Retro Review: Banjo-Kazooie

Who could have imagined that a bear and a bird would become a formidable team together? Who would have thought that they would find themselves in an adventure unlike any other? Who might have anticipated that this quest would become the basis for one of the greatest Nintendo 64 games of all time? Well, in 1998, all of this became a reality when Rareware released Banjo-Kazooie, a 3D platform game that served as their answer to Super Mario 64. The company was up to the challenge of presenting a delightful adventure filled with challenges, humor, and wonderful surprises, and they succeeded beautifully. Over a decade has past since its release, but the game remains a true Nintendo 64 classic and showcases Rare at their finest.

A young bear cub named Tooty is excited about going on an adventure with her lazy brother, Banjo. As she waits for Banjo to wake up, however, the wicked witch Gruntilda appears and kidnaps her. Gruntilda, or Grunty for short, is envious of Tooty's beauty, and wishes to steal her good looks and make her ugly. Fortunately, Bottles, the short-sighted mole, witnesses the abduction and informs Banjo and Kazooie, the latter being a bird living in Banjo's backpack, that they must hurry and rescue her before she is doomed to remain an ugly monster forever. This rather whimsical story is an example of the Rare charm, which is seen a lot throughout the game.

Banjo-Kazooie has our heroes traveling through Gruntilda's Lair, which is home to a number of worlds which take place in a desert, a beach, a haunted house, and more. In each world, Banjo and Kazooie will need to search for golden jigsaw pieces, also known as Jiggies, so that they can unlock new worlds and get one step closer to rescuing Tooty. Jiggies can be obtained in a number of ways, from mastering newly-learned moves to solving puzzles to clearing mini games. As for those new moves, they are taught by Bottles, who offers a basic tutorial at the start of the game and teaches you new moves as you explore the worlds. Among the moves that you can master are flying, firing eggs forward and backward, pecking at foes, and using boots to walk safely in hazardous areas such as piranha-infested waters.

While Jiggies are the main collectibles of the game, they are by no means the only ones. Scattered throughout every world are musical notes that can be used to unlock special note doors in the witch's lair. These doors bar the way to other sections of the lair, and you will need to open them in order to reach the entrances to other worlds. There are also little creatures called Jinjos, who will give you a Jiggy if you manage to save all five in a single world. Collecting every last note and Jinjo can be a challenge, especially since if you lose a life or leave before locating all of them in a single world, you will have to start over when you come back. It is a bit frustrating, but once you become proficient with the worlds, you will find the going to be easier.

Then there are Mumbo tokens, which will unlock transformation spells in several worlds. Mumbo Jumbo the shaman can change you into a termite, a gator, a bee, and more, so that you can access areas and complete tasks that Banjo and Kazooie cannot do by themselves. These transformations are fun to use, though except for the gator, none of them have the ability to attack foes. You can also pick up empty honeycombs, which will help extend your energy meter; eggs, for attacking enemies; feathers, for flying or for becoming invincible; and golden statues, for extra lives. As with a lot of Rare games, it pays to explore everywhere to find the items that you need to complete your journey.

There is a great deal to love about Banjo-Kazooie. A lot of the challenges are a lot of fun, though some of them are quite difficult. Just wait until you take on Mr. Vile the crocodile in Bubblegloop Swamp and you will see why I consider it to be the toughest Jiggy challenge in the game. The worlds, while not incredibly large, are still filled with surprises, and there is a lot of Rare's trademark humor to be found. First-time players will take quite a while to complete the game without a walk through, and if you manage to collect all 100 Jiggies, there is an extra special ending, one that started a mystery that has become popular among Banjo-Kazooie fans for years. This is a masterpiece through and through, and even the minor flaws mentioned earlier do not bring it down one bit.

Rare would become known for creating the most wonderful graphics ever seen on the Nintendo 64, and Banjo-Kazooie dazzles with some amazing visuals. The environments are vast and look beautiful, and the attention to detail, from lighting effects to lifelike movements, is simply stunning. Granted, there is some slowdown at times, but it does not hinder the game very much at all. Equally impressive is the soundtrack: not only do the tunes themselves fit the cartoon-like atmosphere, but Grant Kirkhope offers a number of incredible remixes of a world's tune in every level. Best of all is when one version of a song seamlessly switches to another without stopping. This method works to great effect here, and Kirkhope would do it to an even greater extent in Banjo-Tooie, thus proving his skill for providing wonderful musical talent.

Personally, this was my second favorite game from 1998 (Zelda: Ocarina of Time being number one), and it was well worth the delay from the 1997 holiday season. Banjo-Kazooie is simply better than Mario 64 in every respect: the graphics, music, challenges, humor, and overall enjoyment is stronger here than it was in the latter game. That's not to say that Mario 64 was a bad game at all, but it feels limited compared to Banjo-Kazooie. The duo would go on to star in an even better sequel, Banjo-Tooie, before the series began to go downhill with a couple of mediocre (at best) hand held games. I would love to see another Banjo-Kazooie game that stays true to the spirit of the first two titles, but for now, check out their amazing first adventure and see why it is considered to be one of the Nintendo 64's very best games of all time.