Now before I begin I just want to clarify this:
This is strictly my own opinion. If you disagree with me, more power to you. Just keep the comments civil and respectful.

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to
GAME MODE: ON!

To continue to show that I'm not a Sony fanboy who only plays PlayStation games, I'm gonna be tackling a title from the late 90's that many consider one of the best 3D platformers of all time. The original Nintendo 64 classic, Banjo-Kazooie.

While past games like Super Mario 64 are what pioneered the genre, gamers and critics alike often cite this one as perfection as it paved the way for future titles such as Spyro the Dragon and Spongebob: Battle for Bikini Bottom. To this day, it is still celebrated as a classic and in honor of the year of it's 25th anniversary, I'm gonna deliver my own personal take on this game and see if the praise is warranted.

Just on a side-note, I played this title via Rare Replay, an Xbox One-exclusive collection of Rare's various titles over the company's 30-year history from Battletoads to Killer Instinct to Viva Pinata. It's a damn good title worth picking up if you're into retro gaming like I am.
Anyway, on with the review!

STORY & CHARACTERIZATION:
The game follows the titular duo, a dim bear named Banjo and a cynical bird named Kazooie, who find themselves on a perilous journey to chase down and defeat the narcissistic witch Gruntilda when she has kidnapped Banjo's little sister, Tooty, with plans to extract her outer-beauty for her own gain.

It's a basic run-of-the-mill late-90's platformer plot with no complex themes or compelling character arcs. It's just an excuse to traverse through many creative and fun worlds while also having a laugh every once in a while.
One of the main appeals of the game is it's sense of humor which mainly comprises of puns, rhymes and all sorts of witty comebacks. The jokes can warrant some good chuckles throughout though admittedly, there are times when they can overstay their welcome a bit. Nevertheless, it makes for a decent-enough reason to keep on playing to see what new quirky dialogue sessions are in for you.
Throughout the game, you'll run into a variety of colorful characters. Some like Bottles the Mole are capable of giving you tutorials on basic and complex moves, others like Bruntilda, Grunty's good fairy sister, give you hints that will become important later on and there are those like Snorkel the Dolphin that have their own side-quests that reward you with the game's main collectables. There's also a few characters that have their own independent functions which are helpful throughout the game such as Mumbo-Jumbo, a shaman who can magically-transform you into any object or animal depending on what world you're on in exchange for Mumbo Tokens and that can help you access areas and challenges you're unable to reach in your normal form, and Cheato, an abandoned living spellbook that can offer you cheat codes if you managed to find him in various secret areas of the main hubworld.
It's a cute little adventure that warrants a few giggles but how is the actual gameplay itself?

