Banjo-Kazooie

Developer: Rare Publisher: Nintendo

Released: June 29, 1998 Rated: E 10/10

The 3D platformer is almost certainly the genre most closely associated with the Nintendo 64, and while the console boasts Super Mario 64 as its inaugural release and its mission statement on this front, only one game from a library of varying quality can truly challenge it as the crown jewel of collectathon platforming and action-adventure gameplay on the console: Banjo-Kazooie. The result of years of development by the team at Rare that worked on the equally near-perfect Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest, Banjo-Kazooie, neé 2.5D Banjo and Kazoo, neé Project Dream, Banjo-Kazooie takes the demonstration-like qualities of Super Mario 64, how levels could be designed in a 3D space, how characters and assets could move in that space, and how a game could progress in a less-linear fashion as the player is provided with the ability to explore new virtual worlds, and shows where the video game medium can go immediately from there.

An absolute feast for the senses from the moment you start it up, the way Rare approaches its aesthetics probably did more for the stereotype of cutesy, cartoony platformers than any other company or title. But whereas they practically forced themselves to subvert these tropes by the end of the console generation, Banjo-Kazooie proves itself as the blueprint with silly sound effects, Nickelodeon-esque themes for its saccharine levels courtesy of the brilliant Grant Kirkhope, and silly, and even half juvenile/half charming dialogue amongst its cast of big-eyed, anthropomorphic animals and objects.

Such a smartly-designed, well-paced, adventure with incredible variety throughout. The way that even somewhat similarly-themed levels like Clanker’s Cavern and Rusty Bucket Bay, or Mumbo’s Mountain and Click Clock Wood still boast numerous differences in their individual concepts and defining features attests so intensely to its quality design, where every team member was clearly firing on all cylinders throughout development. Perhaps no singular level, however, truly defines Banjo-Kazooie’s genius as much as the hub world, Gruntilda’s Lair, which is essentially its own sprawling, intricate level unto itself, and once again shows Rare’s tendency to take something innovated by Super Mario 64, and realize the potential of it perfectly so that the entire adventure remains that much more seamlessly immersive. For every secret inside the walls of Peach’s Castle, Grunty’s Lair matches it threefold without feeling bloated or tedious, because it’s so full of originality, even in a genre it’s defining through its often unconventional ideas.

The wonderful flow of Banjo-Kazooie is that of a game that constantly keeps new players on their toes with new moves, items, mechanics, characters, and mini game challenges, without ever crossing over into overdevelopment or over-saturation like so many titles, including others on the system and others made by Rare. And at the same time, established players revisiting the game will enjoy the familiarity and cozy charm of the environments, characters, and objectives. Banjo-Kazooie is even the sort of title to maintain a sense of charm in its imperfections, with at least one majorly flawed segment towards the end of the game (Grunty’s Furnace Fun, a slog of a faux board game before the final boss filled with trivia and rehashed mini game challenges) that frustrate first-time players and instill dread in veterans. And yet, I can’t help but compare this to Ocarina of Time and its infamously tedious Water Temple — an unequivocally loathed dungeon that’s as memorable for its actual highlights as it is for its inherent flaws that force a sense of modesty on an otherwise blemish-free experience. And even to factor this lone flaw in can’t take away from the experience of one of the N64’s finest and most iconic adventures, one brimming with personality, more sugary than breakfast cereal, soundtracked by more earworm melodies than Thriller, and with the most intuitive and satisfying gameplay since Super Mario 64.

Continuing Legacy

They’re in Smash Bros.! Okay, well, besides that, the titular bear and bird have had a tumultuous existence in the Microsoft era of Rare. Their only true sequel to the N64 duology is 2008’s Nuts and Bolts, an all around bizarre departure into a vehicle building and driving title that’s perhaps most frustrating for the way it openly mocks the original games in the opening minutes of the campaign. Thankfully, the N64 titles are still available on Xbox, including the Rare Replay collection, and the original is available on the Switch with the Online Expansion Pass. There’s also an oft-overlooked pair of titles on the GameBoy Advance: Banjo Pilot, a somewhat sequel to Diddy Kong Racing, and Grunty’s Revenge, an imperfect isometric collectathon that’s still closer to the originals than anything since. Banjo has become big in the ROMHacking community as well, recently. Modder Mark Kurko (Kurko Mods) in particular has created some really extensive and impressive new worlds for BK, with the full version of his magnum opus, Nostalgia 64, still yet to come. Lastly, when several ex-Rare employees formed Playtonic Games, their debut release, Yooka-Laylee, was clearly intended to invoke comparisons to their work on Banjo-Kazooie, though it’s unfortunately a bit too married to concepts that feel outdated without the authentic nostalgia one would get from playing the real thing.