Banjo-Kazooie General Thread

Gregg Mayles made a suspicious tweet today.

While we wait for further developments, let's discuss the Banjo series, from Kazooie and Tooie to Nuts & Bolts and Grunty's Revenge.

(Incidentally, I made a page for Grunty's Revenge a long time ago. Y'all are welcome to contribute.)

Sorry to bump this, but I really think it merits discussion. Gregg Mayles is teasing a new Banjo game on Twitter! Isn't that exciting to anyone else?

It's exciting to me! Banjo Tooie is my favorite game of all time! If they really are making an honest too goodness Banjo-Threeie, I will try to get it, no questions asked (preferably on PC, because I don't have an XBone.)

Hmm, looking at Gregg's Twitter feed has shown that he's been making some peculiar tweets as of late...

And already it's getting fellows like B-K composer Grant Kirkhope reacting with some degree of (playful?) immaturity...

There's also the fact that E3's in a few weeks from now.

Well, if it really is a new Banjo-Kazooie game, I wouldn't be surprised if it was in response to Yooka-Laylee. As if to say, "oh, so you think you can replicate B-K's success with a chameleon and a bat?! Bah! Watch how the real professionals do it!"

But Rare's not that petty...are they?

I mean, real question, how's Yooka-Laylee working out for everyone?

Yooka-Laylee had a pretty decent reception. Some quibbles regarding gameplay, but otherwise, seems have done all right.

Real talk, though, does Rare have much of the original B-K team left? I thought they've been leaving in droves over the past fifteen years.

A handful of them are still around, including Leigh Loveday and Kevin Bayliss (I think).

I don't have anything that can reliably run Yooka-Laylee, so no comment on that front. It's a real kick in the nuts, since I backed the game and asked for the Wii U version. I guess I'll wait until it comes out on Switch, the upside being that that'll probably be the most polished version.

Man, if this does lead to a new Banjo-Kazooie, I'll be so hyped.

As for Yooka Laylee, it was a pretty decent game. There are sections that are...not great (How did ex-Rare developers mess up mine-cart sections? HOW?), but overall, I enjoyed it. There's definite room for improvement though(the mini-games, the bosses,the loose controls, the razza-frazzin' minecarts!).

edited 29th May '17 9:30:04 PM by Dezmo

Okay, so E3 came and went and there was no Banjo. (On the upside, there was Battletoads.)

BUT! Word is getting out that Microsoft is bringing back its X0 event this November in Mexico City as X018, and there’s been some recently discovered damning evidence that a new Banjo might be announced there.

Exquisite Gaming teases Banjo backpack controller holder.

A brand extension agency added Banjo-Kazooie to its list of clients sometime between February and now.

Rumor: a ResetERA admin teases a possible Smash announcement.

Smash number 73

Can the games be on Switch now? People have wanted them on Virtual Console for over a decade.

I could dig portable Banjo.

I own both on N64 and could always get the Xbox 360 version if I wanted it a bit shinier, but they're fun games to replay.

Especially Kazooie, which only takes 6~ hours to 100% if you've played though it a couple of times.

The following is to be taken with a grain of salt.

Tread lightly.

Amazon Germany has a listing for a Banjo-Kazooie thing for the Switch.

Before anyone gets excited, it could easily just be an Amiibo for the two. Or it could be a re-release or remake of the first 2 games and not a brand spanking new entry.

Then again, were they any clues that Cuphead was headed for Switch before this year?

I wonder if there's an issue of having the old X-Box 360 games on Rare Replay for a Switch version so a re-release of Kazooie and Tooie is just easier, or if one side just isn't interested in having anything but the Banjo games for a port.

I really think that there’s potential for a Banjo Kazooie revival to have a mix of both the vehicle building from Nuts & Bolts and the collect-a-thon gameplay we all want. Imagine building a vehicle in order to get to one area to another. Here’s some examples

• Let’s say that Banjo and Kazooie want to get to the new area known as Treetop Tropics. Unfortunately Snacker the shark has been preventing them from entering. So they have to build a speed boat with a weapon in order to fight off the shark and get to the area.

• Another example could be that there’s a gang of racers who were racing in a part of a lake area that was too dangerous for them to race in. One of their members has crashed their vehicle. Banjo and Kazooie must set out on foot to rescue the member stranded. Maybe their rescue mission ends up creating a safer race track that the bear and bird duo could race along side the gang in.

• Banjo and Kazooie are need to get to the sky world. Due to the sky area not really having any entrances. The two must build a plain to get to the area in the first place. Maybe even use said plane to engage in some missions like dogfighting.

• A good way to show that you’re going to need vehicles could involve how you could get to the first area that you can access with what you had. Getting to the area on foot would take all day to the point that by night most of Grunty’s minions are at their most dangerous. Not helping is that even when you’re nearby, there some steep and rugged terrain that the bear and bird duo have no way to get through. The solution is to use a vehicle you build in order to get to your destination not only quicker but to also get through the steep terrain.

I’m sure Nuts and Bolts could have been received better if the collect-a-thon gameplay was still there, just with some missions requiring vehicles and some not along with the vehicles being used to get to another level.

US Patent Office scheduled to update Microsoft's patent on Banjo-Kazooie on the same day they're holding their Xbox Series X Games Showcase.

Note that their 10 year mandatory update for the patent was back in 2018.

Still take it with a grain of salt just in case.

Edited by tclittle on Jul 22nd 2020 at 9:39:34 AM

Tis the age of nostalgic returns. Not surprising.

I expect very little, given the general lack of interest in the IP these last 10 years outside allowing for the Smash appearance and the Rare Replay release. I'd love for them to do something with it (and like with Ori in the Blind Forest, eventually let it have a Switch port) but I'm not holding my breath on either.

Edited by BorneAgain on Jul 22nd 2020 at 10:47:10 AM

Oh hey this thread exists.

I got ahold of a copy of the original and have been playing it on and off. I like it quite a lot, but Grunty's Tower is irritating to navigate.

I don't think I'll ever beat Grunty in the original :(

The Xbox version of the original has some quality of life improvements. Specifically how the music notes are handled.

The N64 version, for some reason, doesn’t save the notes that you have collected. Forcing you to recollect all 100 of them in each stage if you either die or leave the stage.

The Xbox 360 version actually does save the notes like in Tooie.

I do own both versions and while the N64 version is still good, I think that the 360 version is slightly better.

Edited by powerpuffbats on Jul 22nd 2020 at 8:09:04 AM

I've never beaten Grunty on the original game.

I've never beaten the final boss on Grunty's Revenge.

I've never eaven fought the final boss of Tooie, and that one's brutal.

I beat Grunty in the original game. Got all the Jiggies too. Banjo-Kazooie was one of the first games I ever 100% completed.

Never did get around to playing the sequels though. And after making the ill-advised decision to buy and play Donkey Kong 64, I was well and truly burned out on "collect-a-thon" games.

Edited by M84 on Jul 22nd 2020 at 11:08:34 PM

The 360 version has a bug where the puzzles are done in the game engine, so if Banjo collects notes in the Jiggy puzzles they're gone from the real levels.