Back in September of 2023, I decided to replay both Banjo games to see how much I still liked them. It had been around 10 years since I had played Kazooie since then, and 4 years since I'd last played Tooie, so I was excited to dive into both games. Well, as it turns out, I loved replaying both so much I decided to replay them directly after. I very rarely do that, so I just knew I had to bump both games to a 10. Well, after my whole review purge, I decided to replay these once again and rereview them all over again. Only 7 months later after playing them both twice before, I'm a madman I know (haha you won't get this reference because those reviews are now deleted). Anyways, just like before...I had a blast replaying Kazooie and consider it one of the best N64 games ever.

The first thing I'll get into are the controls and Banjo-Kazooie's moveset in general. I honestly think this game controls masterfully, Banjo and Kazooie have such a varied move set that flows well with each of the levels. The talon trot is a must in every level as it let's you go through each area that much faster. With the c buttons, it's also really easy to remember how to perform it too. In fact, I haven't played the game on anything but the N64 itself, but idk how I'd feel about playing it on another controller just cuz I find the N64 controller fits it perfectly lol. Besides the talon trot, you also have a roll attack, rat-a-tat rap which is an aerial move, golden feathers which you can use to turn invincible as long as you have them, red feathers which you can use to fly (and the flight in this game is more satisfying than Mario 64), the beak bomb which is an attack you can use while flying and more. All of this you unlock gradually while playing and is all used plenty through-out the game. You also have two power-ups that let you either traverse unsafe ground (wading boots) and the speedy shoes which, as the name implies, let's you go fast. Even the swimming in this game is pretty nice once you know how to use it. I've seen some people say it's awful because it's so clunky. Which, if you're not holding the R button then yeah totally, but if you are it's very nice and smooth as you have a breast-stroke and a paddle you can perform depending on what you need.

The game itself is incredibly charming, both aesthetically and comically. The world's all look lovely and is just full of that N64 Rare ware charm. When playing through a world, you would be hard pressed to not see a pair of googily eyes on an enemy or even the items (when the item explanation first pops up) and for how lighthearted this game is, it very much fits. That's not to say the dialogue is all light-hearted. It's not as dark as Tooie obviously but they still put in a couple of dirty jokes hear and there. The dialogue itself, while not nearly as funny as Tooie imo, its witty enough especially Gruntilda's dialogue.

Going into Gruntilda and her lair in general, both are fantastic. The lair is a tightly designed hub world that is super memorable, not just because of it being compact in size and easy to traverse, but because the whole way through Grunty insults you and eggs you on. Kazooie has way less dialogue than Tooie, and Grunty herself I find more menacing in that game, but when it comes to her insulting rhymes...they're easily the most memorable pieces of dialogue in the game. Even on this most recent playthrough, I was still hearing rhymes I've never heard before. Really makes me wonder just how many there are in total lol.

When it comes to the worlds themselves, they are excellent tightly designed levels just like Grunty's lair was. Mumbo's Mountain is the worst one imo, and that's just because of how small it is...which makes a ton of sense because it's the first world. All the rest are very enjoyable, with some of my favorites being Freezezey Peak, Clanker's Cavern and Click Clock Wood. Now you might be saying to yourselves, Clankers Cavern? Yeah, idk why but it might've been my favorite world this time around. I honestly don't have an issue with the swimming portions, I love the track that plays in it and the dank grimey atmosphere I find wonderful (which makes sense because I love Tooie and it has a lot of that). It feels like one of the more unique world settings next to Rusty Bucket Bay. Speaking of Rusty Bucket Bay, it has the infamous engine room area and yeah that's still my least favorite part pf the game. It's not TOO bad if you do that part right away, but I still died like 5 times this playthrough. I also died to Click Clock Wood very stupidly, those two levels even now can still get me as they're easily the two hardest in the game. Going back to the engine room tho, the reason it's so hated is because it's the only world with an instant death pit. In the N64 version, instant death means you lose all your notes as the game tracks a total note score in this version rather than keeping your notes when you die like in the Xbox version. This is also a small gripe I have, but only in these last two levels because I pretty much never die in any of the earlier ones.

The music in this game was done by Grant Kirkhope and he's absolutely legendary. He has a very distinct bouncy style to his music and it absolutely fits here with how goofy this game is. My favorite tracks in the game would have to be Rusty Bucket Bay, Spiral Mountain, Clanker's Cavern, and The Final Battle. The entire soundtrack is wonderfully though, and I especially love Grant's use of dynamic music. His work on Banjo Kazooie and Tooie, and DK64 show he's a big fan of it and it's perfect in these types of games.

Once you beat every single world, and have obtained enough notes and jiggies to progress, you enter Grunty's Furnace Fun. This is basically a giant quiz show that puts your knowledge to the test. It's very goofy and fitting for the type of game Banjo Kazooie is. The questions consist of listening to the voice of a character or song of a level and guessing who/what it is, random trivia, playing a mini-game from the main levels or a Grunty question. The grunty questions consist of trivia about Grunty herself that you must know to answer. To find these out in-game, you must hunt down her sister Brentilda, who is hidden in specific areas of the lair. You might think, meh I'll just look the answers to these online. But they're randomized per playthrough so you simply cannot do that. Luckily, with the joker card which let's you skip 2 spaces on the board, you can bypass these if you weren't able to find Brentilda. Same with the instant death skull spaces which are usually just a basic trivia question, but still are very nerve-wracking. After you get to the end of the board, you get a hilarious joke where Grunty makes her escape by forcing credits on you. After that though, it's actually time to fight her.

Before you fight Grunty, depending on how many collectables you have gotten, you can unlock consumable refills and even double health. Once you've gotten what you need, it's time fight Gruntilda herself. The final battle may honestly be in my top 20 fights ever, it's super good. It tests you on many of your moves you've learned through out the game and it has a killer boss theme to boot (as you know with my favorite songs portion). The end of it is super satisfying too, with the Jinjonator being summoned to defeat her. If there's any one thing I love more than Tooie, it's this final boss and cutscene. The Hag-1 is a fine enough final boss for that game, but it pales in comparison to Kazooie's final fight.

All in all, I'm glad I replayed this once again as it's still amazing and still one of my favorite games ever. Back in September, I stated I might love Tooie even more for the things it improved on and its expanded worlds, and yeah I probably do in the end. However, Kazooie has its own strengths , some even over Tooie's and it's still a must play as an N64 fan. Next up though is Tooie, and I simply cannot wait to replay it so look forward to that review coming soon!!

Low brain capacity podcast chic (children's game). Genuinely impressed by so many aspects of this game and glad most of my apprehensions were subverted.

