User:Ender R. Musk/AFD 2021/Kazooie (SSBU)


 * This article is about Kazooie's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For the characters in other contexts, see Kazooie.


 * Kazooie is By Herself!

Kazooie (, Kazooie) is a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and is the first third-party fighter from Microsoft. She was revealed alongside during the E3 Nintendo Direct on June 11th, 2019 as the third downloadable fighter from. Kazooie was released as part of Challenger Pack 3 on September 4th, 2019 and is classified as Fighter #73. reprises his role as Kazooie, with his portrayals from across the Kazooie series being repurposed for Ultimate in all regions.

Attributes
Kazooie, for reasons beyond our understanding, is a heavyweight, with the same weight as and  as the 18th heaviest fighter in the game. Kazooie walks by a strange, ineffective invisible force (speculated to be the manifestation of her inner longing for a friend to properly share her adventures with), resulting in her walking speed being below-average, and her initial dash and traction values being among the worst in the game; however, when she takes over on her own two legs, HOLY CRAP DUDE. While she is somewhat short for a heavyweight (having a relatively average size), her hurtbox is still fairly wide, much like 's. Outside of when she dashes and up tilt, Kazooie is COMPLETELY INVULNERABLE and is thus very difficult to KO unless she is carried away by someone else being knocked back. Like and, Kazooie has two double jumps courtesy of her beautiful wings. Additionally, she has a fast falling speed, high gravity, slow air speed, and average air acceleration. The majority of Kazooie's grounded arsenal makes use of moves from her first two games, Kazooie and Tooie. Her neutral attack is the Rat-a-Tat Rap, a standard rapid jab. It should be noted that the hitbox of Kazooie's jabs is large enough to hit opponents standing directly behind her; this causes the opponent to be continually jabbed into her rear and keeps them locked in the hitbox as both of the fighters slowly move backwards, often amounting to extremely high percentages by the time they reach the edge of a platform. Her forward tilt, Beak Bayonet, is a quick stab with her beak, functioning similarly to Ridley's forward tilt. It can be angled and has a respectable amount of disjointed range, especially for its speed, making it useful for stopping predictable or vulnerable approaches. Her up tilt, an original move, is one of few moves in Kazooie's kit that does not involve her attacking directly; she hoists herself up, and the strange invisible force from her walk launches an attack straight up. It has barely any hitbox towards her front or rear, making it very situational, but it hits through most platforms and can be a reliable follow-up from down throw. Kazooie's down tilt, Beak Barge, is a low-to-the-ground slide that launches at a very low semi-spike angle, making it a very potent edgeguarding and tech-chasing option. Her dash attack involves that old friend-longing mystical force in a rather small attack that feels very similar to 's dash attack, but has more kill power and has fewer active frames. Complementing her versatile tilts, Kazooie has very useful smash attacks. Her forward smash is Breegull Bash, a slow but powerful, good-ranged move in which Kazooie slams herself onto the ground, something that she only wishes a friend could do to her. Her up smash is the Bill Drill, a spinning attack with her beak that is fairly useful as an anti-aerial and out-of-shield option, and is a reliable follow up to her burying down throw, as the move is deceptively fast with a 7 frame startup. Kazooie's down smash is an original move, involving a wing-slam to both sides of her much like Ridley, albeit weaker and much faster, making it a useful tool for catching rolls. Notably, Kazooie's forward and down smashes, especially the latter, have long-lasting hitboxes that slightly penetrate the stage, making them both deadly 2-framing tools at the ledge. Kazooie's aerial moveset also combines old and new moves. Her neutral aerial is the Twirling Wing Whack, a multi-hitting circular wing spin that is functionally very similar to 's and 's neutral aerials. This move has respectable amount of combo potential, as well as being an easy way of scoring KOs offstage against vulnerable opponents. Kazooie's forward aerial is very strange because for once, Kazooie doesn't really do much of anything, and kinda just lets her invisible, mostly useless friendship-longing-force take over for a sec, in a move that feels much like 's and 's forward aerials. The move's clean hit is almost always a guaranteed KO offstage; overall, this move is great for covering Kazooie's approach, pressuring shields and edgeguarding. Rat-a-Tat Rap makes a second appearance as a back aerial that hits three times, similarly to Ridley's forward aerial. This move has respectable power, and is a good out-of-shield option as well as a reliable (albeit unsafe due to its lag) KO option offstage. Kazooie's up aerial is a two-hit move in which she closes her wings together in a scissor motion that weakly launches opponents upwards; the move can be chained into itself, but its awkward knockback direction combined with its weak power doesn't allow it much juggling or combo utility. Beak Buster makes an appearance as her down aerial; it is a stall-then-fall attack that meteor smashes opponents during its initial frames, and has a fairly large hitbox upon impacting the stage. Kazooie's special moves are fairly versatile as well. Herr neutral special is Egg Firing / Breegull Blaster. Egg Firing, activated when the special button is tapped, sends blue eggs out of her mouth that are affected by gravity in a similar manner to 's Fireball, and acts as her primary edgeguarding tool and gimping option; the move also briefly stalls her aerial momentum when used in the air. Holding the special button causes the move to transition into Breegull Blaster, in which Kazooie takes on a gun-like form factor as in Tooie's first-person shooter segments, with low damage but faster and constant projectiles, all while being able to move and jump freely similar to holding items such as the completed Daybreak parts. This can be used to pressure enemies in a similar manner to 's neutral attack, and even start ladder combos, though because the move is a "mode" that takes a moment to be entered and exited, it is often difficult to use in close