Smasher:ProtoBanham
| ProtoBanham "プロトバナム" | |
|---|---|
| |
| 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 |  LumiRank 2023: HM (Top 100) |
| Best historical ranking | OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse: 4th |
| Best tournament result |  9th / 254 at Umebura 30 1st / 987 at Double Down 2022 |
| Personal and other info | |
| Real name | Naoto Tsuji |
| Birth date | |
| Location | Kanto, Japan 
|
ProtoBanham (プロトバナム) is a Smasher from Kantō, Japan. Although he began competing in Smash 4, he wouldn't gain global recognition until Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where he played Lucina and Inkling in the early metagame before picking up Min Min in 2021. He is widely considered the best Min Min and Lucina player of all-time and the best player in Japan from 2021 to early-2022, winning several majors and supermajors during this time including Kagaribi 4, Maesuma TOP 6, and Eastern Powerhouse Invitational 2. Despite being less consistent in Japan since then, he remained one of the best Japanese players, most notably winning the American events Double Down 2022 and Smash Ultimate Summit 5, until his indefinite hiatus from competitive play in 2024 due to health issues.[1]
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
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.
Tournament history
Early career
ProtoBanham's competitive career began in Super Smash Bros. 4 in 2014. However, for most of Smash 4, he was a Wi-Fi Warrior and a relatively unknown player offline, as the majority of his offline tournament presence was in doubles. On the rare occasion he competed in singles, he often did not make it too far into bracket, with the lone exception being Umebura 30, where with Cloud he defeated Nietono, T, and Somé to place 9th. As such, ProtoBanham was never ranked on any notable power ranking during this time.
This all changed at the start of competitive Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where ProtoBanham initially played Lucina and Inkling. Although his first major, Umebura SP 2, was somewhat of a bust, he became a growing threat in the early months of competitive play thanks to his performances at weeklies, where he was able to defeat several Smash 4 veterans. This rising threat culminated in ProtoBanham's having back-to-back breakout performances, first at Umebura SP 3, where he defeated Smash 4 veterans Umeki and Abadango to place 4th, and then at the Golden Week supermajor Umebura Japan Major 2019, where after losing to Cosmos in Winner's Quarter-Finals he ran through the Loser's bracket, defeating Tea and Raito and winning the runback against Cosmos, before falling to kameme to place 2nd.
Many players were first introduced to ProtoBanham through his performance at Umebura Japan Major and his win over Cosmos, who at that time was one of the best players in North America. These players began questioning whether ProtoBanham could replicate his strong performances in North America. This inquiry was answered with ProtoBanham's trip to CEO 2019, and although he only finished 13th, spectators were still satisfied with his performance, as he was not only the closest person to defeat MkLeo that event, bringing MkLeo to last stocks on game 3, but was also only one of two players who was even able to take a game off him at the event. Ultimately despite only appearing at a few PGR-ranked events, ProtoBanham's strong major performances led to him being ranked 23rd on the Spring 2019 PGRU.
The following season further catapulted ProtoBanham as one of Ultimate's first rising stars, as his first few major and supermajor performances cemented himself as a top level threat. This included EVO 2019, the largest offline Smash event of all-time, where he won his runback against kameme and defeated yet another one of North America's best players, Light. Further top 8 performances and top player wins at the next two Umebura events led many players to believe ProtoBanham could become one of the best players in the world.
Unfortunately, his last two events of the year stagnated his overall season. At Umebura SP 7, ProtoBanham unexpectedly lost his first match of the tournament to Yamanaction in an upset factor of 14, which remains the biggest upset in competitive Ultimate, and then drowned in pools after losing to Daiki for 257th, by far his worst performance at a tournament. He then followed it up with a disappointing 25th-place finish at 2GG: Kongo Saga, where he once again fell short of expectations after being upset by Big D before falling to Kome for 25th. Further hurting his season was ProtoBanham's limited attendance at PGR-ranked events, which not only meant he had less opportunities to defeat players ranked above him, but also meant any major underperformance could greatly negatively affect his final standing. Ultimately, ProtoBanham's negatives weighed down his Fall 2019 PGRU season, as despite having placed top 8 at three of the five majors he attended that season, he was only ranked 19th.
