Banjo is basically a big brawny bear that's sincere and kind but can also be a bumbling idiot a few times, he kind of has a hero complex (but that's not evident until the later games). Kazooie is a bird that, unlike Banjo, is snarky and sarcastic; she serves as a foil to Banjo but she is still a good guy. Banjo-Kazooie ROM Download for Nintendo 64 (N64) on Emulator Games. Play Banjo-Kazooie game that is available in the United States of America (USA) version only on this website. Banjo-Kazooie is a Nintendo 64 emulator game that you can download to your computer or play online within your browser. Jul 10, 2017  Playing as both Banjo and Kazooie, players hone their characters' actions, learning nearly two dozen special moves that help players expertly defeat foes and successfully tread through the nine worlds. Banjo-Kazooie is one of those games that can demand hours upon hours of perseverance, patience, and learning of skills to complete.

Banjo-Kazooie is a platformvideo game developed by Rare and originally released for the Nintendo 64 console in 1998. It is the first game in the Banjo-Kazooie series and follows the story of a bear, Banjo, and a bird, Kazooie, as they try to stop the plans of the witch Gruntilda, who intends to switch her beauty with Banjo's sister, Tooty. The game features nine nonlinearworlds where the player must use Banjo and Kazooie's wide range of abilities to gather items and progress through the story. It features challenges like solving puzzles, jumping over obstacles, collecting items, and defeating opponents.

Originally conceived as an adventure game named Dream for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Banjo-Kazooie was designed to appeal to players of all ages in a similar vein to Walt Disney Animation Studios films. The game was a critical and commercial success, selling nearly two million copies in the United States. It was praised for its detailed graphics, dynamic soundtrack, and intricate level design. In 1999, it received two awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences: Console Action Game of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Art/Graphics. The game was remastered for the Xbox 360 in 2008 and included in the Rare Replay video game compilation for the Xbox One in 2015. A sequel, Banjo-Tooie, was released in 2000.

• 3Development

Gameplay[edit]

Banjo-Kazooie is a single-playerplatform game where the player controls the protagonists Banjo and Kazooie from a third-person perspective. The game features nine worlds where the player must gather musical notes and jigsaw pieces, called Jiggies, to progress.^[1] The player transits from one world to another through Gruntilda's Lair, a region that acts as the game's central overworld. Jiggies allow the player to complete jigsaw puzzles which open doors to new worlds, while musical notes allow the player to access new areas of the overworld containing more advanced worlds.^[1] Like Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie is very open and allows the player to collect Jiggies and musical notes in a nonlinear order.^[2][3] It is also possible to complete certain worlds out of order, assuming the player has enough Jiggies and musical notes to reach a more advanced world earlier than intended.^[2]

Each world is composed of a number of challenges that involve solving puzzles, jumping over obstacles, gathering objects, and defeating opponents.^[1] The game features action-adventure elements, and players often have to interact with non-player characters and help them.^[3] It is also possible to increase Banjo and Kazooie's health bar by collecting extra honeycombs throughout the game.^[1] Banjo and Kazooie can perform a wide range of abilities, such as jumping, climbing, swimming, flying, and rolling into enemies.^[1] These moves are learned by finding their friend, Bottles the mole, throughout the game. Some moves require specific items to be performed; for instance, red feathers allow Banjo and Kazooie to fly, while gold feathers protect them from damage.^[1] Some items allow the pair to gain temporary abilities in a particular moment; for instance, the Turbo Trainer shoes provide a speed burst used to reach a destination on time. Additionally, found in each world are small creatures called Jinjos that, upon collection of the entire world's population, grant the duo a Jiggy.^[1]

Banjo and Kazooie are occasionally aided by their friend Mumbo Jumbo, a shaman who can use magical powers to transform them into several creatures. These include a termite, a pumpkin, a honey bee, a walrus, and a crocodile.^[1] Creatures have their own abilities and allow the player to access areas that were previously inaccessible. Before a transformation process is allowed, the player must find a required number of 'Mumbo Tokens' in the worlds. The game also includes cheats codes which can be unlocked by finding Gruntilda's spellbook, Cheato.^[1]

Plot[edit]

In a region called Spiral Mountain, a foul-tempered witch named Gruntilda learns from her cauldron, Dingpot, that Tooty, a brown honey bear, is more beautiful than she.^[4] Jealous, Gruntilda creates a machine to transfer a person's beauty to another, which she intends to use with Tooty.^[5] Gruntilda kidnaps Tooty while her older brother, Banjo, is sleeping. Banjo's friend Kazooie, a female red-crested 'Breegull,' wakes him up and the two resolve to rescue Tooty.^[6] While Banjo and Kazooie collect musical notes and Jiggies to traverse through Gruntilda's Lair, they are aided by Bottles, a mole who is Tooty's friend, and Mumbo Jumbo, a shaman who used to be Gruntilda's teacher, and rescue Jinjos, small creatures that Gruntilda imprisoned in each world.^[7]

Having gathered most of the musical notes and Jiggies, Banjo and Kazooie participate in a trivia game show hosted by Gruntilda, where they answer questions and challenges related to certain aspects of the game. Once they win the game, Banjo and Kazooie retrieve Tooty and celebrate with their friends and a barbecue, but Tooty reminds everyone that Gruntilda has escaped.^[8] Banjo and Kazooie enter the top of the lair, where they confront Gruntilda. A fierce battle ensues, but with the help of the Jinjos they rescued, the duo send Gruntilda falling towards Spiral Mountain, where she gets trapped beneath a boulder. Banjo and Kazooie go on vacation at a beach with their friends and celebrate their victory. Gruntilda swears revenge against Banjo and Kazooie, calling for her henchman, Klungo, to move the boulder.^[9]