GAMEPLAY & CONTROLS:
Now before I continue any further, I must address my personal feelings regarding the Nintendo 64. My family used to own the console when I was a kid but even at such a young age, I can't help but be baffled by the design of the controller. Three handles and only one joystick, what the hell is up with that? As far as I can remember, it made playing on that console a real task to put up with and a pain to get the hang of. Even today, I'm still bewildered at how others, even my own older brother, are able to play that thing so well while I could barely do so.
As of today, several titles have been emulated and ported to modern consoles which should make for a golden opportunity for the developers to update the controls so that it would make them better to play than on the original N64. Some like GoldenEye turned out great and were alot of fun while others like Super Mario 64 were frustrating and, in the case of Conker's Bad Fur Day, almost fucking impossible. I know it's not easy to tweak controls for a game that was originally developed for a console that had a Fisher-Price abortion for a controller but if GoldenEye can turn out so smoothly, why can't you do the same for Mario 64 or Conker? Make an effort, for god's sake!
Now in regards to Banjo, I can safely say that it does control adequately. As an enhanced port for the Xbox, the controls are mapped out and coded as well as they could be. Camera works smoothly enough and overall, it does play fine for the most part. There are times when it can get a little slippery which can make bits like platforming, time trials and certain boss fights a pain in the ass so it's not really that perfect. It plays better than Mario and Conker but in some areas, it's not saying too much.
As far as I'm concerned, you have a variety of moves and attacks that can help you on your way. You can roll or dash into enemies and obstacles, you do can a high jump and you can even use Kazooie to walk around steep hills as well as shit or puke a limited number of eggs. There are some items scattered throughout the game such as the aforementioned eggs, red feathers that gives you extra flight and the ability to torpedo-zoom, gold feathers that can give you limited invincibility, honeycomb pieces that restore your health and honeycomb rings that extend your health meter.
Besides the tutorial level and Gruntilda's Lair(which serves as the main hub), there are nine worlds to explore, each with their own unique environmental themes, gimmicks and challenges. To progress through the game, you need to achieve a specific number of the main collectables such as musical notes, which are used to open doors which open up more of Grunty's Lair, and golden jigsaw pieces, which are used to gain access to new worlds. While the 100 notes of each world are scattered throughout, the 10 Jiggies are only acquired once you've done a specific challenge whether it be traversing a platform stage, solving a puzzle, helping a local or two out, competing in races, rescuing five multicolored creatures or fighting a boss, just to name a few. While some can be a little frustrating due to sensitive control, the occasional super-tight time limit, intrusive enemies and bullshit rubber-banding AI, there are plenty of challenges that are plenty of fun which can make collecting Jiggies a good time. The good thing about this is that you don't have to collect everything to access the very last parts of the game, you just need to gain enough. That, and unlike Mario 64, the game doesn't boot you back to the main hub every time you collect a Jiggy which is nice. However, what does kill the momentum a bit is the backtracking. Whenever you come back to the game, you always start back at the beginning of the main hub and without a handy number of shortcuts, it can make heading back to where you left off tedious. Sure, there are teleportation cauldrons throughout the hub but I've only managed to complete two or three sets and even then, that's not enough to make return trips any less tiring. And while I appreciate a game that doesn't hold your hand, it can be frustrating trying to figure out a puzzle or how to defeat a certain boss especially if it's a timed challenge.
That, and some of the enemies are a fucking joke. While some can be dealt with fine enough, there are some that are such assholes to avoid with the worst being the ghosts in Mad Monster Mansion who not only cannot be killed but are fast and will not stop chasing you until you're dead. I fucking hate these bastards with a passion. All I'm trying to do is either collect some notes on some chairs or pass through a hedge maze but these c**ts are damn-near unavoidable, I hate them that much.
One of the most irritating moves to try and pull off is the torpedo dash when flying. For example, in Freezeezy Peak, you have to bash several evil snowman on their hats to defeat them but because aiming the fuckin' thing is more finicky than Warner Bros. Discovery's reputation, you're guaranteed to miss than hit a good chunk of the time.
Aiming eggs to shoot can also be a pain. It's like if you're one pixel off, the eggs miss the target. Trying to aim the fuckin' thing is so snappy that it can really screw you up if you're on a tight time-frame and considering you often find yourself accidentally doing a ground-stomp when you clearly didn't mean to during a tense and panicky situation, it can get you killed faster than you think.
But the one thing I hate more than anything in this game is the final stretch. This is the part that almost made me rage-quit thus rendering this review non-existent, it was that frustrating. In the penultimate part of the game, you have to engage in a game show hosted by Grunty in which you have to partake in quizzes and various timed challenges in order to advance. Fail too many times and you have to keep restarting all over again. Seriously, the game expects you to remember enough about even the littlest details in order to beat this part. Sure, some are child's play but others are just a pain and seriously, that timed boss fight against the box in Rusty Bucket Bay can go to Hell! But even if you've finally beaten the game show, there's still the final boss fight against Grunty which can only be accessed by collecting just a few more notes and Jiggies. But once you're finally there, you might as well turn the game off because this boss can go suck a dick. It's one of the most frustrating final bosses of any game ever and it's all down to four fatal faults:
#1. Grunty can shoot fireballs at you in the direction that you're heading. You can avoid them by going the other way but at some points, she fires them at such a fast pace that you're unable to find the best place possible to land a single good hit on her.
#2. At one phase, you need to shoot eggs at her but again, because she can ramp up the pace in which she shoots her fireballs, it is such bullshit trying to find the best opening to fire back.
#3. Another phase has you flying in the air and attempting to torpedo-bash into Grunty but because the controls are such shit, you'll end up missing so many times thus potentially wasting too many red feathers.
#4. The final two phases has you shooting eggs into statues but because aiming into the holes is more problematic than it should be and Grunty is constantly blasting shit at you, you're going to unfairly die at this final part of the battle the most. It is a fucking miracle I was able to get the shitty patterns down and send that green bitch packin' where she belongs.
Now yes, I understand that challenge is a good thing to have in a game but there's a clear difference between a legit challenge and just frustrating bullshit. This godforsaken final boss is bullshit and a big dark stain on an otherwise good game. But hey, at least it's possible to beat unlike Sonic Unleashed's Dark Gaia.
Okay, so I know I've been sounding a bit negative towards this game but don't take this the wrong way, I did enjoy playing it. It's just that it has it's frustrating elements that keep it from being this perfect classic that everybody has hailed it to be. Plus, I can't imagine how much worse it would've controlled on the console it was originally released on but that's just me. But again, compared to the emulated ports of Mario 64 and Conker, Banjo still controlled fine in-spite of it's minor faults. If you've managed to have a better and less frustrating time with it, that's fantastic, more power to you.

