Banjo-Tooie

I was jumping for joy when I first saw an article about this in a game magazine as a kid. I bought it as soon as I could and I wasn't disappointed when I played it. Although, I wouldn't say it was quite as good as the first one.

Two years after being defeated by Banjo and Kazooie, Gruntilda the witch is freed by her two sisters, Mingella and Blobbelda. The vengeful and skeletal witch then destroys Banjo's house and kills Bottles before escaping with her siblings, seeking to rebuild her body. Now the Bear and Bird duo must embark on another quest to stop Gruntilda and resurrect their fallen friend.

The game is much darker than the first one. Within the first half hour alone, Banjo's house is destroyed, Spiral Mountain is left in ruins, Bottles is killed, Gruntilda kills the Grey Jinjo family, turns King Jingaling into a zombie, and ultimately threatens the entire Isle O' Hags with certain destruction by blasting it with a lifeforce draining laser to rebuild her body. Luckily, I didn't find this deviation from the much brighter prequel to be unappealing. In fact, it made me even more determined to defeat Gruntilda again and beat the game.

The new levels were much larger and more exotic and diverse than ever before. The game was innovative with the brand new and advanced moves to learn from Drill Sergeant Jam Jars, Bottles older brother, especially the interesting opportunity for the duo to separate and go their own way with the Split Up move given in Witchyworld. You can even play Mumbo Jumbo and perform magic.

The graphics and sounds have been improved since the last game and were top-notch for the N64. The colors and textures are as bright and captivating as ever. The music, once again conducted by Grant Kirkhope, is excellent, lively, and fitting for each stage, like the lively banjo plucks and violin strokes in Glitter Gulch Mine, Witchyworlds eerie carnival theme with calliope notes, and Hail-Fire Peaks having a theme song for each side with similar notes but different instruments.

There were many fun mini games involved to play to obtain Jiggys and tougher bosses to defeat this time around. You can replay your favorite ones from the main menu. There's even an FPS multiplayer mode, though the controls for it are flawed.

Even so, the game has its downsides. While I've always enjoyed exploration in games, Tooies levels were much larger and easy to get lost in. Grunty Industries was especially infamous for this, since it has five separate floors and a myriad of small rooms and corridors everywhere. You can't even get inside without using Chuffy the train. Some of the games Jiggys or other items were very frustrating and time consuming to get and often required travelling from one world to the next via shortcuts, puzzle solving, hitting switches, or relying on Mumbo and Humbas magic. Luckily, though, there are warp pads and the aforementioned train that allow for fast travel. This made the game much more challenging, which isn't a bad thing unto itself, but it got nerve wracking at times. That's why I gave this an 8 instead of a 9 or 10.

But in the end, this was still a great game and one Rare's finest. Anyone who enjoyed the first game must play this one next.

Banjo-Tooie is a sequel to the best-selling Rareware adventure game Banjo-Kazooie. Banjo-Tooie takes place two years after the main characters Banjo (a lazy bear) and Kazooie (an egotistical bitch of a red-crested breegull who is foul-mouthed, rude and proud of it!) defeat an evil fat witch named Gruntilda. Trapped under a boulder for all those years, her two evil sisters Mingella and Blobbelda come and rescue the already-skeletal Grunty. She and her sisters then fire a huge laser from their colossal digger and Banjo and Kazooie's house and in the process, one of their friends, Bottles the Mole, dies. Once again, Banjo & Kazooie go on an awesome epic quest to follow and kill Grunty and revive Bottles.

In Banjo Tooie, there is a lot more crude themes, humour and very subtle sexual references than its predecessor. this is the reason why although Banjo-Kazooie games look kiddish, they attract full-grown non-retarded adults as gamers. It is definitely an improvement to the first game, being longer (for the average person it takes 50 hours to get every single item), more sweet-looking worlds (like an underwater lagoon, a world in the clouds, a prehistoric world, and a two peaks with completely opposite climate), and generally a better audience.

I really like Banjo-Tooie for the N64. It easily makes my top ten any day.

You know how good the game is that you have no words to explain how wonderful it is beautiful is this work of art

This game is really, really, really, really, really, really, good! It's so fun! It's got better graphics than Banjo Kazooie, and a better storyline. Grunty the witch comes back to life and tries to get revenge! It sounds boring, but I just don't want to spoil some of the cool stuff. This game is really funny, too. Banjo Kazooie will always be a great game, but it's awesome sequel is better. Very fun game. I love it. If you've never played it, buy it, because it's better than Banjo Kazooie! You can even play as Mumbo in this, and he goes faster than Banjo. He has a really cool staff, too. 8/10! A must buy game for fans of Banjo Kazooie.

although many people don't agree with me, but Banjo-Tooie, Banjo-Kazooie's so called "Prequel" is not what it's says. it's the sequel to one of the best games of 1998. it's funny, too. this game has 14 Mini- Games!, and bosses like Klungo and Weldar! I recommend renting or buying this with your wallet full of $50!