Banjo-Kazooie

This is a timeless classic every adventure gamer should try. I consider it Rares greatest game and the peak of its history.

The story is simple but effective; like something from a Disney movie: Gruntilda the evil and ugly witch is jealous of the beauty of a young bear named Tooty. So, she abducts the bear to steal her beauty via a machine created by her henchman, Klungo. Now, it's up to Banjo Bear and his rude, foul-mouthed breegull companion, Kazooie, to rescue Tooty before it's too late. Assisting the duo are Bottles the short-sighted mole, who teaches them new techniques throughout the game, and Mumbo Jumbo, a skull-faced shaman who can perform transformative magic.

The game was heavily inspired by Super Mario 64 and you can see it in the games formula where you enter different worlds to collect items needed to proceed further, namely Jiggys. But Banjo-Kazooie uses a unique variant of this formula in which the player controls two characters at once, and each one has their own functions; while Banjo moves around, Kazooie resides in his backpack providing 90% of the moves that Bottles teaches them. Plus, the quirky and cartoonish setting made it highly endearing to players of all ages. I found myself drawn in the instant I started off in Spiral Mountain.

You'll travel across 8 huge platformer-style levels in search of Jiggys to unlock new worlds. You'll acquire the Jiggys by exploring, defeating enemies, solving puzzles, and completing other tasks. You'll also collect golden notes that are necessary to break spells on doors throughout Gruntilda's lair, the massive hub world.

The game is an intricate and rewarding collectathon since there's plenty to discover in the levels besides Jiggys and notes, like eggs, Mumbo tokens, feathers, and extra honeycombs to increase your health. Fully exploring the worlds ultimately pays off, since collecting every Jiggy in the game gets you a highly valuable health upgrade that makes defeating Gruntilda easier. Plus, Bottles new moves are both necessary to beat the game and help strengthen the duo and develop them into true and seasoned heroes by the games end.

The graphics were stunning for the time and have aged beautifully. The character models are well-designed, and their movements were smooth. The sheer variety of colors and textures is amazing, making all of the levels seem so lifelike and engrossing. The lack of distance fog beautifully displays the landscape and size of the levels.

The soundtrack contains some of Rares best music and consists of many bright and catchy tunes from composer Grant Kirkhope that perfectly fit each level, like Rusty Bucket Bays nautical theme with sounds like foghorns and whistles and Mad Monster Mansion with spooky organ notes accompanied by wolves howling and owls hooting. The characters and items emit little voice blips instead of actual voice acting which still successfully brought them to life and enhanced the games' cartoonish charm along with the hilarious and cleverly written dialogue.

The number of characters is much more extensive than in Mario 64 and you can interact with them more. The sheer variety of kooky characters and enemies you encounter really help make the game more dynamic, like Captain Blubber the pirate Hippo, Gobi the beleaguered thirsty camel, Loggo the sentient toilet (yes, you read that right lol), and many others.

I had only a few complaints. First of all, as typical for early 3D games, the camera was a pain at times and would sometimes be blocked by walls or other objects when trying to adjust it. There was a bit of backtracking involving certain moves, such as the Beak Bomb and Turbo Talon Trot shoes, which were required to obtain certain Jiggys or other items. But other than that, no serious flaws.

This was, and still is, a spectacular game that gave Super Mario 64 a run for its money and is definitely playable almost thirty years later.

This game is EXCELLENT! a perfect family game that someone of any age can play! Its a decently lengthy game so you wont be able to beat it in 2 days. When I played it it took me and my family about 8 months to beat it. There are some parts that are hard, but still fun. And after your figure out how to get through the hard part, you see that it was very obvious. A goofy story line and great characters, this game is #1 on my list for ever! Banjo and Kazooie's hilarious comedy keeps you into it all the way! If you have played this game, or are planning to, I would also recommend Banjo-Tooie. The sequel to this great game.

Rareware is planning on making a Banjo-Kazooie 3 sometime soon. There has not yet been a release date on this, but it will definitely be on the Xbox 360.

If you haven't played this game yet then you have NO IDEA what your missing! So get out of your mom's basement and go play: Banjo-Kazooie for N64

This game has to be one of my favorites. I was instantly hooked to the strangely-entertaining story, goofy characters, assortment of levels, music, graphics and control (which are surprisingly good for N64), and difficulty. Everything from Gobi's Valley to Freezeezy Peak (sp?), from Mad Monster Mansion to Click Clock Wood, from Treasure Trove Cove to Grunty's Furnace Fun. I guarantee at least one of the tunes to get stuck in your head for good, especially Gruntilda's Lair. It may look just like your average kid's game, but it is actually quite hard to beat, since you must collect about 99.9% of all items, which is no small task. If you are bored and have a loony sense of humor, check this game out and its sequel, Banjo-Tooie. Rare Ware makes great games.

This game was stunning at the time graphics wise, however it's best know as that 'other N64 platform game'. It sadly didn't get deserved recognition like Super Mario 64 and the more recognisable Donkey Kong 64, which was released the following year.

It's almost an interactive cartoon, you play the friendly redneck bear Banjo AND his irritating/irritated partner Kazooie (who is a 'Red Crested Breegull'). They behave like one character control-wise. You are on a quest to rescue Banjo's little sister Tootie from the clutches of the witch Gruntilda. The plot is nothing special but there is plenty of humour, aimed at children but amusing nonetheless.

The greatness of this game is not in the story but more in the varied cleverly designed worlds, the perfectly set controls, the ingenious moves (which are not complicated to anyone who knows how to use an N64 control pad), and the funny characters. I still remember it for it's brilliantly implemented context-sensitive music system, the best use of music I have still ever seen.

This game is a joy to play from start to finish, the only downside is the rather tedious note collecting, which busy gamers would struggle to persist with (although I had an almost infinite amount of spare time at the age of 15 and was happy to do it). Overall, a classic.

8/10 (9/10 for 15-year-olds with a lot of spare time on their hands)

Banjo-Kazooie is a joy to play after all these years, with so much atmosphere, lush worlds loaded with things to collect and puzzles to solve, using you own wits and sense of navigation to track down all the jiggies aswell as learning an array of creative moves with the help of your feathered friend. With memorable characters and the unique and charming Rareware humor sprinkles throughout, this game will always put you in a cheerful mood when you sit down and play it.

The overworld of Gruntilda's castle is complex and layered with many secrets to find aswell with some very well crafted and designed worlds that will leave a memorable impact on you that just begs to be explored. There are secrets behind every corner as the people who designed this game are british crackwits, the game's soundtrack by Grant Kirkhope is what makes the game however and it just wouldn't be the same without him.

It really is suprising just how smartly designed this game really is, oozing with charm and creativity. It's still just as great to play today as it was years ago and I recommend it to anyone