GRAPHICS & PRODUCTION VALUE:
Even if the gameplay is subpar and bullshitty at best, you can't go wrong with the visuals. Sure, it may look like shit compared to games today but back in 1998, these graphics were charming as fuck and really bring out the little kid in you who enjoys these kinds of wacky and lovable cartoons. There's no denying that the art design is extremely memorable and fits perfectly with the witty nature and comical tone of the game with many environments and layouts having so much genuine atmosphere and personality thus making them enjoyable to traverse through.
Plus, aside from the goofy sound design, you can never really go wrong with the music composed by the legendary Grant Kirkhope. His score for the game just oozes charisma and is definitely the main highlight of the overall journey. It's right up there with the likes of Heavy Rain and Castlevania 4 as one of my all-time favorite video game soundtracks.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
So overall, Banjo-Kazooie is a fun platformer that will last in your head for decades to come.
Sure, some parts and mechanics can be a real pain in the ass but those can be forgiven due to the game's endless appeal and charm. So much so that I'm kind enough to give it the rating it gets. Would've ranked it lower due to that horrid final stretch but again, I'm feeling generous right now so take it for what it's worth.
If you can, check to see if it's available to buy on the Xbox Store or better yet, go out and buy Rare Replay because besides Banjo, you get plenty of other classic games worth looking over, Either way, it's worth a playthrough.

Until next time, thank you for taking the time to check out this installment of GAME MODE: ON.
If you liked what you've read here and want to see more, you can go ahead and follow me whenever you want.

And also, don't forget to check out my Letterboxd page for new film reviews every week.

AFTER-NOTE: Do not expect me to review Conker's Bad Fur Day later down the line because that game is just straight-up sadistic with it's slippery control and unfair level mechanics. Sorry, can't review a game if I can't finish it. That's my rule.
I'd rather wait for a good sale on the Live & Reloaded remake instead.

Banjo and Kazooie are a hilarious duo, with one being an easy-going bear who's okay with the cartoon hell he exists in, and the other a very cynical bird who makes people hate her almost as fast as she'll hate them.

The two are a hilarious duo in a creatively worked out collect-a-thon that still feels good to play in the modern day. With each puzzle being creatively planned, yet challenging and each world having a fun theme within a witches castle, it's no wonder Banjo-Kazooie still manages to be a classic game that just feels fun

Like many others, I'd heard this game was one of the all-time greats. I just missed it myself, and my cousin only ever played Tooie. So the only thing I heard about this game were praises, and going in I was expecting to have a great time, it is a 3D platformer from the 5th gen (which I'm fairly nostalgic for), and it frequently gets compared to Mario 64 which is a very high comparison. Unfortantely from my ratings, you can see it isn't up to snuff...

Let's start with the positives, because there are definitely positives that I can see people falling in love with this game over. The game looks incredible for its time, and is also very well animated. The only issue with the animations is when it comes to having to use Kazooie's dive attack, as the targets for it have hitboxes that will quickly move out of the way and make you miss from how they move around. Other than that, they add a lot of charm and personality to the game. Speaking of charm and personality, the characters are also all fun. Gruntilda is easily the game's highlight character, as her presence can be felt anywhere you go, from the cackles in her lair to her making fun of you in levels just because she can. That her first finale is a quiz show was a blast, I love trivia and things that make you review your knowledge of the game. The music is also very good, especially with how it will adapt itself on the fly to your specific environment, really brings it to life. It's an entertaining world.

