As I stated in my Kazooie review, I replayed the game two times back in September of 2023. With Kazooie, that doesn't seem too crazy because it's about half the length of Tooie. However, I also replayed this game twice as well. And with it being twice as long, or maybe even longer for some people, as Kazooie? Seems a bit nuts right? Well, I really went Banjo crazy that month because after beating both games once, I couldn't stop thinking about them which led to me replaying them again right away. The thing is, that whole time I couldn't stop thinking about playing them again...I was thinking about Tooie pretty much. I don't know what happened to me because I went from thinking this game was just decent and definitely worse than Kazooie, to thinking it was amazing and super addicting and better than Kazooie overall. After replaying both games yet again, do I still think this? Probably, tho it's a bit complicated.
If you played Kazooie prior, the first thing you'll notice with Tooie is just how much Banjo and Kazooie's moveset has improved. The roll attack lasts longer, is more mobile and has a nice visual of Kazooie shielding Banjo. The normal attack you perform by standing still, which before was a simple claw move by Banjo, is now replaced by a more effective stationary rat-a-tat rap. The swimming is now WAY better naturally and doesn't require you to hold the R button for it to be good. In fact I don't think the R button does anything when swimming lol. You can now flip-flap directly out of a talon trot. When you do a beak buster, you can now move forward while you're doing rather than staying in place. This change can actually lead to some exploits you can perform too which is rad. These along with some non move-set changes like how whenever you speed up the text it makes the characters talk faster and doesn't pitch up their voices (which was an issue I had forgot to mention in Kazooie), the camera is slower but smoother to use and is overall an improvement, Banjo's backpack animates now when he walks and something about it is incredibly satisfying to me idk why, and the biggest thing is now notes don't get reset when you die (for a reason I'll get into later). All of these improvements drastically enhance the basic gameplay and I honestly miss a ton of these whenever I go back to Kazooie.
That's all fine and dandy, but how about new moves? Well, Tooie's got you covered because it's got like double the amount of moves in Kazooie. The biggest addition is the split-up mechanic. Now you can play as Banjo and Kazooie separately which makes for some clever puzzles. Each singular character gets their own specific moves and while Kazooie's are generally really fun, Banjo's are mostly situational. Kazooie's consist of moves that aren't as context-specific like the ability to glide on her own, her own backflip that's better than the normal one, and the ability to hatch eggs which gets used quite a bit. Banjo's however, besides the first one that lets him pick up and move objects which can lead to some fun puzzles, aren't used that much. He has an ability that let's him recover HP which is nice but only gets used a couple times overall and isn't as helpful as you think because lives aren't an issue anymore. I actually forgot to say they don't exist anymore and it's actually better to die sometimes because it respawns you at the last split-ip bad/beginning of the world which can work in your favor. But anyways, his other two abilities which let him go in dangerous liquids and the other let's him go in his backpack like a burlap sack to cross dangerous obstacles, just aren't used much and are incredibly situational. They all feel pretty samey too unlike Kazooie's, so overall I'd say Kazooie had the better new moves overall. This isn't even getting into all the new moves they both got together. There's 4 new egg types: Fire, Grenade, Ice and Clockwork. All have various uses and are fun additions. There are two new shoes, the claw clamber boots and the springy step shoes. The springy step shoes feel a little derivative because of the jump pads but they're still cool. The claw clamber boots however let you walk on designated parts of walls and it's awesome. There's the bill drill which is also kind of situational but is super satisfying to use. You can now fire eggs in first-person, which can be a little tricky at first with the N64 joystick but is also fun. Because of this, the game also added egg shooting in the air and water when going in first-person mode. The first-person shooting also leads into this FPS mode where you use Kazooie as a gun, certainly riding on the success of Goldeneye, and they can be super fun as well. All of these additions, plus the split-up stuff just really add to their whole move set and makes traversing through worlds a ton of fun.
Speaking of the worlds in this game, they're overall a lot bigger than Kazooie's. The first couple are kinda comparable in size to the first game's but by the time you get to Terrydactyland, they become just massive in size. You'd think this would be super annoying compared to Kazooie, but the game added warp pads that can warp you all over the level. These are the reason I never found the game tedious, if the game didn't have them or if they were awful like DK 64's warps, then the game would be way worse than it is. Anyways, the world's are much bigger in size and there's a lot more things you can do in each world. Though, overall there are less collectables because notes are now in bundles of 5 and 20. So overall the game has less of a focus on tons of collectables like the notes and more of a focus on the jiggys themselves. Jiggy's require way more steps than they did in Kazooie and this turns a lot of people off of the game. A bit understandable but the game is clearly trying to be more of a slower paced adventure platformer rather than Kazooie's brisk pace. I like both approaches but when it comes to Tooie's unique world themes like a run-down amusement park, a dinosaur world and a combined fire and ice world, I definitely prefer just how creative Tooie gets.
I mentioned how Jiggy's take longer to get because more steps are involved, and that's partly because of Mumbo Jumbo and Humba Wumba. In this game, Humba is the one that transforms you and Mumbo is actually a playable character. It greatly depends on the world but overall, I think this is a fun change. Mumbo has a very basic moveset compared to BK but his whole deal is using his magic on specific Mumbo pads. This is incredibly situational ofc and depending on the world it can be a bit tedious, but it can also lead to some interesting puzzles where you have to switch back and forth between BK and Mumbo. Same thing with Humba, sometimes you actually have to switch between Mumbo and then the Humba transformation. Mostly in the later levels do they make these portions kinda puzzling. In terms of everything new they added, this is probably the weakest addition just because it can lead to some tedium, I'll admit that, however I personally never had much of an issue with it tho I also have the whole game memorized at this point so take that as you will.
Besides all that, one of my absolute favorite additions was the fact a lot of the world's are interconnected. Early on, you'll help this mayan cat character out in recovering this idol. Well, you obtain it from this caveman in a weird looking cave and bring it back to him. That's strange though, you're in a world called Mayahem Temple and you just saw a caveman. What gives? Well it turns out, you just entered Terrydactyland when you did that, the aformentioned dinosaur world. This happens a lot in this game where you'll briefly cross over from one world into another or even unlock paths to directly travel between each one. The most memorable one is where you have to feed a different tribe of (good) cavemen this time, and to do so, you unlock a shortcut between Terrydactyland and WitchyWorld. You pick up some burgers from this one character, use the claw clamber boots you get from Grunty Industries and walk along the wall to feed them. All these working parts and interconnectivity just make the world feel alive and I love it.
I mentioned how you had to get the claw clamber boots from Grunty Industries, which is world 6, and use them for a jiggy in Terrydactyland which is world 5. Banjo Kazooie did this exact same thing only once, where you had to backtrack with an ability from another world. Tooie does this way more often and because of that and the interconnectivity of the world, it kind of feels like a 3D metroidvania at points which is awesome. Anyways, people seem to have an issue with backtracking in this game and I don't get it. The more complex jiggy's I understand, but the backtracking is not required as there's enough jiggy's in the game for you to beat the final boss. And even then, there really aren't that many backtracking jiggy's in general. Maybe like 12 or 13 of the 90 jiggy's require backtracking I think? Either way I think that complaint is majorly overblown and is not an issue at all to me, again the Mumbo and Humba stuff I can understand but backtracking to old levels with future abilities? Never even crossed my mind as an issue.
Something else this game added was a boss for every world and they're all really fun. Some are better than others, Lord Woo Fak Fak for example is probably the worst, but I really like how almost every single one of them are large in scope. They really feel menacing even if some of them are pathetically easy.
The game is also way funnier and a lot more cynical in general which I dig. Kazooie was both of these things as well but Tooie cranks it up to the max. The game literally starts off with Bottles dying and Kazooie going "well, he wasnt the most popular character anyways". The game is just full of this tongue-in cheese cynicism. The cast of side characters is not only WAY larger, they're more distinct and memorable just because the dialogue is so much better. There's literally an immigration joke when BK have to help some actual aliens, it's amazing. I think this, plus the interconnected worlds and more unique world themes, are THE main things I like over Kazooie. That plus the improved move set ofc.
The OST is again wondeful just like the first game, but instead of being upbeat, catchy tunes..Grant went for a more atmospheric darker ost this time around. Because worlds are much larger and take more time to beat, I think this change is for the better since the music track won't get old at all. Some of my favorite songs were Grunty Industries, Weldar's Theme and Mr Patch's Theme.
