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Banjo-Kazooie
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- This article is about the video game. For the series of the same name, see Banjo-Kazooie (series).
| Banjo-Kazooie | |
|---|---|
| |
| Developer(s) | Rareware |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Release date(s) | December 6, 1998 (JP) June 29, 1998 (NA) July 17, 1998 (EU) |
| Genre(s) | 3D platformer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone |
| Console(s) | Nintendo 64 |
Banjo-Kazooie is a 3D platforming video game originally developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 in 1998. It is the first and titular game of the Banjo-Kazooie series. Since its release, the game would become a best-seller for the console. In 2008, the game was ported to the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade.
The game's story focuses on a bear named Banjo and a bird named Kazooie as they go on a journey to rescue Banjo's sister, Tooty, who was kidnapped by Gruntilda.
Story
The story begins one day at Spiral Mountain, an area inhabited by Banjo, Kazooie, and some of the other characters. On that particular morning, while the sun is shining and the fauna are flourishing, Banjo lies snoring in his bed while Tooty is waiting for Banjo to go on an adventure with her.
Meanwhile, Gruntilda is hunched over her cauldron in her mountain lair, admiring her own beauty despite her appearance. She remains convinced that she is the loveliest in the land. Asking her magical cauldron, Dingpot, if she indeed is the fairest of all, assured that she will hear her own name, Dingpot answers that it is in fact not her, but Tooty who is the fairest in the land. Gruntilda is enraged by this and sets out to Tooty's house to kidnap her and steal her beauty.
Back outside Banjo's house, Tooty is talking to Bottles, and suddenly Gruntilda sweeps down and kidnaps Tooty. Banjo, of course, sleeps through the whole thing (despite Kazooie continually yelling at Banjo to wake up), and only walks out of the house shortly after Gruntilda has flown away with Tooty. After hearing what transpired from Bottles, Banjo and his friend Kazooie begin their journey up Spiral Mountain and inside Gruntilda's Lair to save Tooty.
Along this journey they venture through different worlds, all branched off of Gruntilda's Lair. Some are cold and rigid, some hot and dry, some wet, some damp, and even some frightening. All the different worlds give the player a different mood on the game, in turn keeps the player in the game. All the while Gruntilda and Tooty wait within the Beauty Transfer Machine, which was designed to swap their levels of beauty. It was built by the witch's main assistant, Klungo.
Toward the top of the lair, Banjo and Kazooie are challenged by Gruntilda to play a board game set over a pit of molten magma, with answers based on elements from the entire game up to this point. If they win the game, then Tooty will be set free; if they lose, they will be thrown into the inferno. The duo wins and rescue Tooty while Gruntilda escapes. They begin to celebrate with a barbecue back home until Tooty reminds them that the witch is still at large.
Banjo and Kazooie make their way back up the lair until they finally reach the roof, with help from Dingpot. There Gruntilda challenges them to a more direct confrontation. However, with the help of the Jinjos, small creatures who were imprisoned throughout the worlds by the witch and rescued by the duo, Banjo and Kazooie defeat Gruntilda and ultimately knock her off her tower. She lands in a hole in the ground which is covered by a large rock that fell from the tower, trapping her. Banjo and Kazooie finally take a well-deserved break at the beach, where they and their friends anticipate the sequel, "Banjo-Tooie," while Gruntilda, whose minion Klungo is trying to rescue her, swears revenge.
Gameplay
Banjo-Kazooie adopted many of its central gameplay mechanics from Nintendo's groundbreaking title Super Mario 64. Banjo and Kazooie must similarly explore non-linear 3D worlds and gather Jiggys (comparable to Power Stars from Super Mario 64) by completing certain tasks to unlock new worlds. However, Banjo-Kazooie is often considered an evolution of Super Mario 64 as it introduced a number of innovative features. These included the ability for Banjo and Kazooie, with the aid of Mumbo's magical powers, to transform into other creatures such as a termite, crocodile, walrus, pumpkin, and bee; the ability for the characters to learn new moves (as taught by Bottles); the game's extensive use of textures for surfaces where other N64 games would have used plain colors, extensive lighting, and music that dynamically changes style in order to reflect the environment and dangers to the characters. The Banjo-Kazooie central theme music, heard in the main play area, changed to reflect the environment entrance (levels) the player was near, such as taking on music box instrumental-style play near the ice level entrance. The music's notes and play never changed though, producing a seamless integration into the new instruments without stopping the forever-looping song.
