Banjo Kazooie

Released on June 29, 1998 for the Nintendo 64 by Nintendo and developed by Rareware, Banjo Kazooie features 3D platforming in a fantastical, storybook world

While my Nintendo 64 received a considerable amount of attention between 1996-2001, it dominated the largest share of my playtime in 1998, when it hosted several of the greatest games ever made. Thanks to a Nintendo Power feature, one of my most anticipated Nintendo 64 titles was Rareware's Banjo Kazooie, which looked like it would finally expound upon the incredible 3D platforming possibilities posited by 1996's Super Mario 64. While several games had tried, nothing had lived up to Mario 64's promise, but Rare had already produced a bonafide 64-bit classic in 1997's Goldeneye, and seemed the likeliest candidate to create Mario 64's worthwhile successor. The result of their work not only matches Mario's landmark 64-bit level of excellence, but somehow manages to surpass it.

Hopefully I didn't lose half my readers with the last sentence

Late June of 1998, on the way home from seeing The X-Files movie for the second time in the theater, I excitedly snagged a copy of Banjo Kazooie from Wal-Mart (where I purchased most my Nintendo 64 games), and booted it up the cartridge the moment I got home. What met my eyes and ears on that afternoon 25 years ago still delights them today. In honor of that 25-year anniversary,. I've played through Banjo Kazooie again on that SAME cartridge for this review, and found the exceeding late-90s Rareware charm just as enjoyable. It starts from the moment the player hits the POWER switch, as the sound of a musical banjo and Banjo the Bear's chuckle comes through the speakers, and the player is treated to an opening cutscene concert featuring Banjo, Banjo's backpack bird best friend, Kazooie, Banjo's sister, Tooty, and the shaman, Mumbo Jumbo.  

Magic straight from 1998

If that's not charming enough, the CHOOSE A SAVE FILE screen, which features up to three game files, features Banjo partaking in various activities around the house, one of which includes playing Game Boy with Kazooie. Once a file is selected and a new game started, a quick cutscene (remember when cutscenes were quick?) introduces the player to the game's villain, the evil witch Gruntilda, who has kidnapped Tooty to steal her youth, as well as introduces the game's sense of humor, which I can't describe at this moment in the review without making this sentence incomprehensible. 

GAME 3: AKA the file I come back to when I miss Banjo Kazooie

After cutscene, a quick opening tutorial and gameplay loop introduction are immediate hooks. As Banjo, the player must enter Gruntilda's castle to rescue Tooty. They'll then have to earn enough notes to open doors, until they've finally reached the top of the castle, where Tooty is being held by Gruntilda. To earn notes, the player will have to unlock the castle's nine worlds. To unlock the worlds, they'll have to earn puzzle pieces, called Jiggies. While Rare's 3D platformers eventually became derisively known as "collectathons (mostly due to the somewhat tedious Donkey Kong 64)," Banjo Kazooie marks the moment their formula is perfectly balanced. Yes, there is a little backtracking, but there are only two or three brief moments in the game where it is frustrating.

And when that happens, it's all Grunty's fault

Notes are scattered around each world much like coins in Mario 64, though they don't replenish health. Each world contains 100 notes, and when the player dies, the amount of notes they've collected is saved in their overall note total when they try to open doors, though after dying, the player will have to collect all the notes again to increase their high score. This means, thankfully, if a player dies with all 100 notes collected, their 100 collected notes are still reflected in their overall note score. Notes are shoved into every nook and cranny of these nine levels and I found them a joy to collect. Even the sound effect while collecting them is supremely satisfying (more on this game's incredible sound in a moment!).

Riding on Kazooie's back over swamp archways is closer to 3D Sonic than a 3D Sonic game

Jiggies, at ten per stage, are harder to come by. In the earlier stages they're given out like candy. However, as the game progresses, the latter worlds force the player to work a lot harder for the sweet golden puzzle pieces. I cannot give enough praise to just how fun it is to explore Banjo Kazooie's stages, hunting for Jiggies. A pattern emerges for most levels: reach the stage's highest point, and there's sure to be a Jiggy there; talk to each world's wacky characters, which range from a lazy polar bear, to a leaky bucket, to a turtle maestro, to just about any weird, quirky creation Rareware could dream of, and they're sure to give you some enjoyable task to accomplish for a Jiggy. Get to the highest point, and also find the polar bear's kid's lost Christmas presents, patch the bucket, stomp on the turtle maestro's choirs' heads to play the right song, or perform whatever weird, quirky task Rareware could dream of, and you'll be swimming in Jiggies. You'll also likely be laughing while doing so, as, from Grunty's ridiculous and lovably stupid rhymes, to each supporting characters highly specific quirks, to Kazooie's bad temper, Banjo Kazooie is hilarious. 