Until you play it, as this is where my positives end. That this game gets compared to Mario 64 is strange, as Mario 64 is all about utilizing Mario's movement. His flips, his long jumps, triple jumps, wall kicks, Mario was all about his movement and navigating the courses with those tools. Banjo and Kazooie have a more simplified moveset that doesn't allow for much creative mobility sadly. If anything the learned abilities function more like keys that allow you to access more of an area than allow you to come up with creative solutions to the levels. The last two moves you learn are especially egregious, as they're really just power-ups but nah man you gotta talk to Bottles first. The two movement systems are apples and oranges sure, but Mario's is just much more exciting and involved.

Speaking of "thing should be here but nah you gotta go somewhere else", I wanna talk about Grunty's Lair for a bit. It's a pain in the ass to navigate. The first thing you go to is Mumbo's Mountain where you can't enter it and look over until you find the picture to put Jiggies in to complete the picture and open the gate to the level. Sounds reasonable enough. But it's only that close to the level for Mumbo's Mountian, for the rest of them the pictures and the level can be on opposite ends of the earth. For me the most egregious was Mad Monster Manor, who's level is past the Note Door down the lava area but nope, Picture is nowhere near it. The picture is instead through this underwater pathway in a completely different area, should have checked there first dingus. Also whenever you Game Over, you will restart at the beginning of Grunty's Lair. Now I only Game Over'd once, but this is also true whenever you start the game. Let's just say it's a far longer trip to get back to where you were than it was in Mario 64, even with the shortcuts you can find, which is why it isn't an issue there while it is here. Peach's Castle is much more condensed, so you spend way less time traveling to your key locations than you do in Banjo.

The last nail in the coffin I'd say is the completion requirements for Banjo. To beat Banjo Kazooie you're required to get 94/100 Jiggies and 810/900 notes, so about 93% completion, minimum. If you want to make the final boss less tedious across repeated attempts (you will use resources in this fight) you need 864/900 notes, and if you want a free win you need 880/900 notes. This is especially frustrating when you don't get any hints about what you need to do in the levels themselves. While you can easily find 6 or 7 Jiggies by just exploring alone, that'd only end you up with 70 of the required Jiggies. Insisting players almost 100% your game just to beat it is a bit excessive. I'll admit I opened a guide just to see what the last few jiggies in each area were, but I'd say I found 75 on my own. For another Mario 64 comparison, the game only requires 70/120 stars, 58% completion. This means if you don't like a level, you can just do more in the levels you do like and you'll never have to visit Rainbow Ride unless you're going for 100%. Meanwhile in Banjo, if you don't like a level, well, if you only got 9 in every other level too bad, even if you got 9 here it wouldn't be enough! Go perfect some levels! I would have set it to 80 Jiggies and 750 Notes since Banjo is a different kind of game, but if I were Rare and still insisted the player to at least see every level, then 90 Jiggies and 805 Notes. The higher the any% requirement, the less freedom players have to tackle the game their own way. Only allowing 6 Jiggies to be missed just doesn't leave the player with much wiggle room in a game like this.

The sizes of the levels don't help, while Mumbo's Mountain is good for a starting level, the rest scale up pretty quickly, with Click Clock Woods being huge and requiring you to climb the same tree 4 different times to check for everything. I think at least a Jiggy List that you can find in each area that gives an objective name like Mario 64's stars all have (outside secret and 100 coins anyways) would go a long way. Have that list be in an open spot that the player has to think about how to get to. Something to give the player a hint towards the level objectives they might have missed beyond roaming around the huge levels and praying you stumble upon it.

This review may seem scathing relative to its score, but that is most likely due to the expectations of the game established by its reputation (and playing through Rare Replay to get here) when it's just alright-decent. I wanted to like Banjo Kazooie more than I did, but I still respect the game and what it tried to do. I think if it had some more platforming challenges, the full move set from the start (and still have Bottles holes in places so you can remind/inform players just in case), a less strict Jiggie requirement and some more specific checklist you can either find in a level or in a pause menu, that'd do a lot to help Banjo Kazooie reach the heights I wish it did.

