Ol' Ben Birdland was a cop on the New Meridian streets. Though he had little free time, he played the bugle, tambourine, cymbals, drums, saxophone, clarinet and oboe in the day a week he had off. the city had corrupted anyone who entered.
This past time kept Ben sane, but the rest of his unit had gone rogue, upon stumbling over a meetup involving his crew and the prominent mafia "The Medicis"he was silenced, but not for long, A laboratory devoted to stoping the Trinity and Skullgirls repaired him using their futuristic technology, of course being penny pinchers, his instruments were used as scraps in his revival. Lab 8 had assigned the newly titled Ben, 'Big Band' to keep other member's of the lab's forces in check, in other words, he had been partnered with Peacock.
Now, Big Band, Peacock, Stanley, Ileum and the rest of Lab 8 must stop all of the cities women from getting the Skullheart and finally destroy The Trinity! Now let's quit lollygagging and get down to some gameplay!

(Extended lore peiced together by me and the skullheart forums)

BB is a little sluggish and heavy, he weighs 2 and a half tons for crying out loud! but he can combat this.

• His Forward movement is worst than a turtles
  
• His Forward dash is one of the best as it's more of a sprint, because it lasts until the input is dropped
  
• His backward movement is slightly faster than his forward by just about a quarter of a second
  
• His backdash is fast but short lived as it's one of the shortest distanced backdashes in the game, and doesnt compare anything to Double's
  
• In place of an airdash he has a second jump, which may come useful for avoidance and team synergy

His moveset is a mixed basket of tricky and unusual attacks for a 2d fighting game character. His normals being the most varied. Since only ground attacks can be used as assists, air attacks will be sublisted. attacks that make for good assists are ranked by '^' , '^^^' being best, and '^' being alright, while ones without the symbol just aren't worth it,

• s.LP is a high attack that can two hit.
  
• c.LP is a low attack that multi hits(up to six times I believe) on the second press
  
• s.MP this one is his most awkward attack, he pulls out a horn and upon pressing combinations of LP, MP, LK, MK, HK he will play a note,
  this hits up to six times as it's to be used to perform Satchmo Solo : LP, down + LK, LP, LP + MP
  into Satchmo Death Blow qcf + PP.
  More importantly, it does function as an actual *instrument! Though it can only play quarter notes.
  
• c.MP is an up to two hit attack that hits high, but has an awful amount of recovery
  
• s.HP^ is a launcher
  
• c.HP knocks the opponent away into a soft knockdown
  
• s.LK hits low and can two hit
  
• c.LK also hits low but has a different stun
  
• s.MK hits high and can also two-hit and moves the opponent very slightly in the air
  
• c.MK^^ hits high and drags the opponent to you
  
• s.HK hits high, one of his best attacks, knockdown, wall bounce, knocks them across the screen if not near a wall
  
• c.HK hits low and also knocks down.
  
• Air Attacks
  • j.LP this attack is as weak as the first hit of s.LP
    
  • j.MP this attack does a shred more damage than its light counterpart
    
  • j.HP this attack is the strongest of the three and does just about as much as s.HP
    
  • j.LK this attack hits three times and doesn't link into j.LP
    
  • j.MK this attack can mult hit, but might whiff on second hit causing you to pass over the enemy.
    
  • j.HK literally s.HK in the air, BB will land on his ass not allowing you to combo further than that.

Okay, now we can move onto his actual moves!Big band has two charge moves with variations that are pretty useful.

• Beat Extend, DP + P >back, fwd, back, fwd... this move is great as it can catch most opponents at the edge of a large hitbox if they are infront of or above BB, knocks down but is otherwise useless as an assist because the opponent can predict it.
  
• Brass Knuckles, back(HOLD) fwd + P^^^ this move is top notch, light doesn't knockdown and is just essentially to escape blockstring, medium does soft knockdown which means the opponent can tech and get up faster and attacks wont connect for a short time if you dont immediatly super cancel, heavy being the best does a hard knockdown and double the damage of light version
  
• Take The 'A' Train back(HOLD) fwd + K^^^ this move is grab upon hit light does 3 hits, medium 4, and heavy 5.dmedium is direct anti air, while heavy does a short dash before grabbing the opponent, very unpredictable.
  Emergency Break, P cancels his charge moves.
• Giant Step, qcb + K^^^ this move is a fine example of BBs versatility, this move slams the ground, dragging the opponent closer. light does the least stun and drag, heavy knocks down the opponent in addition to dragging.
  
• Bagpipe Blues, fwd, HP, MP, LP, fwd^^^ this move is technically a taunt, and more difficult to input than dans taunt in SF. This taunt will extend BBs level one supers. it's so high ranking as an assist because taunt assists can be selected with the start button.
  
• Noise Cancel(air OK) fwd before hit, this is a Parry! only BB has one!
  alternatively you can flick down if your on the ground
• Supers(Blockbusters)
  • Strike Up The Band qcb PP this level three can whiff very easily due to it's similarity to SF style ultras which if the first hit misses the cinematic( aka the rest of the ultra) wont connect. this super rolls out an actual set of big band stands, and if the opponent blocks or jumps over it, the second phase, which is a 50 hit barrage of bass blasts!
    
  • Super-Sonic Jazz, qcf + PP great super for table turning, has tons of invincibility.
    (after Bagpipe Blues) TUBA TUBA extended super that wont send the opponent to the opposite side of the screen, and usually moves you into a corner.
  • Tympany Drive(yes the game spells it that way) really emphasizes BBs air mobility, you can move during this super so you can perfect your placement.
    (after Bagpipe Blues) If the opponent is right next to BB he will grab the opponent at the end like his normal air grab.
  • Satchmo Solo > Satchmo Death Blow, s.LP, down + LK, LP, LP + MP > qcf + PP this ones a level five, and its purposely difficult to do luckily if you can complete Satchmo Solo time will pause for the second command your bar will rapidly drain to time you on the next command how ever and you cannot leave the game permanently paused. if you pull it off you wont be dissapointed!

With a synopsis of his moves we can move onto strategies next.

The great thing about Big Band is he doesn't have a constricted playstyle, he can be heavily defensive or offensive.

Defensive Play
Big Band's charge moves are eccedingly useful, out of block attacks similar to Chun Li's Kikoken, and of course Take the A Train being anti air.
In response to characters like Peacock, Parasoul or Double, BBs defensive capabilities are broad.
To defend against Peacocks gros amount of George projectiles use Giant Step, destroying the little bombs and bringing peacock closer to lead into combos.This is also useful when Parasoul attempts Napalm Pillar after laying down bombs. In response to Double's Hornet Bomber: If you are right next to her when she does it Parry into super, or Block if you want to keep safe,or if close enough she'll pass over you, if a Hornet Bomber is done farther away, jump and do Cymbal Clash.

Offensive Play
Big Band has the best damage in the game so his speed is detracted, but you can overcome this, As most moves a super cancel able and he has an air super.