Yes I know two of those are from Grunty Industries. I honestly don't get the hate at all for that world. Something like Terrydactyland I can get, even if I still like it, because it's a massive world with empty space in a lot of it. However, Grunty Industries is a complex, zelda dungeon-like world and it's amazingly designed. I guess if you went into Tooie expecting it to just be like Kazooie, you'd hate it however it's very fun to explore and again super well-designed. It's not even that easy to get lost imo, it's a multi-layered world with distinct set-pieces rather than a super large open world. Sorry for the rant, I just don't get Grunty Industries hate lol. Something I did end up feeling a tiny bit sour on this time around was Hailfire Peaks. I still really like that world, and think the theming is awesome. However the fire side is a little too big for its bridges I will admit and the lag gets really bad sometimes there. The game can get laggy throughout portions of the game, which is only a thing on the N64 version, but there especially it's pretty bad.
One more thing before I mention the endgame and close out the review, is Canary Mary. Canary Mary has methods that make her very doable but she's still easily the worst part of the game and the only part I straight up dislike and dread doing. Her first button mashing races in Glittergulch Mine are perfectly fine. Her races in Cloud CuckooLand tho are insane. If you aren't doing the pause trick, idk how it's humenaly possible to win without using a turbo controller or something. The 2nd race isn't as bad because you can stay near her until the very end and then button mash to hell to pass her right before she can catch up. These races are easily doable with the right methods but the fact you have to do them this way, it just stinks man. But luckily this is only for 100% and only a tiny portion of the actual game so it's not the worst thing in the world.
I talked about a lot of improvements this game has over Kazooie. If there's one thing Kazooie destroys Tooie on however, it's the quiz section and final boss. Gone is the charming board game aesthetic of Kazooie, now you have a typical game show-esque quiz game where you have to answer enough questions to beat Grunty's sisters. It's not bad but it pales in comparison to Kazooie's version as it's less charming and even has less question types. Yeah, I won't miss the Gruntilda specific questions but no sound/music quizzes? That's kinda lame. Again, it's not bad and is only disappointing when compared to Kazooie. The final boss is also not nearly as good as Kazooie's. Is the Hag 1 harder? Most definitely but it's not as memorable as the Gruntilda fight from Kazooie and isn't as fun. It's a solid fight overall but compared to Kazooie's, just a bit lackluster.
So do I like Tooie more than Kazooie? In many ways, hell yes. It improves on many things like the duo's moveset, the writing is way funnier and the interconnectivity between worlds felt like a logical step to take after Kazooie. It may have the weaker end boss and quiz show, it's definitely and easier game to replay/100% and the Canary Mary rematch race is the worst thing between both games, however I'm still feeling like I may like this just slightly more than Kazooie just because of how ambitious and fun it is. It's kinda like Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 where each game has is own strengths over the other and it's just hard to choose what's better. Either way, it's still a 10/10 like the first game and one of my favorite games ever now. Easily in my top 3 N64 games, alongside the first game and Majora's Mask of course. Either way, if you see people saying you shouldn't play this game after you've beaten Kazooie. Don't listen to them, give this a try and you might fall become infatuated with it like I have.
This Banjo double feature was fun but I reckon it's time to play some Kirby again. Stay tuned for a Dreamland 2 review coming soon!
If you played Kazooie prior, the first thing you'll notice with Tooie is just how much Banjo and Kazooie's moveset has improved. The roll attack lasts longer, is more mobile and has a nice visual of Kazooie shielding Banjo. The normal attack you perform by standing still, which before was a simple claw move by Banjo, is now replaced by a more effective stationary rat-a-tat rap. The swimming is now WAY better naturally and doesn't require you to hold the R button for it to be good. In fact I don't think the R button does anything when swimming lol. You can now flip-flap directly out of a talon trot. When you do a beak buster, you can now move forward while you're doing rather than staying in place. This change can actually lead to some exploits you can perform too which is rad. These along with some non move-set changes like how whenever you speed up the text it makes the characters talk faster and doesn't pitch up their voices (which was an issue I had forgot to mention in Kazooie), the camera is slower but smoother to use and is overall an improvement, Banjo's backpack animates now when he walks and something about it is incredibly satisfying to me idk why, and the biggest thing is now notes don't get reset when you die (for a reason I'll get into later). All of these improvements drastically enhance the basic gameplay and I honestly miss a ton of these whenever I go back to Kazooie.
That's all fine and dandy, but how about new moves? Well, Tooie's got you covered because it's got like double the amount of moves in Kazooie. The biggest addition is the split-up mechanic. Now you can play as Banjo and Kazooie separately which makes for some clever puzzles. Each singular character gets their own specific moves and while Kazooie's are generally really fun, Banjo's are mostly situational. Kazooie's consist of moves that aren't as context-specific like the ability to glide on her own, her own backflip that's better than the normal one, and the ability to hatch eggs which gets used quite a bit. Banjo's however, besides the first one that lets him pick up and move objects which can lead to some fun puzzles, aren't used that much. He has an ability that let's him recover HP which is nice but only gets used a couple times overall and isn't as helpful as you think because lives aren't an issue anymore. I actually forgot to say they don't exist anymore and it's actually better to die sometimes because it respawns you at the last split-ip bad/beginning of the world which can work in your favor. But anyways, his other two abilities which let him go in dangerous liquids and the other let's him go in his backpack like a burlap sack to cross dangerous obstacles, just aren't used much and are incredibly situational. They all feel pretty samey too unlike Kazooie's, so overall I'd say Kazooie had the better new moves overall. This isn't even getting into all the new moves they both got together. There's 4 new egg types: Fire, Grenade, Ice and Clockwork. All have various uses and are fun additions. There are two new shoes, the claw clamber boots and the springy step shoes. The springy step shoes feel a little derivative because of the jump pads but they're still cool. The claw clamber boots however let you walk on designated parts of walls and it's awesome. There's the bill drill which is also kind of situational but is super satisfying to use. You can now fire eggs in first-person, which can be a little tricky at first with the N64 joystick but is also fun. Because of this, the game also added egg shooting in the air and water when going in first-person mode. The first-person shooting also leads into this FPS mode where you use Kazooie as a gun, certainly riding on the success of Goldeneye, and they can be super fun as well. All of these additions, plus the split-up stuff just really add to their whole move set and makes traversing through worlds a ton of fun.
Speaking of the worlds in this game, they're overall a lot bigger than Kazooie's. The first couple are kinda comparable in size to the first game's but by the time you get to Terrydactyland, they become just massive in size. You'd think this would be super annoying compared to Kazooie, but the game added warp pads that can warp you all over the level. These are the reason I never found the game tedious, if the game didn't have them or if they were awful like DK 64's warps, then the game would be way worse than it is. Anyways, the world's are much bigger in size and there's a lot more things you can do in each world. Though, overall there are less collectables because notes are now in bundles of 5 and 20. So overall the game has less of a focus on tons of collectables like the notes and more of a focus on the jiggys themselves. Jiggy's require way more steps than they did in Kazooie and this turns a lot of people off of the game. A bit understandable but the game is clearly trying to be more of a slower paced adventure platformer rather than Kazooie's brisk pace. I like both approaches but when it comes to Tooie's unique world themes like a run-down amusement park, a dinosaur world and a combined fire and ice world, I definitely prefer just how creative Tooie gets.
I mentioned how Jiggy's take longer to get because more steps are involved, and that's partly because of Mumbo Jumbo and Humba Wumba. In this game, Humba is the one that transforms you and Mumbo is actually a playable character. It greatly depends on the world but overall, I think this is a fun change. Mumbo has a very basic moveset compared to BK but his whole deal is using his magic on specific Mumbo pads. This is incredibly situational ofc and depending on the world it can be a bit tedious, but it can also lead to some interesting puzzles where you have to switch back and forth between BK and Mumbo. Same thing with Humba, sometimes you actually have to switch between Mumbo and then the Humba transformation. Mostly in the later levels do they make these portions kinda puzzling. In terms of everything new they added, this is probably the weakest addition just because it can lead to some tedium, I'll admit that, however I personally never had much of an issue with it tho I also have the whole game memorized at this point so take that as you will.
Besides all that, one of my absolute favorite additions was the fact a lot of the world's are interconnected. Early on, you'll help this mayan cat character out in recovering this idol. Well, you obtain it from this caveman in a weird looking cave and bring it back to him. That's strange though, you're in a world called Mayahem Temple and you just saw a caveman. What gives? Well it turns out, you just entered Terrydactyland when you did that, the aformentioned dinosaur world. This happens a lot in this game where you'll briefly cross over from one world into another or even unlock paths to directly travel between each one. The most memorable one is where you have to feed a different tribe of (good) cavemen this time, and to do so, you unlock a shortcut between Terrydactyland and WitchyWorld. You pick up some burgers from this one character, use the claw clamber boots you get from Grunty Industries and walk along the wall to feed them. All these working parts and interconnectivity just make the world feel alive and I love it.
