| System | Nintendo 64 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Rare |
| Genre | Action / Platformer |
| Series | Banjo-Kazooie Series |
Jealous of the cute Tootie, Gruntilda the witch plans to suck all the cuteness out of her. Tootie's brother Banjo and the smart-alec Breegull in his backpack Kazooie head into Grunty's Lair to rescue Tootie before it's too late.
Banjo & Kazooie must head into the stages inside the lair to collect "Jiggies", used to unlock new worlds. Each world also contains 100 Notes that are used to open the Note Doors that block access to the higher levels of Grunty's Lair.
Along the way you meet Mumbo Jumbo. Give him Mumbo tokens and he will transform you into an animal, giving you new abilities specific to the stage you are on.
| Region | Name | Release |
|---|---|---|
 |
Banjo-Kazooie | 30 Jun 1998 |
 |
Banjo-Kazooie | 17 Jul 1998 |
 |
バンジョーとカズーイの大冒険 Banjo to Kazooie no Daibōken | 06 Dec 1998 |
| System | |
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Xbox Live Arcade | 03 Dec 2008 | 03 Dec 2008 | 03 Dec 2008 |
On the File Select screen, when you select File 3 you can see Banjo playing an original model Game Boy. The music changes to an 8-bit rendition of the Banjo-Kazooie theme, and the sound effects appear to have been taken from Donkey Kong Land.
On the Rusty Bucket Bay stage, one of the portholes you can break and jump through takes you to the sleeping quarters of some sailors. Beside one of the beds is a picture of Berri, girlfriend to Conker the Squirrel.
Banjo-Kazooie and Conker 64 were announced at the same time, but Conker's N64 adventure was later cancelled and remodelled into the delightfully graphic Conker's Bad Fur Day. Berri did manage to appear in this more innocent form in Conker's Pocket Tales on Game Boy.
Check out the back of the Rusty Bucket ship. The writing says "Rusty Bucket - Twycross England". Twycross is the British home of Rare, developers of the game.
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Tiptup the Turtle, one of the characters from Diddy Kong Racing, appears in Bubblegloop Swamp. He is the composer for a choir of turtles, found inside the shell of a giant turtle named Tanktup.
On the Click Clock Wood stage there is a beaver called Gnawty who can't get into his house. Gnawty is the name of the beaver enemies in Donkey Kong Country, also developed by Rare.
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Banjo-Kazooie started life as a very different game known as Project: Dream, featuring a human main character, RPG elements and a pirate villain known as Captain Blackeye.
A picture of Captain Blackeye can be found in the Mad Monster Mansion stage, inside a secret room at the back of the church.
In Grunty's Furnace Fun, you have to answer Gruntilda's questions in order to progress along a board to reach her. Some of the wrong answers to the questions reference other games.
In Mumbo's Mountain you don't know, what does that big gorilla throw?
Wrong Answer: Barrels (referencing Donkey Kong)
Freezeezy Peak is rather cold, but what does the huge snowman hold?
Wrong Answer: Game Boy
There are also wrong answers to the sound and visual questions that refer to Cranky Kong from the Donkey Kong series and Conker from Rare's Conker series.
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