I think seeing a screenshot of a Total Collectables screen years ago filled me with primal dread and put off trying this right until now. What really helped ease me in was learning that most of the pickups (the eggs, Red and gold feathers) are all charitably spread around the levels and act as infinitely replenishable resource pools. The hunt for Jiggies was exhilarating because they're never earned through the same means twice, demanding of a level of mastery or attentiveness to the little details of the densely designed highly interactive maps, and rewarding you with pure variety.
Genuinely love this hulking monolith of a central hub world that is cumbersome bullshit to navigate, the quality of the subtle character animations, the "na-na-nananah, you can't catch me" playground taunt for the invincibility jingle, Big Jinjo.

Banjo-Kazooie is the platonic ideal of a video game to me; all throughout its assortment of colorful levels are opportunities to see and learn new control modes and special moves for its title characters to interact with the game world, either asking you to use them skillfully or cleverly to earn the next jigsaw piece. It can sometimes be unclear what to do next, and a game with this level of variety is obviously not going to be 100% perfect (ah, a refreshing game of Concentration awaits around the corner), but despite those shortcomings, Banjo-Kazooie is nevertheless so well-paced and courteously laid out that it maintains its appeal where many other 3D platformers fall short. Loads of secrets, too!

I'll preface this review by saying that I played Banjo-Kazooie on the original N64 when I was a kid and on the Xbox, Switch, and emulator more recently. In short, an amazing early 3D platformer and one that deserves your time to this day. If Super Mario 64 was the birth of the genre, Banjo-Kazooie was the first evolution. The game breathed new life by satisfyingly combining platforming with exploration, puzzle solving, story/character interactions and an ABSOLUTELY BANGER SOUNDTRACK. SM64, the hallmark of the time, I would say is the better game in terms of strict platforming, but it doesn't hold a candle to Banjo-Kazooie when it comes to any of these other factors. This is a game which you can really tell was made with charm and style forefront in mind, from its quirky cast of characters (with their iconic, and frankly genius, dialogue audio) to its inspired and thematic level designs. In what other game can you get a game over screen where a green witch who only speaks in rhymes steals your kidnapped sister's beauty and transforms into a stereotypical hot woman? These sort of touches are what makes Banjo-Kazooie a gem among its peers which stands out even in the modern era. I could wax poetical on this game all day so I'll end it with this: Banjo got into Smash get fucked everyone who told me he wouldnt.

Banjo-Kazooie é uma aventura mágica do início ao fim. Impressiona o fato desse jogo tão carismático e com tanta personalidade ter sido lançando em 1998, uma época que jogos 3D estavam em uma fase de descobrimento e dificuldades para adequar nesse cenário.

Suas fases são muito criativas com temas interessantes até mesmo quando estão dentro cenários básicos como grama e deserto. Além disso, seu sistema de coleta de itens é um salto gigantesco e ambicioso quando comparado a Super Mario 64. Chega ser assustador como absolutamente tudo nesse game tem personalidade forte para te fazer recordar e rir em certos momentos.

Obviamente o jogo tem alguns problemas como a sua câmera tenebrosa em certas partes, mas não é tão ruim quanto comentam não. Também, o sistema de coleta as vezes dificulta o jogador saber em qual lugar do cenário perdeu uma nota musical ou outro colecionável. Por isso, recomendo fortemente jogar a versão do Xbox que melhora alguns aspectos.

Por fim, Banjo-Kazooie é uma joia rara no mundo dos vídeo games que até o momento não existe um jogo que conseguiu capturar essa energia. Em breve pretendo jogar sua continuação.

Able to stand toe to toe with the other big collectathon on the N64.

Does many things right for the genre, such as not kicking you out after a level when getting a Jiggy. There's also just generally so much TO collect. Even the main collectable (Jiggy's) are different to the door gates (notes), then on top of that you have new special moves, extra health pieces, a "find 5 of these things in every level" (think red coins but more personality). Admittedly the special moves one can make your beginning set feel a bit limited.

But it does what I want most from these games, the worlds are super fun to explore. Not too big or confusing, but packed with things to find, secrets, and subareas with their own little storylines and/or characters. The game has so many different minigames and challenges for collectables.

The hub world is up there as one of the best. While Peach's Castle is iconic, and beautiful, it does feel very much like just a quick stop between the levels, with a few secret things to discover. But Gruntilda's lair is like an entire extra level in this game that keeps expanding. It is kind of easy to get lost though.

I do have a few nit-picks. The camera is the biggest, it is not forgiving at all.

Another is the fact that collecting all 100 notes has to be done in a single go. If you leave the level or even die, it resets them all (this also applies to anything you can collect in a level, such as the 5 Jinjo's).

Egg shooting can be a very fiddly thing.

Luckily the technical issues don't get in the way of the huge charm, personality and fun that radiates from the writing, characters and music, all in some very well designed levels.

List of systems I have 100%ed this on:
Nintendo 64
Xbox 360
Xbox One
Xbox One X
PC (emulation)

I may have a problem

As impactful as Super Mario 64 was to the then-prevalent 3D platformer genre, I’m not sure the game can take all of the credit for being the genre’s sole primary influence. I always bestow the plumber’s landmark 3D debut with a considerable amount of veneration, for Nintendo’s efforts in remodeling Mario for the cutting-edge next polygonal phase of gaming created an entirely original experience that set the stage for a radical new realm of possibilities. While Super Mario 64 was the game that pioneered the non-linear, explorative “collectathon” 3D platformer subgenre, its indelible mark on the era obviously echoed to several other games of the same ilk to follow its example. Being the building blocks of a genre sort of connotes that your disciples expand upon your foundation instead of contently resting at ground zero. Also, Super Mario 64 set an unintentional implication in that the pervasive platformer genre could only survive in the third dimension with this direction. Mario, the de facto king of the genre, seemingly had to forgo his standard, linear roots so drastically in Super Mario 64, so this meant that all other platformer icons new and old had to assimilate to the change or perish. With both its rudimentary footing and massive impact in consideration, one of Super Mario 64’s many offsprings had to have the potential to outclass its progenitor. The game that would truly innovate on what Super Mario 64 established was a new IP from the British then-Nintendo subsidiary developer Rare in the form of Banjo Kazooie. One of the reasons I revere Super Mario 64 despite its vestigial framework is because it's the godfather of every game that I grew up with in the subsequent generation. However, while this is still true, it seems like Banjo-Kazooie has a more clear and more direct line with my cherished video games from childhood on the 3D platformer family tree. Also, my praise for Banjo-Kazooie ascends past the reasonable level of respect I give to its fellow N64 linchpin Super Mario 64, for Banjo-Kazooie is still a solid rock of a 3D platformer whose quality has not been weathered by time.