I mentioned how you had to get the claw clamber boots from Grunty Industries, which is world 6, and use them for a jiggy in Terrydactyland which is world 5. Banjo Kazooie did this exact same thing only once, where you had to backtrack with an ability from another world. Tooie does this way more often and because of that and the interconnectivity of the world, it kind of feels like a 3D metroidvania at points which is awesome. Anyways, people seem to have an issue with backtracking in this game and I don't get it. The more complex jiggy's I understand, but the backtracking is not required as there's enough jiggy's in the game for you to beat the final boss. And even then, there really aren't that many backtracking jiggy's in general. Maybe like 12 or 13 of the 90 jiggy's require backtracking I think? Either way I think that complaint is majorly overblown and is not an issue at all to me, again the Mumbo and Humba stuff I can understand but backtracking to old levels with future abilities? Never even crossed my mind as an issue.
Something else this game added was a boss for every world and they're all really fun. Some are better than others, Lord Woo Fak Fak for example is probably the worst, but I really like how almost every single one of them are large in scope. They really feel menacing even if some of them are pathetically easy.
The game is also way funnier and a lot more cynical in general which I dig. Kazooie was both of these things as well but Tooie cranks it up to the max. The game literally starts off with Bottles dying and Kazooie going "well, he wasnt the most popular character anyways". The game is just full of this tongue-in cheese cynicism. The cast of side characters is not only WAY larger, they're more distinct and memorable just because the dialogue is so much better. There's literally an immigration joke when BK have to help some actual aliens, it's amazing. I think this, plus the interconnected worlds and more unique world themes, are THE main things I like over Kazooie. That plus the improved move set ofc.
The OST is again wondeful just like the first game, but instead of being upbeat, catchy tunes..Grant went for a more atmospheric darker ost this time around. Because worlds are much larger and take more time to beat, I think this change is for the better since the music track won't get old at all. Some of my favorite songs were Grunty Industries, Weldar's Theme and Mr Patch's Theme.
Yes I know two of those are from Grunty Industries. I honestly don't get the hate at all for that world. Something like Terrydactyland I can get, even if I still like it, because it's a massive world with empty space in a lot of it. However, Grunty Industries is a complex, zelda dungeon-like world and it's amazingly designed. I guess if you went into Tooie expecting it to just be like Kazooie, you'd hate it however it's very fun to explore and again super well-designed. It's not even that easy to get lost imo, it's a multi-layered world with distinct set-pieces rather than a super large open world. Sorry for the rant, I just don't get Grunty Industries hate lol. Something I did end up feeling a tiny bit sour on this time around was Hailfire Peaks. I still really like that world, and think the theming is awesome. However the fire side is a little too big for its bridges I will admit and the lag gets really bad sometimes there. The game can get laggy throughout portions of the game, which is only a thing on the N64 version, but there especially it's pretty bad.
One more thing before I mention the endgame and close out the review, is Canary Mary. Canary Mary has methods that make her very doable but she's still easily the worst part of the game and the only part I straight up dislike and dread doing. Her first button mashing races in Glittergulch Mine are perfectly fine. Her races in Cloud CuckooLand tho are insane. If you aren't doing the pause trick, idk how it's humenaly possible to win without using a turbo controller or something. The 2nd race isn't as bad because you can stay near her until the very end and then button mash to hell to pass her right before she can catch up. These races are easily doable with the right methods but the fact you have to do them this way, it just stinks man. But luckily this is only for 100% and only a tiny portion of the actual game so it's not the worst thing in the world.
I talked about a lot of improvements this game has over Kazooie. If there's one thing Kazooie destroys Tooie on however, it's the quiz section and final boss. Gone is the charming board game aesthetic of Kazooie, now you have a typical game show-esque quiz game where you have to answer enough questions to beat Grunty's sisters. It's not bad but it pales in comparison to Kazooie's version as it's less charming and even has less question types. Yeah, I won't miss the Gruntilda specific questions but no sound/music quizzes? That's kinda lame. Again, it's not bad and is only disappointing when compared to Kazooie. The final boss is also not nearly as good as Kazooie's. Is the Hag 1 harder? Most definitely but it's not as memorable as the Gruntilda fight from Kazooie and isn't as fun. It's a solid fight overall but compared to Kazooie's, just a bit lackluster.
So do I like Tooie more than Kazooie? In many ways, hell yes. It improves on many things like the duo's moveset, the writing is way funnier and the interconnectivity between worlds felt like a logical step to take after Kazooie. It may have the weaker end boss and quiz show, it's definitely and easier game to replay/100% and the Canary Mary rematch race is the worst thing between both games, however I'm still feeling like I may like this just slightly more than Kazooie just because of how ambitious and fun it is. It's kinda like Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 where each game has is own strengths over the other and it's just hard to choose what's better. Either way, it's still a 10/10 like the first game and one of my favorite games ever now. Easily in my top 3 N64 games, alongside the first game and Majora's Mask of course. Either way, if you see people saying you shouldn't play this game after you've beaten Kazooie. Don't listen to them, give this a try and you might fall become infatuated with it like I have.
This Banjo double feature was fun but I reckon it's time to play some Kirby again. Stay tuned for a Dreamland 2 review coming soon!
Flawed and ambitious, Banjo-Tooie is full of so many memorable ideas from the weird 'find the doubloons in this tiny town' of Jolly Roger's Lagoon, to combing a theme park for goodies. What stops these things from feeling merely like little fetch quests is that they usually relate to the moveset in some way - Banjo-Tooie is essentially a point-and-click-puzzle-mechanics adventure expressed through a fairly puzzle and exploration focused platformer. Sure the game is about 50/50 on whether these puzzles feel nice or not, but when things work it's a delight to see your moves put into some new joke or mini-story's context. I like that the moveset never becomes overly powerful: even if some moves amount to keys, the moves' scopes remain constrained enough to still give the levels personality by the end.
The level design goes all over the place, but the theming and little NPCs always pulls the levels together in at least an acceptable way (not all levels are great, of course.) Things feel thought out.
I have to give a hand to Grunty Industries for being so ambitious - we basically get a 3D Zelda dungeon, but far larger and ambitious than any Zelda dungeon ever made. Weaving between a building interior and exterior, spanning 5 floors, themed around all these aspects of a factory - on some ways it feels like a dungeon: it's so complex that it kind of eludes your full spatial comprehension of it, while still being 'logical' enough to somehow keep yourself oriented. Unlike the way some game dungeons give you maps so that you never miss a thing, Grunty Industries is happy to just let you not be able to find everything. "Don't 100% me, just leave the mystery until next time." I like that. The mystery isn't in some meta-layer or 4th-wall trick: the mystery is right in front of you, it's contained in your failure to grasp the ridiculous layout of the level. And in some ways that feels truer to life. When do we ever know the complete depth of anything?
...That being said, if you ever play this, make sure to bind fast-forward to your controller's R2 trigger. I mean you can play it the 'old normal' way if you want but I honestly don't think the added hours you'll spend walking slowly around will add much to the experience.
The level design goes all over the place, but the theming and little NPCs always pulls the levels together in at least an acceptable way (not all levels are great, of course.) Things feel thought out.
I have to give a hand to Grunty Industries for being so ambitious - we basically get a 3D Zelda dungeon, but far larger and ambitious than any Zelda dungeon ever made. Weaving between a building interior and exterior, spanning 5 floors, themed around all these aspects of a factory - on some ways it feels like a dungeon: it's so complex that it kind of eludes your full spatial comprehension of it, while still being 'logical' enough to somehow keep yourself oriented. Unlike the way some game dungeons give you maps so that you never miss a thing, Grunty Industries is happy to just let you not be able to find everything. "Don't 100% me, just leave the mystery until next time." I like that. The mystery isn't in some meta-layer or 4th-wall trick: the mystery is right in front of you, it's contained in your failure to grasp the ridiculous layout of the level. And in some ways that feels truer to life. When do we ever know the complete depth of anything?
...That being said, if you ever play this, make sure to bind fast-forward to your controller's R2 trigger. I mean you can play it the 'old normal' way if you want but I honestly don't think the added hours you'll spend walking slowly around will add much to the experience.
I grew up with Banjo-Kazooie. For some reason, I had a problem with Tooie because it seemed too different from its predecessor. I called BK my favorite game from 1999 to 2014. Then I finally decided to play Tooie, and I 100%-ed it.
It was incredible.
