Mascot platformers were really popular in the 90's and 00's.
I'm not sure any other genre or sub-genre stayed so popular for so long. Tournament fighters were huge in the early to mid 90's, RPGs were all the rage in the mid to late 90's, there were like 50 different MMOs in the mid 00's and it seems like there are millions of Soulslike games out there now. But when Mario hit it big in 1985, everyone started trying to replicate his success. Sometimes, they were successful (Sonic). Other times, they weren't (Bubsy). But it seemed like from the mid 80's to the mid 00's, developers were pumping out mascot platformers left and right. I guess the modern FPS craze is getting close, I would say that started in the late 00's and it is still going strong. But they still have a ways to go to catch up to mascot platformers. I think part of the reason mascot platformers were so prevalent for so long was their ability to transition between genres. These games made the jump from 2D to 3D relatively seamlessly. We went from having a never-ending stream of 2D mascot platformers to a never-ending stream of 3D mascot platformers. And you know what? Most of them were pretty good games.
Which brings us to Banjo-Kazooie. Developed by Rare and released for the N64 in 1998, Banjo-Kazooie was a big deal when it came out. Honestly, everything that Rare did was considered a big deal when it came out. BK was no exception and it was widely speculated that it would be heir apparent to Super Mario 64. While it didn't quite reach that level of excellent, said speculation wasn't far off. Banjo-Kazooie was a very good game, though it isn't without its flaws. It led to several sequels, with titles across the 5th, 6th and 7th generations. But now, the franchise is largely dormant, with no new releases since 2008. This was largely due to the overall poor reception for the XBox 360's Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts N' Bolts. I have to agree, it's not great. For one, they slightly redesigned the characters and they look terrible, especially Kazooie who looks terrifying. But it also misses the point of what made the first game so fun. Fortunately for us, that's the one we are playing today.
Banjo-Kazooie tells the tale of the titular characters, Banjo the bear and Kazooie the bird. The evil witch Gruntilda has kidnapped Banjo's sister Tootie, in an attempt to steal her youth and beauty. It's up to the duo to infiltrate Gruntilda's lair and rescue Tootie, but it's not going to be easy. The doors of her lair are locked with musical notes, which are hidden throughout a variety of levels. These levels are locked themselves and need to be unlocked by collecting jigsaw pieces, called jiggies, to complete pictures. Jiggies are located throughout these worlds and can be found by performing various tasks including helping other characters, solving puzzles and rescuing creatures called Jinjos. Along the way, Banjo and Kazooie will be assisted by friends like Bottles the Mole, who can teach the duo new moves, Mumbo Jumbo, who can use magic to transform the pair into different animals, and Brentilda, Gruntilda's sister who will provide various hints that will help with the final battle. I guess that's a roundabout way of saying that it's structured just like Super Mario 64 and most other games in the genre.
While I've always found Banjo-Kazooie did little to differentiate itself from other 3D platformers, there are a few things I also believe it did better than any of its contemporaries. First and foremost, the sheer amount of moves the duo can perform is astounding and the game allows you to make use of these throughout its entire run time. A lot of games like this will teach you a new skill, have it become the focal point of a single level and never require you use it again, but that isn't the case here. Almos everything is useful more than once, either for taking out enemies or acquiring jiggies, and intuitive. Banjo can roll and swipe with his paws to attack and he also has a backflip. Kazooie also an attack, she can jump and peck at enemies and shoot eggs either forward or backwards. She can also fly, which opens up a dive bomb and spear attack, perform a super jump and walk with Banjo on her back to climb steep hills. So yeah, there's a lot of different attack and movement skills, and that's to say nothing of the speed shoes or wading boots, which allow you to pass over hazardous terrain. It really adds to the variety and forces you to think about all the different ways you can attack challenges.
Technically, Banjo-Kazooie is about as tight as it can be. The controls are excellent, Banjo's movement is a little slippery, but no more so than you would find in any other 3D platformer. The flying controls are a little wonky, but flying controls are always wonky and they are way better here than they are in most games. It's one of the better looking N64 games, probably in the top 10. Most of the games that do look better require the memory expansion, so there's that. It has a good combination of bright and colorful areas and dark and dreary ones, it has a nice atmosphere and some fun areas. The sound is great as well, I especially like the theme that plays in Gruntilda's lair, which functions as the hub world. As would be expected of a Rare game, it's incredibly well made and there were very few technical flaws.
The biggest problem here is that there just isn't a whole lot of originality here. Almost all of the nine levels feel like they are plucked straight from Super Mario 64, at least in terms of aesthetic. You have an ice level, a beach level, a desert level, a haunted house level, a generic field level, that's half of them right there that feel like retreads. I do like the final level, Rusty Bucket Bay, but even that kind of feels like a better version of Dire Dire Docks with it's "random boat in the middle of water" layout. Clanker's Cavern is also a fairly unique level. Unfortunately, it's also far and away the worst level in this game, at least I think so. Honestly, the level design as a whole is underwhelming and it's the biggest problem with Banjo-Kazooie. The levels look nice, but they all kind of feel like a mishmash of random stuff rather than coherent levels. I do like the fact that you can collect all the jiggys and notes in one fell swoop without getting kicked back to the overworld, but the levels just aren't great and can sometimes feel like a slog. The same can be said of Gruntilda's lair, it's way too big for an overworld section, it's too easy to get lost and you always spawn at the beginning. That means if you want to get to one of the later levels, you have to walk a long way to get back there if you turn off the game. There are teleport points in the form of cauldrons, but they are hard to find and there aren't that many of them.
9/10
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