Banjo-Tooie

Banjo-Tooie is a platform and action-adventure hybrid video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo in 2000 for the Nintendo 64 as a part of the Banjo-Kazooie series. The game is the sequel of Banjo-Kazooie. Banjo-Tooie was one of the most anticipated sequels for the Nintendo 64.

The game's story takes place two years after Banjo-Kazooie. The antagonist, Gruntilda and her sisters, Mingella and Blobbelda, are planning to restore Gruntilda's body to its original form. Banjo and Kazooie must stop them before it's too late.

Story
The game takes place two years after the witch Gruntilda was defeated by Banjo and Kazooie, at the end of which she was buried alive under a rock with her assistant, Klungo, trying to save her.

As the game's one-player mode opens on a stormy night, Banjo, Kazooie, Mumbo Jumbo, and Bottles are enjoying a game of poker in Banjo's house, where Bottles and Kazooie continue to lose spectacularly to Mumbo Jumbo. Meanwhile, a giant drill machine, called Hag 1, is burrowing into Spiral Mountain through the cliff. Those in the house feel the rumbling of the machine and Mumbo goes out to investigate the commotion. Outside, the mischievous goon Klungo is helping Mingella and Blobbelda, rescue their witch sister, Grunty. They succeed in reviving Grunty, although the time she spent underground has rotted off her flesh, leaving her no more than a living skeleton with witch's robes. Mumbo witnesses this ceremony, and speeds back to Banjo's house to warn his friends. The witches give chase, and Grunty hurls a deadly spell at the house. Forewarned, Banjo, Kazooie, and Mumbo get away in time, but Bottles, suspecting the claim that Grunty is back to be a trick by Mumbo to win the rest of his money, stays put and is caught in the blast. The witches speed away in their Hag 1 machine, and Banjo and Kazooie watch as Bottles wobbles out of their destroyed house and dies at their feet. Shaken, they agree that they must chase down Grunty and foil her plans once more. Mumbo informs them that he will return to his hut and prepare some magic to aid them.

Banjo and Kazooie follow the trail of the Hag 1 to Jinjo Village, which they discover to be devoid of Jinjos, with the Gray Jinjo House destroyed by the Hag 1. Confused, they approach King Jingaling, king of the Jinjos, who informs them that a kickball tournament is to start within the week, but without his Jinjo subjects, he has no team. Banjo and Kazooie agree to help find his subjects, and he consequently gives them a Jiggy to help them on their journey. Shortly after their departure, they learn that Grunty's sisters have created B.O.B. (Big Ol' Blaster), a tremendous machine that can suck the life force out of people and places. Grunty's sisters agree to let her use it, but only if she stops speaking in rhyme. She agrees, and they decide to test B.O.B. on the Jingaling, who is instantly turned into a zombie, with his palace now an ugly grey color. Grunty eagerly states that she wishes to next zap Banjo and Kazooie and the whole island with them, but her sisters inform her that B.O.B. must first charge up, which will take hours to do so. Grunty reassures them that, without King Jingaling or Bottles around to help them, there will not be any way for them to reach Cauldron Keep in time.

Meanwhile, Banjo and Kazooie take a shortcut through Bottles' house to reach the Isle o' Hags, where they meet Master Jiggywiggy, a mysterious sorcerer who agrees to help them open up the worlds on the island if they present a proper amount of Jiggies and solve his puzzles. Their adventure thus begins.

On their journey they collect a total of 90 Jiggies, and receive help from old and new friends. They often stumble upon Mumbo's hut, where he agrees to go out and use his magic to open up new passageways for them. They also encounter Sergeant Jamjars, Bottles' soldier brother, who agrees to teach the duo new attacks (if, of course, they can present the proper number of musical notes). They also meet Humba Wumba, a female Native American and Mumbo's arch-rival in magic who requests magical Glowbos in exchange for transforming Banjo and Kazooie into something else.

Finally, the pair reaches Cauldron Keep, Grunty's castle. After facing her henchman Klungo and taking her "Tower of Tragedy" quiz (dispatching of Grunty's sisters in the process), they hurry upstairs to reverse the effects of B.O.B., thus reviving Bottles and Jingaling. They then rush to the top of the tower and face off with Grunty in her Hag 1 machine. The duo eventually destroy the Hag 1 with the witch trapped inside as it explodes. The explosion destroys most of her body, leaving her nothing more than a talking skull. Banjo and Kazooie return to the Isle o' Hags to celebrate with their friends, as well as kicking around Grunty's head, much to her own disgust. She vows to have her revenge in Banjo-Threeie, referred to as "Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts".

Gameplay
As before, the aim of the game is to collect all the Jiggies that can be found. There are ten in each level, and an additional one is awarded for finding each of the nine families of Jinjos hidden throughout the game. This, in addition to the Jiggy awarded at the very beginning by Jingaling, the king of the Jinjos, brings the total to 90.

