Banjo Fucking Kazooie.

[Despain v.1]

Banjo-Kazooie, after all these years of new games and innovation, STILL ranks as one of my favorite games of all time. Banjo-Tooie is right there with it (maybe even better). I've been playing Kazooie recently this summer, and after that I'll play Grunty';s Revenge, which I've never played before, and then replay Tooie (I recently bought it from Amazon after letting a friend borrow it- I moved out of town befer he returned it).

Fucking badass games. Discuss.

 

[ArtBane]

The first game was solid. I have fond memories playing it. But the second game was ugly. I stopped playing that on the first level.

 

[ryanwh]

Not that great. Too easy even if some of the ideas were fun. I dont really have a prefference for it above or below any other Rare n64 game, they're all basically the same concept and they're all pretty fun, eh, if you're in the mood for it.

 

[JonoSasson]

You must be crazy if you don't like Banjo Kazooie (That includes all other BK games too)! I think Banjo Tooie was better than Kazooie, only because the levels were much bigger (I think there was more) and the range of moves more appealing and...definitely larger in quantity. The music in both games were absolutely fucking awesome (I love Gruntilda's Lair and Mad Monster Mansion, although it sounds very much like DK64's Creepy Castle...not bad either :D...oh and Click Clock Woods!) and those voices...well...yeah anyway...

Despain, Grunty's Revenge is a little bit weird but still follows the basic BK feeling. You have to make do without Kazooie for the first quarter of the game which is pretty annoying, but overall it's an alright game (despite its length; I beat it in a little less than a day).

Rare made awesome adventure games, back in the day, I'm really glad Banjo Kazooie/Tooie/Donkey Kong 64 were part of their run.

 

[Knight of Elcar]

I loved both games. I have fond memories of me playing it. Nice graphics, memorable enemies and characters, and great enviroments. Of the two, Banjo-Tooie is my favorite.

 

[Zankoku no Yami]

I loved both games too X3 they were so fun!

Though, Tooie pissed me off for one reason... there was this level, i forget which now, but you had to like get inside by going through the back or something. There was water. Whatever. Anyways, i got inside, but then quit afterwards. Turns out i had to hit a switch to open front gate at the beginning of the level. But i thought, hey, i'll do the rest later. Well, after saving and quitting, i couldnt get back in. For some dumb reason.

Other than that, i had great memories. Some of the few games on the N64 i really liked.

 

[ryanwh]

Platforming was the ONLY reason to play an n64. That and maybe fighting games( a lot of potentially awsome currently dead fighting franchises and beat the hell out of tekken)

 

[JonoSasson]

i got inside, but then quit afterwards. Turns out i had to hit a switch to open front gate at the beginning of the level. But i thought, hey, i'll do the rest later. Well, after saving and quitting, i couldnt get back in. For some dumb reason.

BAHAHA I WAS WAITING FOR SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO HAPPEN...You're talking about Grunty Industries lol!! You had to press the train switch on the outside and take the train from another level inside (I swear this was the hardest puzzle in the game, besides the shooting ones in Cloud Cuckooland!). If you left the game before opening the main gate to Grunty Industries then you couldn't get back in to get the train. Talk about stuffing up real bad! This could've been fixed if there was a mumbo spell to call the train from another station. I spose Rare just didn't have their heads on straight that day. I always knew you could do it, but I never expected anyone would lol!

You are my idol for today!!

 

[Minkoff]

Not that great. Too easy even if some of the ideas were fun. I dont really have a prefference for it above or below any other Rare n64 game, they're all basically the same concept and they're all pretty fun, eh, if you're in the mood for it.

This is how I feel.

Yeah, nothing else to add, sorry. :<

 

[Draken]

I loved Banjo Kazooie. One of the best games I ever played on my N64, never played Tooie though...

 

[Marcus]

I hated how Banjo Kazooie was never "finished." The game was complete and lengthy (I can speedrun it in 8 hours which is saying a lot) but there are a lot of things that were cut from the final version because of time constraints. For example, when you make Gobi spit water up in the seasons level (which is one of the most original platform levels ever) he says he's leaving for a place where you'll never find him and you can see him in the background of this underground lava place. Also, there's this MYSTERIOUS UNGRABBABLE KEY in the Walrus' den inside the snow level. There's also several unexplained areas inside the sandy beach level, the secret puzzle level in Banjo's house, and a few other things I can't remember.

