Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

Overview

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is a vehicle-based platformer for the Xbox 360. Nuts & Bolts is the fifth game in the franchise, and is the series first console release since 2000. The game was developed by Rare's "Banjo" team, which had reassembled shortly before the completion of Viva Piñata in 2006. Several of the original staff have returned to work on the revival, including designer Gregg Mayles, art director Steve Mayles, and composer Grant Kirkhope (the game is also credited as the last official game soundtrack Grant Kirkhope composed for Rare before moving on to THQ's Big Huge Games).

Nuts & Bolts, released on November 11, 2008 for the budget price of US $39.99 and AU$69.95, marks the first time the Banjo-Kazooie franchise has seen an appearance on a non-Nintendo platform (not including two games based on "Grunty's Revenge" released on mobile phones). A demo of the game is available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. After a one-gigabyte download, players can try out the game's vehicle customization and several of the worlds available in the retail product. A special pre-order bonus allowed players to download the Xbox Live Arcade version of the original Banjo-Kazooie for the Nintendo 64. However, due to a shortage of the codes many consumers who made pre-orders of the game were not given the codes (although a few specific retailers did in-fact order codes for consumers to come-in and pick-up prior to release).

Users with standard definition televisions were frustrated at the size of in game text, which appeared too small to read comfortably on an SDTV screen. Rare addressed these problems with a patch on December 20, 2008, which removed the old dialog boxes and replaced them with new, easier to read versions, reminiscent of the Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie dialogue boxes. In addition to the easier to read text patch, users are able to make dialog text larger via the title menu.

On January 5, 2010, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts became available on the Xbox 360's Games on Demand service. It costs $14.99 or 1200 Microsoft Points. Nuts & Bolts requires 5.6 GB of space to install on an Xbox 360 HDD.

In 2015 the game was included in the Rare Replay retrospective compilation as part of the Xbox One Backwards Compatibility program. The Xbox One version wasn't without its problems though as areas with extended draw distances which managed a constant 30fps on the original Xbox 360 release drop to 20fps in the Xbox One version.

Plot

Nuts & Bolts takes place eight years after Banjo-Tooie. In a dilapidated Spiral Mountain, Banjo and Kazooie have grown fat and lazy due to an excess of video games and pizza in the absence of the previous games' villain, the witch Gruntilda. Despite being bested three times by Banjo and Kazooie, Gruntilda's own memory of events tells quite a different story, which causes mysterious deity Lord Of Games (L.O.G.) to arrive in Spiral Mountain, where he proceeds to transport the heroes and villain to his own domain, Showdown Town. L.O.G. then forces a final confrontation between the heroes and Gruntilda, putting the deed to Spiral Mountain up as the winner's prize, and the loser being forced to work in L.O.G.'s game factory until the end of time.

Gameplay

Nuts & Bolts adheres to a similar setup as previous games in the series, despite the addition of vehicles.

Basic Progression

Much of the game takes place in the hub world, equivalent to Gruntilda's Lair and the Isle o' Hags in previous titles. Each of the five levels are opened by connecting their game globe to their respective plinth in the town, which then opens a series of doors based on how many jiggies the player has collected at that point. Each door opened provides a different entrance into the same level, similar to the episodic nature of Super Mario 64.

Exploration of the town is limited to the abilities Banjo, or Banjo's vehicle, as seen in the previous game's hub worlds.

Vehicle Creation

While past Banjo-Kazooie games have been traditional 3D platformers, Nuts & Bolts, through the use of the game's vehicle creation mode, has been designed to allow the player a higher degree of choice when attempting to complete the game's various tasks. On top of the previous collectible items such as jiggies and notes, the game's worlds contain a host of vehicle parts available for use in the construction of the vehicles, culminating in a totaling over 1,000 parts. Over the course of the game, the player will be tasked with various challenges that can be solved in a variety of ways, depending on what vehicle the player chooses to create. Upon completion of challenges the player is awarded a ranking that relates to the time taken to complete the challenge, the score attained, or a host of other factors. When the player successfully completes a boss battle with Gruntilda, they will be awarded a key component upgrade to their Showdown Town vehicle, allowing the player access to different areas of Showdown Town.

The creation tool gives extensive control over nearly every aspect of the vehicle in the workshop. Blocks of various shapes and sizes can be used to build the chassis, while a wide variety of wheels, treads, engines, propellers, rockets, and wings, allow the player to create vehicles that operate on land, sea, air, or combinations of all three. Every choice the player makes in the workshop will affect the vehicle's handling, speed, ammo amount, fuel capacity, and durability.