As a platformer, the game is groundbreaking in that the levels are not stand-alone areas linked only by the overworld; on many occasions in the game the player is required to cross between the levels, or return to a level after learning a new skill in order to use it. The train stations in most levels are an integral part of this system; once the station has been opened, it is possible to move between levels on the train. This is vital to completing the game.

Banjo and Kazooie start the game with all the abilities they had by the end of Banjo-Kazooie, but they will gain additional moves by finding Jamjars in various worlds. In addition to these, there are three optional abilities to obtain: the Amaze-O-Gaze Glasses (which allows Banjo to zoom in and out in first person; gained by talking to Goggles), faster swimming (gain from saving Roysten the goldfish, who also provides additional bubbles for underwater usage), and the Breegull Bash (awarded by bringing the Pink Special Egg to Heggy the Hen).

Characters

 * Banjo: A lovable, confused bear. The hero of this tale.
 * Kazooie: An elegant bird with a cutting wit. Banjo's partner in action and character foil.
 * Mumbo Jumbo: A shaman that helps the duo by performing various tasks with his magic. In this game, he is actually a playable character, as opposed to his role in the previous game, Banjo-Kazooie, where he would simply transform Banjo into animals and objects.
 * Bottles the Mole: A timid, mild-mannered mole, the neighbor of Banjo and Kazooie. In this game, Bottles is slain (but remains a ghost) after an attempt on Banjo and Kazooie's life by Gruntilda caused by a past trick for Kazooie to steal some of his poker chips.
 * Gruntilda Winkybunion: A witch that vows revenge on Banjo and Kazooie. She is the antagonist of the story.
 * Drill Sergeant Jamjars: Bottles' brother; teaches Banjo and Kazooie new moves.
 * Humba Wumba: A Native American woman and Mumbo Jumbo's rival; transforms Banjo and Kazooie into other forms. She effectively takes up Mumbo's role from the first game, ironically.
 * Klungo: Gruntilda's servant.
 * Mingella Winkybunion: Grunty's tall, skinny sister. She and her sister Blobbelda have a habit of speaking in Object Subject Verb order.
 * Blobbelda Winkybunion: Grunty's short, obese sister.
 * Cheato: Grunty's spellbook. Grunty tore all his pages out and hid them, as punishment for Cheato having helped Banjo and Kazooie in the first game. If the bear and bird find his missing pages and return them, they will be rewarded.

Strangely, Banjo's sister Tooty is neither seen nor mentioned in this game. She is referenced in only two places: in Banjo's house, where a portrait of her hangs, and inside the trashcan in Cloud Cuckooland (a "Have you seen me?" picture of Tooty is on the side of a milk carton). Gruntilda's "good" sister, Brentilda, is also absent from the sequel, but a portrait of her (taken from Mad Monster Mansion in the previous game) can be seen in Pawno's shop in Jolly Roger's Lagoon, along with some other Banjo-Kazooie memorabilia such as the doll from Grunty's Furnace Fun.

Spiral Mountain
Spiral Mountain is the home to Banjo and Kazooie. Spiral Mountain went through some damage and was left in ruins in Banjo-Tooie after the Winkybunion sisters not only came through with a powerful digging machine to rescue Gruntilda, who was trapped under a rock after the previous Banjo-Kazooie game, but also left their troops behind to destroy the area, which they succeed in doing come morning.

Despite his demise and the destruction of the region, Bottles's molehills still dot the landscape, and talking to one will prompt the mole's spirit to explain any desired move one wishes to be refreshed on, or in case of unfamiliarity with the prequel. (For the record, Banjo and Kazooie begin the game with the almost entire moveset from Banjo-Kazooie, learned moves included.)

Gruntilda's Lair
Players are able to access all parts of Gruntilda's Lair in Banjo-Kazooie. However, in Banjo-Tooie, the only part of the lair accessible to players is the foyer. This is where a tattered Cheato, a living book, resides. He will exchange codes for his missing pages. Due to the damage since the last game, the two hallways that lead to Mumbo's Mountain and the first note door are now blocked by boulders. These, in the context of the game, fell when Gruntilda's sisters drilled through Spiral Mountain. Also, the large portrait of Gruntilda has a large hole through it where, if players jump through they will find eggs and feathers.

Many players have tried to get past the boulders to access the old parts of the lair. This was presumably because this area is labeled "Gruntilda's Lair (Entrance)", seemingly indicating the presence of another room. Through the use of a "go through walls" code for GameShark, however, it is seen that nothing actually lies on the other side of the rocks.

Isle o' Hags
This is a continent that is the home of many places, including all of the entrances to the levels of the game. Isle o' Hags gets its name from the evil witches that roam the area, namely Gruntilda and her two sisters Mingella and Blobbelda. It is the hub world for this game as Gruntida's Lair was for Banjo-Kazooie.

