It's hard to believe it's been a full year since Banjo-Kazooie made it into Smash. That reveal trailer last year was probably the most hype-inducing game announcement I've witnessed in a long time. It was just so deeply gratifying to see Banjo and Kazooie in something new for the first time in almost a decade. I firmly believe that they should've been in Smash since the beginning, but obviously business politics involving Microsoft got in the way of that.

At the same time, that reveal came with a couple monkey's paw curses. For one, now that Banjo-Kazooie is in Smash, there's hardly any character left I can realistically root for to be in Smash. Any characters that could get the same reaction out of me have little to no chance of ever appearing in Smash (i.e. Sparkster), and any other characters left I'm only rooting for because it would make other people happy. As unlikely as Banjo-Kazooie was, it was only unlikely due to business politics, not due to lack of fan demand. If anything, the fan demand was so incredibly vocal that it was simply a matter of time before Nintendo and Microsoft could come to an agreement. I don't see that same fan demand for any characters left that would send me into hype overload the same way.

As for the other monkey's paw curse? Well, this one's more personal to me, but there was always something about Banjo and Kazooie's dynamic that felt rather off-putting to me. If you know me, and I'm assuming you do, I really like birds. Kazooie was one of my earliest bird crushes as a kid, and even back then I was never a fan of how she was constantly relegated to be the butt of jokes and Banjo's slapstick foil. It always made me feel uneasy to see a character I felt so infatuated with be on the receiving end of so much abuse, even if Kazooie is admittedly an abrasive character herself.

I know I'm being too sensitive, but seeing Banjo perform the Breegull Bash in that reveal trailer brought back some of those uncomfortable feelings. It didn't help that tons of fan art and memes were made of Banjo slamming Kazooie into the ground while the world laughed. It was everywhere on social media. The initial burst of happiness I felt from the reveal trailer suddenly turned damp. I went to a Japanese steakhouse with my family later that day, and the only thought I could muster while there was, "I need to bring back Tina and Pattycake."

I remembered why I created Tina. She's a Kazooie that would never be anyone's second fiddle or slapstick foil. Tina is 100% dominant. I know people love to bring up the same out-of-context Tooie screenshot that somehow confirms Kazooie's a masochist, but that still adds to the precedent that birds must always be slapstick abuse fodder for other characters. I've honestly grown weary of that precedent, so I created Tina and Pattycake to subvert it.

Has it made me happier? Actually, yeah! There's still a lot I'd like to do with Tina and Pattycake, but I'm at least glad I got the wheels rolling. I dream of getting to a place where I can make a comic or even a 3D platformer involving their slapstick antics, but real life obligations have currently put a delay on that. Still, I have the Banjo-Kazooie Smash reveal last year to thank for giving me the motivation to bring back my own bird and mammal slapstick duo. Maybe someday the world will cheer for them too.