Levels

Showdown Town The main hub world that is home to Mumbo's Motors, Humba's blueprints and parts shop, Bottles' tutorials, Gruntilda, and a host of other characters from the past Banjo Games. Here Banjo collects their jiggies from previous quests, collect notes, and find hidden packages containing vehicle parts that can be applied at Mumbo's Motors. This is also one of the few worlds in the game that utilizes banjo's original platforming skills as there are certain areas the Trolley cannot reach. In addition, Showdown Town is the only part of the world where Banjo is not allowed to use a custom made vehicle.

Nutty Acres The first world in the game is an artificial coconut farm based level that also contains an ocean, a marvelous beach, many rolling hills, and a large mountain that is home to a piping hot volcano. Along with the picturesque landscape, the world contains many characters, both new and old, to keep Banjo busy completing a variety of tasks.

LOGBOX 720 This world, an insinuated Xbox 360, with many computer-based parts, many memory connection cables, a cooling system, and its very own mother board to power the entire world. Making contact with various parts in LOGBOX 720 results in changes in video and audio, to represent Banjo inside of the Xbox. Banjo's friends and enemies are there to help him log some time in this computer.

Banjoland Banjoland is an homage to all of Banjo and Kazooie's previous adventures. Everything about the world from the way it is patched together (it consists of bits and pieces of previous levels such as Freezeezy Peak, Gobi's Valley and Clankers Cavern) to even the shape of the level (it is the shape of Banjo's head). The music in this level takes from Freezeezy Peak and Gobi's Valley, depending on where the player is.

Jiggosseum Main page: Jiggosseum This world is modeled after the ancient roman colosseum and is filled with many physically straining challenges for Banjo to conquer. Gruntilda even has a little fun with this level, turning the Jiggosseum into a giant water polo court.

Terrarium of Terror This world is filled with overgrown plants filling a set of domes floating in the middle of space.

Characters

Banjo and Kazooie The main protagonists of Nuts & Bolts, Banjo does the jumping and driving, while Kazooie picks up objects and activates switches using the magical wrench given to her by Mumbo.

Gruntilda Banjo and Kazooie's arch-nemesis from the previous games in the franchise, Gruntilda is yet again the villain in Nuts & Bolts. During one act of every world (with the exception of two showdowns in The Jiggoseum) Gruntilda makes an appearance. After defeating her, L.O.G. will bestow Banjo with a new part for the trolley in Showdown Town, allowing Banjo to reach new areas within the hub-world.

The Lord of Games (L.O.G.) The creator of Showdown Town, as well as the creator of video games, L.O.G. is the one who pits Banjo-Kazooie and Gruntilda against each other in a battle for the deed to Spiral Mountain.

Mumbo Jumbo Mumbo is the magical owner of Mumbo's Motors where Banjo is able to go to build and test new vehicle creations. While searching Showdown Town, Banjo my come across parts crates, which can be taken to Mumbo to unlock their contents. At the beginning of the game Mumbo gives Kazooie a magical wrench that allows her to pick up objects and fix vehicles if they have been damaged.

Humba Wumba Humba runs a shop in Showdown Town where Banjo can buy parts or vehicle blueprints. She also makes a hilarious appearance in LOGBOX 720 as a member of the "Hag Dolls" a girl gamer group that pokes fun at Ubisoft's real life "Frag Dolls".

Bottles Bottles is back from the dead, and in addition to making a number of hilarious cameos in the worlds, he also runs an information shop in the town square of Showdown Town. For a price he will show Banjo several spots of interest within Showdown Town, reveal the combination to unlock trapdoor tower number two, and give Banjo information on Stop 'an Swop crates.

Klungo No longer Grunty's bumbling side-kick, Klungo is now the bumbling owner of an arcade, where Banjo is able to play an old-school arcade game featuring Klungo. The game features five levels, the last of which is unlocked after Banjo banks thirty jiggies.

Captain Blubber A grog swigging captain who's flying saucer has crash landed in Showdown Town, Captain Blubber will give Banjo the combination to one of the trapdoors, in exchange for a donation to help him with his current financial situation.

The Jolly Dodger This difficult to find merchant can usually be found somewhere around Klungo's arcade. The crafty businessman holds five Jiggies that can be purchased from him for a price.