Everything BK can do, Tooie can do better. The only issue is the framerate, as Tooie (like other Rare games) pushed the 64 to its limits, and that leads to some performance issues. But if you play Banjo-Tooie on Xbox, it plays like a dream.
Play this game!!
It was incredible.
Everything BK can do, Tooie can do better. The only issue is the framerate, as Tooie (like other Rare games) pushed the 64 to its limits, and that leads to some performance issues. But if you play Banjo-Tooie on Xbox, it plays like a dream.
Play this game!!
Do you think Kazooie fucks?
I would have played past the Aztec level if I hadnt watched the NintendoCaprisun's letsplay of this game religiously when I was a kid. Im officially a fake fan
A bloated sequel
It takes everything from the original game but tries to add more and more. Levels so large you need to fast travel between pads, an expanded moveset that starts to get confusing on what you can do and what context sensitive solution the game wants, and way more collectables. Put that all together in levels that have you constantly jump between just to set up more challenges and you are in for more of an annoyance than a fun time.
It takes everything from the original game but tries to add more and more. Levels so large you need to fast travel between pads, an expanded moveset that starts to get confusing on what you can do and what context sensitive solution the game wants, and way more collectables. Put that all together in levels that have you constantly jump between just to set up more challenges and you are in for more of an annoyance than a fun time.
Muito menos divertido e interessante que o Kazooie, e o desempenho desse é bem ruim
While Ill always think the N64 was home to some of the worst game-feel ever made, its hard to deny it had a really unique design culture. Banjo Tooie has a bunch of fun ideas but fuck the Minjos, Im glad the mole guy died.
Bigger and grander than its predecessor in just about every way. Mumbo's claim at the end of the first game that Tooie would make Banjo-Kazooie "look like joke" Is apparent from the get-go, between its ambitious 20 minute(!) opening cutscene, the jaunt through ruined Spiral Mountain with the first game's moveset nearly intact, and that moment the player steps into the much, much larger Jinjo Village. I can't even begin to imagine the sheer amount of programming tricks required to pull off half of what Tooie's going for with stuff like rendering the ginormous worlds, handling the gameplay shift to its FPS segments, accommodating all the mini-games, the split characters, the cutscenes...
Banjo-Tooie is a very ambitious game. This has both upsides and downsides. The huge worlds lend themselves to a lot of experimentation, but the game sometimes runs into conveyance issues as a result. It's suuuuper easy to get turned around in places like Terrydactyland, and as cool as the inter-level connections are, that a Jiggy in one world can require a puzzle being solved in another (for example, clearing Stomponadon in Terrydactyland to get a Hailfire Peaks Jiggy) means that a player simply searching a given level for solutions can be left high and dry.
Grunty Industries is commonly pointed to as a world with this issue, but I have to side with my friends at Designing For here - Grunty Industries is brilliantly-executed. Having to sneak in, the slow opening of the factory floors, the building sense of scale, pay-off for B-K's WISHYWASHYBANJO, that moment towards the end when you finally unlock flight pads... so much to love there. I know this is the most likely thing to be overhauled in a theoretical remake, but I'd hope they wouldn't change too much.
There's also a sense of incompletion to Tooie that just wasn't present for Kazooie. Part of this was unavoidable - Tooie had to do SOMEthing to fulfill the promise B-K made with Stop 'n' Swop, and with Ninty quashing Rare's initial plan to literally yank out the N64 Game Pak, the team had to make some sort of compromise. But there's no dodging the feeling that a full world's missing, between that suspicious 900 Notes/90 Jiggies count and how nothing Cauldron Keep feels. B-K famously left a lot on the cutting room floor as well, but it had a far more complete illusion; Rare clearly just ran out of time and did their best to put a bow on the game. They did a great job, but there's no arguing with the numbers.
I think, if you only know the first two Banjo-Kazooie games by reputation, it's easy to lump them together as similar ideas. But both end up having very different identities. B-K is a pure expression of 3D platforming and exploration - perhaps less mechanically difficult than something like Super Mario 64, but still derivative of that general formula and its gameplay goals. B-T is less interested in posing mechanical challenges for the player and more interested in encouraging exploration through characters, skillsets, and world integration. Everything in Tooie feels less like "more Kazooie" and more like "commentary on Kazooie" (and other Rare trends, given the FPS segments). They're great complementary titles because they're so dissimilar, really; I'd rather have Tooie be like Sly 2 rather than Super Mario Galaxy 2. I prefer Kazooie all the same, but both are great times.
One last note - Banjo-Tooie would be the last title developed by Gregg Mayles' team during Rare and Nintendo's collaboration. This wouldn't be the team's last effort - Grabbed by the Ghoulies was only a couple years away - but Tooie feels like it carries a ton of weight as the terminus of this team's golden years. This is the same creative effort behind Donkey Kong Country 1 & 2 as well as the first Banjo-Kazooie - all absolutely incredible, ground-breaking releases. I feel like of those four titles, Tooie had the least impact on the industry (modern throwback 3D platformers are more likely to do genre work broadly or Banjo-Kazooie specifically than Banjo-Tooie soecifically). But this shouldn't be confused for Tooie being unimportant. Far from it: Banjo-Tooie is the summation of lessons learned by some of the industry's greatest talents at the tops of their games.
Banjo-Tooie is a very ambitious game. This has both upsides and downsides. The huge worlds lend themselves to a lot of experimentation, but the game sometimes runs into conveyance issues as a result. It's suuuuper easy to get turned around in places like Terrydactyland, and as cool as the inter-level connections are, that a Jiggy in one world can require a puzzle being solved in another (for example, clearing Stomponadon in Terrydactyland to get a Hailfire Peaks Jiggy) means that a player simply searching a given level for solutions can be left high and dry.
Grunty Industries is commonly pointed to as a world with this issue, but I have to side with my friends at Designing For here - Grunty Industries is brilliantly-executed. Having to sneak in, the slow opening of the factory floors, the building sense of scale, pay-off for B-K's WISHYWASHYBANJO, that moment towards the end when you finally unlock flight pads... so much to love there. I know this is the most likely thing to be overhauled in a theoretical remake, but I'd hope they wouldn't change too much.
There's also a sense of incompletion to Tooie that just wasn't present for Kazooie. Part of this was unavoidable - Tooie had to do SOMEthing to fulfill the promise B-K made with Stop 'n' Swop, and with Ninty quashing Rare's initial plan to literally yank out the N64 Game Pak, the team had to make some sort of compromise. But there's no dodging the feeling that a full world's missing, between that suspicious 900 Notes/90 Jiggies count and how nothing Cauldron Keep feels. B-K famously left a lot on the cutting room floor as well, but it had a far more complete illusion; Rare clearly just ran out of time and did their best to put a bow on the game. They did a great job, but there's no arguing with the numbers.
I think, if you only know the first two Banjo-Kazooie games by reputation, it's easy to lump them together as similar ideas. But both end up having very different identities. B-K is a pure expression of 3D platforming and exploration - perhaps less mechanically difficult than something like Super Mario 64, but still derivative of that general formula and its gameplay goals. B-T is less interested in posing mechanical challenges for the player and more interested in encouraging exploration through characters, skillsets, and world integration. Everything in Tooie feels less like "more Kazooie" and more like "commentary on Kazooie" (and other Rare trends, given the FPS segments). They're great complementary titles because they're so dissimilar, really; I'd rather have Tooie be like Sly 2 rather than Super Mario Galaxy 2. I prefer Kazooie all the same, but both are great times.
One last note - Banjo-Tooie would be the last title developed by Gregg Mayles' team during Rare and Nintendo's collaboration. This wouldn't be the team's last effort - Grabbed by the Ghoulies was only a couple years away - but Tooie feels like it carries a ton of weight as the terminus of this team's golden years. This is the same creative effort behind Donkey Kong Country 1 & 2 as well as the first Banjo-Kazooie - all absolutely incredible, ground-breaking releases. I feel like of those four titles, Tooie had the least impact on the industry (modern throwback 3D platformers are more likely to do genre work broadly or Banjo-Kazooie specifically than Banjo-Tooie soecifically). But this shouldn't be confused for Tooie being unimportant. Far from it: Banjo-Tooie is the summation of lessons learned by some of the industry's greatest talents at the tops of their games.
this game has higher highs and lower lows than Banjo-Kazooie, but ultimately it ends up being much more messy and fun
Am I the only person who thinks this was better than the first game?
This review contains spoilers
To this day, I never understood why people vastly preferred Banjo Kazooie over its far superior successor. Maybe the nostalgia factor made them think that way, considering the actual Kazooie 1 was a good game, but not a very nuanced one. Banjo Kazooie 2, AKA Tooie, which is a brilliant pun of a name, IS EXTREMELY NUANCED by comparison and is an underrated masterpiece through and through.
