Banjo-Kazooie

Rareware's own platforming game, inspired by Super Mario 64, but with a humour and cartoon style all of its own. You take control of Banjo the bear, and Kazooie the bird that lives in his backpack. Jealous of Banjo's cute sister, Tootie, the evil witch Gruntilda has kidnapped her and plans to suck all the cuteness out and inject it into herself.

Banjo learns moves by talking to Bottles the mole. Bottles teaches you the basic moves, and then gives you more advanced moves in later stages. Banjo and Kazooie must navigate each world, searching for the mystical Jiggies - golden jigsaw pieces that unlock new worlds. Jiggies usually require you to perform a task to find them, such as fighting an enemy, climbing a mountain, or taking on unique challenges. Also to collect are the Notes, of which there are 100 in each stage. These open doors throughout Gruntilda's lair, enabling you to reach later stages.

Along the way you will meet Mumbo Jumbo. Give him Mumbo tokens and he will transform you into a specific animal for that stage. Becoming an animal gives you abilities you didn't have before - so becoming a termite lets you climb walls and enter the termite mound on Mumbo's mountain, becoming a walrus lets you travel through chilly waters, and so on.

Banjo-Kazooie was well-received, popular for its bizarre humour. At the end of the game you are presented with extra secrets that can only be unlocked using Banjo-Tooie, the sequel, but this never came to pass.

System	Nintendo 64
Developer	Rare
Genre	3D Platformer

Nintendo 64
	30th June 1998
	17th July 1998
	6th December 1998

Cameos

Banjo's Game Boy

On the File Select screen, when you select File 3 you can see Banjo playing an original model Game Boy. The music changes to an 8-bit rendition of the Banjo-Kazooie theme, and the sound effects appear to have been taken from Donkey Kong Land.

Berri Picture

On the Rusty Bucket Bay stage, one of the portholes you can break and jump through takes you to the sleeping quarters of some sailors. Beside one of the beds is a picture of Berri, girlfriend to Conker the Squirrel.

Banjo-Kazooie and Conker 64 were announced at the same time, but Conker's N64 adventure was later cancelled and remodelled into the delightfully graphic Conker's Bad Fur Day. Berri did manage to appear in this more innocent form in Conker's Pocket Tales on Game Boy.

Twycross

Check out the back of the Rusty Bucket ship. The writing says "Rusty Bucket - Twycross England". Twycross is the British home of Rare, developers of the game.

Tiptup

Screenshot Required

Tiptup the Turtle, one of the characters from Diddy Kong Racing, appears in Bubblegloop Swamp. He is the composer for a choir of turtles, found inside the shell of a giant turtle named Tanktup.

Gnawty

On the Click Clock Wood stage there is a beaver called Gnawty who can't get into his house. Gnawty is the name of the beaver enemies in Donkey Kong Country, also developed by Rare.

Captain Blackeye Picture

Screenshot Required

Banjo-Kazooie started life as a very different game known as Project: Dream, featuring a human main character, RPG elements and a pirate villain known as Captain Blackeye.

A picture of Captain Blackeye can be found in the Mad Monster Mansion stage, inside a secret room at the back of the church.

Grunty's Furnace Fun

In Grunty's Furnace Fun, you have to answer Gruntilda's questions in order to progress along a board to reach her. Some of the wrong answers to the questions reference other games.

In Mumbo's Mountain you don't know, what does that big gorilla throw?

Wrong Answer: Barrels (referencing Donkey Kong)

Freezeezy Peak is rather cold, but what does the huge snowman hold?

Wrong Answer: Game Boy

There are also wrong answers to the sound and visual questions that refer to Cranky Kong from the Donkey Kong series and Conker from Rare's Conker series.