The best in Japan
Seeking a shift in misfortune, ProtoBanham eventually dropped Inkling to focus on just Lucina. This initially allowed him to have a small rebound, reflected in him placing 4th at EGS Cup 3 and 9th at EVO Japan 2020; however, the COVID-19 pandemic caused competitive play to shut down worldwide, cutting the season short. During the pandemic, Min Min was released as a DLC character, and ProtoBanham eventually picked the character up, initially as just a solo-main in the online metagame, where he most notably qualified for the offline Smash World Tour regional final by placing 4th at SWT: Japan Ultimate Online Qualifier. With offline competitive play slowly returning in mid-2021, ProtoBanham chose to play both Min Min and Lucina as co-mains.
This decision led to the peak of ProtoBanham's career. At his first notable offline event, the supermajor Kagaribi 4, ProtoBanham used a mix of both characters to defeat Shuton, Tea, Yoshidora and Zackray twice to win the event, claiming his first-ever major/supermajor win and becoming one of five players to win a major while being seeded outside the top 16 (he was seeded 25th). He then followed it up with two more major wins, all the while defeating veteran Japanese players and up-and-coming rising stars, and although he only placed 5th at the next major, Kagaribi 5, he then followed it up with yet another major win at Eastern Powerhouse Invitational 2 before qualifying for the Smash World Tour finale by winning SWT: East Asia Ultimate Regional Finals. ProtoBanham's string of victories and his strategy in frequently switching between the two characters, often times seemingly without reason, not only allowed him to take the throne as Japan's best player in 2021, but also helped establish Min Min as a strong character in the new metagame. ProtoBanham's season concluded with the Smash World Tour 2021 Championships, where he ultimately placed 7th, losing to Kola and Dabuz in the main bracket; however, this rather disappointing finish did not dampen an otherwise stellar 2021, which allowed ProtoBanham to soar into the top 10 for that season, ranking 4th on the OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse.
North American ProtoBanham
ProtoBanham had finally established himself as one of the best players in the world, and with COVID-19 restrictions winding down throughout 2022, players were eager to see where he would go next. Unfortunately, 2022 marked a severe downturn for ProtoBanham's performances in Japan, as he became infamously prone to upsets. This streak began with Kagaribi 6, where he lost to Lea in bracket before being eliminated by Zackray for 9th. He then missed top 8 at both Golden Week events, losing to showers and Hero for 17th at Maesuma TOP 7 and then losing to Asimo and Kome for 13th at Kagaribi 7. He finally reached the top 8 again at Maesuma TOP 8; however, he claimed no notable wins at that run. With these underperformances, ProtoBanham lost his throne just as quickly as he had obtained it.
Fortunately, ProtoBanham's performances in North America was a completely different story, and it reversed some of the damage that was done to his season. His first international appearance was at Smash Ultimate Summit 4, where after having a poor Round Robin and Gauntlet phase, where he was only able to defeat Goblin, ProtoBanham tore through the Loser's bracket, which included eliminating Dabuz, Tweek, and MkLeo, before losing to Light for 3rd. His win on MkLeo especially not only made up for ProtoBanham's close loss to MkLeo at CEO 2019, but also made ProtoBanham the first player to eliminate MkLeo prior to Grand Finals since Get On My Level 2019, therefore ending MkLeo's streak of making it to Grand Finals at every event he attended since that tournament. ProtoBanham's prowess over MkLeo was further present at Double Down 2022, where ProtoBanham defeated MkLeo's Corrin in Winner's Finals and then his R.O.B. in the Grand Finals reset to take his first-ever North American major win. These two international performances and his 3-1 record over MkLeo were able to save ProtoBanham's season, and although he fell to 15th on the OrionRank Mid-Year 2022, he remained a top 20 player and a top 10 player in Japan.
The rest of the year was a similar pattern to ProtoBanham: he failed to place higher than 5th in Japan, but won his third and final international tournament of the year, Smash Ultimate Summit 5, defeating many of North America's best players along the way. As such, many players began joking that ProtoBanham was a completely different player in North America than he was in Japan. Without a severe underperformance during this time and with strong records against North America's best players, ProtoBanham was able to reclaim his top 10 spot for the full-year, ranking 7th on the OrionRank 2022, while the half-year ranking UltRank 2022 ranked him as 10th.
