Banjo-Kazooie

Banjo-Kazooie is a 1998 platform game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released for Xbox 360 on November 26, 2008. Controlling the player characters, the bear Banjo and the bird Kazooie, the player attempts to save Banjo’s kidnapped sister Tooty from the witch Gruntilda. The player explores nine nonlinear worlds to gather items and progress. Using Banjo and Kazooie’s traversal and combat abilities, they complete challenges such as solving puzzles, jumping over obstacles, and defeating bosses.

Description

Banjo-Kazooie is a single-player platform game where the player controls the titular protagonists, an easy-going brown honey bear named Banjo and a troublemaking female red-crested “Breegull” Kazooie, from a third-person perspective. The game features nine three-dimensional worlds where the player must gather musical notes and jigsaw puzzle pieces, called Jiggies, to progress. The player travels from one world to another through Gruntilda’s Lair, a region that acts as the game’s central overworld. Jiggies allow the player to complete jigsaw puzzles which open doors to new worlds, while musical notes are required to open doors to new sections of the overworld.

There are a total of 100 jiggies to collect (ten in each world), all of which are needed to view the proper ending, and 900 notes (100 in each world). The door with the highest amount of required notes has 880, although 765 are needed to enter the final section. Like Super Mario 64 (1996), Banjo-Kazooie is very open and allows the player to collect Jiggies and musical notes in a nonlinear order. It is also possible to complete certain worlds out of order, assuming the player has enough Jiggies and musical notes to reach a world earlier than intended.

Each world is composed of a number of challenges that involve solving puzzles, jumping over obstacles, racing, playing a bonus game, gathering objects, and defeating opponents. Tasks include spelling words, helping lights get on a Christmas tree while protecting them from getting eaten, and looking for a pirate’s gold. The game features action-adventure elements, and the player must often interact with non-player characters and help them. It is also possible to increase Banjo and Kazooie’s health bar by collecting empty honeycomb pieces (of which there are two in each world), and extra lives by obtaining Banjo statues.

Banjo and Kazooie can perform many abilities, such as jumping, climbing, ground-pounding, swimming, flying, and rolling into enemies. The game has a total of 14 special moves, and some cannot be performed until conversing with Bottles the mole, who teaches them. The breegull and the bear have unique assets. For example, while swimming, Kazooie moves faster but also has a harder time turning directions than Banjo, who only swims when above ground. Kazooie can perform the Talon Trot, where she runs faster and up slopes too steep for Banjo, the Beak Bomb, a long and fast hit towards something with her beak that she pulls off while flying, and either shoot blue eggs from the front or rear.

In the middle of jumps or falls from great heights, Kazooie can use her wings to glide Banjo down at a slower speed for a few seconds. She can also fly and jump way higher than Banjo, but these moves can only be activated by standing on pads signifying them; pads with red feathers on them activate flying, green Shock Spring pads the extra jump height. Some abilities require specific items to be performed. For instance, red feathers allow Banjo and Kazooie to fly, while gold feathers protect them from damage. There are two types of collectible shoes that provide temporary abilities.

The Turbo Trainer shoes provide a speed burst used to reach a destination on time, while Wellington boots allows Kazooie to run on otherwise harmful ground, such as the piranha-filled waters in Bubblegloop Swamp and shifting sands in Gobi’s Valley. Additionally, found in each world are five small creatures called Jinjos that Gruntilda imprisoned and, upon collection of the entire world’s population, grant the duo a Jiggy. For the camera, there are three choices of views and the ability to spin the camera around the player character. 

However, some areas fix the camera to one angle, which sometimes hides items out of view, requiring the player to choose a first-person perspective to see them. Banjo the bear lives on Spiral Mountain with his bird friend, Kazooie, and younger sister, Tooty. One day, an evil witch named Gruntilda, who also lives on Spiral Mountain, asks her sentient cauldron, Dingpot, who the prettiest girl on the mountain is; Dingpot reveals that it is Tooty who is the prettiest, to Gruntilda’s frustration and jealousy.

Wishing to be prettier than Tooty, Gruntilda decides to steal her beauty. As Tooty talks with Bottles the mole, Gruntilda suddenly arrives and kidnaps Tooty, taking the young girl to her cliffside lair; Banjo and Kazooie hear the commotion and, upon being informed by Bottles of the situation, they venture to Gruntilda’s Lair to confront her. As Banjo and Kazooie enter Gruntilda’s Lair, it is revealed that Gruntilda and her minion, Klungo, have built a machine used to transfer Tooty’s beauty to Gruntilda’s body. Banjo and Kazooie soon discover how to use Jiggies to warp to other lands, where they rescue creatures called Jinjos, whom Gruntilda captured.

As the two progress further through Gruntilda’s lair, they eventually find Gruntilda, who hosts a quiz game show called “Grunty’s Furnace Fun”, which offers Tooty as a prize for winning the game but threatens to kill Banjo and Kazooie in lava if they fail. Banjo and Kazooie manage to beat the game thanks to information given prior by Brentilda, Gruntilda’s friendly sister, and they rescue Tooty, while Gruntilda flees to the roof of her lair. Afterwards, Banjo and Kazooie return home and celebrate their success with a barbecue until Tooty, knowing that Gruntilda is still at large, urges the two to return to Gruntilda’s Lair and properly defeat her.