LOOT

To collect all these Jiggies, you'll have to master Banjo Kazooie's control scheme, which borders on the video game divine. I went well over a decade without playing this game, and the second I picked up the controller for this playthrough, I could have performed every in-game move blindfolded. To start, Banjo can run and jump, but unlike in a Mario game, jumping on foes will just get Banjo killed. Banjo's initial attack is a short punch, but his mole friend, Bottles, is scattered around each of the game's early stages to teach him and Kazooie new moves. Eventually, Banjo will be able to roll and Kazooie peck at enemies. Then the move set really starts to take off, as Kazooie learns how to fire out eggs (from the front and...er...back), flap her wings to extend Banjo's jumps, run up steep ledges (also a great way to speed around), stomp, and eventually fly, dive bomb foes, and make herself and Banjo temporarily invincible. The game utilizes ingenious combinations of the Nintendo 64 controller joystick and buttons to pull off this vast array of moves. It's tough to argue that Banjo Kazooie doesn't feature the greatest controls and handling of any Nintendo 64 game, though some might prefer Mario 64's looser scheme.

Flying around in this game feels sublime

There are also buttons to control the camera; the left and right C-buttons swinging the camera in whatever directions the player wants, and the R-button centering the camera behind Banjo. I remember some complaints about the camera in 1998, but 25 years of 3D platformer gaming later, it's clear there might never be a perfect 3D camera, and Banjo's is quite solid. You can even switch to a stationary first-person view with the top C-button, which allows the player to look anywhere they want. Yes, there are a couple moments, generally in tight quarters, where the player can't get the view just right. However, counting those moments during this recent playthrough, I found them to be few and far between.

The first-person perspective tells me this is one big tree

Banjo Kazooie also features a fun transformation system, where the player collects tokens to give to Mumbo, in order to be magically changed into another form, from a termite, to a cute little alligator, to a...pumpkin(?!), again any weird, and quirky creation Rareware could dream of. It's so much fun to anticipate, discover, and then become and control whatever creature Mumbo conjures, collecting tokens, as with the game's other items, becomes fun rather than a chore.

What are you going to turn me into this time?

Oh...okay...a pumpkin?!

I guess we're doing this

All of this looks GREAT. The colors are bright and absolutely pop, the textures are some of the smoothest found on the system in 1998, the character design and animations are absolutely charming, and the game performs admirably, rarely if ever slowing down in the framerate department, even though several of these stages are huge and feature a vast amount of moving parts. In fact, it runs smoother than the 2000 sequel, Banjo Tooie, though admittedly that game features even larger worlds, and some incredibly high res, borderline next-gen textures. If there's one small drawback to Banjo Kazooie's graphics, it's draw in, i.e., enemies and items might not be visible from a great distance, but sort of fade/draw-in as the player gets closer. Other than that one flaw, Banjo Kazooie features some of the best Nintendo 64 visual flavor in existence.

 

Need I remind you, this game was made by British people

The level design is also a huge standout here. As I did a mini-breakdown for each of Banjo Tooie's worlds on the FIRST REVIEW I wrote for this site nearly a decade ago, I'll quickly breakdown each of Banjo Kazooie's lovely worlds here:
Spiral Mountain: A mini-world, featuring Banjo's quaint home, and the surrounding land. A great and relaxed opening area in which to learn the game's controls.
Gruntilda's Lair: The game's grimy, sprawling, yet clearly laid out and not overly massive overworld, featuring some fairly difficult environmental puzzles, as well as gateways to each of the game's other worlds. Also, full of secrets.
Mumbo's Mountain: Just as it's titled, a small mountain, with a Mumbo hut at the top (he has a hut in the majority of the game's stages), a small lake at the bottom, and a small wooded area to the side. The first official level, it gently lays out the game's note/Jiggy/Jingo mechanics. Jingos? They're a cute little critter that comes in a multitude of colors, and Grunty has scattered five across each stage to punish them (I assume for being cute). Find all five, get a Jiggy. I know, I know, another collectible, but they're legitimately fun to find and rescue.