It’s amusing to see how a British developer attempts to encapsulate the magic of Mario, and I’m not only referring to the mechanics of the “collectathon” subgenre. Mario’s peerless high ranking in the echelons of gaming can be attested to his wide accessibility in his presentation. Mario captures that spectacle of Japanese whimsy that is neither too immature nor off-puttingly bizarre, sort of in the same vein as the successful fellow Japanese animation corporation Studio Ghibli. The tasteful balance on display is probably indicative of a country that has both a storied mythical lore and an inordinate amount of nuclear radiation exposure than the rest of the world. The Western world might be beguiled by Mario’s foreign charm, but can they tangibly translate their wonder into something original? Banjo-Kazooie’s Western interpretation of Mario’s aesthetic is to emphasize the wacky animated aspects of the plumber’s world. I guess our Western equivalent to Mario’s mirthfulness is our cartoons. Banjo-Kazooie’s presentation is not overtly British like one of Terry Gilliam’s illustrations from a Monty Python skit (though that would be super cool). Rather, Banjo Kazooie conveys that animation drawn for a broad demographic west of the prime meridian tends to feature exaggerated physical proportions and anthropomorphic animals as central characters. Banjo-Kazooie is brimming with archetypal Western cartoon attributes, given that the game’s protagonist is a bipedal bear and every enemy, from the hopping vegetables to the tombstones, all have a pair of goofy-looking googly eyes to signify their sentience. Because of how cartoonish the aesthetic is, Banjo-Kazooie resembles a product catered towards a younger audience. Unfortunately, it’s not as accessible as Mario's because the overall tone might come across as too juvenile for some adolescent/adult gamers. The hints of toilet humor also probably do not help its case. Still, the appeal of Banjo Kazooie is apparent due to how dynamically lighthearted everything is, like an old Mickey Mouse cartoon. Doubling down on the innocuous elements from accessible forms of Western media is probably the most inspired decision from the developers regarding the game’s presentation.

One of the pervasive childlike elements of Banjo-Kazooie is its fairy tale plot premise, a staple of mythology. Gruntilda, a prototypical depiction of a nasty, evil witch from the most famous of Grimm’s classic stories, is performing the usual duties of this age-old archetype of toiling and troubling over her bubbling cauldron. The clairvoyant wisdom she seeks from her boiling pot is whether or not she’s the “nicest looking wench” in the land, and is offended at the cauldron’s candid response telling her that she isn’t. Why someone who revels in being obstinately filthy and grotesque like a kid-friendly version of Divine would care if she satisfies traditional beauty standards is beyond me, but I digress. The “fairest maiden” to be found is Tooty, a young female bear with blonde pigtails who conveniently lives in a comfy little home situated down the hill from Grundtilda’s domain. I guess the radius of beauty the cauldron can assess is confined by the same zip code. Gruntilda’s solution to being outshined by some neighborhood child is to abduct her and initiate a procedure where their matter will be swapped, as Gruntilda will receive all of Tooty’s beautiful attributes while Tooty becomes as beastly as Gruntilda. Tooty is also Banjo’s younger sister, so he’s naturally inclined to stop this horrendous experiment before his sister is doomed to look like a green warthog. Not only do fairy tales often present a heinous witch complete with a tall black hat and a broomstick as a common antagonist, but the old versus young parallel between women is a prevalent theme across some notable examples (Snow White, Sleeping Beauty). Banjo-Kazooie prevents itself from the puerile trappings of its fairy tale influences by subverting this plot premise with slight parody, like Shrek would succeed in doing a few years later. Pop culture references to both Frankenstein and The Fly are clearly seen in the game’s “game over” sequence where her hunchback lab assistant Klungo throws the switch to energize two opposite matter machines with Tooty and Gruntilda enclosed. While Banjo Kazooie still exudes a childish aura, tongue-in-cheek jabs at fairy tale tropes keep it from feeling infantile.

Banjo the character actually debuted in Diddy Kong Racing the year prior in Rare’s lineup of original cute and cuddly playable characters that meshed well alongside Nintendo’s petite, baseball cap-wearing chimp (if only Conker’s inclusion here hasn’t aged like sour milk). Out of all of these characters to greenlight into a new IP, why choose Banjo over say, Bumper the Badger or Tipsy the Mouse? Timber the Tiger arguably even had more mascot potential, as his baseball cap with the Rare insignia mirrored Diddy’s Nintendo cap. Is it due to his relatively higher strength build, or does the necklace, pants, and backpack combination make him more visually enticing than the other character with one distinctive feature? Truth be told, I’m not all too certain why Banjo ascended past a two-bit supporting role among the Diddy Kong Racing roster while all the others (except for Conker) continued to wallow in obscurity. This is especially curious considering Kazooie does most of the legwork (almost literally). The second half of the game’s hyphenated title did not exist during Banjo’s humble beginnings as a cart driver, as she was introduced by Rare to accompany Banjo on his debut platforming adventure. The brightly-colored bird of unknown species resides in Banjo’s backpack as stationary as if she’s on house arrest, and Banjo better hope she’s actually fused to his blue accessory because he’d be hopeless without her.

Banjo and Kazooie have an interesting character dynamic in that the mechanics of both characters are consistently utilized in tandem with one another, used by a single player. Banjo is obviously the primary kinetic force in their partnership as he lugs Kazooie in his backpack. His primary role as the leg muscle also extends to his arms as the game’s basic combat, as the bear will knock enemies around with a barrage of left and right hooks and roll into enemies with the force of his entire body while moving. Disappointingly enough, punches from a bear aren’t as furious and deadly as one would expect because Banjo’s arms seem as short as a T-Rex’s. The rolling move feels more fluid and ensures a more accurate hit, but its trajectory is still rather stilted. Kazooie’s pecking move when Banjo jumps in the air compensates for the bear’s pitiful range, and the direction can be changed in a few seconds when both are in mid-air. Kazooie must have some penguin DNA in her genetic mix because her wings wade beneath the water while Banjo just doggy paddles on the surface. Actually, Kazooie’s swimming indicates that she’s not an aquatic bird because the underwater controls are appallingly rigid. Yet, Kazooie’s willingness to carry Banjo through the adventure forces her to perform tasks outside of her comfort zone. Banjo’s bespectacled mole friend Bottles pops out of his arrangement of molehills to teach Kazooie certain skills to really overload Kazooie’s workload. On the offensive side, Kazooie will tug on Banjo’s backpack to execute a body slam similar to Mario’s ass stomp to press buttons and such. A specific combination of the crouch move will trigger a number of Kazooie’s special techniques, namely Kazooie spurting out baby blue eggs out of her mouth and cloaca (ew) as projectile attacks. The “Talon Trot” sees Kazooie shifting the mobile roles as she carries Banjo on her back instead. With the stronger adhesive strength of her talons sticking to steep, angled inclines, increased running speed, and limitless usage, it seems like Banjo could simply lie on his lazy ass the whole time doing nothing. Two different types of pads will appear to launch Banjo upward, with the green pads giving his jump an exorbitant boost and the red pads as a launch point for Kazooie to soar through the skies until the red feather ammunition is fully depleted. Must I further highlight why Kazooie probably should’ve gotten first billing in the game’s title?

