Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge

Overview

Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge is a platformer developed by Rare and published by THQ for Game Boy Advance.

Grunty's Revenge is the third installment in the Banjo series and the second chronologically. As with the previous two games, the game stars Banjo and Kazooie, who are sent back in time to prevent Gruntilda's evil plot to prevent them from meeting.

The plot underwent several revisions while the game was in production. Originally, the game was supposed to take place in a parallel reality in which Blobbelda and Mingella never showed up, and Klungo was left to his own devices. However, in the end, it was decided that the game should be set in between the two N64 games.

The game was low-profile in comparison to the previous two installments, but was generally well received. It was also smaller, due to the limitations of the GBA: only 60 Jiggies were available, and there were only five levels.

Story

Two months had passed since Gruntilda was defeated by Banjo and Kazooie. Klungo, who had been trying to shift the rock ever since it landed on Grunty, came up with the idea of building a robot to contain her soul.

In her robotic body, Grunty schemed to separate the dynamic duo. She kidnapped Kazooie and took her back in time in an effort to prevent her from ever having met Banjo. When Banjo found out what happened, he told Mumbo Jumbo, who performed a magic spell to send him back to the same era.

Back in time, Banjo gets help from Mumbo, Honey B, and Bozzeye (who is a relative of Bottles), along with many other NPCs. Banjo loses his memory of his moves from time travel, and is re-taught many of them and even learns some new ones from Bozzeye.

At the end of a long adventure, which all took place thirty years or so in the past, Banjo and Kazooie destroyed the robot (known as Mecha Grunty), and Gruntilda is forced to return to her body in the future, where she waits for her sisters to come and rescue her.

Gameplay

The game uses an isometric, pseudo-overhead platform design to give the game a 3D feel, although the game is not truly 3D, lacking a controllable camera. As with previous Banjo titles, your progress through the game is measured through the use of several different collectibles, each with varying functions. These include:

• Jigsaw Pieces, or "Jiggies": Used to progress to the next level. Jiggies have been used as the equivalent of Super Mario 64's Stars since the beginning of the Banjo franchise. Once collected, they are taken to Master Jiggywiggy in the overworld to unlock gates blocking off new worlds. There are ten jiggies in each world, and sixty total in Grunty's Revenge.
• Musical Notes: Used to obtain certain moves from Bozzeye when coming across his molehills. You must meet a certain total of notes in order to "purchase" your new moves.
• Jinjos: Find and rescue all five of these creatures in each level to receive a Jiggy from the Jinjo Oracle.
• Gold Feathers: Grant invincibility for a short amount of time after using a red Wonderwing pad.
• Mumbo Tokens: Used for transformations. Unlike in Banjo-Kazooie, there is only one token in each level which is collected after beating the level's boss.
• Extra Honeycomb Pieces: Used to gain health bar extensions from Honey B in the overworld.
• Eggs: Used to attack enemies and solve puzzles. There are four different types in all (regular, fire, ice and battery), each with a different purpose.

Characters

The game's principle characters are:

• Banjo: a care-free honey bear and one of the franchise's two main characters and is trying to rescue his feathered friend through time from the grip of the evil witch Gruntilda.
• Kazooie: a red-crested Breegull with a foul mouth. Kazooie is one of the main characters of the franchise and needs rescuing from Banjo.
• Bozzeye: the duo's mentor for this game and also a first timer to the franchise. Bozzeye is Bottles and Jamjars' grandfather.
• Mumbo Jumbo: the resident shaman which transforms Banjo and Kazooie into various animals and objects.
• Gruntilda Winkybunion: in her robot form, otherwise known as "Mecha Grunty". Gruntilda's ghost/spirit has been resurrected from her grave after the events of Banjo-Kazooie and now inhibits a machine modelled to appear like her old body.
• Klungo: Grunty's dimwitted, but sometimes somewhat-genius assistant. Able to build advanced pieces of technology like Mecha Grunty but can be quite slow in the head and does not yet have a grasp on the English language.
• Jinjo Oracle: gives you hints in each level for every Jinjo you rescue for her, and a jiggy if you find all five.
• Honey B: the kindhearted queen of the bees provides Banjo and Kazooie with extra health bar upgrades when traded extra honeycomb pieces.

Worlds

Grunty's Revenge has five worlds accessible from its overworld or hubworld, Spiral Mountain. For the first time, Spiral Mountain acts not as a training level to learn the ropes of the game but a full-sized world with just as many jiggies and jinjos as the regular worlds of the game. The game's five levels which can be accessed from Spiral Mountain are:

• Cliff Farm: a farm themed level that has Banjo doing various tasks for its animals.
• Breegull Beach: a beach full of relatives of Kazooie that are all in need of assistance in some way or another.
• Bad Magic Bayou: a stenchful swamp containing obstacles such as toxic waste, new stronger enemies, poisonous fog and even a haunted house.
• Spiller's Harbor: an almost deserted harbor town laden with oil. Look around enough and you might find an explorable sandcastle and sewer.
• Freezing Furnace: the Grunty's Revenge equivalent of Tooie's Hailfire Peaks, Freezing Furnace is a double sided level with ice on one side and lava on the other.

Mini-Games

There are a variety of mini-games in Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge, most of which are variations of the same couple of mini-games. All can be replayed at the N. Kreditz Arcade in Spiller's Harbor after you beat Gruntilda.

• Egg Scramble
• Sheep Dip
• Battle Boats
• Grubby Chute (variation of Egg Scramble)
• Magic Angler (variation of Sheep Dip)
• Slide o' Fear (variation of Egg Scramble)
• Frozen Fish (variation of Sheep Dip)
• Snowy Sleds

Banjo Kazooie: Grunty’s Curse

Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge originally started development as Banjo Kazooie: Grunty’s Curse which was supposed to be released on the Game Boy Color rather than the Game Boy Advance. This original version started development in 1999 and featured an altered story, enemies, and two worlds that were scrapped.