 

But I forgot to take a picture of them, so here's one of Bottles

Treasure Trove Cove: A delightful beach level, featuring a pirate ship, a lazy hippo pirate, a giant sandcastle, a giant sand crab, a towering cliffside lighthouse, and the first glorious opportunity to fly.
Clanker's Cavern: It's a testament to this game that its underwater level is beloved. Featuring a giant living mechanical garbage disposal fish in a large, cavernous drainage basin, Clanker's Cavern featuring numerous underwater tunnels, as well as a vast series of rooms in Clanker himself. I haven't mentioned the game's swimming controls yet, but they're about as good as 3D platformer swimming gets, even if Banjo's quickly decreasing air meter is nearly as stressful as the underwater timer in Sonic 2.
Bubblegloop Swamp: The swamp has a wonderfully lived-in feeling and features a host of charming mud-dwellers, as well as one of Mumbo's best transformations. Speaking of Sonic 2, the green, note-laden archways above the water here have always reminded me of a dark and swampy Emerald Hill Zone.
Freezeezy Peak: Has to be in the running for the best world in any 3D platforming game, ever. Essentially a Christmas-themed mountain village, this night time stage features an enormous snowman in its center, a giant Christmas tree (that you, yourself get to light!), sled racing, Boggy the (lovable and lazy deadbeat-dad) Bear, Wozza the (cowardly and stupid) Walrus, some evil and dastardly snowmen, another excellent Mumbo transformation, and an absolutely invigorating musical theme. I love it. It feels like a 64-bit home you never want to leave.

 

Maybe you should have thought about that before having so many of them, Boggy...then maybe Mrs. Boggy wouldn't have left

Every town needs a 300-foot tall snowman...

...and a 50-foot tall Christmas Tree!

And I guess an arkoudaphobic Walrus

Gobi's Valley: It seems like every late 90's 3D platformer had to have a desert level, but Banjo's is cream of the crop, featuring pyramids, a sphinx, quicksand, an oasis, magic carpets, and increasingly difficult puzzles and platforming challenges. At this point, you'll want to make sure you've collected each of the previous stages' hidden honeycomb pieces (two per stage), optional collectibles that extend Banjo's hit meter, which is (fittingly for a bear) made out of honeycombs. When Banjo gets hit and loses some life, he can grab some honey from a fallen foe or a beehive (several are scattered around each world) to restore his health. Running out of health results in death, and after all a player's lives are all expended, it's GAME OVER, meaning Banjo Kazooie autosaves your progress, but places you back at the entrance to Grunty's Castle, forcing you to make your way back through the castle to the world you were facing. I'll also add, extra lives are hidden throughout each world, and the player can save and quit at any moment they choose.

So a long time ago, this desert realm was ruled by...dogs?

Mad Monster Mansion: A cool, horror/Halloween-themed level, featuring the central house and grounds, as well as a hedge maze, graveyard, and haunted chapel. There's a segment in the chapel where Banjo has to accompany a giant ghost hand on a massive pipe organ that's, to this day, possibly the coolest, most enjoyable segment of any 3D platformer I've ever played.
Rusty Bucket Bay: Up until this point, Banjo Kazooie's difficulty level has been moderate to fairly easy, but Rusty Bucket Bay is Banjo's brutal GAME OVER level, featuring a cargo ship, surrounded by pollution-poisoned water, in an industrial factory area bay. The ship's engine room, featuring narrow walkways and massive, rapidly spinning blades over an eternal abyss, is the stuff of nightmares. Perhaps the most British level here.

Swamps? Industrial dock area full of smog? Is this Baton Rouge, Louisiana? No wonder I have such a fondness for this game!

I wish I had a Kazooie in my backpack!