Mr. Fit The health conscious ant-eater can be found running through Showdown Town in a none-too-flattering track jacket. If Banjo manages to catch the jogger during one of his breaks, he can purchase a trapdoor tower combination from him for ten notes.

Pikelet The ornery captain of the Showdown Town Police Force, Pikelet will complain about "trouble-makers" who are ruining Showdown Town. Confusing Jinjos with Minjos, Pikelet has accidentally locked up six innocent Jinjos throughout Showdown Town. Banjo can find and free these unfortunate souls, who in return will present Banjo with a gift of notes. Pikelet's police force is constantly changing the laws of Showdown Town, but if Banjo finds himself in trouble with the law, Pikelet won't refuse a bribe towards his donut fund, and he will call off his annoying officers.

Boggy Boggy is the out-of-shape proprietor of Boggy's Gym, where Banjo can purchase upgrades to his strength, stamina, and speed. Just don't expect to work out with the rotund polar bear, he gets tired just speaking.

Trophy Thomas Showdown Town's resident obnoxious, ultra-competitive, jock, Trophy Thomas will reward Banjo with T.T. Trophies if he completes jiggy games within the blue limit. For every four T.T. Trophies Banjo earns he will receive a jiggy. Only 96 of the 97 T.T. Trophies need to be obtained to earn all the jiggies within the game.

King Jingaling King Jingaling runs a bingo game in Showdown Town where Banjo can win fabulous prizes such as unique vehicle parts and notes. To win, Banjo must find the Jinjos hidden throughout out the five worlds. After finding the Jinjos the player must complete their challenge to win a Jinjo token. These tokens are then placed on King Jingaling's game board. To win a prize Banjo must fill either an entire row or column with the correct Jinjo token colors.

"Klungo'sss Arcade Gamesss"

"Klungo Sssavesss the World"

This game can be found on the end of the pier in Showdown Town. The protagonist is Klungo as he tries to save the earth. However, he only has the ability to jump over and across obstacles, and because the game is made by Klungo it can freeze up at any time.

"Klungo Sssavesss the Universsse"

This is the sequel to Klungo saves the world, and can be found when the DLC (L.O.G.'s Lost Challenges) are purchased. Initially when the player accesses the DLC Klungo is still working on the game, he does not finish the game until Banjo has collected all of the Jiggy pieces from each challenge from the DLC, this includes beating them with L.O.G.'s choice vehicle and player's choice vehicle. The sequel has Klungo going from Mercury to Neptune. As well as his ability to jump he also has a gun, a skateboard, and there are parts of the games where the direction of gravity can be changed.

Multiplayer

There are 28 games in the multiplayer, most of which are modeled off of challenges from the single player game. Players can set up a party of up to eight players and have the ability to take pictures of other player's vehicles to obtain blueprints so they can build them for their own use. Some of the modes are competitive, and some are pass-the-controller based.

The downloadable content available for this game includes new multiplayer modes (see Downloadable content section bellow for more details).

Downloadable Content

On March 6, 2009 Rare hinted at possible DLC coming soon. It was hinted that there would be a section, developed by Klungo, created due to popular demand. The DLC is called L.O.G.'s Lost Challenges as revealed in the promotional logo.

L.O.G.'s Lost Challenges was released on April 7th, 2009 for 400 Microsoft points. It included 12 new challenges in a level set in Mumbo's Test-o-Track. The DLC also included seven new multiplayer modes, a entirely new Klungo arcade game, seven new vehicle blueprints representing the winners of Rare's Nuts and Bolts fan vehicle design contest, and 10 new achievements worth 250 points.

The achievements include gamerscore for finding the Lost Challenges, completing the mini jigsaw puzzle and Klungo's Arcade. There are also multiplayer achievements linked into this.

Unlockable Gamer Pictures

There are a total of two unlockable gamer pictures within the game:

Requirement	Gamer Picture
Complete all five levels of "'Klungo Saves The World" at his Arcade.
Obtain the "Jiggillionaire!" achievement, that is to bank 131 Jiggies in the Showdown Town Bank.

Soundtrack

On June 30th 2009 a soundtrack for the game was released, it features 28 tracks from the game. It was put out by Sumthing Else Music Works Company, who have worked on many other soundtracks for games. The soundtrack is composed by Robin Beanland, David Clynick and Grant Kirkhope.

It is available for purchase on CD, digitally on the company's website or on iTunes.