For starters, the gameplay is stellar. You take an already well designed game, KEEP the original moveset, and add to it. It's like Conker: Live and Reloaded but with actually meaningful additions including a fresh, new world. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, was expanded upon in this game, from the mechanics to the story to the worldbuilding - it's all very seamless. The worlds are much larger, which is a common complaint, but I'd argue the larger world maps make for a larger diversity of pathing and expression of moveset, as opposed to the predictable BK maps. The scope and atmosphere are dialed up to eleven, and it shows that this game was an ambitious sequel done right.
The story, while still simple in scope, is a FANTASTIC CONTINUATION of the original game. Grunty has sworn revenge and became much more menacing and serious compared to how dumb and jovial she was in Kazooie, whilst still being the same person. She's still incredibly fun and goofy, even dropping her rhymes only at the behest of her sisters, who she cleverly betrays at the end of the game. This is a strong case of the writers respecting the character of Gruntilda, which means they went by Characters >>>>> Plot, the brilliantly underrated method of writing that can salvage any story. Speaking of the story, it's actually quite ambitious for the series standards; the stakes are upped with the death of Bottles at the hands of the witch, and even Mumbo steps up to help save the day. The writing was already witty and fun in the first, made even better here with the expanded cast and world.
The only blemish would have to be the forced adult jokes, such as the Anglerfish boss's name. Considering this is Rare though, it's a staple of their work, and can easily be excused. The game over cutscene is also missing, but Banjo Kazooie is not Ace Attorney, so this is nowhere near as big of a ramification. Tooie is the most console testing game of all time, crushing the N64's framerate to a very low level, while still being the prettiest looking game on the system. Humba Wumba has a much more appealing face than The Creepy Crone's from CBFD, for example.
This is probably the only N64 game that hasn't aged at all in my opinion. It does backtracking and exploration so much better than Zelda and Metroid because the moveset used to accomplish these feats is extremely fun to use. Couple that with a plethora of fun minigames and actual boss fights compared to the goomba stomps of the first game not counting Gruntilda, and you have a complete package. The perfect game that I loved as a kid, then rediscovered as an adult and loved even more.
Besides those quality of life improvements, Banjo Kazooie notes were annoying, forcing you to collect the same notes if you died. Rare answered by fixing this problem on N64 Tooie before the duology's port over to XBLA. Speaking of which, if frame rate is an issue, play the XBLA version. Banjo Tooie is honestly even more nostalgic than its predecessor, and I always come back to it. To finish off this perfect game, it also appropriately comes with a perfect soundtrack. It's so amazing in fact, that I tend to listen to a lot of its tracks outside the game. That's how impressive Tooie is, it pushes the N64 to its limits, fixed any problems from the previous game, expanded on the world, story, and characters whilst keeping them intact which is an impressive feat considering this is not even a story reliant game. If you haven't played the Banjo Kazooie duology yet, I highly recommend them - you won't be disappointed.
For starters, the gameplay is stellar. You take an already well designed game, KEEP the original moveset, and add to it. It's like Conker: Live and Reloaded but with actually meaningful additions including a fresh, new world. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, was expanded upon in this game, from the mechanics to the story to the worldbuilding - it's all very seamless. The worlds are much larger, which is a common complaint, but I'd argue the larger world maps make for a larger diversity of pathing and expression of moveset, as opposed to the predictable BK maps. The scope and atmosphere are dialed up to eleven, and it shows that this game was an ambitious sequel done right.
The story, while still simple in scope, is a FANTASTIC CONTINUATION of the original game. Grunty has sworn revenge and became much more menacing and serious compared to how dumb and jovial she was in Kazooie, whilst still being the same person. She's still incredibly fun and goofy, even dropping her rhymes only at the behest of her sisters, who she cleverly betrays at the end of the game. This is a strong case of the writers respecting the character of Gruntilda, which means they went by Characters >>>>> Plot, the brilliantly underrated method of writing that can salvage any story. Speaking of the story, it's actually quite ambitious for the series standards; the stakes are upped with the death of Bottles at the hands of the witch, and even Mumbo steps up to help save the day. The writing was already witty and fun in the first, made even better here with the expanded cast and world.
The only blemish would have to be the forced adult jokes, such as the Anglerfish boss's name. Considering this is Rare though, it's a staple of their work, and can easily be excused. The game over cutscene is also missing, but Banjo Kazooie is not Ace Attorney, so this is nowhere near as big of a ramification. Tooie is the most console testing game of all time, crushing the N64's framerate to a very low level, while still being the prettiest looking game on the system. Humba Wumba has a much more appealing face than The Creepy Crone's from CBFD, for example.
This is probably the only N64 game that hasn't aged at all in my opinion. It does backtracking and exploration so much better than Zelda and Metroid because the moveset used to accomplish these feats is extremely fun to use. Couple that with a plethora of fun minigames and actual boss fights compared to the goomba stomps of the first game not counting Gruntilda, and you have a complete package. The perfect game that I loved as a kid, then rediscovered as an adult and loved even more.
Besides those quality of life improvements, Banjo Kazooie notes were annoying, forcing you to collect the same notes if you died. Rare answered by fixing this problem on N64 Tooie before the duology's port over to XBLA. Speaking of which, if frame rate is an issue, play the XBLA version. Banjo Tooie is honestly even more nostalgic than its predecessor, and I always come back to it. To finish off this perfect game, it also appropriately comes with a perfect soundtrack. It's so amazing in fact, that I tend to listen to a lot of its tracks outside the game. That's how impressive Tooie is, it pushes the N64 to its limits, fixed any problems from the previous game, expanded on the world, story, and characters whilst keeping them intact which is an impressive feat considering this is not even a story reliant game. If you haven't played the Banjo Kazooie duology yet, I highly recommend them - you won't be disappointed.
I really don't mind the worlds being big and the backtracking, this is my favourite game of all time, an amazing sequel to BK
Definitely the "Banjo-Tooie" of video games.
Pros: Massive 3D Metroidvania game, with huge interconnected worlds that you travel back and forth between. This game was the closest we'd felt to one seamless living game world, before "open world" gaming became a thing. Banjo-Tooie is a fantastic sequel to Banjo-Kazooie, especially as a sequel, it follows up the events of the first game wonderfully, carrying over so much from the first. Every move you learned in B-K, you still have, and you learn tons of new moves on top of them. Characters you've met, you now see what they're up to, and they're up to quite a lot! If you're familiar with B-K and enjoyed yourself, you'll get a lot out of Tooie!
The big new gimmick is that Banjo and Kazooie can now separate and split-up, and you can switch between the two for character specific moves, that grant you access to new areas or enemy/character interactions. Or possibly using both separately and together for puzzle solving and triggering key events. It really helps magnify the "Metroidvania"ness of these games worlds, which, yeah, you will be backtracking in and out of frequently. It's a different flavor of game than B-K was, where it was very satisfying to complete each world in one go. Can't do that here, and while I don't enjoy Tooie's method as much, there's still a lot to value in what it brings to the sense of adventure.
Mumbo is of course back too, but this time fully playable! Though he just acts as another key type of character for puzzles and gates. Meanwhile newcomer Humba Wumba does the transformations this time around. And each stage now has their own transformation, and each of them are more elaborate than the ones in B-K were. Favorites among them, a snowball that grows or shrinks depending on if you're rolling over snow, or on volcanic ground. A van, yeah, you can straight up be a van that drives around running over enemies (which is pretty fun, admittedly). But my favorite of all is the giant T. Rex, which is just an invulnerable powerhouse, roaring and crashing through anything you desire (also you can be a baby T. Rex! Good to have the cute alongside the badass). All's this to say, this game is packed with content, and in most cases everything feels contextual and fun, and worth doing (unlike... ahem... DK64), and on top of it all, you still get the charm and wit from Rare with these beloved characters! And along with that is the once again excellent soundtrack by Grant Kirkhope, with brand new stages comes brand new music, and it's all fantastic here! And of course, the visuals are top-notch, expect nothing less from Rare.
Cons: The backtracking is a big ask, and can wear you down... It's especially tiresome on replays, where unlike B-K, you don't really have a good sense of when to take a break or a breather. The game could really use a map. And generally, the tone is a bit less cheery, which ain't specifically a bad thing, but it's another element that can make the playtime grow wearisome.