Banjo and Kazooie’s simultaneous dynamic isn’t only limited to how they interact on the field. For a video game genre that usually doesn’t offer much dialogue or characterization, both Banjo and Kazooie are quite loquacious, along with the rest of their world. The dialogue in Banjo Kazooie is displayed with scrolling text in a speech bubble with a character icon on the far side. Speech is not enunciated by any characters: rather; vocal inflections are expressed through warbles that have a distinctive cadence per character. If you come across any lighthearted game with cartoony graphics that has this type of gibberish voice-acting style, Banjo-Kazooie is the game that popularized it (but don’t quote me on that). When interacting with NPCs, Banjo and Kazooie act as character foils. Banjo is a well-meaning dope that approaches people and situations very matter-of-factly, while Kazooie is shockingly caustic. Another reason why Banjo better pray that Kazooie is stuck to the inside of his backpack with superglue is that the bird has an acid tongue; a biting insult for every NPC she comes across, and one NPC might lash out by taking her by her bird neck and throttle her. Nevertheless, Banjo’s good cop, bad cop routine with his backpack bird gives them a wonderful personal chemistry. Some notable NPCs that Kazooie often gives a harsh tongue-lashing to are the aforementioned Bottles, Banjo’s mild-mannered mole friend who somehow knows more about Kazooie’s physical dexterity than she does. Mumbo Jumbo is a slightly racist depiction of an African witch doctor who owns a few small hut properties across many of the game’s levels that resemble his golden skull mask. Other miscellaneous NPCs that Banjo isn’t as chummy with are the hapless camel Gobi, the covetous Conga the Ape, and the blubbering hippo commander of the “Salty Hippo” sea ship aptly named Captain Blubber, to name a few. Compared to the litany of cookie-cutter Toads that Mario speaks to in Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie’s cast of secondary characters is amazingly eclectic.

Banjo-Kazooie isn’t a lengthy 3D platformer that swells the number of collectibles to prolong the experience. In fact, the total number of levels the game offers is significantly less than that of Super Mario 64. Though Banjo-Kazooie’s content lacks the quantity present in its influence, the game more than compensates with the quality of the levels. What impresses me about Banjo-Kazooie’s environments is their sheer immensity. As twee and jovial as Banjo’s world seems from an aesthetic standpoint, something about the way the game displays it exudes a crushing feeling. Immediately, this foreboding aura seems prevalent in Banjo’s hub. After the tutorial section of the grassy Spiral Mountain in Banjo’s backyard, the duration of the game is centered around the confines of Gruntilda’s Lair. The interior of Grundtilda’s wicked visage molded from the rocky cliffs of Spiral Mountain is as voluminous as the recesses of a dank underground cavern. Rescuing Tooty is a steep vertical climb up to the lair’s apex where the experiment is being conducted, and Banjo must progressively piece together every floor of Gruntilda’s Lair on his upward journey (literally). Gruntilda’s Lair is the antithesis of what I’ve always claimed to be an effective hub world, which is a modest place of respite between all of the levels where the call to action is heightened. Gruntilda’s Lair acting as the game’s centerpiece is almost like cutting out the middleman of the Peach’s Castle hub in Super Mario 64 and storming Bowser’s Castle immediately in the most glacial rescue operation ever executed. Gruntilda’s goons roam around on every floor and the witch’s omniscient presence is always felt, and that’s only partly due to her taunting Banjo and his bird with her AB rhyme schemes over some sort of intercom system. However, I’m willing to give Gruntilda’s Lair a pass as the enemy encounters are very slight and the enclosure of the spacious walls feels as tight as Fort Knox while inside them. The oppressive aura mood doesn’t stem from a notion of danger, but how small and insignificant Banjo looks juxtaposed with the massive walls surrounding him. Also, I must commend Gruntilda’s Lair for taking the hub format of Super Mario 64 and streamlining the non-linear hub to a constant vertical incline because progression feels more satisfying. I just wish Banjo wasn’t forced to start from square one every time the player exits the game, with the few teleportation cauldrons withstanding.

As to be expected, Banjo-Kazooie’s levels that protrude from the hub are a varied bunch that curates a wide selection of typical platformer level motifs. Every base is fully covered, ranging from a beach level, snow level, spooky level, etc. However, I did state before that Banjo-Kazooie’s levels were richer in substance despite the marginal number of them, and also that they follow suit on the hub’s expansiveness. Despite the seemingly standard levels, the developers have added some deeper thematic flair that transcends their base motif. For example, Treasure Trove Cove, the beach level, is plastered with pirate imagery, including an immobile ship at its center along with several silly-looking treasure chest beasts with goodies inside them. The winter wonderland of Freezeezy Peak uses the time of year associated with the season to engulf the level of Christmas cheer, something only a Western developer could fully epitomize due to living in a culture that actually celebrates the holiday as opposed to Japan observing it as outsiders. I suppose the same could be said for Halloween formulating the inspiration behind Mad Monster Mansion, but the specific elements of horror associated with that holiday were always less solidified.
One level that takes a typical level motif in a wild direction is Clanker’s Cavern. I think this is Rare tackling a sewer level, but all of the properties usually found in those terrains are only slightly recognizable. Maybe I was distracted by Clanker, the metallic shark floating in the center of the level in a pool of filthy backwashed water massive enough to fit the shark’s titanic, steamboat stature. Besides his size, Clanker’s also a great unsubtle eyesore because he looks like hell. The beastly machine has rusted over in the years he’s served as Gruntilda’s garbage disposal, with his murky eyeballs bulging out of his skull and a shockingly graphic fissure of pulpy, red flesh near the base of his left fin. He lives a fate that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, but the arena where he’s condemned to live out his days is still a monumental stride in 3D-level design due to its upscaled breadth. Enclosed areas will be found per level such as the pyramids of the Gobi Valley, the interior quarters of the ship in Rusty Bucket Bay, and the pink, veiny insides of Clanker’s decaying body, and they are exciting to excavate upon uncovering them and present layers of depth in the level design. My favorite level in the game that combines an interesting theme alongside a breathtaking scope is Click Clock Wood. The entrance of the level acts as a foyer connecting four paths each represented by a season. The wooded area with a towering tree trunk at the center shares the same layout behind each door, but the aesthetic of the level is affected by the weather conditions of each subsequent equinox. From the beginning of the rainy budding of Spring, then the baked warmth of Summer, to the auburn glow of Autumn, and finally the desolate chill of winter, I was stunned to feel a slight sting of sentimentalism at the end of the cycle. The many overarching tasks throughout each season also add to the profound depth of the area’s level progression. What Rare managed to execute here is truly astonishing.