Click Clock Wood: This is the one. If Freezeezy Peak isn't the greatest 3D platforming level of all time,  Click Clock Wood is. Centered around a massive tree and the wacky, lovable forest denizens who call it home, Click Clock Wood features four separate, unlockable entrances, allowing the player to enter the stage during each of the four seasons, starting with spring, and ending with winter. This world tells multiple stories in four parts, from a beaver trapped outside his home, to a bird's life from egg to flight, to a squirrel who eats all summer and needs help finding more nuts to survive the winter, to many others, including one that intersects with a character from an earlier stage. Click Clock Wood is brilliant and beautiful. As the stage changes ingeniously from season to season, from spring rain to the falling leaves of autumn, even to the music, it's like some interactive, 64-bit piece of Romantic-era art.

 

As beautiful as it may be, this weird forest monster thing still has to die so I can get that sweet, sweet honey 

Blowin' through the jasmine in my mind

Haven't we all?

Like eyes that once could cut through candle power on autumn nights, first air of autumn leaves me numb

Grunty's Furnace Fun/Castle Roof: In yet another moment of ingenuity, the final stage here is a board game to the death, featuring questions based around the previous levels, as well as gossip about Gruntilda that her sister, the good fairy Brentilda, tell the player throughout the game. Beating the board game unlocks the first ending, but if the player has gathered most (but not quite all) of the game's notes and Jiggies, they can then take on the fittingly epic rooftop final fight against Gruntilda, for the second-best ending. Of course, if the player does beat Gruntilda and earns every Jiggy, they get the special ending, which gives a sneak peak at the franchise's next game, 2000's Banjo Tooie.

I drooled over this key until Banjo Tooie was released. While Rare wasn't able to utilize a proposed stop 'n swap feature between the two games as they'd hoped, they were able to at least allow the player the ability to obtain and use the key to great effect in Tooie 

Speaking of Tooie, there was a time I thought that game was better. It features bigger stages, more diverse gameplay, more to collect, more to do, better graphics. However, with the passage of time, I feel that, just barely, the great Banjo Kazooie is better than the great Banjo Tooie. While Banjo Tooie does a great job of expanding the formula, there's something just a bit more concise, yet more personable about the original. While it may be personal bias, I find 15-25 hours to be the game length sweet spot, and Kazooie falls right into that range. Comparatively, Tooie is just a bit long. Also, Kazooie's worlds and overall structure feel archetypal, whereas Tooie feels like a great, next logical step. What I'm trying to say is, each game has very huge pros, and very minor cons, but if you only play one, play Kazooie. Tooie is nearly perfect, but Kazooie is nearly perfecter.

Hey, either way, you get to beat up this stupid witch in whichever game you play

It speaks to how great Grant Kirkhope's Banjo Kazooie soundtrack is that I saved it for last, even after I compared the game to its sequel. Quite frankly, there may not be a better soundtrack on the Nintendo 64 (and the soundtrack in the sequel in nearly as good). Kirkhope nabs a melody from the old classic "Teddy Bear's Picnic" as a point of reference, and then sets his synthesizer on fire. Each world's theme is a classic, absolutely perfect. The music creates atmosphere, sometimes dark and fantastical, sometimes whimsical, always incredible. The music is also dynamic, changing within certain areas, even sounding submerged when Banjo goes underwater. Simply put, Banjo Kazooie's soundtrack is one for the ages. Couple this with the game's wonderfully eccentric, humor-heightening sound design, which features bizarre bleepy-bloopy croaks unique to each of the game's many characters (and thankfully subtitled), plus a short, instrument-specific motif for each item the player picks up (including the feathers and eggs that fuel Kazooie's flight and egg-shooting) and you've got a perfect audio package in a near perfect game. 

Banjo Kazooie has stood the test of time, in my opinion betters even the incredible classic, Super Mario 64, just edges past its technically superior sequel, Banjo Tooie, and stands as the finest 3D platforming achievement on the Nintendo 64, and of its entire generation.

SCORE BREAKDOWN

Graphics: 9.6/10 -- Bright and beautiful and runs smoothly, with an art design that has proven timeless

Music and Sound: 10.0/10 -- Arguably the best soundtrack on the Nintendo 64, accentuated by a brilliant, charming, and hilarious overall sound design

Gameplay: 9.9/10 -- Near-perfect platformer, with incredibly well-designed worlds, full of unique and quirky characters, and fun, balanced collecting

Lasting Value: 8.2/10 -- A perfect 15-25 hour length, featuring multiple endings, supporting a game whose fun and charm makes it imminently replayable

Final Score (Not an Average): 9.9/10