What it means to me: Upon first completion of this game, I was blown away, to the point where I considered this game, to be the best game ever made. Yeah, I was that into it. In time, my views have softened on the game, especially upon trying to replay it. Banjo-Kazooie (the first game) does hold up much better design-wise, in terms of playability, pacing, and so much more, it's just the perfect game. But I will say, Tooie is still a magnificent sequel, and did everything, and does everything, I wanted a sequel to Banjo-Kazooie to do. And I can't fault it there, it's the game it needed to be for its time, a time before Open World games were a thing. And what a hell of a time it was!
The big new gimmick is that Banjo and Kazooie can now separate and split-up, and you can switch between the two for character specific moves, that grant you access to new areas or enemy/character interactions. Or possibly using both separately and together for puzzle solving and triggering key events. It really helps magnify the "Metroidvania"ness of these games worlds, which, yeah, you will be backtracking in and out of frequently. It's a different flavor of game than B-K was, where it was very satisfying to complete each world in one go. Can't do that here, and while I don't enjoy Tooie's method as much, there's still a lot to value in what it brings to the sense of adventure.
Mumbo is of course back too, but this time fully playable! Though he just acts as another key type of character for puzzles and gates. Meanwhile newcomer Humba Wumba does the transformations this time around. And each stage now has their own transformation, and each of them are more elaborate than the ones in B-K were. Favorites among them, a snowball that grows or shrinks depending on if you're rolling over snow, or on volcanic ground. A van, yeah, you can straight up be a van that drives around running over enemies (which is pretty fun, admittedly). But my favorite of all is the giant T. Rex, which is just an invulnerable powerhouse, roaring and crashing through anything you desire (also you can be a baby T. Rex! Good to have the cute alongside the badass). All's this to say, this game is packed with content, and in most cases everything feels contextual and fun, and worth doing (unlike... ahem... DK64), and on top of it all, you still get the charm and wit from Rare with these beloved characters! And along with that is the once again excellent soundtrack by Grant Kirkhope, with brand new stages comes brand new music, and it's all fantastic here! And of course, the visuals are top-notch, expect nothing less from Rare.
Cons: The backtracking is a big ask, and can wear you down... It's especially tiresome on replays, where unlike B-K, you don't really have a good sense of when to take a break or a breather. The game could really use a map. And generally, the tone is a bit less cheery, which ain't specifically a bad thing, but it's another element that can make the playtime grow wearisome.
What it means to me: Upon first completion of this game, I was blown away, to the point where I considered this game, to be the best game ever made. Yeah, I was that into it. In time, my views have softened on the game, especially upon trying to replay it. Banjo-Kazooie (the first game) does hold up much better design-wise, in terms of playability, pacing, and so much more, it's just the perfect game. But I will say, Tooie is still a magnificent sequel, and did everything, and does everything, I wanted a sequel to Banjo-Kazooie to do. And I can't fault it there, it's the game it needed to be for its time, a time before Open World games were a thing. And what a hell of a time it was!
legitimately impressive that rare made an entire game without including level design
Similar to the first Banjo game, I have very little reverence for Tooie. I never played it as a kid and I have an inherent dislike for collecathons, and generally find Rare's output to be very hit-or-miss. I guess you could say I was pre-disposed to hating this one, but I promise you I gave it the old college try (getting blackout drunk and playing the N64 at 3am.)
Unfortunately, I'm still coming up negative on this one. There's just too damn much to collect, Banjo still doesn't feel particularly good to control, and most of the minigames that have to be completed to earn Jiggies are just no fun at all. I got 100% completion in the last game, because despite it not being a worthwhile endeavor from the standpoint of having a good time, it was at least doable, and I do things that are doable because I'm stupid as hell. But Tooie is just so bloated with content it quickly becomes a chore just trying to satisfy the requirements for the game to be done, and I could not commit to it any more than that. It perhaps didn't help that I started getting way into The Computer Chronicles while playing this and watched episodes in the background. Listening to guys drone on about creating MIDI music on the Atari 520ST while trying to earn Jiggies must be what getting a lobotomy feels like, so I'll take some of the blame for my lack of enjoyment here.
The control scheme is a good reflection of the game itself. Every single button has to do something in concert with everything else, but the way it's laid out is just convoluted. Compare this with Super Mario 64. Controlling Mario is a breeze, yet the amount of movement options you have is varied. If you pull back and look at the amount of buttons you actually use, it's pretty simplistic. That's the genius of Mario 64; Miyamoto and his team knew their audience and understood that few people would have played a 3D platformer before, so they designed the game in a way that was easy to pick up and felt great in hand. There's a reason it set the standard. I'm 34-years-old and I've been playing 3D platformers since 1996, and every time I pick up Banjo-Tooie I think "what bastard designed this?"
At least the humor, music, and character designs are all great. I've always liked the look of these games. Gruntilda is a skeleton now, that's pretty good. None of this is enough to save Banjo-Tooie for me, and ultimately I think it would be the best case study of "bigger =/= better" if Donkey Kong 64 didn't already exist.
Unfortunately, I'm still coming up negative on this one. There's just too damn much to collect, Banjo still doesn't feel particularly good to control, and most of the minigames that have to be completed to earn Jiggies are just no fun at all. I got 100% completion in the last game, because despite it not being a worthwhile endeavor from the standpoint of having a good time, it was at least doable, and I do things that are doable because I'm stupid as hell. But Tooie is just so bloated with content it quickly becomes a chore just trying to satisfy the requirements for the game to be done, and I could not commit to it any more than that. It perhaps didn't help that I started getting way into The Computer Chronicles while playing this and watched episodes in the background. Listening to guys drone on about creating MIDI music on the Atari 520ST while trying to earn Jiggies must be what getting a lobotomy feels like, so I'll take some of the blame for my lack of enjoyment here.
The control scheme is a good reflection of the game itself. Every single button has to do something in concert with everything else, but the way it's laid out is just convoluted. Compare this with Super Mario 64. Controlling Mario is a breeze, yet the amount of movement options you have is varied. If you pull back and look at the amount of buttons you actually use, it's pretty simplistic. That's the genius of Mario 64; Miyamoto and his team knew their audience and understood that few people would have played a 3D platformer before, so they designed the game in a way that was easy to pick up and felt great in hand. There's a reason it set the standard. I'm 34-years-old and I've been playing 3D platformers since 1996, and every time I pick up Banjo-Tooie I think "what bastard designed this?"
At least the humor, music, and character designs are all great. I've always liked the look of these games. Gruntilda is a skeleton now, that's pretty good. None of this is enough to save Banjo-Tooie for me, and ultimately I think it would be the best case study of "bigger =/= better" if Donkey Kong 64 didn't already exist.
Consider me pleasantly surprised! Everything I'd heard about this game prior was that it was an iterative sequel with worse level design, and I guess that is true if you approach it exactly like you did with Banjo-Oneie. But these levels aren't meant to be compact, easily sight-read, or fully completed in a single sitting. Try to do so and you'll only end up frustrated, because Tooie is really closer to a 3D Zelda game than a collectathon. Worlds are laid out more like Kakariko Village than Treasure Trove Cove, with a few obvious points of interests in each that conceal lengthy, labyrinthine subareas. Oneie essentially guaranteed that any major task would reward you with a major collectible, while Tooie leaves it more up in the air. Being used to the first game, I assumed beating the timer challenge in Glitter Gulch Mine would earn me a jiggy, so I left it for when I ran out of anything else to do, but it actually unlocks a long series of rooms that significantly increases the scope of the level. Shifting this precedent means there's genuine anticipation as to what you're going to find whenever you make progress, and once you realize the game's designed around masking secrets and hidden areas with occasionally difficult to internalize architecture, a lot of baffling-at-first decisions make complete sense. Why do you need a certain number of notes to learn new moves this time? Well, it's not about actually making players earn upgrades, considering I was always well beyond each respective note threshold, but rather creating an association between notes and Jamjars. The first thing you want to do whenever entering a new world is find its new moves, because they're never gated behind moves from later levels, and are theoretically more valuable than any item. Tooie takes this mindset and uses it to give players a guided preliminary tour of the location, strategically placing Jamjars's bunkers in major areas that might not have been apparent at first. There's less notes in every level because they're generally only used to signify Jamjars's presence- whenever you see some, he's probably nearby. The first trip to every world consists of finding new moves by way of finding notes, which has the intended side effect of giving the player enough information to begin to sketch a mental map. Of course, you can only complete a fraction of every level on your first go-round, so you'll probably poke around just a bit and grab a few Jinjos before calling it quits and returning to a previous world to flesh out one of your earlier pieces of Jamjars-assisted layout knowledge. And these revisits, layered several times for every area throughout the game, are where Tooie's unique blend of collectathoning and progression gates separates itself most from other adventure game subgenres. In a search-action game, you have to evaluate whether or not you have enough upgrades to make it to an out of reach area. In a point-and-click, you have to think about what kind of contextual event will allow you to get where you want to go. In a Zelda game, you have to consider both, but Link's lack of mobility doesn't obfuscate the seams between these two factors as much as it would if he was in, say, a platformer. That's not to imply that the puzzles in here are ever particularly great on their own merits, but it's still fun to feel out what exactly you can and can't do before eventually putting everything together. Though, it seems that's where Tooie loses a lot of people. My favorite parts of Zelda games are when you're wandering around without any idea of how to progress, so maybe I just have an immunity to it, but is the backtracking really that bad? I'd assumed early on that the in-level teleporters were a QoL change added in the Xbox version, because fast travel in this game feels... pretty generous! That being said, I didn't come close to 100%ing this game, and I probably would've liked it less if I did. While Oneie's worlds felt appropriately shallow so as to not detract from the joy of fully completing them, Tooie's come chock-full of surprises, and, as a result, it's more fun to skirt by with just as many jiggies as you need to unlock the next level. In my eyes, Oneie fills its niche as an easygoing collectathon better than Tooie fills its niche as a 3D adventure game, but I'd still argue that it's a great sequel. And even when it falters, and, boy does it falter- I haven't mentioned the over reliance on minigames, or the mostly pointless transformations, or the entirely pointless parts where you play as Mumbo- there's enough raw fifth-gen ambition to keep things interesting throughout.
