Banjo-Kazooie

"A Rare effort."

Banjo-Kazooie (1998), Rareware - R002 - 09.25.2006

One of the most fascinating effects that videogames are capable of spreading is the impact that a title alone might cause for being a pioneer, an introducer, directly or indirectly speaking. The fighting genre as we know it wouldn't be this refined if we hadn't played Capcom's funny-looking Street Fighter. Puzzles went from nerd stereotype accessories to essential travel buddies with Tetris. Naturally, after new patterns are set by such groundbreaking titles, developers see opportunities to use those concepts and create similar entries, gambling on a chance to repeat the fortunate outcome. More often than not, however, what should be explored as a powerful long term business tool is treated like an opportunity for easy cash, spawning the likes of Bubsy, Chameleon Twist, Crash Team Racing and War Gods -- games that might even turn out entertaining, but that rarely pass as anything other than shallow and cheap clones in the end.

Ten years ago, classic platform adventures suffered the inevitable and definite 3D makeover with Super Mario 64, a game that captivated the world and altered demand for basic features like replay value and gameplay variety. Soon after, we were bombed with waves of Mario 64 2.0s and even watched as its influence invaded other genres. Among piles of insipid SM64 imitations, Rareware managed to present us with Banjo-Kazooie, a surprisingly efficient game that exhales supremacy in presentation, originality and gameplay. What it did to conquer the audience is no secret; it's how it was done that matters the most. Because evidence hints that turning what may look like a shameless Mario 64 clone into something unique can be as simple as following these nine steps.

#1: Make the world less Mario.
One of them would sleep through this entire text. The other would tell you to get it over with and just read the final score. They're not exactly role models, they don't want to save the planet, they don't have fun without one another. Meet Banjo the bear and Kazooie the breegull, as they're unpleasantly surprised with the kidnapping of Banjo's sister, Tooty. In a touching Snow White moment, professional evil witch Gruntilda loses temper when her magic cauldron points little Tooty as the most beautiful girl in the entire world. Of course, no self-loving person would actually enjoy hearing that, so she does what anyone else would: take Tooty up in a conveniently placed lair and use a 1930's-horror-movie-esque machine to absorb her beauty. Filled with humorous characters and situations, Banjo-Kazooie succeeds in its premise because it doesn't ever take itself seriously. Characters don't talk, they babble. Most of them were given easy, yet solid personalities that do the job with three or four looped sounds: Banjo's voice, for example, reflects his ever-lazy condition, while Tooty sounds like the perfect lively child and a talking toilet expresses itself precisely as one would imagine. Direct references to the gaming world are plenty, making fun of BK itself as a work of fiction and assisting in its valid attempt at steering away from the tiresome hero-like mood. Because of that, Banjo-Kazooie develops a charming nature that makes playing it without a smile practically impossible.

#2: Create a fun protagon... ists.
The game's title does not kid: in Banjo-Kazooie, you control two characters in one single entity. Banjo is your regular backpack explorer, Kazooie is the backpack. Or what lives in it. The considerable amount of moves renders both characters equally useful together and equally useless in a hypothetical separation -- something that the sequel ignores for the greater good, but that does help a lot to create the familiar identity in this first installment. While Banjo sticks with the unavoidable hard work - basic locomotion, impulse and strength -, Kazooie does her best to enhance their mobility by carrying Banjo on her back to run faster, using high-speed and unstable terrain boots, as well as high jump and flying pads. Speaking of flying, Banjo-Kazooie hits the nail on the head with its precise aerial controls, turning our protagonists' sky adventures into delicious and much more intuitive experiences in comparison with the dearest plumber. You fly lower and lower as time passes, but height is gained by pressing a single button if you have the easily accessible Red Feathers. You're able to make sharp turns and attack in the air without losing balance. Other than those, projectiles make an appearance in the form of Blue Eggs, and platform trademark moves don't pass unnoticed: you have the ground-pound, the hover and the backflip. Pretty much all moves are responsive and serve practical purposes. Even if you end up not enjoying controlling the duo as much as performing Mario's Long Jumps and Wall Kicks, entertainment is guaranteed.

#3: Expand objectives.
Collect stuff. Collect more stuff. Collect that one relic you missed. Then some more. Everything feels expansive in BK, from the overwhelming lair - an area that leads to other major areas, like Princess Toadstool's Castle - to the number of items available. Most of the objects you collect work like key items, currency or ammo, with the rest being useful to increase your health bar, meaning that you may find yourself determined not to leave anything behind in a particular level before moving on. The grand objective is to collect golden jigsaw pieces ("Jiggies") and Musical Notes. Unlike Mario's first 3D journey, 98 of the 100 Jiggies - equivalent to Power Stars - and over 800 of the 900 Notes - similar to Coins - might or must be used somewhere; be it to unlock new major areas, open extra rooms in Gruntilda's Lair or double your health bar. While the fun in Mario 64 quickly appears when we collect our favorite Stars and merely advance through the game, Banjo-Kazooie shines as an interesting treasure hunt, where simply watching a number in our totals increase is satisfying enough to keep us going and collect just one more item. The fact that we have absolute freedom in an area definitely helps: the great majority of Jiggies is available as soon as Banjo and Kazooie enter the place, and collecting one won't automatically take them back to the main world.