Development[edit]

Origins[edit]

The origins of Banjo-Kazooie can be traced back to Project Dream, a cancelled video game developed by Rare's Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest team for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.^[10] Inspired by Japanese role-playing games and LucasArts adventure games, Dream was developed for 16 months and starred a boy named Edison who would get into trouble with a group of pirates.^[11][10] The game used Rare's Advanced Computer Modeling (ACM) graphics technology, first used in Donkey Kong Country, to an advanced level.^[10] As development progressed, Edison was replaced by a rabbit and later a bear, who would eventually become Banjo.^[10] Because the introduction of the Nintendo 64 made the ACM technology obsolete,^[10] Rare decided to transition the development of the game to that console.^[11] The project proved to be too ambitious for the developers, who felt the game was not fun.^[11] After early versions of Rare's Conker's Bad Fur Day proved satisfactory, the company decided to retool Dream into a Donkey Kong-esque platformer.^[12][11] However, when Rare realized that Super Mario 64 was going to set the standard for 3D games, making their project look outdated, the company ultimately scrapped all work on Dream to produce a new game featuring Banjo.^[11]

Production[edit]

Actual work on Banjo-Kazooie started in March 1997 with a development team of 10 people.^[10][13] As development progressed, the team grew to a total of 15 members, which included seven engineers, five artists, two designers and one musician.^[10] The team comprised both experienced and inexperienced people; some had been working at Rare for 10 years while others had never previously worked on a video game.^[13]Gregg Mayles served as the head designer.^[10] The 3D world of Super Mario 64 was a major inspiration for Banjo-Kazooie, as Rare intended to combine it with the look of Donkey Kong Country.^[13] The game was designed to appeal players of all ages in a similar vein to Walt Disney Animation Studios films. According to Rare, 'We wanted the characters to primarily appeal to a younger audience but, at the same time, give them enough humour and attitude not to discourage older players.'^[13] The music of the game, composed by Grant Kirkhope,^[14] was designed to gradually fade from one style to the next without pause, while the overall composition loops continuously.^[3]

Rare decided to make an action-based game that focused totally on Banjo and his abilities. Kazooie was later conceived during the planning of such abilities.^[10] According to Mayles, 'We came up with the [...] idea that a pair of wings could appear from his backpack to help him perform a second jump. We also wanted Banjo to be able to run very fast when required [so] we added a pair of 'fast-running' legs that appeared from the bottom of the backpack. [And soon after] we came up with the logical conclusion that these could belong to another character, one that actually lived in Banjo's backpack.'^[10] The character was named after a kazoo, which was considered an annoying instrument, 'much like the personality of the bird,' Mayles explained.^[10] Instead of actual dialogue, all the characters in the game feature 'mumbling' voices. This choice was made to convey their personalities without them actually speaking, as Rare felt the actual speech 'could ruin the player's perception of the characters.'^[10] The witch Gruntilda was inspired by Grotbags from the Grotbags British television series.^[10]

Banjo-Kazooie employs an advanced technique to render its graphics. The in-game characters were created with minimal amounts of texturing so they could have a sharp and clean look, while the backgrounds use very large textures split into 64×64 pieces, which was the largest texture size the Nintendo 64 could render.^[10] Because this technique caused significant memory fragmentation issues, the developers created a proprietary system that could 'reshuffle' memory as players played through the game.^[10] According to lead programmer Chris Sutherland, 'I'd doubt many [Nintendo 64] games of the time did anything like that'.^[10] The fact that the player could be transformed into small creatures was implemented to give some of the worlds a different sense of scale.^[10]

Rare originally planned to include a multiplayer mode and more worlds in the game, but these features were not implemented due to time constraints;^[10][15] some of these would later be included in the sequel Banjo-Tooie instead.^[16] In addition, a feature called 'Stop 'N' Swop,' which would have allowed data to be transferred between both Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie, remains incomplete in the game.^[10] The feature was never fully implemented due to technical difficulties in the Nintendo 64 hardware.^[17] The development of the game took overall 17 months to complete after Rare discarded Project Dream, the first two of these being spent experimenting with Dream's graphic technology.^[10] In June 1997, a working version of the game was shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo,^[18] where it was officially announced that Dream had become Banjo-Kazooie.^[19] The game was initially scheduled for a release in late 1997 but was ultimately delayed.^[20] It was released on 29 June 1998 in North America, 17 July 1998 in Europe,^[21] and 6 December 1998 in Japan.^[22]

Reception[edit]

Banjo-Kazooie was a critical and commercial success, selling more than 1.8 million copies in the United States and more than 405,000 units in Japan.^[33][34] At the 1999 Milia festival in Cannes, it took home a 'Gold' prize for revenues above €26 million in the European Union during the previous year.^[35]GamePro described Banjo-Kazooie as a 'more complex, more fluid, and more attractive game than its plumber predecessor Super Mario 64. It's sure to have even the staunchest [Nintendo 64] critics raising their eyebrows.'^[26] Writing for IGN, journalist Peer Schneider felt that Banjo-Kazooie was 'the best 3D platformer [he has] ever played, and a more than worthy successor to Super Mario 64'.^[3] James Ashton of N64 Magazine highlighted the game's length, noting that the game can take 40 or 50 hours to fully complete.^[30]