I still enjoy this game a lot but it really frustrates me, it tried to make Banjo Kazooie bigger and better in every way but it made it a little too big and to better (?), the leves have really great theming and charm, but most of them are giant and feel cumbersome to navigate, specially since you have to constantly revisit areas due to things like the wumba transformations, having to play as mumbo, Banjo or Kazooie individually or coming back after learning a new move, wich there are a lot of in this game, some of them are great, while the separatiom gimmick is a little badlyutilized i love Kazooies solo moveset, but many of the new moves feel like just STUFF TO DO, same with playing as Mumbo, is it really that fun? No, but its stuff to do so do it. However its not all bad, i love the atmosfere of Isle O' Hags, it feels like its own interconected and interactive world in a very Banjo-Kazooie way, the first games levels were also great but they were mostly limited to themselves so having the levels interact with eachother is a very natural next step to take, the charm and character of the first game is multiplied by ten in this one, part of the fun of doing the tasks asked of you in each area is getting to meet the silly characters behind them, especially the bosses, wich were my favorite adition here, the first game had one amazing bossfight aggainst Grunty and that was kind of it so this time around every level has one of them and theyre all great! Except old king coal but just because hes dumb and easy. In conclusion, while this game delivered on a ton of what i was hoping for in a sequel to my favorite 3D platformer, it also stumbled a lot (i would delete the 4 hours i spent on grunty industries from my life if i could) i feel like making banjo bigger is a good idea but they had a little too much ambition with this one, this is the main reason i want a Banjo-Threeie, a sequel to this could find the perfect balance between the simple fun of Kazooie and the excitting new ideas of Tooie.
I don't know why I waited so long to finally 100% Banjo-Tooie. I grew up playing this game here and there, but never made it very far. Banjo-Kazooie has always been one of my all-time favorites, but as an adult, I never took the plunge into tooie until recently. And wow, am I glad I did. <3
This game is just as charming as the first, and it will make you realize just how small the worlds of BK are. The interconnectedness of Banjo-Tooie is mind boggling. Some folks find this to be a tedious venture, but in my opinion, it's where the game truly shines. The jiggies and objectives get harder as the game progresses, and some of the challenges really make you work for a single jiggy. But that being said, the satisfaction I felt after finishing a tough section (lookin at you, Grunty Industries) made it well worth the effort. The cheato-pages definitely helped alleviate some of the pressure of the final boss as well, which improved the pacing at the end of the game significantly from BK.
I love how this game reignites that spark of wonder that you feel while playing a game for the first time as a child. Where is the secret Glowbo? What will it do? Will I ever find the alleged Ice Key from BK? What will the Stop n Swop eggs hatch into? There are just so many little mysteries in this game that keep the player returning to discover. Not many games can do that, and for that, this game deserves a perfect score.
I hope someday we see a true Banjo-Threeie, and I hope it feels a lot like this game. 5/5, I love this series so, so much. <3
This game is just as charming as the first, and it will make you realize just how small the worlds of BK are. The interconnectedness of Banjo-Tooie is mind boggling. Some folks find this to be a tedious venture, but in my opinion, it's where the game truly shines. The jiggies and objectives get harder as the game progresses, and some of the challenges really make you work for a single jiggy. But that being said, the satisfaction I felt after finishing a tough section (lookin at you, Grunty Industries) made it well worth the effort. The cheato-pages definitely helped alleviate some of the pressure of the final boss as well, which improved the pacing at the end of the game significantly from BK.
I love how this game reignites that spark of wonder that you feel while playing a game for the first time as a child. Where is the secret Glowbo? What will it do? Will I ever find the alleged Ice Key from BK? What will the Stop n Swop eggs hatch into? There are just so many little mysteries in this game that keep the player returning to discover. Not many games can do that, and for that, this game deserves a perfect score.
I hope someday we see a true Banjo-Threeie, and I hope it feels a lot like this game. 5/5, I love this series so, so much. <3
Banjo-Tooie has some beautifully interconnected worlds and movesets that immediately improve upon the original Banjo-Kazooie, at the cost of the frame rate periodically tanking and some areas feeling empty or confusing to navigate. It's essentially more of a Metroidvania 3D platformer hybrid than a straightforward collectathon, a change that allows for some especially creative puzzles that span across the whole game. The theme of revisiting worlds and discovering new areas within them as you unlock new abilities also helps give a drive to revisit levels, as it's impossible to completely explore them on the first visit. Unless backtracking is intolerable to you in adventure games, it's definitely worth playing through the Kazooie-Tooie duology. Can't wait to see the new direction Rare goes for with Banjo-Threeie!
Completing this one did make me want to k*ll myself a little bit but overall it's about just as good as the og
Glad I didn't listen to the haters
Glad I didn't listen to the haters
I always liked Tooie more than Kazooie despite how unpopular of an opinion that is. I genuinely think it is a considerably better game, I know there's a lot of content and it has the potential to bog down the gameplay if you're used to how easy and straightforward 100% completion is in Kazooie, but I was exposed to Tooie first and didn't mind it. I will return to the game to 100% it whenever it gets a modern port (please god)
i can not in my right mind vouch for a collectathon game that is actively unfun to 100%
This is the James Corden of video games
banjo-tooie is a metroidvania if you think about it
jokes aside, a worthy sequel to BK despite the differences in tone and some things that haven't aged the greatest. one day i'll beat the final boss on the original version the cheatless way. fps controls are hell on a n64 controller.
probably also worth mentioning that this game introduced me to the concept of death when i was like. 6 or 7. yes, young gen was scarred to the point where i didn't play this game for a week after witnessing bottles the mole die on screen. thanks, rare!
jokes aside, a worthy sequel to BK despite the differences in tone and some things that haven't aged the greatest. one day i'll beat the final boss on the original version the cheatless way. fps controls are hell on a n64 controller.
probably also worth mentioning that this game introduced me to the concept of death when i was like. 6 or 7. yes, young gen was scarred to the point where i didn't play this game for a week after witnessing bottles the mole die on screen. thanks, rare!
It's not as bad as some people make it look, but I wouldn't call it great either. Often the levels are too big and confusing and you may waste a lot of time just figuring out what to do and then the things you are meant to do aren't always fun. But when it is fun, its pretty damn good, the humor and characters are great, there are many fun mini-games and places to explore and I'd say p much everything after Grunty Industries is solid.
Also unlike many other sequels at the time, it doesn't feel rushed, the content, good or bad, is unique for each world, so props for that too.
Also unlike many other sequels at the time, it doesn't feel rushed, the content, good or bad, is unique for each world, so props for that too.
A sequel that is still fun but flawed.
I still have a love for this game. It improves on some things but falters in others. And this is just another part of the story of how Rare didn't listen to criticism.
Where last left off with DK64(Go check my review of it so this makes a bit more sense.). The biggest problem with Tooie is that worlds are yet again too big. They are tedious to get around. It requires a stupid amount of backtracking. You have to get a move 2 world from now and then return to get this jiggy. Worlds are not self contained anymore. They actually connect in insane ways. You can do things in one world that effects another. It's cool but it also leads to tedium. They tried to add warp pads in worlds like DK64 but it doesn't really solve the problem.
