History YMMV / BanjoTooie

* ScrappyMechanic: The Breegull Blaster. While Rare has [[VideoGame/GoldenEye1997 found]] [[VideoGame/PerfectDark success]] with [[FirstPersonShooter First-Person Shooters]] in the past, its integration into ''Tooie'' feels rather jarring, and GameplayRoulette aside, you're often found using it in extremely tight corridors and subjected to [[GoddamnedBats infinitely respawning enemies]], making the Breegull Blaster feel more like a chore than a small distraction.

** Some think playable Mumbo is underutilized. He is mostly used to open paths for Banjo and Kazooie to get through, and he has no Jiggies to collect besides a single one from the first world.

** ''Banjo-Kazooie'' had a rather elaborate Game Over screen, where [[BigBad Gruntilda]] [[TheBadGuyWins succeeds in stealing Tooty's beauty]]. ''Tooie's'' Game Over screen, on the other hand, is nothing but the words "Game Over" in front of a paused screen. We never see Gruntilda's plan to suck out the life force of everything actually work. Especially when Rare is infamous for Game Over Cutscenes that showed the player screwed up big time, like in the other Nintendo 64 platformers developed by them, as well as the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' trilogy on the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] and ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64''. Though likely this was due to rushed development.

** The boss replay mode also makes the fights harder than they are in the actual game, especially the Hag-1 fight. You only have five honeycombs in it, when in the actual game you would more than likely have increased your health bar beyond that by the later fights.

* FairForItsDay: These days, Jolly Roger and Merry Maggie Malpass would be seen as stereotypical depictions of UsefulNotes/{{homosexual}} and UsefulNotes/{{transgender}} people respectively, with Jolly being CampGay and Maggie being a GonkyFemme, but for being depictions of LGBTQIA+ people at the start of the TurnOfTheMillennium, they're reasonably tactful, with the two showing nothing but kindness to Banjo and Kazooie for their help, and being very hard workers who have good chemistry as the barkeeps of the tavern. They were also progressive for the time period they were created in, as British media was often frowned upon when including LGBTQIA+ characters during the late 90s and early 2000s, resulting in many characters of the sort not being as blatant in their sexualities and identities as Jolly and Maggie are.

* BestBossEver: The FinalBoss against Grunty piloting the [[ThisIsADrill Hag 1]] is considered one of the best final bosses Rare has ever created despite its sheer length and difficulty due to its wide variety of attacks, multiple distinct phases, the excellent BossBanter from Grunty, SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic, and the sheer awesomeness that comes from fighting a giant drill tank.
* BreatherBoss: Old King Coal roams around the arena with brief pauses to heat up the room to make 90% of the arena hazardous while the fumes drain your oxygen, but you're safe in the higher platforms set across the arena and he is very susceptible to being sniped by eggs (especially Ice Eggs or Grenade Eggs). The heat mechanic will hardly be a threat most of the time, because not only will he stop heating the room once your oxygen meter gets low enough, but you can ''double'' said meter before the fight by saving Banjo's fish with the Bill Drill. Given that Old King Coal guards Chuffy, a train that is necessary to get inside Grunty Industries without exploiting bugs, the easiness of his fight is likely intentional.

* DisappointingLastLevel: Cauldron Keep is a very small level with no Jiggies, and it only serves to host the climactic quiz show and final boss. Concept art shows that Cauldron Keep was once planned to be a full world, but Rare simply ran out of time and was forced to scrap the majority of the level.

** The Clockwork Kazooie egg is one the five egg types and easily the most useful among them. Once fired, it spawns a tiny mechanized Kazooie that can be detonated for a powerful explosion and, more importantly, can ''pick up items''. That includes Jiggies and Jinjos, meaning that by simply firing a Clockwork Kazooie at a hard to reach place, you can skip doing either a tough platforming section or a tricky puzzle. True, it's not going to solve every problem (minigames among them), but it deals with more than enough of them. Speedruns use the item heavily, and even in casual playthroughs knowledge of its power is enough to break through multiple challenges.

** The Minjos. While there ''is'' a surefire way to tell when a Jinjo is actually a Minjo (fire an egg at 'em: it'll pass right through the Jinjo but hurt the Minjo), it's a bit of a pain to go through the process with every one you come across, and if you decide not to bother, they'll be an even bigger pain thanks to their speed, aggression, and resilience.