The graphics were seen as one of the strongest aspects of the game.^[3][27][30]Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot wrote: 'graphically, Banjo-Kazooie takes it to another level. The game maintains the look and feel of Mario 64, but instead of flat, shaded polygons, [Banjo-Kazooie] uses a lot of textures'.^[27] The game's long draw distance, solid frame rate, special lighting, transparency effects, and animations were also highlighted very positively.^[3][31] Critics also praised the game's dynamic soundtrack. Schneider remarked that it 'lets players know where they are going. This happens all the time and in every level. It's all very Disney-esque.'^[3] The sound effects received similar praise, with several editors crediting the unique and diverse speech patterns of the characters.^[3][27]

The game was often called a Super Mario 64 clone for its similarity in gameplay.^{[32][27][29][36]} Gerstmann felt that Banjo-Kazooie 'doesn't stray too far from the formula, but it makes the logical progressions you would expect Nintendo to make.'^[27]Game Informer observed that, while both games are very similar, Banjo-Kazooie has less emphasis on the platforming and more on exploration.^[36]Next Generation highlighted the game's depth and detail, stating that Super Mario 64 'looks naked and aged in comparison.'^[32] Colin Williamson of AllGame stated similar pros, crediting the level design as 'simply delightful, loaded with creativity, secrets, and memorable characters.'^[29]Nintendo Power remarked that the game's puzzles were fresh and that the characters 'have more of a loud-mouthed attitude than Mario and crew.^[31] One habitually-criticized aspect of the game was its flawed camera system.^[28][29][30]Game Revolution remarked that it can occasionally be in a bad angle to gauge a jump properly,^[28] while Edge said that its fixed position in underwater sections can be frustrating while retrieving collectables.^[25]

In 1999, Banjo-Kazooie received two awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences: Console Action Game of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Art/Graphics.^[37] Similarly, IGN awarded the game Overall Best Graphics of 1998,^[38] Best Texture Design of 1998,^[38] and Best Music of 1998.^[39]

Legacy[edit]

A sequel, Banjo-Tooie, was released for the Nintendo 64 in 2000 and largely adopts the gameplay mechanics of its predecessor.^[40] The Banjo-Kazooie series continued to be developed with the release of Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge and Banjo-Pilot for the Game Boy Advance in 2003 and 2005, respectively.^[41][42] The characters Banjo and Kazooie proved to be popular and were once seen as a potential mascot for the Xbox 360 console.^[43] A third main game, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, was released for the Xbox 360 in 2008. Nuts & Bolts is a departure from its predecessors and involves the player building vehicles of all shapes and sizes to complete challenges.^[44]

An Xbox Live Arcade version of Banjo-Kazooie, developed by 4J Studios, was released for the Xbox 360 on 26 November 2008.^[45][46] This version runs in a full widescreen mode, includes achievements, and supports the 'Stop 'N' Swop' connectivity that was incomplete in the Nintendo 64 game, used now to unlock features in both Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and the then-upcoming Xbox Live Arcade version of Banjo-Tooie.^[47][48] The Xbox Live Arcade version was generally well received by critics, featuring an aggregate score of 77 out of 100 at Metacritic.^[49] While some publications such as Eurogamer considered the relatively unchanged game to be outdated,^[50] several agreed that the Xbox Live Arcade version was a solid revival of a classic.^[51][52] In 2009, IGN ranked it seventh on its list of Top 10 Xbox Live Arcade Games, with editor Cam Shea stating that, while the game is 'not perfect, it was a landmark title for a reason'.^[53]