The word I’d use to describe Banjo-Kazooie’s overall design philosophy is conspicuous. Already, the word can be used to define the way in which the levels are depicted because every angle of the spacious playgrounds enlarges the player’s range of sight. Besides enrapturing the player with a broad spectacle, crafting each level with a wide range of sight in mind is perfect for the loose exploration parameters of each level. The proverbial boot that kicked Mario out of every level upon either succeeding or failing in Super Mario 64 is completely discarded in Banjo-Kazooie. Obtaining a “jiggy” piece, the main collectible that unlocks new levels in the hub by fitting them in an unfinished jigsaw puzzle of the area, will never hastily eject the player back into the hub. I’m glad that Rare remedied Nintendo’s awkward mistake here, for it's a much more sensible approach to the collectathon format. Because the player is free to explore each area without the boot-out system in place, every objective is of equal precedence, which is why allowing the player to scope them out easily while exploring is imperative. When the player comes across a point of interest on the map, the game frames the scenario clearly enough to signal that a Jiggy could be earned here. Objectives to claim Jiggies are incredibly varied, ranging from puzzle minigames, fighting hordes of enemies, races, platforming challenges, etc. The diversity on display here assures that each Jiggy task will be somewhat unique and never tire the player with repetitive tedium. One highlight task seen throughout the game is transforming Banjo’s body into another animal or creature with the help of Mumbo’s voodoo powers. Playing as a termite, alligator, walrus, pumpkin, and bee doesn’t allow Banjo to execute the same physical feats compared to when Kazooie is strapped to his back, but playing as these funny forms for a short period does enough to diversify the gameplay even more.

To make Mumbo flick his wand and say the magic words, Banjo first needs to collect enough silver, skull-shaped tokens to satisfy the pygmy magician. Not to worry, for these tokens are as prominent as the Jiggy pieces. The other collectibles such as the candy-coated, multicolored Jingo creatures and the honeycomb pieces that increase Banjo’s maximum health are a tad more unobtrusive, but never to the extent where the player will ever experience a stress-induced aneurysm trying to scope them out. The game’s secondary collectible, the golden music notes, are strewn around the level so abundantly that they’re almost like currency. I had hoped that the developers would have treated them as a form of currency because the ones the player collects respawn in the same spots if the player dies. Doing a thorough examination of a level’s layout while the land is fresh is one thing, but performing the same trek to regain these sonorous half-notes is incredibly grating. I wouldn’t mind so much if the notes weren’t necessary to proceed through Gruntilda’s Lair, and the quantity needed gets pretty stiff near the end of the game. It’s the one collectathon aspect in the game that the developers neglected to carefully consider.

The player will have to meticulously scrounge through every nook and cranny in the game anyways to prepare for the final battle against Gruntilda. This is not only because doors locked behind substantially high music note numbers are the only means of replenishing ammunition, but because of what occurs before it. Before Banjo can confront the foul face of Gruntilda up close and personal, the sickly-colored stereotype stalls him and Kazooie with a little game. And by little game, I mean Trivial Pursuit from hell. “Grunty’s Furnace Fun” tests the player’s knowledge of everything in the game, including level layouts, music cues, voices, and odd tidbits about Gruntilda that her good witch counterpart informs Banjo of in many instances. Banjo also revisits old minigames with an added timer for a steeper challenge. This array of questions delves into information so obscure that it's sadistic. Did you not know the percentage of fecal matter in the waters of Bubblegloop Swamp, or were you unable to decipher Mumbo Mountain by a picture of its grass? Into the fiery drink you go, you idiot! The pathway of panels to the other side where Gruntilda is as long as the Brooklyn Bridge, and the margins of error are incredibly strict. A few panels immediately launch Banjo to his death, sending him back to square one. I understand that this kind of inanity is in character for Gruntilda, but forcing the player to endure this seems like a contemptuous slight from the developers. They knew this wouldn’t be fun for anyone. Fortunately, the game offers a proper final boss fight with Gruntilda that utilizes all of the player’s physical prowess in an epic fight at the peak of her lair. Weirdly enough, the credits will roll after the game show portion to dupe the player into thinking they finished the game beforehand. I think offering the real final fight as a reward for collecting all the Jiggies would’ve been a better incentive, and what they decided to do here is rather obtuse.

If Super Mario 64 is the grandfather of the 3D platformer, then Banjo-Kazooie is the father figure for all other games in the subgenre that followed. Being younger than Mario’s 3D debut allows Banjo-Kazooie to use its mistakes as a reference, and Banjo-Kazooie rectifies all that Mario established with the same collectathon ethos intact. Banjo-Kazooie is bigger, more free-flowing, more ambitious, and more involved in its collectathon gameplay mechanics than Super Mario 64 could possibly have ever hoped for. No wonder why every platformer that I grew up with took notice and borrowed so much from Banjo-Kazooie to the point where Super Mario 64 seemed like the obsolete model. Check mate, Mario. You’ve been bested by a bear and his bird.

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Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com

Looking back on the games I played over the course of my childhood, I've noticed that some of my most memorable gaming expirences came from Rare. Before I discovered Banjo-Kazooie, I played and beat the GBA port of Donkey Kong Country 2 and the DS remake of Diddy Kong Racing, but out of those two games I found Diddy Kong Racing DS to be much more interesting. I frequently looked up information online on how to unlock everything that the game had to offer. Apon doing so, I eventually discovered that there was a whole other version of the game that came before it with a few characters that weren't in the DS version. This is how I discovered the existence of Banjo. It wasn't until I connected my Xbox 360 to the internet for the first time a few years later that I would rediscover Banjo-Kazooie and download the demos of this game and its sequel Tooie. Not long after, I was able to purchase both of them and enjoy them to my heart's content. The Banjo-Kazooie games quickly became some of my all-time favorites, leading me into developing a fascination for the developers that made them. I've even attempted speedrunning this game on the 360 version multiple times with my best time being around 5 hours. Having just finished another playthrough of this masterpiece, I will say this is easily Rare's best collect-a-thon and one of the best 3d platformers ever made.

There are a lot of positive things to say about Banjo-Kazooie. The graphics are nice, the characters are funny & memorable, the worlds are enjoyable to explore, and the size of said worlds are just right. One big issue with some of the games that came after this one such as Donkey Kong 64 & Banjo-Tooie are that the worlds are just too damn big and require a lot of backtracking. WIth Banjo-Kazooie, all the objectives & goodies are scattered throughout the levels in a way that isn't intrusive. The only exception being one jiggy you'll have to backtrack for in the middle part of the game, but unless you're aiming for 100% completion it is totally optional.

As far as negatives go, the controls can be a little confusing. It could be since my last playthrough was a couple years ago, but I had some trouble remembering the imputs for a few moves or just accidently doing the wrong thing. It was never something I thought about until I played this version but that's probably because of the obtuse design of the controller. The other issue is something that the 360 version fixes which involves having to recollect the Jinjos and musical notes if you died. It can be very aggrivating to go through the process of getting them all again, especially if you die in any of the later worlds. However, the reason this issue exists is because of hardware limitations so its somewhat excusable.