* JerkassWoobie: Klungo is an unrepentant villain who makes it clear that he doesn't regret anything he did while working for Grunty, but the sheer amount of physical abuse she put him through makes you feel more than a little sorry for the big guy. Sure enough, it finally catches up with Klungo and he outright quits working for her. The next time we see him in ''Nuts & Bolts'', he's much happier.

** At one point in Grunty's Industries, you need to unclog Loggo's drain with a Bill Drill, so shoving Kazooie face-first into a clogged toilet.

** Mingy Jongo is equipped with a homing attack that can quickly whittle down your health, and he loves to teleport out of harm's way. As he takes damage his attacks and teleportation intensify, until his attacks are almost making 90-degree turns to catch you, ensuring that you will miss your chance at hitting him and have to go through another attack cycle.

** ''Banjo-Kazooie'' had a rather elaborate Game Over screen, where [[BigBad Gruntilda]] [[TheBadGuyWins succeeds in stealing Tooty's beauty]]. ''Tooie's'' Game Over screen, on the other hand, is nothing but the words "Game Over" in front of a paused screen. We never see Gruntilda's plan to suck out the life force of everything actually work. Especially when Rare is infamous for Game Over Cutscenes that showed the player screwed up big time, like in the other Nintendo 64 platformers developed by them, as well as the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' trilogy on the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]]. Though likely this was due to rushed development.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Fans often cite the game's ambitious, interconnected levels and complex Jiggies, which were seen as amazing and revolutionary at the time of the game's release, as more negatives than positives, comparing them unfavourably to the original game's smaller, but denser levels and simplistic Jiggies ([[ComplexityAddiction whereas Tooie's would often require switching around Mumbo's spells, Wumba's transformations and moves learned in later levels in order to obtain certain Jiggies]]).

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Fans often cite the game's ambitious, interconnected levels and complex Jiggies, which were seen as amazing and revolutionary at the time of the game's release, as more negatives than positives, comparing them unfavourably to the original game's smaller, but denser levels and simplistic Jiggies ([[ComplexityAddiction whereas Tooie's would often require switching around Mumbo's spells, Wumba's transformations and moves learned in later levels in order to obtain certain Jiggies]]).

* ContestedSequel: While rarely seen as a bad game, how the game stacks up to the first game is hotly debated. Some people dislike the slower pacing, greatly increased world size, greater complexity assigned to each Jiggy, large amounts of backtracking, and the DarkerAndEdgier tone and prefer the original as a result. Others see Banjo Tooie as an EvenBetterSequel for those exact reasons, as well as adding a lot more bosses, completely reworking [[ScrappyMechanic the way Notes work so they no longer wall off progress], and a surprisingly strong multiplayer mode. Other camps ''do'' consider ''Tooie'' a bad game outright; speedrunners in particular tend to dislike how difficult it is to completely clear each world on the first try.

* ContestedSequel: While rarely seen as a bad game, how the game stacks up to the first game is hotly debated. Some people dislike the slower pacing, greatly increased world size, greater complexity assigned to each Jiggy, large amounts of backtracking, and the DarkerAndEdgier tone and prefer the original as a result, and there are some people who dislike Tooie as a whole. Others see Banjo Tooie as an EvenBetterSequel for those exact reasons, as well as adding a lot more bosses and a surprisingly strong multiplayer mode. Another camp doesn’t mind the changes but still prefer Kazooie for whatever reason.

* UnderusedGameMechanic: The Wonderwing is barely even used in this game compared to the last game. Enemies run away from it when you activate it, and it doesn't protect you from poison gas. While it is useful for traversing lava and surviving falls, you only really use it once in the entire game to save a Jinjo behind a lavafall.
** The Wading Boots aren't any better either. They only appear in three levels and are used like once or twice to navigate dangerous substances and that's it.

** Two particular collectibles may not even strike some players as this: The Cheato Page above the entrance sign to Glitter Gulch Mine and the Tintop Jiggy on the first floor of Grunty Industries. It's possible to get the former by performing a Feathery Flap from the entrance rope, and you can easily access the Tintop platform with a Feathery Flap as well, without any backtracking. Some players may respectively think that the Springy Step and Glide were never required for them, but given that there's a crate of Springy Step Shoes near the former and some official guides (including Nintendo Power) state that Glide is needed for the latter, they still count.