Like Super Mario 64 before it, the player proceeds through the game by finding tokens. There are three kinds of tokens that help the player progress through the game, namely jigsaw pieces, musical notes, and Mumbo's Tokens. Jigsaw pieces open doors to new worlds by collecting enough to complete the corresponding jigsaw puzzle. There are ten Jiggies in each world: nine must be sought and found, and one is granted by finding all five Jinjos on each world. Unlike Super Mario 64, Banjo doesn't have to exit the world every time he collects a Jiggy.) Musical notes open magic note doors that allow Banjo and Kazooie to progress further into Gruntilda's lair. There are 100 notes in each world, and 900 total in the game. Mumbo's tokens grant the player magical transformations at Mumbo's hut when the player collects a sufficient amount. These transformations include termite, crocodile, walrus, pumpkin and bee.
Besides these primary Tokens, players may also collect items which are used in performing certain moves. Bottles the Mole must teach Banjo and Kazooie the move before the item can be utilized. Items include blue eggs, red feathers and gold feathers, which can be held in quantities up to 100, 50 and 10, respectively. Blue eggs are fired as projectiles or ejected from Kazooie's rear, and bounce slowly until they either hit an enemy, or break on their own; red feathers are utilized in flight and flying attacks; and gold feathers are for the most powerful attack, Wonderwing, which uses Kazooie's wings to make her and Banjo invincible and can defeat almost any enemy, or at least protect them both. Furthermore, rarer temporary items can be found which have specialized use in puzzle-solving, namely wading boots, which enable the crossing of hazardous terrain, and running shoes, which grant extra running speed, often as part of a race or a time-based puzzle. Finally, there are power-ups such as extra lives, which look like golden Banjo statues and grant one extra life each, and honeycomb energy, which incrementally increases the player's health and can be found in each level. Collecting six extra Honeycomb Pieces and gives Banjo and Kazooie a permanent increase of one honeycomb of health.
A large feature of gameplay is that the characters make limited speech-like sounds when they talk. The voices were not real speech, but rather a looping of voice-like sounds when text bubbles were displayed. This artistic choice was likely made due to memory limitations on Nintendo 64 cartridges; however, this added considerably to the atmosphere and uniqueness of the game.
Besides the technical aspects, Banjo-Kazooie's rich characters were what really made the game come alive. Gruntilda the witch always spoke in rhymes (which she would declare inexplicably as Banjo and Kazooie wandered about her lair), such as, "It really does sound quite absurd, adventure of a bear and bird!" Kazooie was always very annoyed at Bottles the Mole, and various other smaller characters made memorable appearances. One notable motif is that nearly all objects, including wrapped presents, mines, and vegetables, had eyes.
Stop 'n' Swop
Stop 'n' Swop is a notable incomplete feature of the game. Six colored eggs and a key made of ice were discovered in the game that would be viewable in a menu titled Stop 'N' Swop. In an ending sequence of Banjo-Kazooie, Mumbo Jumbo would tell the players that secret areas would be accessible via a link with the sequel, Banjo-Tooie. Stop 'N' Swop was never fully realized in Banjo-Tooie. The special items can still be collected in Banjo-Kazooie using a cheat cartridge or in-game cheat codes, though the purpose they would have served in Banjo-Tooie, as well as how the games were meant to link, has not been specified.
Characters
- Banjo: a lovable yet somewhat confused bear. The hero of this game.
- Kazooie: a Red Crested Breegull with a cutting wit. Banjo's partner in action and character foil.
- Mumbo Jumbo: a shaman that helps the duo by transforming them into various creatures.
- Bottles: a shortsighted mole that teaches the duo new moves among other things.
- Gruntilda: a witch that wants Tooty's beauty.
- Klungo: Gruntilda's servant, something like an Igor character.
- Tooty: Banjo's little sister, captured by the witch for her beauty and youth.
- Jinjo: Small, lost creatures who are found in various levels. They are used to defeat Gruntilda, after she put a spell to send them to various places.