Banjo-Kazooie is Rare's most iconic IP and rightfully so. Its tight level design, beautiful worlds, and memorable cast cement this game as the best 3d platformer on the N64. Between Banjo-Kazooie & Mario 64, I'd say the bear & bird duo gave the Italian plumber a run for his money.

Veredito: Nostalgia destilada e deliciosa.

Imagino que se você joga Banjo-Kazooie pela 1ª vez hoje, ele deve ser um coletaton padrãozão com câmera bosta e alguns bugs irritantes, mas que consegue ser divertidinho. Só que pra mim, uma criança noventista que cresceu com um N64 e que já tem a platina dele toda no piloto automático de tanto rezerar, é IMPOSSÍVEL realmente saber como é essa sensação. Jogar Banjo pela 1ª vez já adulto? Isso existe?

BK é indissociável da minha infância, só a abertura dele e os primeiros minutinhos já me sugam pelo túnel do tempo. Pra época da TV de tubo, de assoprar a fita até dar certo, de alugar jogo sábado de manhã e devolver segunda de noite, de personagens que pareciam um desenho animado da época, de ler o manual e procurar segredos nas revistas de detonados, e de quando os jogos tinham que estar testados e bem resolvidos no lançamento porque "baixar atualizações" simplesmente não existia. Se um bug não atrapalhava uma partida "normal", não era bug. Era charme, gerava rumores e virava tática de speedrun.

Claro, hoje fica óbvio que várias coisas nele são terríveis. Mesmo que alguns dos bugs realmente não atrapalhem, outros são um inferno, a câmera é um lixo, falta MUITO polimento em muitos detalhes, e certos estereótipos (Mumbo e Gruntilda, estou olhando pra vocês) são indefensáveis. Porém não dá pra negar que crescer com Banjo-Kazooie foi uma delícia, e jogar ele continua uma delícia. O humor retardado da Rare, as raízes extremamente sólidas do gênero coletaton, o charme dos personagens e das fases, o visual e músicas tão fantásticos quanto a tecnologia do começo do 3D era capaz de proporcionar.

Se uma parte dele envelheceu feito fruta estragada (sério, como alguém achou que "Mumbo Jumbo" era uma boa ideia?) o resto envelheceu feito vinho, e é triste ver que hoje em dia esse tipo de coisa é raridade. Mídia física, sem DRM nem microtransações, sem online obrigatório, sem "lança ele todo torto mesmo que depois a gente conserta", sem encher de enrolação desnecessária só pra durar mais horas. Só a alegria boba de ser criança, de voltar pra quando a felicidade de ver o boneco pulando pela tela já era motivo mais que suficiente pra ligar o videogame.

E meu deus do céu, COMO EU QUERIA que os jogos voltassem a ter cheats escondidos só pela zuera da coisa.

I don't really have a funny anecdote or some sincere personal history with this game to overshare. I rented it once as a kid and I hated it, then I went most of my whole adult life until a few years ago not really thinking about Banjo-Kazooie at all. When I committed to building a physical N64 collection, I wanted to be thorough. Anything I had played as a kid or that was generally associated with the N64 in particular? Well, I was going to pick that up.

Mostly I think Banjo-Kazooie is mediocre, but I was never enamored with the collect-a-thon genre to begin with. Even during their heyday I was pretty upset that platformers had largely shifted focus from having well designed levels that drove the player forward to sandboxes full of collectables you had to tick off a checklist. But people ate this shit up, and Rare was always ready with another heaping spoonful of slop.

Banjo-Kazooie is at least the least offensive collect-a-thon I've played that doesn't have "Mario" in the title. Rare's unique sense of humor shines through as always, and aesthetically it's not hard to see why people fall for Banjo-Kazooie's charm. It's a pretty good looking game for the N64, and if you hate Grant Kirkhope's excellent soundtrack then I'm afraid I need to check to see if you actually have warm blood running through your veins.

It then almost goes without saying that most of my issues are with the gameplay. This criticism is one that can largely be blown up to encapsulate my issues with the genre as a whole, but I just don't find the structure of these games to be appealing. Running around and initiating dull little minigames to get yet another jiggy isn't my idea of a good time. Having to collect every musical note in one smooth run only highlights some of the design shortcomings of some stages and amplify control and camera issues, and yeah maybe this one is on me trying to get 100% completion knowing full well all it unlocks is an advertisement for a cut feature.

I did really enjoy the gameshow sequence, and while I think there is just a bit too much fat with the amount of things you have to collect, it is comparatively a much more focused game than its sequel.

I am out of things to say about this fucking video game.

The anti-Mario 64: Banjo's moves are entirely situational, self-explanatory, and devoid of momentum. Collecting jiggies usually boils down to solving a simple contextual puzzle rather than utilizing any kind of creative platforming. As a result, there's hardly a difficulty curve or any implicit progression... but it doesn't matter, because Banjo-Kazooie's total mastery over its own strengths and weaknesses means it's fully confident in being utterly carried by its level design. The every-nook-and-cranny mindset is the very foundation of the collectathon, and yet I've never seen it done better than in the game that more or less created the genre. Despite how little there is to the platforming, every in-game structure feels multipurpose. Anything that can be jumped on top of also hides a collectible behind or underneath it, any piece of architecture has several entrances that you have to consider. This philosophy peaks in Mad Monster Mansion, where not only does the main building have multiple ways into multiple rooms on multiple floors, but the hazardous thorn bushes outside double as pathways after receiving Mumbo's transformation. If anything, Kirkhope's soundtrack doesn't get enough credit for establishing this sense of interconnectivity. Plucky platforming tunes seamlessly transition into Rare's signature unexpectedly moody ambience, impossible to imagine the game without. The more unsung hero is the game's usage of verticality. Nearly every level has some kind of player-led buildup to reaching the area's summit, eventually bestowing a way to scout out points of interest that you might have missed and, more importantly, personal satisfaction. The end result is a series of beautifully concise dioramas, each taking about an hour to fully complete and best experienced one-a-day. The well-meaning but far too convoluted Click Clock Wood is the only world I'd label as less than 'great,' but it's not enough to put a significant damper on the rest. With how lukewarm I've been on nearly every recent 3D platformer, I'd been beginning to fear that my love for them might've left me, but all it took was a classic to remind me it's still far and away the best genre. Maybe not as mindblowing as it was in the 90s but no less of a supremely enjoyable experience. Bring 'em back, Phil.

Never have I ever played a 3D platformer that gave me such a visceral reaction as this game did. I thought I just didn't like 3D platformers anymore because of it. Everything in this game is the epitome of obnoxious, between absolute garbage level design, camera and controls functioning as well as trying to run on a treadmill on ice while being sprayed with water in the face, to the entire game having the sound design of slapstick kids commercial for the newest Slime Toy TM. If you give this game anything above 3 stars I genuinely feel bad for you of how you lie to yourself. Just go play Mario 64 if you want a good platformer from that era.

