Now this is what I've been waiting for. Banjo-Kazooie is one of my all-time favorite games. I have played through it many times over the course of my life and always have a great time revisiting it. It's a game that has helped me get through some times. Still, it had been a while since I last played it. So let's take off the nostalgic goggles and give this beloved adventure a critical look.
Banjo and Kazooie are two friends who live together in the picturesque Spiral Mountain. Banjo being a lazy bear with a fondness for sleeping, while Kazooie is a red bird with a fiery attitude. What starts as a day like any other for this duo turns into a disaster when the evil witch Gruntilda descends from her lair. Tired of being a fat, warty hag, she has decided to kidnap Banjo's sister Tootie in order to steal the girl's youthful beauty for herself. Too late to prevent the kidnapping—because he was asleep—Banjo and Kazooie set out on an adventure to save Tootie from Gruntilda's grasp.
Gameplay takes the form of a 3D platformer with puzzle and action elements. The bear and the bird have a wide assortment of moves that utilize their respective skills. With the best of the bunch being those moves where the two of them cooperate. For example, Banjo can jump fairly high, but Kazooie can then extend those jumps by flapping her wings. Likewise, Banjo can perform some attacks that work well, but the most effective ones are moves like the beak buster (groundpound) and Rat-a-tat Rap (mid-air attack) that again utilize Kazooie.
You learn all these moves gradually over the course of the adventure, courtesy of the helpful mole Goggles. Though Kazooie isn't particularly thankful towards the poor man. What's impressive here is that the moveset becomes elaborate and complicated, but is spaced out so well that you grow into it. I never forgot about any moves because they'd rarely see any use or mixed up the inputs for the more complex ones. There's so much you can do and all the moves feel unique, yet the game remains very easy to actually control. There aren't many games that can claim the same.
After an open-ended tutorial stage in Spiral Mountain, the game sets into a rhythm similar to Super Mario 64. You explore deeper and deeper into Gruntilda's lair, which acts as a HUB level from which you access different worlds. In each world you then collect these golden jigsaw puzzle pieces—Jiggies—that are used to unlock more levels.
Banjo-Kazooie is often labelled as a collect-a-thon game, but I feel that sells the game short. Each Jiggy is hidden behind some ingenious challenge, you see. Sometimes these are platforming related. Requiring you to use that elaborate moveset to reach the trickiest spots in the level. At other times you may be required to solve puzzles, defeat special enemies, or complete mini-games. All of these are unique objectives that match the themes of their respective levels. It's not just hopping around until you stumble over a collectible.
This gives Banjo-Kazooie an adventurous feel. You're always doing something special and you never know what may be up next. One moment you're shooting eggs at an angry gorilla while dodging his attacks, the next you're sled-racing a polar bear. Or playing music with a ghost. Or hunting for a treasure using vague clues. There's never a dull moment or a task that feels too generic.
Besides Jiggies, each level has a few other collectibles to chase down. Of which the musical notes are perhaps the best fit for that collect-a-thon label. These are scattered about the level for you to pick up, a 100 in total each time. Rather than being a challenge to collect in and of themselves, notes are instead used to guide you towards other objectives and encourage exploration. After collecting them, notes are then used in the HUB area to open up doors that lead to new sections. Similar to how keys worked in Super Mario 64.
Other collectibles are hidden extras, such as the honeycombs that increase your health or the colorful Jinjos—5 of which must be found in each level to obtain a Jiggy from them. I also really like the Mumbo Tokens. These are little skull-shaped objects that make a fun sound every time you pick one up. You can use these to have the shaman Mumbo transform Banjo into different creatures. These transformations can then be used to obtain certain Jiggies or navigate the level in different ways. Like in the swamp world, Mumbo can transform you into a crocodile that doesn't get damaged in the swampy waters. This croc can then also be used to access a mini-game where you can score a Jiggy.
I really enjoy the gameplay, as you can probably tell. Still, there are certainly parts where it struggles. Usually for technical reasons. The rendering distance is quite short for one, which sometimes obscures collectibles in ways that are annoying. You survey a space and see nothing, only to find out some notes or a Jinjo would've popped into view once you got a few steps closer. The camera, while better than in most early-3D games, does also take some wrangling. Sometimes it gives you a face full of environmental texture or insists on angles where you can't accurately judge how to move. You can manually force the view behind Banjo, but that makes the camera sway aggressively as you move, which can be disorienting.
Outside of technical limitations, it's annoying that notes reset each time you leave a level or lose one of your lives. Even if you have 99 collected and then fall down a bottomless pit, you respawn with 0 notes collected. The game remembers that you had 99 and it counts for your total when you want to open doors in Gruntilda's lair. If you want completion though, then you'll have to collect all of them all over again for each attempt. Including those tied to mini-games or which require transformations to access. It's not a big deal because the game is generally easygoing in terms of difficulty, but it makes the final few levels particularly harsh.
Another strong suit for the game is its endless amount of charm. The world of Banjo-Kazooie is bright, colorful, and very wacky indeed. The level themes aren't the most inspired, but the visuals hold up incredibly well and their actual designs are top notch. With the goofy soundtrack by Grant Kirkhope providing the finishing touch.
The writing also perfectly matches the fun objectives you're completing throughout each world. You meet all kinds of weird characters with strange dialogue and personalities. Kazooie shines throughout all of this, due to her habit of picking fights with anyone she meets. She is instinctually rude, even to people who are actively helping her and Banjo. It's great.
Gruntilda also scores points in this regard. She looms over your entire adventure. Regularly taunting the duo or making light of their hardships, all spoken in rhyme. It makes her into an unforgettable character and does a wonderful job of hyping you up for the inevitable confrontation with her. It's a great way to keep the rivalry alive in the player's mind for a character who is otherwise absent until the final showdown.
Revisiting Banjo-Kazooie was a blast. Nostalgia certainly plays a major role in that, but even looking beyond that it's an amazing game. It was well ahead of its competition in terms of controls, writing, and structuring gameplay objectives. Even surpassing Nintendo's own platforming efforts in a number of ways. Like flying in Super Mario 64 is such a headache, whereas Banjo-Kazooie nails it. Here it's liberating and fun, you can go everywhere in the level and do it as much as you want.
While there are places where the game has aged a fair bit, it has held up tremendously well. Certainly when compared to other early-3D efforts. With a good controller and some tolerance for camera controls, even a total newcomer could appreciate this legendary adventure. Nostalgic sods such as myself won't have to worry about revisiting this childhood favorite either. It's as good as we remember it being.
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