Banjo-Kazooie is frequently cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. In 2000, the game was ranked number seven on IGN's list of The Top 25 N64 Games of All Time.^[54] In 2009, Game Informer ranked the game 71st in their list of the Top 100 Games Of All Time.^[55] In 2015, the Xbox Live Arcade version of Banjo-Kazooie was released as part of the Rare Replay video game compilation for Xbox One.^[56] A spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, Yooka-Laylee, was released in 2017.^[57] Elements from Banjo-Kazooie were released as downloadable content for the crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on 4 September 2019, including Banjo and Kazooie as playable characters and a stage based on Spiral Mountain.^[58]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcdefghiBanjo-Kazooie (Instruction booklet). Rare. Redmond, Washington: Nintendo of America. 1998. U/NUS-NBKE-USA.CS1 maint: others (link)
2. ^ ^ab'Banjo-Kazooie'. Next Generation Magazine. 7 April 1998. Archived from the original on 3 March 2000. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
3. ^ ^abcdefghiPeer Schneider (1 July 1998). 'Banjo-Kazooie Review'. IGN. Archived from the original on 23 March 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
4. ^Rare (1998). Banjo-Kazooie. Nintendo 64. Nintendo. Level/area: Opening sequence. Dingpot: Err.. but there is this girl... / Gruntilda: What d'you mean, this cannot be, there's no one prettier than me! / Dingpot: Why, it's Tooty, young and small, she's the prettiest girl of all!
5. ^Rare (1998). Banjo-Kazooie. Nintendo 64. Nintendo. Level/area: Gruntilda's Lair. Gruntilda: This fine contraption, so I'm told, will make me young and Tooty old!
6. ^Rare (1998). Banjo-Kazooie. Nintendo 64. Nintendo. Level/area: Opening sequence. Gruntilda: Come to me, my little pretty, you'll soon be ugly, what a pity! [Swoops down and catches Tooty]
7. ^Rare (1998). Banjo-Kazooie. Nintendo 64. Nintendo. Level/area: Opening sequence. Bottles: The ugly witch Gruntilda swooped down out of the sky and grabbed her! / Kazooie: Calm down, geeky we'll get her back! Where did she go? / Bottles: She flew up to her mountain lair! It's really dangerous, so you'll probably need some training before you go up there!
8. ^Rare (1998). Banjo-Kazooie. Nintendo 64. Nintendo. Level/area: Spiral Mountain. Tooty: What's the party for? Grunty got away, so get back up there and finish the job!
9. ^Rare (1998). Banjo-Kazooie. Nintendo 64. Nintendo. Level/area: Ending sequence. Gruntilda: All the Jiggies you did snatch, but I'll be back for my rematch!
10. ^ ^{abcdefghijklmnopqrst}'The Making of Banjo-Kazooie'. Retro Gamer. No. 36. Imagine Publishing. March 2007. pp. 18–25.
11. ^ ^abcdeGregg Mayles, Ed Bryan, Paul Machacek (22 December 2015). Rare Revealed: A Rare Look at Dream(Video). Twycross, England: Rare. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
12. ^Ben Reeves (22 October 2012). 'Dream Project: The Secret History of Banjo-Kazooie'. Game Informer. Archived from the original on 13 January 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
13. ^ ^abcd'Playing the banjo...'. N64 Magazine. No. 16. Future Publishing. June 1998. p. 13.
14. ^'9 Videogame Composers to Watch'. IGN. 13 October 2008. Archived from the original on 8 August 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
15. ^Rare Revealed: The Making of Banjo-Tooie(Video). Twycross, England: Rare. 17 September 2015. Event occurs at 1:56. Retrieved 22 September 2015. One of the last-minute things we tried to get into Banjo-Kazooie was multiplayer. I think we kind of got it going a little bit, but it was just too big a job. It was just a step too far, so we held that back and we ended up putting a multiplayer section into Banjo-Tooie.
16. ^Rare Revealed: The Making of Banjo-Tooie(Video). Twycross, England: Rare. 17 September 2015. Event occurs at 0:41. Retrieved 22 September 2015. We used some levels that were originally planned for Kazooie ... were then rolled into Tooie.
17. ^Stephen Totilo (23 May 2008). 'Why I Finally Accept What Happened To That 'Banjo Kazooie' Stop N Swop Thing'. MTV. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
18. ^'E3: Banjo-Kazooie rocks E3!'. IGN. 19 June 1997. Archived from the original on 8 August 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
19. ^'Protos: Banjo-Kazooie'. Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 98. Ziff Davis. September 1997. p. 34.
20. ^'Banjo-Kazooie Still Delayed'. IGN. 11 September 1997. Archived from the original on 8 August 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
21. ^'Banjo-Kazooie Related Games (Release Summary)'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on 20 April 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
22. ^'Nintendo 64 Software List 1998'. Coocan.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 1 October 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
23. ^'Banjo-Kazooie'. Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
24. ^'Banjo-Kazooie'. GameRankings. Archived from the original on 6 January 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
25. ^ ^ab'Banjo-Kazooie'. Edge. No. 61. Future Publishing. August 1998. pp. 82–84.
26. ^ ^abAir Hendrix (24 November 2000). 'Banjo-Kazooie'. GamePro. Archived from the original on 13 January 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2008.
27. ^ ^abcdefGerstmann, Jeff (1 July 1998). 'Banjo-Kazooie Review'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
28. ^ ^abcColin (1 July 1998). 'Banjo-Kazooie Review'. Game Revolution. Archived from the original on 6 October 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
29. ^ ^abcdColin Williamson. 'Banjo-Kazooie Review'. AllGame. Archived from the original on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
30. ^ ^abcdJames Ashton (August 1998). 'Banjo-Kazooie'. N64 Magazine. No. 18. Future Publishing. pp. 54–67.
31. ^ ^abc'Banjo-Kazooie'. Nintendo Power. No. 109. Nintendo of America. June 1998. p. 94.
32. ^ ^abc'Banjo-Kazooie'. Next Generation. No. 43. Imagine Media. July 1998. p. 106.
33. ^'US Platinum Videogame Chart'. The Magic Box. 27 December 2007. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
34. ^'Nintendo 64 Japanese Ranking'. Japan Game Charts. 10 April 2008. Archived from the original on 30 December 2008. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
35. ^'Milia News; ECCSELL Awards Name Winners'. GameSpot. 12 February 1999. Archived from the original on 30 August 1999.
36. ^ ^abGame Informer Staff (2 February 1998). 'A Bear of a Game'. Game Informer. Archived from the original on 1 May 1999. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
37. ^'1999 Interactive Achievement Awards'. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
38. ^ ^ab'Best Graphics of 1998'. IGN. 6 February 1999. Archived from the original on 8 August 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
39. ^'Best Sound of 1998'. IGN. 6 February 1999. Archived from the original on 24 June 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
40. ^Fran Mirabella III (20 November 2000). 'Banjo-Tooie'. IGN. Archived from the original on 26 October 2009. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
41. ^Craig Harris (12 September 2003). 'Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge'. IGN. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
42. ^Craig Harris (20 January 2005). 'Banjo Pilot'. IGN. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
43. ^Andy Robinson (17 July 2008). 'MS sees Banjo as Mario-like 360 mascot'. Computer and Video Games. Archived from the original on 8 August 2013. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
44. ^Erik Brudvig (5 November 2008). 'Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Review'. IGN. Archived from the original on 26 January 2009. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
45. ^Erik Brudvig (14 July 2008). 'E3 2008: Banjo-Kazooie Hops on Live Arcade'. IGN. Archived from the original on 8 August 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
46. ^Ryan Geddes (24 September 2008). 'Banjo-Kazooie Dated For XBLA'. IGN. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
47. ^Erik Brudvig (25 September 2008). 'Banjo-Kazooie Hands-on'. IGN. Archived from the original on 5 November 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
48. ^Daemon Hatfield (29 April 2009). 'Banjo-Tooie Review'. IGN. Archived from the original on 12 June 2013. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
49. ^'Banjo-Kazooie'. Metacritic. Archived from the original on 21 October 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
50. ^Kristan Reed (25 November 2008). 'Banjo-Kazooie Review'. Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 7 September 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
51. ^Mark Melnychuk (21 December 2008). 'Xbox Live Arcade Review - 'Banjo-Kazooie''. Worthplaying. Archived from the original on 14 May 2010. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
52. ^Erik Brudvig (6 November 2008). 'Banjo-Kazooie Review'. IGN. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
53. ^Cam Shea (7 May 2009). 'IGN's Top 10 Xbox Live Arcade Games'. IGN. Archived from the original on 13 April 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
54. ^'The Top 25 N64 Games of All Time: #6-10'. IGN. 15 June 2000. Archived from the original on 14 September 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
55. ^Jeff Cork (16 November 2009). 'Game Informer's Top 100 Games Of All Time (Circa Issue 100)'. Game Informer. Archived from the original on 8 April 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2012.
56. ^Michael McWhertor (15 June 2015). 'Rare Replay for Xbox One includes 30 Rare games for $30 (update)'. Polygon. Archived from the original on 28 June 2015. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
57. ^Kallie Plagge (4 April 2017). 'Missing notes'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on 19 July 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
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Banjo And Kazooie Rom