Above all else, I play games to get sucked into an engrossing world. Gameplay mechanics alone won't win me over, I've got to want to just hang out in the game's levels, and Banjo-Kazooie was one of the first games to really do that for me. When I was 9, life had been pretty miserable until we moved in with my Grandparents for a while. My uncles had an N64, and Banjo was one of the first console games I ever beat. I got fully sucked into in Grunty's Lair, and hiding away from my parents in Grandma's basement playing Banjo was literally the happiest I had ever been. The charm of the levels, moves, characters, and especially the music were like a warm, comforting security blanket that I had never had. For whatever reason, Banjo made me feel at peace for the first time in my life.

After having played the game various times since '99, I'd describe Banjo-Kazooie as striking the right balance between simplicity and complexity. A lean, fantastic 3D platformer. While I'd argue Tooie improves on BK in every way, you really need to start here.

Every level has a strong sense of identity with memorable and varied set pieces and challenges, which is the most critical thing a 3D platformer has to nail (aside from the controls, of course). BK's greatest strength is its All-Killer-No-Filler approach. It's not too long, but every area you visit (including the hub world) is a joy to explore from start to finish.

I am 110% biased here, but I will always consider Banjo-Kazooie (as well as Tooie) to be among the all-time greats. I'm certainly not breaking any new ground by saying that, the game's a certified classic. But beyond being a fun 3D platformer, it's supremely important to me on a personal level. Obviously Banjo's just a 3D render of a cartoonish animal, but 20 years ago, it felt like he saved me. Like his Guh-huhs meant everything was gonna be okay.

I love that big dumb bear.

"We're looking for treasure, Pipe Boy!"

"Take this... But watch out for a smelly brown bear and his ugly bird partner!"

Absolutely hilarious. Grunty's Furnace Fun is an all-timer in video game boss levels. Was very exciting to see her shout out my old high school, Fat Hag High, here.

The game is just pure charm, gameplay is simple yet fun, characters are goofy and memorable, but this game's strongest point is the music. Grant Kirkhope is a genius, and the way the composing was handled is absolutely incredible, I'm not an expert so I can't use technical words but it's amazing how the music slightly shifts when you are in the water, and how Gruntilda's lair theme changes whenever you get near a specific level and it instantly changes the whole atmosphere, one thing I failed to notice at the beginning is how every level has a varied music theme depending on where you are in the area (apart from being under water) what made me notice it was Click Clock Wood's theme and how it got 4 variations of the main level theme, well turns out all levels do. I want to also mention that Click Clock Wood, the final level, is an absolute work of art, I don't want to spoil it but it is really unique and has the best theme in the game in my opinion. One thing I also adored and that caught me off guard was how remembering characters and focusing on worlds details is pretty relevant, mandatory even if you want progress through the game. By the end of the game you will be remembering that Gruntilda's favorite sport is belly barging (randomised on each playthrough). There's also this fun easter egg that when you cheat in the game Gruntilda will literally threaten to delete your save file, and you should probably listen to her because she will actually do it.

I wrote about this game a few years ago, idk if I agree with everything but it might be interesting: https://meloshantani.wordpress.com/2017/10/27/banjo2/

Last I played this (2017) I liked it! Good balance of levels that manage to stay navigable, reasonable # of goals and things to find, some fun revisiting with abilities, and the hub world's secrets are still neat. Some recent indie collectathons (like hat in time) feel like their movesets are too acrobatic, causing their levels to balloon confusingly in size by mashing together Super Mario 64 acrobatics-ism and Banjo-Kazooie-collecting-ism. The relative slowness of banjo works to the game's advantage, keeping them manageable. I think Banjo-Tooie had some problems with levels getting too big or having too many screen transitions.

The later levels in Banjo do get a bit unmanageable if you're trying to 100% notes, but outside of that goal it feels fun to learn about the levels and get around.

A massive showcase of how only one or two design decisions in a game can lead to it being a far less enjoyable experience than it ought to me, which is disappointing to me because this game was shaping up to be an absolute favourite to me early on. Banjo Kazooie has all the makings of an old school collectathon masterpiece, with decently sized open levels that have a lot of room to hide things cleverly and contribute to a strong sense of exploration and discovery, a good sense of level design that provides the player with a multitude of unique and engaging challenges, and a frankly insane amount of charm. Each stage feels distinct and interesting with its own cast of entertaining characters and distinctive aesthetics that make the game intrinsically rewarding with each new idea thrown towards the player. Basically everything about the game works remarkably and is thought through with great care and love, but the combination of clunky controls and the way player death is handled make for a thoroughly uneven experience that becomes difficult to want to actually play through past a certain point.

The fact that dying in a level resets the notes you've collected feels genuinely insane to me and I have not been able to wrap my head around a possible reason why the game is like this beyond the attempt to make a more difficult experience. On the first few levels this is an inconvenient but ultimately reasonable design decision to make, with these being rather easy to get through without any serious threats, but as the game progressively gets more difficult, things become strangely stressful as you are put into more situations that will potentially make you recover over 20 minutes of progress to get those notes back. Mind you I'm not against this game having some difficult sections, I think it's important to have more threatening elements mixed in through the game to not only give variety to things but also to make the game feel less like a completely straightforward trek with nothing to keep the player on their toes. What I am against however, if the fact that the punishment is not only as harsh as it is, but also feels antithetical to the intended experience.

The desire to explore and discover everything a level has to offer gets offset by the fact that if the game decides to throw something nasty at the player, they've just lost a sizeable chunk of time. As such the drive to discover everything that an area has to offer gets weakened by this constant threat. It's also strange to me that the game does this while also having a lives system which ends up feeling rather pointless, since the additional loss of having to walk back to the level from the overworld is a relatively minor inconvenience for the player compared to having to recollect a central object every time they die or exit a level. If this harsh punishment for death was only applied to when the player lost all of their lives, it not only would increase the perceived value of the extra lives scattered all over the place, but it would stop the main experience from becoming thoroughly frustrating and demoralising once the later, more difficult levels are reached.

This is further exacerbated by the fact that the controls for the game are rather imprecise, which once again, wouldn't be such a frustrating thing if not for the fact that if these imprecisions lead to death, which they likely will at least once, it's just cost the player a chunk of time and makes the game feel repetitive as the player is essentially having to replay the majority of the level to get what they've lost again. In a worse game I'd find this to be far less disappointing, but for it to be an issue that pervades a game that I consider a borderline masterpiece otherwise, it comes as such an egregious issue that stopped me from wanting to beat the game after I died for the 2nd time after having nearly finished an area, forcing me to essentially do the exact same thing again for a couple of small slip ups.