Other worlds

 * Mayahem Temple: A Mayan-themed world that contains a code chamber for various game cheats, much in the vein of Treasure Trove Cove's sandcastle in Banjo-Kazooie. It also has such locations as a kickball stadium, and various temples, one of which houses the world boss. The name is a portmanteau of the words "Maya" and "mayhem".
 * Glitter Gulch Mine: A stereotypical goldmine with prison cells, a waterfall, prospectors, and caves filled with poisonous gas. This is where one first discovers Chuffy the Train (derailed in the beginning).
 * Witchyworld: A highly unsafe (and previously condemned) fairground, endorsed by Gruntilda, with dangerous rides and rude employees (most of them trying to smack Banjo with a mallet).
 * Jolly Roger's Lagoon: This world is comprised of two areas, a nautical village and the lagoon. With the aid of Mumbo, the characters can breathe underwater. In the lagoon, one can travel to the sea bottom, literally enter Davy Jones' locker (containing the world boss), and float among the ruins of Atlantis.
 * Terrydactyland: An ancient prehistoric world filled with dinosaurs and cavemen. This is also the home to Terry, a pterodactyl, single parent, boss character and the world's namesake, whose nest sits at the top of the central mountain.
 * Grunty Industries: A massive factory for underwear manufacturing, endorsed by Grunty, with a waste disposal that causes problems for a previous world. A testament to Gruntilda's disdain for the environment, much in the vein of Rusty Bucket Bay. This is also the level where one might find Loggo the Toilet, a character that first appeared in Banjo-Kazooie's Mad Monster Mansion.
 * Hailfire Peaks: A giant twin-peaked mountain where one side is ice and the other is fire, both watched over by the Dragon Brothers, Chilli Billi and Chilly Willy. The fire side of the mountain was originally planned to be "Mount Fire Eyes" in Banjo-Kazooie.
 * Cloud Cuckooland: Accessible by floating into the sky in a giant bubble. It is a fanciful world that floats exceedingly high above the Isle o' Hags, made of an enormous, hollow, purple mountain, surrounded by floating platforms of various oddities including a large wedge of smelly cheese, a pot of gold, a jelly castle and a gigantic trash can. Players can see the whole island on this level by looking off the edge.

Cauldron Keep
Grunty's hideout is the game's final level, though not a bona fide level like the others, as Jiggies, other items, and characters (Mumbo Jumbo, Humba Wumba, and Sgt. Jamjars) are all absent. After Banjo and Kazooie defeat Klungo for the third and final time, they must survive Grunty's Tower of Tragedy quiz, which is similar to Grunty's Furnace Fun in Banjo-Kazooie. After that, a cut-scene shows Banjo and Kazooie reversing B.O.B.'s effects to bring King Jingaling and Bottles back to life, followed by a showdown on the roof with Gruntilda in her Hag 1 machine.

Interestingly, there is a continuity error involved: the B.O.B. only absorbed Jingaling's life force, yet the heroes are able to resurrect both Jingaling and Bottles. Additionally, although Banjo and Kazooie never ascend any stairs (in fact, they come down a large flight upon entering the gun room), they inexplicably emerge at the top of the tower, high above where they had entered. Presumably an elevator of some form is present through the doorways, but as Banjo and Kazooie are out of sight during this time it is impossible to tell.

As of the end of this game, which saw the "death" of Gruntilda (though how she could die in her current form is anyone's guess), she is reduced to a mere skull with a missing eyeball. She says that she'll return in "Banjo-Threeie" for her revenge (similar to her promise at the end of Banjo-Kazooie) as several game characters are using her head as a kickball.

Bottles' Revenge
For reasons that are unknown, Rare apparently left a fully-functional, though inaccessible mode in the game where Player 2 plays as an undead version of Bottles the Mole and can take control of enemy characters to hinder Banjo in his quest. The player cannot take control of bosses however, due to Bottles leaving when entering a room to fight a boss, stating "I'm not needed here.". Only cheating software can access this. It is assumed that this mode was originally intended to be used in gameplay (it was playable somewhat at E3, supposedly) but scrapped for reasons unknown (possibly programming difficulties). The face of "Devil Bottles" appears with one of the questions in the Tower of Tragedy. "Devil Bottles" is also pictured in a sheet with all Banjo-Tooie characters on it, which could be won in a Banjo-Tooie contest on Rare's website, back whenever the game was released in a specific region, in 2001. In 2006 Rare said that the reason Bottles' Revenge was scrapped, was because they ran out of time to debug it, although "it did work rather well." They also mentioned that Bosses were meant to be able to be controllable in Bottles' Revenge, but the only Boss that they had working in the mode when they dropped it was Old King Coal. Old King Coal is not controllable in the version of Bottles' Revenge that appears in the game.