External links[edit]

• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 30 April 1999)
• Banjo-Kazooie at Xbox.com

Banjo-Kazooie is a series of video games developed by Rare. The games feature a male bear named Banjo and his friend, a large female red bird called Kazooie, who are both controlled by the player. Throughout the various games, they are tasked with thwarting the various evil schemes of a witch named Gruntilda. The first game Banjo-Kazooie was released on the Nintendo 64 in 1998. Subsequent entries in the series have appeared on different platforms.

• 1Games
  • 1.1Console
  • 1.2Re-releases
  • 1.3Handhelds
• 3Stop 'N' Swop

Games[edit]

Console[edit]

Banjo-Kazooie (1998)[edit]

Banjo-Kazooie was released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64 and re-released in 2008 for the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade. In Spiral Mountain, Banjo's sister Tooty has been kidnapped by Gruntilda the witch, who wants to steal Tooty's beauty and give it to herself, and Banjo and Kazooie must save her. The goal is to progress through the witch's lair and the various worlds within it, collect items including golden jigsaw pieces which are needed to unlock new worlds and music notes that open up certain doors to help Banjo and Kazooie along their quest, and defeat Gruntilda.

Banjo-Tooie (2000)[edit]

Banjo-Tooie was released in 2000 for the Nintendo 64 and re-released in 2009 for the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade. Two years after Banjo and Kazooie defeat Gruntilda, her two sisters arrive and free her from her grave. Now reduced to a skeleton, Gruntilda plans to drain the life energy from the Isle O' Hags to restore herself to normal, leaving Banjo and Kazooie to stop her plans. Tooie is famous for being significantly harder than its predecessor; jigsaw pieces are almost never in visible places or easily accessed, and worlds were interconnected, forcing players to sometimes start in one world to complete a task in another. Other tasks often required players to learn a new ability in a later world before returning to a previous one to complete an objective. Many new features were added to the game, such as bosses in each world and a four-player multiplayer mode.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (2008)[edit]

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was released in 2008 for the Xbox 360. The ending sequence in Banjo-Tooie suggested the title would be Banjo-Threeie, with early press releases tentatively calling it Banjo-Kazooie 3. The original trailer sported a more angular artistic design for the characters and complete fur and feather detailing on Banjo and Kazooie. The game released on 12 November 2008 near the tenth anniversary of the series.^[1] It is the first original Banjo-Kazooie game released on a non-Nintendo system. The gameplay is a departure from the previous games in that, rather than learning new moves to continue, the player must instead build vehicles of all shapes and sizes to complete challenges, including races, transporting objects, fighting enemies, and a variety of other tasks. Gruntilda is still the main antagonist, but this time, a new character, the Lord of Games (L.O.G.) has swept Banjo, Kazooie, and most of the cast into an all new world where the main characters compete for control of Spiral Mountain.