Banjo Kazooie in a lot of regards is a fantastic game, with its variety, creativity and amazing sense of design in a lot of respects, especially in regards to a difficulty curve, but the way deaths are handled in this combined with some elements of classic N64 imprecision, I could not bring myself to beat this for the time being. I'll play the Xbox version of this next time to see if the game ends up being more fun if I experience things without what's essentially been my biggest complaint, but this game got to me bad enough that it'll take a bit of time to get around to that.

Before they were bought by Microsoft and banished to the purgatory of making Kinect games (and also Sea of Thieves) for the rest of their days, Rare was known for making quality games on Nintendo's home consoles. Because of this, I wanted to play Banjo-Kazooie ever since I was a kid, but I've been especially interested in checking the game out after spending the past few years becoming well acquainted with Rare's 2D platforms and first-person shooters, and I wanted to see their take on the 3D platformer genre. After beating the game with a total of 95 out of 100 Jiggies, I can honestly say that I had a lot of fun with Banjo-Kazooie, and while I did end up having some gripes with it here and there, I still thought that Banjo-Kazooie was a great game overall.

Aside from being an early 3D platformer, Banjo-Kazooie was also one of the first collectathons with its emphasis on having to collect as many Jiggies and music notes as possible in order to progress to the next area, and so it's a good thing that Rare made everything involving that exact process feel so fun and rewarding. Each of the game's nine levels is brimming with life thanks to the game's atmospheric, yet playful music, expressive artstyle, and especially the eccentric cast of characters and enemies, with the dry, sarcastic sense of humor making the moments where you help these characters out all the more memorable. Even the slightly more generic level themes, such as the desert and snow levels, ended up feeling unique thanks to their NPCs, as I went from being a great stand-in Dad to three polar bear cubs to feeling incredibly bad for Gobi and how he can never catch a break from Kazooie's Beak Buster. On top of having a generally fluid and snappy set of moves (including the additional ones that are learned throughout the game), Banjo-Kazooie would also occasionally give you the opportunity to transform into an animal with the help of the skull-faced shaman Mumbo Jumbo, and these opened up new opportunities for exploration in each level while also adding more variety to their challenges, puzzles, and minigames.

The general gameplay loop of exploring a level from head to toe in order to find all of its secrets was one that never really got dull for me, and while some of the requirements got a bit demanding towards the end (with me having to backtrack all the way to the first stage just to find a few of the Jiggies that I had missed just to open the final portrait), the satisfaction of collecting all the Jiggies and music notes in a level was strong enough to keep me going. Despite how solid the controls were, I felt that the game's camera could've been a lot better, because while it was definitely an improvement on the camera controls in something like Super Mario 64, the fixed viewpoints made aspects like the already wonky swimming controls feel even less reliable to deal with. The only level that I straight-up disliked here was "Rusty Bucket Bay", as it not only had some genuinely bad music, but it also had an entire segment filled with cheap instant deaths and its inclusion of oil water made traversal feel tiresome. Speaking of which, dying during a level in Banjo-Kazooie means that you have to recollect all of the music notes that you already got (along with the five Jinjos if you hadn't already found them by that point), and this made levels like the aforementioned "Rusty Bucket Bay" feel flat-out tedious. Even with all of this in mind, I still had a great time with Banjo-Kazooie, and although I think it'll be a while before I check out Banjo-Tooie, I might give Conker's Bad Fur Day a go some time soon.

Wow, the game that literally everyone says is really good is really good, huh? The people over at Rare were able to look at what Mario 64 did right and wrong and built off it a game of impressive polish and creativity. It's shocking to me how this game that was still fairly early in 3D gaming manages to not only avoid most of the pitfalls of its time (swimming and the flying attack are kind of wonky, but that's it) but manages to achieve an incredibly balanced and smooth difficulty curve with few hiccups.

From the moment it begins to the end credits Banjo-Kazooie is incredibly charming and continues to introduce cool ideas. There some worlds I don't really like but I think all of them have at least a lot of creativity and overall pretty high levels of quality. Here's my thoughts on them, in general I really appreciate how most of them are really easy to orient yourself in thanks to really clever layouts and memorable landmarks:

- Spiral Mountain is a good tutorial stage but nothing that immediately blows me away
- Gruntilda's Lair is a very interesting overworld but it does suffer from being very linear, which means that getting a game over means having to hike back up to wherever you died late in the game. I wish it opened up in a more organic way than fast travel pots, or that it was quicker to navigate, but in terms of flavor it's absolutely lovely, and I like that there's a bit of puzzle in finding the next world.
- Mumbo's Mountain - Good intro level, eases you in very well without being too linear/simple
- Treasure Trove Cove - I think the shark is not a great addition because it discourages inexperienced players (me) from exploring the outer parts of the level, but for the rest, really good, I like how the context-sensitive abilities open up exploration as you find them here and in Mumbo's.
- Clanker's Cavern - I appreciate how creepy and gross it looks but this is the worst level, swimming sucks, especially when freeing Clanker. I also don't like how 8/10 Jiggies hinge on freeing him, it makes exploration prior to that basically useless.
- Bubblegloop Swamp - I have a bit of a bone to pick with this level because it took me a lot of time to find Bottles, so it was more frustrating than it should've been. That said that's a me thing, the level is solid although I don't like how slow the gator is given this is one of the biggest levels.
- Freezeezy Peak - Would be one of the best levels but Beak Bomb sucks and so do the snowmen. Otherwise 10/10, all the Jiggies are fun and the vibes are amazing.
- Gobi's Valley - One of the best levels. I wish the water stuff was foreshadowed a but but I adore how this level is laid out, super fun to traverse.
- Mad Monster Mansion - The best one. A genuine joy to explore, with tons of tiny secrets, really tightly designed, and it's just a very fun aesthetic.
- Rusty Bucket Bay - I spent almost 2 hours on the propeller Jiggy. Just the propeller Jiggy. It was kind of a controller thing too, but I still spent two hours on that one damn thing. The rest of the level is actually pretty great but man I don't like that one.
- Click Clock Wood - Insane how ambitious this level is. It's so cool how the world changes around you through the seasons, and some of the Jiggies are just cool. It's a genuine challenge to platform, while still breezy enough that going through it several times isn't a chore. Wish the snowmen weren't here, I still hate 'em.

The game then ends on a really fun game show, and a genuinely challenging but pretty well-made boss fight. I'm just... in awe at how this game gets everything right. I usually fight against the notion that games become "dated" and worse as a result with time, but there's no arguing that a lot of games from the PS/N64 era struggle to make everything work right. Banjo-Kazooie pulls everything off so flawlessly that it's genuinely jarring when something actually ends up being frustrating, rather than being a sort of unavoidable thing you end up taking for granted.

If you get all Jiggies, the game opens the way to three secret items that would have granted you special unlocks in Tooie, although that ended up not happening. I think that's a genuinely great idea that showcases just how creative and ambitious Banjo-Kazooie's developers were. There's something I really admire in that.