#4: Entertain with complexity.
Tired of easily spotting three or four Power Stars, only a few effortless jumps away from your greasy white gloves? Banjo-Kazooie is here for your adventurer needs. To find most Jiggies in BK, you have to accomplish tasks. You're in a land of lost and sad creatures whose issues are oddly linked to Banjo and Kazooie's abilities. The platforming focus hides itself as you crack your head open to solve a puzzle, beat a mini-game or search for key items in order to earn the shiny prizes. Granted, you'll still jump an awful lot to conquer your objectives, but the focus is on potential solutions to what's preventing you from simply jumping your way to the goal. You don't open doors and dive into paintings to enter worlds; you must perform actions as if you were collecting Jiggies, such as finding a painting - that much was preserved - and inserting the correct number of Jiggies necessary to complete it, which will cause something to happen in another part of Gruntilda's Lair that should grant you access to the desired area. Though accomplishing such tasks isn't necessarily difficult, they surely demand more from the player.

#5: Take good care of the major areas.
Mountain, beach, sewers, swamp, snow peak, desert, haunted mansion, port and forest. Been there, done that, right? The brilliance, however, lies beyond simplistic labels. The sewer system is home of a good-natured metallic whale, and some of the level's goals take place inside the poor animal. Monstro ain't got nothing on a mammal that swallows flying pads. The snow peak bears a wonderful Christmas theme, with lighting a Christmas tree, searching for presents and using a giant snowman's scarf as a ramp being a few of the place's objectives. The forest is arguably one of the most cleverly designed levels in recent gaming history, building itself around an enormous tree and giving us the opportunity to experience the place and its particularities during each of the four seasons. You enter a beehive and witness the residents' panic over Winter approaching; after you solve poor Gnawty's problem in the Summer and go back to his place as Fall arrives, he comments on waiting months to give you a prize; and many others. BK's worlds are large, visually interesting, interactive, and you'll find new moves and tricks for Banjo and Kazooie in most of 'em -- with aid of the crazy shaman Mumbo Jumbo, who transforms B and K into an ant, an alligator, a walrus, a pumpkin (that's right!) or a bee, depending on the world you're currently visiting. They don't have incredibly amazing features, generally serving as walking key items that allow you to enter otherwise inaccessible places, but the variety is welcome and they all fit the area themes. It's always pleasant to go through Banjo-Kazooie's worlds, a must in the genre.

#6: Dynamic audio.
Reliving the cheerful days of Donkey Kong Country 2, Rare innovates once more with a simple audio solution that proves to be highly effective: a dynamic sound system. Surpassing the once hyped use of echoes and natural sounds to enhance ambience, songs in Banjo-Kazooie instantly change depending on where you're standing, bringing extra depth to an already qualified soundtrack. You're running around Gruntilda's Lair, listening to the hub theme. Approach the entrance to Freezeezy Peak and, without a pause, Christmas bells sing along. Approach Furnace Fun and you'll listen to a gameshow version of the song. Going underwater? You'll hear an actual aquatic variant of the tune, not the volume button being cheaply turned down. The system is noticeable before the game even starts, as you stumble upon a Game Boy version of the catchy main theme when selecting game files. In another inspiring example, there's a different rhythm for each of Click Clock Wood's four seasons, all revolving around the same melody: from frantic happiness (Spring) to depressing emptiness (Winter), passing by an elegant waltz (Summer). This method makes audio fresh, not ever letting a particular song become repetitive in a title that is bound to hold the player in a single area for hours. The entire soundtrack follows the pattern, and the most important detail to take note of is that every single track is nice on the ears, even if it fails to match your personal taste.

#7: Don't forget the eye factor.
Concerned with the possibility of gradually sinking and losing the charming nature that was so carefully constructed, Banjo-Kazooie aims at its visual appeal to constantly remind players that they're exploring a rich, active world. Unlike Mario 64 or the acclaimed Conker's Bad Fur Day, BK oozes the impression that the environments we're going through are inhabited and serve purposes, not looking or sounding like random multi-themed lands. Gruntilda's face is present in nearly all chambers from her gruesome lair, making sure we know that we're crossing dangerous territory -- an eerie thought that slowly crystallizes every time we hear Grunty rhyming to mock the protagonists or laughing as the music plays. Colors are abused without polluting the screen, character models are clean, every new area feels singular in comparison with the previous due to tweaks in art direction. In a world where even objects have eyes, one can only admire just how alive Banjo-Kazooie is.

#8: Difficulty? Where?
It shouldn't be surprising if Banjo-Kazooie's mellowness is the first thing you notice after clearing most of its areas. Let it be said: this is not a physically hard game. Aside from a couple of rooms and an underwater feature in the last worlds, the only way of losing your life is by taking damage, an event that doesn't happen very often if we consider that enemies leave healing items when killed, don't have much health themselves and don't reappear. Rare are the situations where you'll face severe acrophobia, as the punishment for falling is generally softened by your ability to hover and the overall lack of insane heights. Though this whole item may sound like a bad issue, it is quite the opposite: Banjo-Kazooie assumes the aforementioned exploration focus, with every bit of its challenge value being proudly associated with the player's treasure hunt capacity. You should find yourself struggling to figure out how to solve a problem or where the last Musical Note is before you have trouble making jumps or reaching ledges.