Re-releases[edit]

Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie were re-released on Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade in 2008 and 2009 respectively. These versions featured fully HD graphics for both the polygonal models and 2D images. They also included revised controls and the reinstatement of the Stop 'N' Swop feature.

Rare Replay (compilation)[edit]

The re-released versions of Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie, as well as Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, were released for Xbox One on 4 August 2015, as part of the 30 game compilation, Rare Replay.^[2]

Handhelds[edit]

Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge (2003)[edit]

Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge was released in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance. It takes place two months after Banjo-Kazooie. While Gruntilda is still trapped under the boulder that fell on top of her, Klungo decides to make a robot for Gruntilda's spirit to dwell inside. During the game, Gruntilda transfers her spirit into the Mecha-Grunty robot and travels back in time to prevent the first meeting of Banjo and Kazooie. In the end, Gruntilda is trapped once more and tells Klungo to contact her sisters, thereby setting the events of Banjo-Tooie into motion. A port for mobile phones was released in 2004, and a mobile compilation of the game's minigames, titled Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge Missions, was released in 2005.

Banjo-Pilot (2005)[edit]

Banjo-Pilot was released in 2005 for the Game Boy Advance. This game is not part of the plot of the series, but is a racing game similar to Mario Kart where the characters race planes. The game was originally planned as a sequel to Diddy Kong Racing, titled Diddy Kong Pilot, but was retooled to feature Banjo-Kazooie characters following the purchase of Rare by Microsoft.

Other appearances[edit]

Prior to Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo's first appearance was as a playable racer in Diddy Kong Racing, released for Nintendo 64 in 1997. Following Microsoft's purchase of Rare, Banjo was absent from the game's Nintendo DS remake, Diddy Kong Racing DS. In Conker's Bad Fur Day & Conker: Live & Reloaded, Banjo's head can be seen, disembodied, above the fireplace in the main menu. Additionally, Kazooie's head can be found on the end of an umbrella in the chapter select screen for both games. In Grabbed by the Ghoulies, pictures of the characters and levels are seen throughout the game, along with monster versions of Banjo and Kazooie's heads mounted on the walls. Banjo and Kazooie also appear as a playable racer in the Xbox 360 version of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.^[3][4] Developer Sumo Digital collaborated with Rare for the character’s inclusion, with Rare giving Sumo access to their asset library as well as designing and modeling Banjo and Kazooie’s in-game vehicle.^[5] Several character skins based on the series are available as downloadable content in various versions of Minecraft.^[6]

Banjo and Kazooie also appear as playable characters via downloadable content in the 2018 crossover fighting game, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.^[7]Phil Spencer, head of the Xbox brand, stated that negotiating the characters' inclusion was an 'easy deal to make' thanks to their strong third-party relationship with Nintendo.^[8] The characters were released on September 4, 2019, along with a stage based on Spiral Mountain and Banjo-Kazooie musical arrangements, including one by original composer Grant Kirkhope.^[9]

Stop 'N' Swop[edit]

Stop 'N' Swop is a feature from Banjo-Kazooie that was supposed to be a means of unlocking special content in Banjo-Tooie. Though it was shown in an ending sequence in Banjo-Kazooie, evidence suggests that it was never fully implemented due to the Nintendo 64 revisions completed in 1999 that kept the feature from being practical.^[10][11] The feature was widely publicised through a column published by Nintendo Power.^[12]Rare announced that special areas and items in the game could only be reached by completing certain tasks in its sequel, Banjo-Tooie. It was later discovered that Banjo-Kazooie contains seven special items which can be accessed using lengthy in-game cheat codes^[13] or by using a cheat cartridge. Once collected, these items would be viewable in a menu titled 'Stop 'N' Swop'. Even if the game is reset, all of the items will remain permanently.

History[edit]

An ending sequence in Banjo-Kazooie, should the player collect all 100 Jiggies in the game, indicated that two coloured eggs in the game would be put to use in the sequel Banjo-Tooie. There was also an inaccessible ice key shown in the sequence, which induced gamers to search for a way to get it. While only two eggs were shown in the sequence, hackers Alan 'Ice Mario' Pierce and Mitchell 'SubDrag' Kleiman of the Rare Witch Project fansite discovered in-game cheat codes to unlock a total of six different eggs and the ice key.^[12] Other ways of getting the six eggs and key were previously discovered via the use of a cheat cartridge. Once acquired, these items would be viewable by all three game files, and would remain even after erasing the files.

In the years between the two Banjo-Kazooie games, Rare representatives were questioned on 'Stop 'N' Swop' and how it would be implemented. Ken Lobb was reportedly unwilling to discuss how the connection would be made between the games.^[14]

Banjo-Tooie was released in 2000 and offered a way to retrieve the items without the need to acquire Banjo-Kazooie. The player would attain them by destroying in-game Banjo-Kazooie Game Paks. These eggs could then be brought to Heggy the hen to hatch. There were three eggs in total (i.e. the pink, yellow, and blue eggs), one of which was already with the hen, but which Kazooie had to hatch herself. The ice key, however, was to be used to obtain an item locked in an ice vault, containing a Mega Glowbo, which could turn Kazooie into a dragon. No explanation for 'Stop 'N' Swop' was revealed in the game. Nintendo released a statement on the matter expressing that the feature 'was not implemented in the game, and although we know there is a code that opens this menu, it does not do anything at all. And as much as I would like to be able to answer your question about why it was not implemented in the game, this is not information that our Consumer Service Department has access to.'^[15]

Banjo Kazooie Games Xbox 360

In 2004, a patent filed by Rare was published which suggests that Stop 'N' Swop involved swapping cartridges with the power off to transfer data. The information would be momentarily retained by utilising the Rambus memory in the Nintendo 64.^[10] As a result of changes done to the Nintendo 64 systems produced in 1999, the system could no longer do this effectively.