Now, why am I mentioning DK64 so much? It's because it came out a year before this. And they learned nothing! They were told how tedious it was. They were told the worlds were too big. Yet here we are, with Banjo-Tooie having the same issues. The one thing they did improve is there is way less to collect in Tooie than there is in DK64. Rare simply did not listen to very valid criticisms.
Now, let's compare it to Banjo-Kazooie. It is a sequel after all. What does it improve it on? Note count no longer resets on death or exit of a level. You can now collect packs of notes instead one 1 note at a time. The overworld is a bit more interesting than the first. Although I feel like Grunty's Castle is a better vibe and theme. Ilse of Hags has more variety and there is more life going on. It has more moves to learn. Moves are more varied and all of them are used more. We get a lot more lore about the world. We also get what most people wanted and that was, to see Kazooie out of the backpack.
A cavoite to the separation move though. It does lead to tedium. Gotta find a pad to do it. Got to find a pad to switch. Got to separate in order to learn individual moves. It does lead to tedium but it was still a cool thing to do.
As usual, the worlds are varied. Most are fun. Later levels get to be a bit too much. Music is great as always. The final boss is honestly less frustrating. Dare I say, it's fun? Or at least very close to fun.
There are a few incredibly frustrating jiggies. Cough CANARY MARY cough. Some of the timers in the game are very tight. Like unfair tight. Some of the mini games suck due to bad controls.
One cool thing is the addition of a Golden Eye like multiplayer minigame. It's really fun with friends. You have to deal with the bad controls, but the 360 version does it fix it.
How does the Xbox 360 version improve on Tooie? Not much to be honest. It improves some controls. Stop n Swap lives on in this version. You get some player icons/profile pictures and a wallpaper for your 360. It looks better. I believe you could select a boss rush mode and play all the mini games from the menu.
I know I complained a lot about it. But I do love this game. I'm harsh because it needs to be said. It is not better than the first game, but not a bad sequel. It is just another example of Rare, not listening.
I know what some people are going to say. They were developed to close together. They couldn't change it even though they knew the criticisms of DK64. Fair enough. Here is the thing though. That's a trend with Rare. DKC 1, 2 and 3 were all released with 1 year of in between each other. 94, 95, 96. Bk1, DK64 and BK2 did the same thing. 98, 99, 00. Do you see the problem there?
I'm not going to go into much but DKC 3 is a mess of a game. It's not as well regarded because Rare didn't polish it like the other two. Bad hitboxes, worse graphics, worse music, etc. They simply didn't have the time.
Yet again, I know what some of you are gonna say. It's not Rare's fault they had to pump out so many games in a short amount of time. Yet again, fair enough.
I just need to paint the picture of why Tooie is the way it is. And how all of this effects not only Banjo-Kazooie Nuts n Bolts but Yooka-Laylee. I'm telling a story here of how they did not listen to criticism. Did not learn from their mistakes with DK64 and Tooie.
I still have a love for this game. It improves on some things but falters in others. And this is just another part of the story of how Rare didn't listen to criticism.
Where last left off with DK64(Go check my review of it so this makes a bit more sense.). The biggest problem with Tooie is that worlds are yet again too big. They are tedious to get around. It requires a stupid amount of backtracking. You have to get a move 2 world from now and then return to get this jiggy. Worlds are not self contained anymore. They actually connect in insane ways. You can do things in one world that effects another. It's cool but it also leads to tedium. They tried to add warp pads in worlds like DK64 but it doesn't really solve the problem.
Now, why am I mentioning DK64 so much? It's because it came out a year before this. And they learned nothing! They were told how tedious it was. They were told the worlds were too big. Yet here we are, with Banjo-Tooie having the same issues. The one thing they did improve is there is way less to collect in Tooie than there is in DK64. Rare simply did not listen to very valid criticisms.
Now, let's compare it to Banjo-Kazooie. It is a sequel after all. What does it improve it on? Note count no longer resets on death or exit of a level. You can now collect packs of notes instead one 1 note at a time. The overworld is a bit more interesting than the first. Although I feel like Grunty's Castle is a better vibe and theme. Ilse of Hags has more variety and there is more life going on. It has more moves to learn. Moves are more varied and all of them are used more. We get a lot more lore about the world. We also get what most people wanted and that was, to see Kazooie out of the backpack.
A cavoite to the separation move though. It does lead to tedium. Gotta find a pad to do it. Got to find a pad to switch. Got to separate in order to learn individual moves. It does lead to tedium but it was still a cool thing to do.
As usual, the worlds are varied. Most are fun. Later levels get to be a bit too much. Music is great as always. The final boss is honestly less frustrating. Dare I say, it's fun? Or at least very close to fun.
There are a few incredibly frustrating jiggies. Cough CANARY MARY cough. Some of the timers in the game are very tight. Like unfair tight. Some of the mini games suck due to bad controls.
One cool thing is the addition of a Golden Eye like multiplayer minigame. It's really fun with friends. You have to deal with the bad controls, but the 360 version does it fix it.
How does the Xbox 360 version improve on Tooie? Not much to be honest. It improves some controls. Stop n Swap lives on in this version. You get some player icons/profile pictures and a wallpaper for your 360. It looks better. I believe you could select a boss rush mode and play all the mini games from the menu.
I know I complained a lot about it. But I do love this game. I'm harsh because it needs to be said. It is not better than the first game, but not a bad sequel. It is just another example of Rare, not listening.
I know what some people are going to say. They were developed to close together. They couldn't change it even though they knew the criticisms of DK64. Fair enough. Here is the thing though. That's a trend with Rare. DKC 1, 2 and 3 were all released with 1 year of in between each other. 94, 95, 96. Bk1, DK64 and BK2 did the same thing. 98, 99, 00. Do you see the problem there?
I'm not going to go into much but DKC 3 is a mess of a game. It's not as well regarded because Rare didn't polish it like the other two. Bad hitboxes, worse graphics, worse music, etc. They simply didn't have the time.
Yet again, I know what some of you are gonna say. It's not Rare's fault they had to pump out so many games in a short amount of time. Yet again, fair enough.
I just need to paint the picture of why Tooie is the way it is. And how all of this effects not only Banjo-Kazooie Nuts n Bolts but Yooka-Laylee. I'm telling a story here of how they did not listen to criticism. Did not learn from their mistakes with DK64 and Tooie.
Few games are hampered by their own ambition the way this one is.
The worlds of Banjo-Tooie are massive yet mostly empty. The open world approach simply does not fit the Banjo series, which benefited much more from compact, meaningful levels wherein everything serves a purpose, like in the previous game. Trekking through these massive landscapes, switching between characters and effecting elements in future levels only to come back can feel extremely tedious. I do not recommend playing this game to 100% at all.
The abundance of new moves for the iconic duo, new gameplay styles and new boss fights are all fine ideas on paper, but the game bounces back and forth between ideas far too often for anything to leave an impression. Very little in this game feels polished or inspired, instead opting to throw every idea at the wall and see what sticks.
I can play the original Banjo-Kazooie to 100% anytime, anywhere, and I remember so much from that game, yet so little from this one. I think the overall experience would have been much stronger if some ideas were cut and the levels were shortened.
With that said, the game is still enjoyable up to a point. Many of the levels, while huge and unfocused, still provide fun objectives from time to time. The game will make you work very hard for many of those golden puzzle pieces, but they can be very satisfying to collect for those willing to spend the time.
Altogether, I can still recommend this game for a casual playthrough, but it would have benefitted greatly from keeping its ambition in check.
The worlds of Banjo-Tooie are massive yet mostly empty. The open world approach simply does not fit the Banjo series, which benefited much more from compact, meaningful levels wherein everything serves a purpose, like in the previous game. Trekking through these massive landscapes, switching between characters and effecting elements in future levels only to come back can feel extremely tedious. I do not recommend playing this game to 100% at all.
The abundance of new moves for the iconic duo, new gameplay styles and new boss fights are all fine ideas on paper, but the game bounces back and forth between ideas far too often for anything to leave an impression. Very little in this game feels polished or inspired, instead opting to throw every idea at the wall and see what sticks.
I can play the original Banjo-Kazooie to 100% anytime, anywhere, and I remember so much from that game, yet so little from this one. I think the overall experience would have been much stronger if some ideas were cut and the levels were shortened.
With that said, the game is still enjoyable up to a point. Many of the levels, while huge and unfocused, still provide fun objectives from time to time. The game will make you work very hard for many of those golden puzzle pieces, but they can be very satisfying to collect for those willing to spend the time.
Altogether, I can still recommend this game for a casual playthrough, but it would have benefitted greatly from keeping its ambition in check.
This game does Metroid Prime better than any real Metroid Prime.