#9: Please with the unnecessary.
Extra content in this genre is a tricky subject. After all, where is the line that separates genuinely fresh side features from lazy ways of forcing us to play the game over and over? Would a new outfit be a valid reason to recommend going through an entire 8-hour playthrough once more? Thankfully, Banjo-Kazooie's extras do their best to add without tricking the player, being clever enough to even throw in a few twists that eventually hype up the sequel. When you complete the game, Mumbo will show you pictures (well, motion pictures) of several inaccessible places you may or may not have noticed in the game. When you do unlock them, you'll be able to collect extra items that play interesting roles in the sequel. A lot was speculated about a swap system that would let us transfer items from one game to the other, but Rare's intention really was to see people discussing theories and warming up to control the duo in yet another adventure. A smart move that deepens the game and indicates that the series was planned as a whole. BK's second major area, Treasure Trove Cove, has a sand castle where a tile puzzle awaits our protagonists. There, it's possible to input a great amount of codes, ranging from 'open all doors' to 'turn Banjo into a washing machine' and including a number of nifty cheats that a book named Cheato reveals if you find hidden locations in Grunty's Lair. You can also go back to Banjo's house to challenge yourself with actual jigsaw puzzles.

Perfection, unfortunately, wasn't achieved. Banjo-Kazooie's issues are related with steps 2, 3 and 4. As you get further into the adventure and enter mildly tough areas, survival may become a priority caused by the game's awkward decision of making Notes and Jinjos one-visit-only items that aren't stored completely if you lose a life. This adds to challenge and isn't a lot different from Mario 64's Coins and Red Coins, but the latter's design is innocent enough to make things less frustrating for the player, as we often find way over 100 Coins per area and Red Coins are usually close to each other. Considering that Banjo-Kazooie is an exploration game with strong focus on item collection, it might be unpleasant to lose everything you possibly spent an hour collecting because they suddenly decided to include one-hit kills, or to realize that you must leave the place after having collected most Notes available because a particular move from another area is necessary to get the rest of 'em.

Additionally, the game lacks the exaggerated freedom that so defines Mario 64's reputation. We must accomplish a number of tasks to unlock worlds, we must acquire and use acquired moves, we're forced to enter every single world to reach the end of the game and we're forced to collect almost everything to unlock the final challenges. If we consider BK's massive gameplay concept and length, it may become somewhat chore-ish after a couple of runs and rules out the possibility of frequent casual playthroughs, one of Mario 64's greatest features. BK's tasks, being so specific, usually involve a single method, which subtracts from general interaction. Given the countless strategies that SM64's basic features (Long Jump, Wall Kick, Cannon, Shell) offer, it's something to ponder. It's not as bad as the overblown Donkey Kong 64, especially because it's actually fun to solve problems and collect objects in BK, but the sheer amount of things you're forced to do might negatively influence replayability. Still, I admittedly value casual runs and gameplay freedom more than the usual, so if the linearity doesn't bother you, those certainly won't cause trouble.

Finally, the last battle can be exciting just as it can be remarkably irritating. The use of Blue Eggs in Banjo-Kazooie is at best gimmicky, even more so after playing Banjo-Tooie. You can't aim, speed isn't much to write home about, they're not powerful and there are clearly better ways to attack enemies. The long final "duel" requires Eggs through most of it, in several different spots, all while Banjo and Kazooie manage their way out of a magic spell shower. Taking into account that every other occasion where Eggs were essential allowed us to take our time and shoot carefully, a tiny flaw sadly appears.

Despite the minor issues, Banjo-Kazooie can be described as a wonderfully addictive experience, keeping up with the genre's high standards while still being able to present originality. Priorizing an epic item quest over just plain platforming, BK justifies the praise it still receives eight years after the original release. Whether it's better or worse than its older brother is irrelevant; what truly stands is the fact that you're looking at a valuable take on an overly copied gameplay style. If you're a fan of Super Mario 64 or platform adventures in general, you can expect quality material from Banjo-Kazooie.

Plus
- Charming presentation;
- Focuses exploration and item collection, with relatively complex tasks;
- Entertaining moves crowned with responsive controls;
- A dynamic audio system that makes listening to the soundtrack a joy;
- Colorful, rich visuals.

Minus
- Possible frustration caused by one-time-only items;
- Being a lengthy game, overall linearity may bother in subsequent runs.

Similar Titles
- Super Mario 64 ][ Landmark.
- Super Mario Sunshine ][ Addictive mechanics, beautiful visuals.
- Conker's Bad Fur Day ][ I warn: it's neither platformer nor treasure hunt.
- Donkey Kong 64 ][ Not nearly as solid, but with the exact same concept.

Nine out of ten.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/26/06