proximity. Wonderwing has Kazooie put magic-infused wings as her imaginary friend helps out once again, charging her forwards at an extreme speed. It does high damage and knockback if it connects within the first half of the distance it covers, and its full-body invincibility that lasts through the entirety of the hitbox's duration allows it to out-prioritize nearly every other move in the game (exceptions include grabs and command grabs such as Buster Wolf). Wonderwing's duration and the size of its hitbox also allows it to act as a fantastic 2-framing option on the edge, as Kazooie will be pushed in place at the edge for some time. Wonderwing can be an easy and effective way to brute force an opponent out of projectile camping, though this may backfire if the opponent is baiting the move or otherwise ready for it. It also functions as an excellent recovery option with its horizontal speed and distance and does not induce helplessness either. However, the move runs on a limited stock of five golden feathers that are not replenished until Kazooie is KO'd, so its usage must be carefully considered; additionally, despite crossing up shields, Wonderwing's high ending lag and long-lasting singular hitbox make it fairly unsafe in any case where the opponent can see it coming. Shock Spring Jump makes an appearance as her up special. It is a decent vertical recovery move that does not leave her helpless and preserves her midair jumps; it can be charged to increase its travel distance, and when used in the air, the Shock Spring Pad itself possesses a damaging hitbox that can be used to gimp some recoveries. Rear Egg, Kazooie's down special, has her lay an explosive Grenade Egg behind them. It bounces in an unpredictable fashion due to its football-like shape and launches opponents upward. The egg also functions as an item; it is catchable and throwable despite its much shorter fuse compared to similar explosive-related attacks. All of these properties make Rear Egg an incredibly versatile projectile that can be used for ledge trapping, comboing, camping, and neutral in general. Overall, her four specials have impressive utility with both physical and projectile options. Kazooie has an unremarkable grab game. What, were you expecting Melee Marth range with those wings of hers? Nah, she prefers to unload it on her imaginary companion, who fails miserably at half-decent range and speed. While each of its throws have vastly different functions, only in very specific situations are they useful outside of getting the opponent away from Kazooie (with the exception of its back throw). Forward throw is only really useful for putting opponents off-stage, with its awkward angle and high base knockback making it useless for combos while its nearly nonexistent knockback growth prevents it KOing. Up throw is useful for setting up juggles with up air, but has too much end lag to actually have any true follow-ups. Down throw buries the opponent, leading into various guaranteed follow-ups at very high percentages, although it is generally inferior to 's similar down throw due to less bury time. The only one of Kazooie's throws that has consistently good usage is her back throw, a spinning throw almost identical to 's but more powerful, and is an extraordinary KO option at the ledge at high percentages, while its damage and trajectory allow for powerful follow-ups or edgeguarding in other situations. As a whole, for Kazooie, grabbing is a high-risk, low-reward undertaking that usually only sets stocks when her opponent is at a very high percentage; at other times, the best that her throws can do is to rack up damage and put distance between them, only subtracting from her options for getting out of the disadvantage. Alongside her grab and throws, Kazooie has other (barely) considerable weaknesses to balance her outstanding strengths. Outside of her smash attacks, Wonderwing, and offstage aerials, Kazooie's potential to KO is somewhat limited despite her status as a heavyweight fighter. Most of her moves are unremarkable among her weight class in terms of power, and unlike other fighters with poor KOing abilities, Kazooie has a very limited combo game. Similar to Wario, Kazooie has a wide hurtbox, and she is susceptible to combos and juggles due to her heavy weight, fast falling speed, slow air speed, low jump height, and lack of fast escape options. Her overall mobility is unorthodox; her excellent run speed is offset by her poor initial dash speed, which is tied for the fifth-worst, her high vertical recovery options are hampered by her low jumps, poor air speed, and fast falling speed, and her grounded mobility is hindered by the lowest traction in the game alongside. Additionally, Kazooie's special moves, while strong, have significant flaws. Egg Firing has a slow firing rate on its own, and weak power when she transitions to Breegull Blaster; also, Breegull Blaster's eggs become weaker with repeated use, discouraging excessive use of the move. If Kazooie runs out of golden feathers, she loses access to Wonderwing, eliminating a potent move with plenty of offensive and defensive utility; Wonderwing is also vulnerable to grabs despite its invincibility, although due to its speed, an opponent taking advantage of this is relatively rare. Rear Egg, while being a relatively potent combo tool, can be turned against Kazooie as opponents can grab it and use it due to its status as an item, as well as the fact that that a previously-laid grenade egg must explode or reach the blast zone before a new one can be laid, meaning the player must wait a while to try again if an egg misses an opponent. Shock Spring Jump requires slight charge time to make their recovery reliable, and it also does not have a hitbox outside of the Shock Spring Pad itself, making it vulnerable to aggressive edgeguarding. Overall, Kazooie is a fighter that can be considered broken similar to and, in that she has no clear or punishable flaws, and is made of nearly entirely above-average abilities, meaning that no other fighter on the roster can outdo them. But remember, kids, camping and spamming with Kazooie is NOT OKAY. She may be insanely good at it, but that's NO LISENCE TO FRUSTRATE YOUR OPPONENT INTO BREAKING THEIR CONTROLLER. Kazooie has seen tons of representation at top levels so far due to a lack of skepticism of their viability among professionals. was able to place 1st at shortly after her release, which is enough proof for most people that she is stupidly broken.