In February 2004, fansite Rare-Extreme was invited to tour Rare HQ which was the first outsider tour of the studio since Rarenet's visit in 1999. When Rare's management was asked about the Stop 'N' Swop feature they commented:^[16]

It was never officially announced as being part of the game, It's in the past, lets move on

In an August 2004 interview with ClubJoe,^[17] an anonymous ex-Rare employee explained in detail how Stop 'N' Swop was going to work:

• Only four eggs and the ice key were involved - two eggs (the cyan and yellow eggs, found in Mad Monster Mansion and Click Clock Wood) were 'bad eggs' that would not be pointed to by Tooie, and would prevent Stop 'N' Swop from working since only hackers would have access to them.
• Blackeye the pirate would give out sandcastle codes in Tooie in return for completing tasks, allowing the collection of the 'good eggs' and ice key in Banjo-Kazooie.
• By going through the gold warp pot in the Grunty's Furnace Fun with the appropriate items, the ice key would sparkle and open one of the locked doors in the transformation room seen in the GAME OVER sequence (owing to a programming mistake, the ice key would disappear afterward, so this would only work once).
• Going through this door would result in Grunty complaining about Blackeye, and a message to swap cartridges.
• In Tooie, the four eggs would be used to enable special transformations - Kazooie to a dragon (the only one remaining in the final game), Banjo to a polar bear, and two unspecified transformations that were never coded owing to the abandonment of the feature - as 'fun and useful, but not needed' bonuses for those who had both games.

Another Stop 'N' Swop reference appeared in 2005's Banjo-Pilot. After completing most of the game, Cheato sells an item called 'STOP 'N' SWOP' for 999 Cheato Pages. The only result of buying is Cheato saying: 'So you want to know about Stop 'N' Swop, eh? I hope you're ready. Here goes...Why don't you stop annoying me and swop this game for a nice book or something?'

In a 2007 interview with Retro Gamer, Rare employees told the magazine reporters that they may have to wait until the release of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts for the details of Stop 'N' Swop to be revealed.^[18] In March 2008, a new website appeared with an animation of the ice key rotating, the eggs, and the words 'the answers are coming.' On 1 April, however this was revealed to be an April Fool's joke created by The Rare Witch Project.^[19]

In 2008, MTV conducted an interview with Salvatore Fileccia, lead software engineer at Rare. Fileccia cited that the abandonment of Stop 'N' Swop was due to revisions made to the Nintendo 64 circuitry. He stated that older versions of the system would have given the player 10 seconds to swap cartridges, while newer iterations of the console reduced this time to one second.^[11]

At Microsoft's E3 press conference on 14 July 2008, it was announced that the original Banjo-Kazooie would be made available through the Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) and feature Stop 'N' Swop connectivity with Nuts & Bolts to unlock new features.^[20] In both the demo version and full version of Nuts & Bolts, Bottles also offers a 'Stop 'N' Swop Truth' for 6,000 music notes. The Rare Witch Project extracted the demo's text string, which revealed that when Bottles is paid 6,000 notes he says 'I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you, and we couldn't show that in a game with this rating. Put it out of your mind and think happy thoughts! Thanks for the notes!'.

On 27 January 2009, Rare announced that Banjo-Tooie would be released in April on XBLA and that the 'original plan' for Stop 'N' Swop would be implemented.^[21] It was revealed that the eggs and key in the XBLA version of Banjo-Kazooie would unlock bonus vehicle parts in Nuts & Bolts such as fuzzy dice.^[22] In Nuts & Bolts there is an imprint of the ice key on top of Boggy's gym and drawings of the eggs throughout Showdown Town. When a Stop 'N' Swop item is collected in Banjo-Kazooie, a corresponding crate appears at each drawing. Banjo and Kazooie can take them to Mumbo to get the special vehicle parts. The level BanjoLand (a museum-like level that contains various artefacts from the first two games) also features large fake Stop 'N' Swop eggs that contain Gruntbots.

In the XBLA port of Banjo-Tooie, the six eggs and key from Banjo-Kazooie unlock the bonuses included in the original N64 version, as well as new content related to the Xbox 360.^[23] Using the Stop 'N' Swop items in Banjo-Tooie will also unlock seven additional vehicle blueprints in the 'L.O.G.'s Lost Challenges' downloadable content for Nuts & Bolts.^[24] In place of the three preexisting eggs are gold, silver and bronze eggs. The three unlock achievements listed under a 'Stop 'N' Swop II' submenu. Additional Stop 'N' Swop II achievements can be unlocked by completing specific objectives in the game. Like the original Stop 'N' Swop before it, the items and criteria to be met in Stop 'N' Swop II are meant to be used in a future Banjo game.