I also loved the little secrets in the game like accessing your save game on a second divisible by 3 or something causes a different animation (like Banjo is rocketed from his bed) and looking at the picture of the mole in your house starts a mini-game. The cinema when you get a gameover and Tootie transforms into a monster was awesome as well.

My only gripe was that the game could be unforgivably hard in some areas and incredibly easy in others. For example, collecting all 100 notes in the poisoned barge level... GOD DAMN!!

Yea, good game. Too bad the sequel sucked.

 

[Despain v.1]

For example, when you make Gobi spit water up in the seasons level (which is one of the most original platform levels ever) he says he's leaving for a place where you'll never find him and you can see him in the background of this underground lava place. Also, there's this MYSTERIOUS UNGRABBABLE KEY in the Walrus' den inside the snow level. There's also several unexplained areas inside the sandy beach level, the secret puzzle level in Banjo's house, and a few other things I can't remember.

Gobi says he goes to the lava level, and he is there- in Banjo-Tooie, on Hailfire Peaks, the lava side.

And the Ice Key, Shark Bait Isle, etc were part of a hookup that Rare was planning for Banjo-Kazooie and Tooie, but it was never able to happen because Nintendo updated their hardware (it used the expansion pack, and originally if you left the system on and switched games quickly, the expansion pack would be able to transfer data- but a later release of the expansion pack made this impossible. The expansion pack was originally intended to be sold with Tooie, but as you know, it sold with DK64 instead, most likely because of the failed Stop n Swop).

Too bad the sequel sucked.

How can you say that? It was just as good as the original- if not better. The levels were so much bigger with so much more depth.

Platforming was the ONLY reason to play an n64. That and maybe fighting games( a lot of potentially awsome currently dead fighting franchises and beat the hell out of tekken)

Are we forgetting an entire genre of first-person shooters?

 

[JonoSasson]

I really do think the second was better. I mean the first was fantastic, but the second went places the first steered away from. Sure, some of the stuff in the second was just plain stupid (FPS Kazooie?! Crazy...) but it was still great...

...It was also finished. As Marcus just said, there was stuff that was clearly meant to have a playing role. I can't remember what those secret eggs were for...ah yeah, changing Banjo in a washing machine (which subsequently we saw in Grunty Industries) and stuff like that. Meh.

I liked how the levels were bigger in Tooie. Much bigger. That's not to say the levels weren't cool in BK, I liked them all (especially Click Clock Wood BECAUSE it was big!)...but they could've been expanded upon I think.

Did anybody ever finish the last jigsaw puzzle at Jiggywiggy's Temple? I never did and still wonder what happens when you finish...anyway, that's my two cents...probably more than two cents actually...

 

[Marcus]

How can you say that? It was just as good as the original- if not better. The levels were so much bigger with so much more depth.

because the sequel adopted my most hated thinking involving platform games;

big world + hidden shit to collect = fun game

no

NO!!

Banjo Tooie introduced 50 million extra things to grab and nab and this totally killed the gameplay for me. You collected a lot things in the first one but in general it was all about the awesome gameplay. Kazooie had cool mini-games, excellent level design, great puzzles, and hilarious bosses and mini-bosses. Tooie was just one, giant bag grab of useless junk. Bigger doesn't equal better; it just means there's more places for the developers to hide an obscure object that will take 4 hours of pixel hunting to find in the background.

Are we forgetting an entire genre of first-person shooters?

There were like... 3 first person shooters that I can think of and that was goldeneye, perfect dark, and turok (not including the sequels). They were good games but nothing I'd run out and spend $200 bucks on several years ago and they're pretty outdated now a days.

The n64 was just a bad machine; not as bad as the gamecube but Nintendo just kind of said "lol let's rare handle this" and showed some really poor first party support. The n64 HDD was pretty cool, but that got nowhere. Paper Mario was also awesome as was Mario 64, but 2 games don't save a console; sorry. Without Rare, the n64 would have probably been a big waste of money. It's kind of sad too because Rare only made up about 8% of the n64's lineup. I think the only other prolific games on the 64 was Ocarina of Time and Starfox 64.

Atleast, those are the only ones I bothered playing that aren't Rare owned. Ogre Battle 64 was pretty sweet but they released like... 3 copies of that game so not many people played it.