Activity decline and hiatus
Throughout ProtoBanham's career, health problems had plagued him. For example, he had to drop out of Super Smash Con 2019 to treat his kidney stones, and due to the kidney stones, he has to use the bathroom frequently, which led some commentators and players to incorrectly believe ProtoBanham was "icing" the opponent out. His health issues were most apparent in 2023: it became common for him to throw up every five or ten minutes, and there were times where ProtoBanham had to go to the hospital during a tournament. As such, ProtoBanham's activity declined sharply, and he appeared at a total of four events. His tournament performances as these events were roughly the same as they were in the previous year: his worst performance was in Japan, where he placed 25th at Kagaribi 11 losing to Flow and Yaura, while his best performance was at the North American event Smash Ultimate Summit 6, where he defeated Tweek and Riddles to place 5th. Still, health issues prevented him from traveling further, and although he initially accepted the invite, ProtoBanham was forced to drop out of Watch The Throne. Because of his low activity, ProtoBanham was only ranked as an honorable mention on the LumiRank Mid-Year 2023 and the LumiRank 2023, with player point data implying he would have been ranked between 11th and 15th on the mid-year ranking and between 16th and 20th on the full-year ranking.
ProtoBanham's last notable event was Tiesute 2, which he won over Hurt. Months later on April 23rd, 2024, he announced his indefinite hiatus from competitive play.
Rankings
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Panda Global Rankings Ultimate
| Ranking | Time period | Rank | Character(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2019 PGRU | February 1st-July 7th, 2019 | 23rd |   |
X-Factor: +5 |
| Fall 2019 PGRU | July 13th-December 15th, 2019 | 19th |  |
|
| PGRU v3: Japan Top 50 Players to Watch | March 1st-June 13th, 2022 | Top 10 |  |
LumiRank
| Ranking | Time period | Rank | Character(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UltRank 2022 | June 18th-December 18th, 2022 | 10th | |
|
| LumiRank Mid-Year 2023 | December 19th, 2022-July 23rd, 2023 | HM (Top 50) | |
|
| LumiRank 2023 | December 19th, 2022-December 17th, 2023 | HM (Top 100) | |
OrionRank Ultimate
| Ranking | Time period | Rank | Character(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OrionRank Ultimate: Six Months In | January 5th-June 30th, 2019 | 30th | |
|
| OrionRank 2019 | January 5th-December 15th, 2019 | 21st | |
X-Factor: +4 |
| OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse | April 2020-December 19th, 2021 | 4th | |
|
| OrionRank Mid-Year 2022 | December 22nd, 2021-June 26th, 2022 | 15th | |
|
| OrionRank 2022 | December 22nd, 2021-December 18th, 2022 | 7th | |
OrionRank Japan
| Ranking | Time period | Rank | Character(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OrionRank Japan Top 150 | January 2019-June 2021 | 6th | |
|
| OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse Japan | June 2020-December 19th, 2021 | 1st | |
|
| OrionRank 2022 Japan | December 22nd, 2021-December 18th, 2022 | 4th | |
Japanese Power Rankings
| Ranking | Time period | Rank | Character(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan Player Rankings January 2019 - July 2019 | January 1st, 2019-July 7th, 2019 | 5th | |
|
| Japan Player Rankings July 2019 - December 2019 | July 8th, 2019-December 27th, 2019 | 10th | |
|
| Experimental Smash Player Rankings | October 31st, 2020-March 31st, 2022 | 2nd | |
LumiRank Japan
| Ranking | Time period | Rank | Character(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LumiRank 2023 Japan | December 19th, 2022-December 17th, 2023 | 19th | |
Tournament placings
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
| 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
| 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 | — | — |
| 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 | — | — |
| Shin Toryumon 51 | June 27th, 2024 | 9th / 43 | — | — |
| Weekly Smash Party 157 | October 9th, 2024 | 9th / 32 | — | — |
Trivia
- 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.
References
External links
Gameplay videos
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- 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)