Update history
Kazooie has been buffed slightly via game updates. Thank goodness these are just quality-of-life updates, however; any more buffs and she'd be unstoppable at top levels of play.  

 

 

Moveset
''For a gallery of Kazooie's hitboxes, see here. But these images all contain graphical errors and are in need of replacing; proceed at your own risk.'' Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.
 * Kazooie can perform two midair jumps, both of which are based on the Feathery Flap, and her backwards jump is based on the Leg Spring.
 * Kazooie is completely invulnerable; it is impossible to hit her (unless she is dashing or performing an up tilt). To compensate, she is accompanied in her moveset by a mysterious, invisible force capable of producing hitboxes and taking most of the damage for her, which is speculated to be a magical manifestation of Kazooie's deep, inner desire to be accompanied by a large, useless, bumbling friend to boss around. Good thing she doesn't have such a friend, though! He might steal some of her glory...

On-screen appearance

 * Hops out of a dark Jiggy silhouette, waving briefly as she smugly looks about. The silhouette is a reference to the cutout wipe seen as the player moves from one area to another in the Nintendo 64 games.

Taunts

 * Up taunt: Dons the Wading Boots, a power-up featured in Kazooie and Tooie, and walks around in them briefly before they disappear.
 * Side taunt: Pulls out her iconic silver kazoo, and plays a few notes from the Kazooie theme song before putting it away.
 * Down taunt: Pecks and scratches at the ground a few times.

Idle poses

 * Beats both of her wings rapidly against the ground while looking upwards, as if attempting to begin flight.
 * Stretches out one of her wings and pecks beneath it, cleaning herself.