Unlike most games from the late 90's and early 2000's I feel very passionately about, I didn't play this one as kid. I came around to Banjo-Kazooie due to the almost unanimous praise it received from Youtube game reviewers, and since I had a love of 3D platformers from the mainline Mario games, I figured I had to take a chance on it.

Banjo-Kazooie is a game I would consider one of the aesthetic marvels of gaming - not due to technical prowess, but instead extreme control and polish. Every level in this game is unique and memorable to a tee; Mumbo Mountain, Treasure Trove Cove, Freezeezy Peak, Mad Monster Mansion and Click Clock Wood are just a selection that are unrivalled in visual flare and environmental design. Nevermind the music composed by Grant Kirkhope, some of the most sticky melodies and pitch perfect choices for each level imaginable. The main theme, Click Clock Wood and Treasure Cove are routinely stuck in my head; and the way that each one of them morphs and changes depending on where in the level you are is exquisite.

Outside of the aesthetics, the core gameplay is still an amazing time too. Controls are tight, and the platforming rides a fine line between actually being challenging and not aneurism inducing. Each Jiggy requires a combination of your platforming prowess, your logical deduction skills and some commitment to get, making the whole experience quite rewarding.

This is a Doom (2016) situation where I am enamoured with this game for its perfection of its craft, but due to it not feeling like a profound experience it's not a personal 10/10. Still, if you have any interest in this game, please please play it.

Honestly ? One (if not the best, personally) platformers on the N64. Awesome music (and damn, there's a ton), really attaching characters, a simple story but that does the trick, challenging levels and a really, really good final boss fight.
THOUGH, holy shit does that game plays bad with the camera always looking at the wrong way, banjo and kazooie's slippery feet, THAT DANG PROPELLER SECTION, and the fact you need to play each level without dying once if you want the 100 notes and the 100% ending. Cruel.

There's absolutely some fun to be had here but for me it feels too clunky and disjointed to really keep me fully engaged. I've been meaning to get to Banjo-Kazooie for probably a decade or so now since I grew up with it being lauded as high-art on the YouTube spheres I was in and I was really looking to love this game, especially so since I love Rare's other works. Yet after the initial set of worlds I found myself losing interest little by little. Each world's objectives feel like busy work a lot of the time and none of their mechanical designs or artistic designs really interested me that often. I got to Rusty Bucket Bay and felt like I had done this same song and dance enough by then that I decided to call it quits. Adding onto this I found the movement unsatisfying and led to a lot of cheap hits. Barely any of the moves really gel into one another all that well without at least a second of delay which is understandable since the industry was still adjusting to 3D games but Mario 64 had already been out for 2 years by the point this released. On the bright side, I found the music enjoyable and some of the scenarios for getting jiggies were novel even if they weren't all that engaging. Check the game out if you're interested but I personally couldn't vibe with it in most cases

Banjo-Kazooie tá ali pra mim, junto de Crash Bandicoot e Sonic Adventure como os jogos mais lindos que eu já vi em seu respectivo console. Simplesmente sou muito fã desse low poly e uso de cenários de praia e florestas com cores fortes.

O roteiro é salvar a irmã do Banjo, Tooty, mas não é pra isso que estamos jogando ele. Jogamos ele para viver uma aventura incrível por cenários gigantescos que escondem segredos por todos os cantos (inclusive segredos que viram lenda urbana), ver a dinâmica caótica do urso e do pássaro que parecem não se entenderem, mas estão juntos de qualquer forma, ver as coisas aleatórias em que o Mumbo Jumbo vai te transformar em cada fase, descobrir que não é só nas fases que existem as peças coletáveis, se perder nesse castelo gigantesco da Gruntilda... Cara tem muita, mas MUITA coisa pra se fazer nesse jogo. Então, a Tooty que lute.

Eu peguei pra completar a primeira vez esse jogo usando um guia da revista original Nintendo World, foi muito bom, me senti uma criança de novo.

Eu nem tenho nenhuma piada pra escrever aqui, esse jogo só é maravilhoso.

Unpopular review incoming, but bear with me. I'll try to explain myself.

My overall issue with the game is its slow 'pace', and I mean that in regards to the low rate of decision-making more than I mean your movement-speed. You don't actually move that slow, but the large areas you have to move around in still make the experience of getting between points of interest a slog. As you walk into myriad collectibles; enemies, platforming-geometry, and general hazards don't really crop up in a meaningful way for much of almost any stage. You are essentially free to try and go to anything as quickly as you can virtually unopposed.