Banjo And Kazooie All Games

Reception[edit]

Banjo-Kazooie's critical and commercial success led Rare to begin development of a sequel titled Banjo-Tooie, also for the Nintendo 64. Banjo-Tooie was released on 20 November 2000 to very positive reviews, and largely adopts the gameplay mechanics of its predecessor. Upon release, Banjo-Tooie was critically acclaimed and sold more than three million copies worldwide. The characters Banjo and Kazooie proved to be popular and made cameo appearances in subsequent Rare games such as Conker's Bad Fur Day and Grabbed by the Ghoulies.

Spiritual successor[edit]

Banjo And Kazooie Online

In early 2015, a group of former Rare employees who worked on Banjo-Kazooie announced their formation of a new studio named Playtonic Games, planning a spiritual successor called Yooka-Laylee.^[39] The developer initially sought funding for the game via the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform; its initial funding goal of £175,000 was reached within thirty-eight minutes, eventually raising over GB£2 million by the time the campaign concluded.^[40] The game was released for Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in 2017.^[41][42][43]

Banjo Kazooie Gameshark Character Modifier Codes

References[edit]

1. ^'Microsoft's Shane Kim On Fable 2. Why Marvel MMO Was Canceled And More'.
2. ^Totilo, Stephen (3 August 2015). 'Rare Replay: The Kotaku Review'. Kotaku. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
3. ^Tristan Oliver. 'FIRST @ TSSZ: It's Real…Banjo-Kazooie in ASR'.
4. ^Brudvig, Erik (18 December 2009). 'Banjo and Avatars Join Sega All Stars'. IGN. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
5. ^SEGAbits - Interview: Steve Lycett talks Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing
6. ^Xbox 360 Skin Pack 1 Hits Xbox Live
7. ^Dornbush, Jonathon (10 June 2019). 'Banjo-Kazooie Confirmed as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC Character - E3 2019'. IGN. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
8. ^Totilo, Stephen (10 June 2019). 'Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Says Banjo In Smash Was An Easy Deal To Make'. Kotaku. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
9. ^Baird, Scott (11 June 2019). 'Banjo-Kazooie Will Be Coming To Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'. Screen Rant. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
10. ^ ^ab'System method and data storage medium for sharing data between video games'. FreePatentsOnline.com. Retrieved 17 November 2006.
11. ^ ^abWhy I Finally Accept What Happened To That 'Banjo-Kazooie' Stop N Swop ThingArchived 8 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine. multiplayerblog.mtv.com. Retrieved on 28 May 2008.
12. ^ ^ab'Classified Information'. Nintendo Power. 143: 52–53. April 2001.
13. ^'Banjo-Kazooie Sandcastle Codes'. Rare Witch Project. Retrieved 18 February 2008.
14. ^Tour of Rare HQArchived 11 December 2004 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 23 February 2007.
15. ^Stop 'N' Swop ArticleArchived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine. gaminglegends.co.uk. Retrieved on 6 March 2007.
16. ^'Tour of Rare HQ'. rare-extreme.com. Archived from the original on 11 December 2004. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
17. ^Archived interview with an unnamed ex-Rare employee: http://www.gamekult.com/forum/topic-interview-dun-ex-employe-de-rareware-227056n.html
18. ^'The Making of Banjo-Kazooie'. Retro Gamer. 29 March 2007. p. 25.
19. ^Stop 'N' Swop Confession rarewitchproject.com. Retrieved on 6 February 2008.
20. ^Banjo-Kazooie to be released on Xbox Live Arcade Retrieved on 14 July 2008.
21. ^Fahey, Mike (27 January 2009). 'Banjo-Tooie Coming In April With Stop 'N' Swop'. Kotaku. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
22. ^'Spiral Mountain - The blog of a gamer'. Spiralmountain.co.uk. Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
23. ^Matt Wales (27 January 2009). 'Rare Readies Banjo-Tooie for April'. IGN. Archived from the original on 11 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
24. ^Usher, William (16 March 2009). 'Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts And Bolts DLC Is Coming'. Cinemablend. Gateway Media. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
25. ^'Banjo-Kazooie Reviews'. GameRankings. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
26. ^'Banjo-Kazooie Reviews'. GameRankings. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
27. ^'Banjo-Kazooie Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
28. ^'Banjo-Kazooie Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
29. ^'Banjo-Tooie Reviews'. GameRankings. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
30. ^'Banjo-Tooie Reviews'. GameRankings. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
31. ^'Banjo-Tooie Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
32. ^'Banjo-Tooie Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
33. ^'Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge Reviews'. GameRankings. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
34. ^'Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
35. ^'Banjo-Pilot Reviews'. GameRankings. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
36. ^'Banjo-Pilot Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
37. ^'Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Reviews'. GameRankings. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
38. ^'Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
39. ^'Former Rare Developers Working on Banjo Kazooie Spiritual Successor'. IGN. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
40. ^Sheridan, Corner (1 May 2015). 'Banjo-Kazooie devs' Yooka-Laylee funded in 38 minutes'. GamesRadar. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
41. ^Krupa, Daniel (30 April 2015). 'Spiritual successor to Banjo Kazooie reveals its lead characters'. IGN. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
42. ^Skrebels, Joe (6 June 2016). 'Yooka-Laylee Delayed to 2017'. IGN. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
43. ^'Yooka-Laylee Rattles Towards Release!'. Playtonic Games' official website. 12 December 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.

Banjo And Kazooie Online Game

External links[edit]

• Donkey Kong 64 Stop 'n' Swop Special – includes a brief introduction to Stop 'N' Swop

Banjo Kazooie Games With Gold