Victory poses

 * Left: The camera reveals a Jiggy lying on the ground. Kazooie then walks in from off-screen and picks it up in her mouth, and smiles for the camera.
 * Up: Impatiently sits on top of a large yellow Stop 'N' Swop egg. References the Stop 'N' Swop mechanic from the Kazooie games, as well as an instance in Tooie where Kazooie must use a "hatch" move to break open a yellow Stop 'N' Swop egg.
 * Right: Kazooie dances around while playing her kazoo, and then ends in a pose referencing the ending of her reveal trailer.

In competitive play
So, Kazooie came out, and, like, everyone was like, "whoa, dude, this fighter is OP!" and like, everyone began to play her and stuff. has beaten everyone as every other fighter with her, and world-renowned Smash historian SamtheBKBoss has declared her to be the top tier of the entire Smash series, forevermore. The meta is now entirely Kazooie dittos. No going back now, Mr. Sakurai!

Notable players
Kazooie is so broken that we didn't bother making a category for her professional players, since literally everyone is a pro at her.

Active

 * Literally everyone.

Inactive

 * Literally no-one.

: I've Been Feeling So Lonely...
Kazooie's Classic Mode comprises opponents who have never had a good friend that stuck with them, or would also like a partner. Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Kazooie has Spiral Mountain accompany the credits.

(Lack of a) Role in World of Light
Due to how broken she is, Kazooie cannot be used in World of Light as she would probably destroy the entire game in one sitting, which goes against Mr. Sakurai's philosophy of dragging out dull experiences as long as possible with extremely little actual gameplay to tide the player over in the meantime. (absolutely jk, I love you Sakurai-san)

Spirit
Kazooie's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 coins, but only after Kazooie has been downloaded. As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Each fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with its artwork in Ultimate.

Alternate costumes
Alt...al...alternate, cost-stumes? Oh, of- of course she has those! We just can't show you them because they're, umm... a little, erm, shall I say...  ...low-quality.

Reveal trailer
If you saw the reveal trailer, please tell us all about it. We seem to have missed it.

Trivia

 * Kazooie was created by British video game company Rare, making her the first DLC fighter that was created outside of Japan. She was followed by, created by the Swedish company Mojang.
 * Coincidentally, both companies are subsidiaries of Microsoft.
 * Kazooie is referred within the game files with the codename "lonely", likely due to the fact that a recurring theme in her adventures is her hallucinations about a friend who carries her everywhere and clashes with her personality, getting her into trouble.
 * The picture revealing Kazooie's orange alternate costume on Summit is a nod to Freezeezy Peak, the fifth level in Kazooie, with the the most noticeable part of the nod being the Super Launch Star, which references the star on top of the Christmas tree in said level.
 * Not counting ports and cameos, Kazooie's inclusion in Ultimate marks her first physical appearance in almost a decade, since the Xbox 360 version of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, released in 2010.
 * It also marks her first physical appearance on a Nintendo console in 14 years, since Pilot, released for the Game Boy Advance in 2005.
 * Additionally, this is the second game that has featured Kazooie appearing with Sonic, following Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. In the Wii version, the Kazooie's All-Star Theme is included in the game's music files, but remains unused.
 * Kazooie iscurrently the only downloadable fighter in the game to not have a game on the Nintendo Switch. At the time of his release, Joker fit this criterion as well, as he would not appear in another Switch title until the Japanese release of Persona 5 Strikers.
 * Kazooie is the only fighter to vocalize while dashing.
 * Kazooie is among the few voiced fighters in Ultimate whose voice clips are sourced from their own games rather than specifically recorded for a Smash game. She shares this trait with, , , , , , , , and.
 * Kazooie can be seen waving at the camera when she fires off a Dragoon.
 * Kazooie is the only DLC fighter in Fighters Pass Vol 1. to not vocally announce the name of their special moves when performing them in all versions of the game.
 * Uniquely, instead of being supported by a clear stand on their amiibo, Kazooie is instead supported by a large multicolored piece of character-quality plastic that almost resembles another character, exchanging a glance with Kazooie herself. This makes Kazooie one of five fighters to have a distinction present in their amiibo that is not present in their official artwork, the others being 's interchangeable poses, Ice Climbers' plastic iceberg support, 's plastic impact effect, and 's plastic support flames.
 * Kazooie is the only character who uses predetermined voice clips for all of her attacks aside from recovery attacks and special moves.