I don't know if there's a late game difficulty-spike to address this as I was only able to 100% the first 8 stages before losing interest. I don't really have any suggestions on how I'd improve the game either. It's a gentle collectathon with simple levels and movement. You don't have to pay attention to your momentum, there's no high commitment to any movements (like Mario's triple-jump), and variety is provided by transformations with even less complex move-sets. I don't think making the action-set more complicated would address anything since stages are wide open and generally not dangerous. It's a game designed for players of a certain skill-level, I suppose, and doesn't have anything to offer players looking for a more demanding experience. It's a subtle balancing-act to make a game for players of varying aptitude/experience.

For me, at the age of 7 when I first attempted it all the way to now, the game is and has always been fundamentally uninteresting. At the bottom of my game-literacy and observed through its current state, I never have been and may never be the target-demographic of this game. Not hating on anyone it clicks with though.

1/5

Banjo-Kazooie is a wonderful game and what it does well it does VERY well. The movement feels crisp and rewarding. The levels are varied and unique. The music is amazing and fits each scene. However, the good of this game has already been talked about enough. There are a few MAJOR issues I have with this game.

First, the requirements. For those who don't know, you need 94% of the jiggies and 90% of the 900 notes just in order to beat the game. This is a crazy amount and resulted in me just feeling exhuasted and burned out needing to collect everything just to beat the game. This is made immediately worse with having every note you collect be reset in every world every time you die. BEYOND annoying.

The other big thing is the camera. This is one of the worst cameras i've ever had to control. It gets stuck on EVERYTHING. It will randomly spin around and change on you, often causing you to go off-course and sometimes fall off to your death. There are certain areas where you would just LOVE to be able to change the camera, but the game won't let you! :)

Overall, this is an amazing game to play. However, I'd recommend playing with cheats to have each level unlocked early so you don't need to 90% the game just to beat it.

There is nothing harder than attempting to follow in the footsteps of a revolutionary masterpiece like Super Mario 64. And yet, no studio in the world was better equipped than Rare--after all, they completed this herculean task once before.

In a lot of ways, Banjo-Kazooie did for 3D platformers exactly what Donkey Kong Country did for 2D platformers. Much like how the Donkey Kong Country games solidified the baseline established by the early Mario titles, Banjo-Kazooie made great strides for the 3D platformer genre. No one can doubt Mario 64's influence, but much of the tropes of platformers of the time stemmed from Banjo-Kazooie, not Mario.

It's worth praising the work that went into bringing the stages of Banjo-Kazooie to life. Gruntilda's Lair dwarfs Peach's Castle, featuring far more puzzles and secrets. Banjo Kazooie's stages are filled with colorful characters and surprisingly solid writing. The texture work is absolutely phenomenal--Banjo-Kazooie looks better than anything on the N64 has a right to. And, last but not least, there is the absolutely legendary soundtrack. Praising the soundtrack is done to death at this point, but more understated, however, is the impeccable crossfading.

It's hard not to consider Banjo-Kazooie a massive success, and don't get me wrong, it is. But, all the same, I find myself preferring Super Mario 64. Banjo-Kazooie's huge scope is impressive, but I can't help but feel it distracts from the actual point of a 3D platformer: the platforming. It's telling that Banjo-Kazooie's most frustrating and least enjoyable moments (like the fan room in Rusty Bucket Bay) are the ones that lean more heavily into actual platforming. Mario 64 has, still, the best movement system of any 3D platformer ever. In comparison, Banjo-Kazooie's platforming is a bit passé.

I almost think Banjo-Kazooie has been put into the wrong genre. The things Banjo-Kazooie is remembered by are the zany challenges (like the Furnace Fun Quiz), the transformations, the characters, the evolving worlds, the music; not the platforming. Banjo-Kazooie is a great game, but I'm not actually convinced it's a great platformer. This, honestly, almost doesn't matter though. Banjo-Kazooie is by no means conflicted: it knows what its strengths are, and it chooses wisely to make those strengths the focus.

Banjo-Kazooie stands on the shoulders of giants. It may not eclipse its predecessors in the way Donkey Kong Country did, but what Banjo-Kazooie did achieve is remarkable all the same.