 

[Zankoku no Yami]

BAHAHA I WAS WAITING FOR SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO HAPPEN...You're talking about Grunty Industries lol!! You had to press the train switch on the outside and take the train from another level inside (I swear this was the hardest puzzle in the game, besides the shooting ones in Cloud Cuckooland!). If you left the game before opening the main gate to Grunty Industries then you couldn't get back in to get the train. Talk about stuffing up real bad! This could've been fixed if there was a mumbo spell to call the train from another station. I spose Rare just didn't have their heads on straight that day. I always knew you could do it, but I never expected anyone would lol!

You are my idol for today!!

Haha, yeah... I'm a retard @_@ it pissed me the heck off!! I thought it was either a glitch or a mistake on the programmers part >.>

And the Ice Key, Shark Bait Isle, etc were part of a hookup that Rare was planning for Banjo-Kazooie and Tooie, but it was never able to happen because Nintendo updated their hardware (it used the expansion pack, and originally if you left the system on and switched games quickly, the expansion pack would be able to transfer data- but a later release of the expansion pack made this impossible. The expansion pack was originally intended to be sold with Tooie, but as you know, it sold with DK64 instead, most likely because of the failed Stop n Swop).

If what you're saying is what I believe it is, i heard of that. I remember my dad telling me that there was things in the game set up to link into Tooie. But then when i got tooie nothing did. And i was wondering why... for all ths time in fact...

 

[Raziel]

Banjo Kazooie is one of my favorite games. It was so much fun to play it and still is. I liked Banjo Kazooie more then Banjo Tooie, but Banjo Tooie was awesome, too. I mean how can't you not be attracted by the game and don't have the will to complete it? It's not hard after all. It's not like you have to search every pixel for a secret. I wished they had a better solution for the secret eggs and the ice key, but after all, it was still a good game. ^_^

 

[JonoSasson]

The n64 was just a bad machine; not as bad as the gamecube

I am going to be sick!!

...but I won't. Obviously not a Nintendo fan.

I don't know what Banjo-Tooie you played but it couldn't be the same one I did lol!

 

[Marcus]

I am going to be sick!!

...but I won't. Obviously not a Nintendo fan.

I don't know what Banjo-Tooie you played but it couldn't be the same one I did lol!

I'm not a "fan" of anything; I'm a person who realizes when a product is good (in which case I buy it) and when a product sucks (in which case I avoid it). The n64 just had a huge dry spell of games; it was remedied later on but for the first 2 or so years of its life cycle it was pretty much just a hunk of plastic. Not only that, but the N64 was using some pretty ancient technology; the idea to use a lo-res palette was horribly stupid and the idea to keep cartridges in general was a dumb move. Games had compressed and audio making things sound garbled at a low frequency and compressed graphics made the textures blurry. Also, the games were expensive; I remember paying up to $70 for great titles like SUPERMAN 64!

3-4 games (to me) doesn't save an entire system from destruction and if it really wasn't for Rare I couldn't imagine N64 doing half the business it did with great titles like QUEST 64 and BUCK BUMBLE!!!1

 

[Hisuwashi]

I don't own Grunty's Revenge, is it worth buying off e-bay or somewhere?
(It's for GBA right? Well I'm not that into handhelds but anyways)

Yes BK was truly a masterpiece, all the worlds were absolutely beautiful (and I liked especially Mad Monster Mansion and Click Clock Wood!) and BT certainly did justice to the original.

Actually Click Clock Wood was so cool! But ... if only you could be a different animal in the seasons ...

 

[JonoSasson]

Yeah, GBA. If you want to play all the Banjo Kazooie games then definitely buy it. But otherwise there's no point. The story doesn't coincide with Kazooie or Tooie (I think you actuallt go back in time or something, to the prehistoric period or something...riveting storyline...and have to get back) but I think the game was pulled off quite...'ok-ly'. I just wouldn't get too excited over it, it's still nothing special.

Banjo Pilot was an alright game. I had fun with that, but when you unlock bottles, the game gets quite a bit easier...but not insanely easy. If you like your handheld racing games, then Banjo Pilot is an alright choice to go with.

@Marcus: I'm not sure those things really mattered that much when we did play the N64...at least, not for me. I was about 8 or 9 so I thought the thing was amazing...I think I got a gamecube in year 6...so when I was 12 (not that that means a thing). Anyway, I'm not sure how old you were when you got your hands on an N64, if you were around my age then those things really didn't matter at all. I look back now and imagine how I could've played with such a contraption, but that little contraption took up most of my weekends with friends back in the day.