Banjo-Kazooie

Banjo-Kazooie is a video game that consists of 2 releases

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Play as lovable goofball Banjo the bear and his bird pal Kazooie in the first of many adventures as they collect valuable "Jiggies" in order to face the vile witch, Gruntilda and save Banjo's sister Tooty.

Gameplay

Banjo-Kazooie follows a structure similar to that of Super Mario 64. Players are tasked with finding various collectible objects such asJiggies (Jigsaw Pieces), Musical Notes, and Mumbo Tokens and then using those objects to traverse through the hub-world. Jigsaw pieces open doors to new worlds by collecting enough to complete the corresponding jigsaw puzzle. There are ten Jiggies in each world: nine must be found, and one is granted by finding all five Jinjos on each world. Musical Notes open magic note doors that allow Banjo and Kazooie to progress further into Gruntilda's lair. There are 100 notes in each world, and 900 total in the game. Mumbo Tokens grant the player magical transformations at Mumbo's hut when the player collects a sufficient amount. These transformations include the following: termite, crocodile, walrus, pumpkin and bee.

You take on the role of Banjo- A young male bear who sets of on a quest to take down the wicked witch Gruntilda! You will search tons of worlds far and wide ranging from snow filled cities to lava indulged death pits! Searching for the Jiggys so you can get into her lair and take her down! On the way you will meet loads of faces, all with there own personality and role in the game, the one who will help you the most though is Mumbo- A skull man who is able to cast magic and help Banjo on his quest by opening secret doors and stopping trains to let Banjo proceed along with his trusty partner Kazooie- A bird who is a great asset Banjo, without him Banjo would be useless, Kazooie is able to help Banjo in many ways, including letting him fly, climb and occasionally turning into an egg firing machine gun! Together they are bound to take down the evil Gruntilda!- An evil witch who wants to control the world and commit evil deeds, how evil however? You'll just have to play the game and find out! She resides in her lair, with her trusty troll like companion.

Speech

A large feature of gameplay is that the characters make limited speech-like sounds when they talk. The voices are not real speech, but rather a looping of voice-like sounds when text bubbles were displayed. This artistic choice was likely made due to memory limitations on Nintendo 64 cartridges; however, this added considerably to the atmosphere and uniqueness of the game.

Stop 'N' Swap

Stop 'N' Swop is an incomplete feature in Banjo-Kazooie. Six colored eggs and an Ice Key were discovered in the game that would be viewable in a menu titled "Stop 'N' Swop". In an ending sequence of Banjo-Kazooie, Mumbo Jumbo would tell the players that secret areas would be accessible via a link with the sequel, Banjo-Tooie. A hardware change in newly produced Nintendo 64 units after Banjo-Kazooie's release barred this feature from coming to fruitation and the feature was never utilized.

Other Changes Prior To Release

The Old Logo

Between its release and being first announced at E3 in 1997, the game underwent a number of significant changes. At the time, the title "Dreams", was simply derived from Rare's codename for the game "Project: Dreram". Kazooie was originally named Kazoo, however the name "Banjo-Kazoo" had already been copyrighted, leading to the renaming of the character and the game's subsequent title. The first logo that was revealed also differs greatly from the current one.

Banjo-Kazooie was meant to have 16 levels, however some were cut in order to meet the game's release schedule. These included Mount Fire Eyes, which eventually ended up as the lava side of Hailfire Peaks in Banjo-Tooie, and Fungus Forest, which became Fungi Forest in Donkey Kong 64 and was the area depicted on the game's Box Art.

As well as the Stop 'n' Swop feature with Banjo Tooie, there was also a rumoured link up to Donkey Kong 64 that never came to fruition. Several other small elements were excluded from the final game, including things on a level-by-level basis. For instance, Mad Monster Mansion had a flight pad at one point

Worlds

Mumbo's Mountain

A small, jungle-themed world where getting acclimated to the game is the primary purpose. It is home to Conga the orange throwing Gorilla, termites, and Chimpy. Mumbo Jumbo the shaman makes his first appearance here and in other worlds, residing in a hut resembling his head. He transforms Banjo into a termite if the player finds five "Mumbo Tokens". The termite's abilites are limited, though it doesn't take damage when falling from a height and has a better grip on sloping surfaces.

Treasure Trove Cove

An island that hosts a landlocked ship, the Salty Hippo, and the nearly-indestructible shark Snacker; a lighthouse over a massive natural arch dominates the skyline. It is the location of the sandcastle where cheat codes are entered. Kazooie learns how to fly and use the Shockspring jumping pad in this level.

