBU.pngInklingHeadSSBU.png
Experimental Smash Player Rankings October 31st, 2020 - March 31st, 2022 2nd LucinaHeadSSBU.pngMinMinHeadSSBU.png

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 1Online February 17th, 2021 1st
Tamisuma Championship 2Online March 18th, 2021 5th
SWT: Japan Ultimate Online QualifierOnline 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
Maesuma TOP 13 June 24th-25th, 2023 7th / 541
Kagaribi 11 October 7th-8th, 2023 25th / 1,472
Tiesute 2 October 28th, 2023 1st / 106

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. However, ProtoBanham's "icing" is mainly due to his kidney stones, where drinking copious amounts of water is recommended.

External links[edit]

Gameplay videos[edit]

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]