Treasure Trove Cove

Clanker's Cavern

A world of flooded caves and disposal pipes. This world is also home to Clanker, a giant mechanical shark used as Gruntilda's garbage disposal.

Clanker's Cavern

Bubblegloop Swamp

A swamp with dangerous waters, it's home to a fake giant crocodile and a living giant turtle. Mumbo's transformation in this level is a baby crocodile, which doesn't get hurt when standing in the swamp water and can fit in small spaces.

Bubblegloop Swamp

Freezeezy Peak

A snowy, mountainous world with a winter holiday theme whose focal point is an enormous snowman statue in the center; home to the twinklies, evil snowmen and Boggy's family. Banjo can turn into a walrus at Freezeezy Peak, allowing him to brave the ice cold waters and reach places he normally couldn't.

Freezeezy Peak

Gobi's Valley

An Ancient Egyptian-hemed desert world named after the camel Gobi, containing pyramids, quicksand, and a bear-modeled sphinx.

Gobi's Valley

Mad Monster Mansion

A horror-based world featuring frightening themes such as haunted houses, spooky mazes, ghosts, and tombstones; a toilet named Loggo also resides here. Banjo can change into a pumpkin in this level, and this, among other things, allows him to get flushed down Loggo.

Mad Monster Mansion

Rusty Bucket Bay

A world centered around a large cargo ship, called the Rusty Bucket, docked amid polluted water. The port is surrounded by several warehouses which contain various useful items.

Rusty Bucket Bay

Click Clock Woods

Centered around a giant tree in a forest, four different doors will allow Banjo and Kazooie to enter the world through four seasons in this level. Also home of Gnawty the Beaver and the fat, Nabnut the Squirrel.

Click Clock Woods

Spiral Mountain

Spiral Mountain acts as a training level. It's home to many characters, including Banjo and Kazooie. This is where a player must learn all the basic moves. Banjo's house lies on the outer part of Spiral Mountain. The object of this level is to gain basic knowledge of the game before storming Gruntilda's lair.

Spiral Mountain

Gruntilda's Lair
This is the main area where most of the game time is spent. Bottles, Brentilda, and Grunty's minions can be found here. The lair also has four sets of cauldrons to allow Banjo and Kazooie to skip over parts of the lair when they find a pair of a matching color. Gruntilda's Lair also leads to the final fight, after breaking the spells of all the note doors. To open these doors, Banjo and Kazooie's accumulated note scores must be equal to or higher than the number on the door. Gruntilda's lair is huge, with many secret compartments and doors that lead to puzzles that can only be opened if the player collects enough Jiggies to fill the puzzle and unlock the level.

Gruntilda's Lair

Soundtrack

The soundtrack, consisting of music from the game composed by Grant Kirkhope, was released by Nintendo of America on a limited edition CD. This CD was sold exclusively at Best Buy stores and the Nintendo Power Catalog with two additional tracks.

Disc 1

Banjo-Kazooie Soundtrack (Backside)

01 - Main Title
02 - Spiral Mountain
03 - Witch's Lair
04 - Mumbo's Mountain
05 - Treasure Trove Cove
06 - Clanker's Cavern
07 - Bubble Gloop Swamp
08 - Freezeezy Peak
09 - Gobi's Valley
10 - Mad Monster Mansion
11 - Rusty Bucket Bay
12 - Click Clock Wood
13 - Quiz
14 - Credits
15 - Final Battle
16 - Banjo Overture
17 - Squirrel

XBLA Version

The XBLA version was given free to those who pre-ordered Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts two weeks early but it will be released to the general public on November 26 for the price of 1200 Microsoft Points ($15) The gameplay is the same as the original, but the graphics have been improved to HD quality (the 2D sprites showing the most improvement). In addition, the stop 'n swop items can be legitimatley obtained with a Nuts and Bolts save file. They can be used to unlock special parts (i.e. British Flags, Fuzzy Dice, Potted Plant, etc.) in said game, although they are for decoration more than anything else. The XBLA version also has occasional slowdown not present in the original N64 release which seems to occur most often in areas with lots of water effects. (i.e. Clanker's Cavern)

General Information Edit

Game Name	Banjo-Kazooie
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64 Xbox Live Marketplace
Publisher(s)	Nintendo Microsoft Game Studios
Developer(s)	Rare, Ltd. 4J Studios
Genres	Add a new genre Action Adventure Puzzle Platformer
Themes	Add a new theme Fantasy Comedy
Original US Release	June 29, 1998 need a fuzzy date?
Original US Release	know the real date?
Aliases