Are the Banjo games still worth getting through and do you think we'll see another Banjo adventure next-gen?

I'm playing a bunch of games right now, and one of them (though not really the main one, so it'll probably be a while before I get back to it) is Banjo-Kazooie and perhaps its sequels. I played the N64 games on N64 of course (I think I have them?) but I've never finished them; I hardly played them in fact. In playing an hour or two the other day when it became enhanced, I really enjoyed what I played of it, but I'm still wondering if it's all worth it. I really want to play Nuts and Bolts mostly, but I want to until I finish the first two, and I'm a bit hesitant because I'm skeptical about the vehicle customization aspect of Nuts and Bolts. I don't really care that much about spending a bunch of time creating vehicles; if it's just a quick thing of 'you need to attach this and that to get through this part' then that's fine, but if it's like 'spend hours upon hours in a menu getting creative!' then I say 'no thanks'. Maybe it won't be as bothersome as I think it would be. I don't know.

It's very easy to slap together enough parts to solve problems in N&Bs. I was worried about that too at first but what started out as somewhat tedious became enjoyable fairly quickly. As for the first two games, the platforming is very basic and there are a lot of mini-games. The big thing that seperates 1&2 is the level design, 2 feels more like a metroid-vania but not in good way, the levels are needlessly big and you can only get about half the jiggies (star equivalents) at most when you first visit each area until you get the required abilities, which arent very fun to use either.

As for future games, if you'd asked me before the Smash Bros. anouncement I would say no but since thats happening it's a very real possibility that they'll make another one. And it will probably be in the same vein as the first two. Although I would rather they expanded on N&Bs.

As someone who grew up with these games and avoided N&Bs until I played it in Rare Replay I was surprised how much more I enjoyed N&Bs, I suppose it's because the Mario games are much better platformers and N&Bs was something different.

I edited my original post because I accidentally said that I 'don't' want to wait until I finish the first two. What I meant to say was that I set it as a personal requirement to finish the first two, which is part of why I am wondering if the first two are good enough to get through and if Nuts and Bolts is even good enough to warrant the time spent on those games.

I had an N64, but it was an AKI/Goldeneye/Perfect Dark machine. I was in late high school and early college and wasn’t playing a ton of games.

Nuts and Bolts was my first Banjo game. It’s very much worth checking out. I maybe played about 10 hours of it before moving on, but it was a really fun and inventive 10 hours. Making planes that have eject pods, or flying motorcycles, or boats with detachable sub units, or all kinds of crazy shit is intuitive and really easy to have fun with.

I recall most of the required challenges being pretty easy to just slap together a solution for. Most of the fun came from what felt like exploiting the game. For example, a goal may be to finish a course in 35 seconds for a gold medal. You can probably come up with a machine that finishes the race in 5 seconds. Even that wouldn’t take very long, and it’s not required, but bending and breaking the rules was where I had the most fun. Also, building, testing, and changing your creations is super quick and easy.

I played a bit of Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tootie later on. Maybe 2-3 hours of each. They’re fine. There’s much better stuff out there to spend time with, so I’d suggest avoiding them and just checking out Nuts and Bolts, regardless of your intention with the franchise.

Nuts and Bolts is great, and while I can respect setting a goal for yourself to play the others first, I wouldn't recommend it. They are just okay collect-a-thons where as N&B holds its own as its own thing. And it's not like there is lore you're going to be missing out on or something like that.

I loved the original Banjo-Kazooie when it came out. I would've been about 11 years old? I remember renting it from Blockbuster a couple times which was very rare for me to do. Not sure why it gets all the hate. In my mind, it's kinda the same thing as Mario 64 but more interesting to look at. I also never actually bought the game in the end which is also odd.

Never played the sequel.

Nuts & Bolts was great because I am a mechanical/building type person in real life (working on and modifying stuff etc) so those sorts of games are right up my alley. I also have a fond memory of playing it with a friend (something I rarely do) and he designed a motorcycle shaped thing and called it the Gnarly Davidson.. Honestly, I don't know if we've ever laughed harder in our lives. Something about watching him slowly typing it in, realizing what it was, then it sunk in and we were both dying of laughter for like 10 mins. The game also looked and probably still looks incredible. That first level in the dome with the water is stunning. Excellent for an OLED screen.

I wish they'd make a new platformer with super nice visuals like that but I'm also not sure I'd play it.

@sethmode: It's not really about the lore, it's mainly to know what came before, and perhaps for things like characters being mentioned or subtle or not so subtle easter eggs or just any kind of mention about the first two. As well as environments, because the little I've seen you at least go back to Banjo's house. If I never played the Banjo N64 games and jumped into Nuts and Bolts, I'd be disappointed to know that you actually went to a place you've already been to. It's not necessarily just about the big things.

I never got attached to this series on N64 and it never felt as good as the other 3D platformers, especially the one with the plumber.
Yokoo-Laylee didn't really do it for me either.

I didn't play Nuts and Bolts, but that seems like a far more interesting game. I wouldn't be opposed of a new game like that.

I could see them doing a remake of the first seeing how that's so popular these days. But I recently read Microsoft has no plans because they feel the money isn't there. I do wonder if Nintendo would join forces with MS to do something though.

@ntm: I'm going to go against the grain and say that you should play all three. The first two are very charming games (though the original is better). As for your worry about missing references in Nuts & Bolts, you would be correct. There are a thousand little easter eggs about the series in that game. One of the levels is a museum devoted to the past two games. It's your choice, though.

@jeremyf: Exactly, I knew it. Yeah, I'm going to play the first two before jumping into Nuts and Bolts when I play them.

The first two are two of the best 3D platformer adventures ever made. Banjo Kazooie is my childhood favorite game.

Nuts and Bolts isn't a Banjo Kazooie game but it's a pretty good game.

I do think we're getting another Banjo game in the style of the first two.

I have a lot of fondness for those original N64 games, and in general I think Banjo-Kazooie's smaller, contained scale holds up a lot better than Tooie's much larger levels and more involved problem solving. They're both charming as hell, but I definitely could see both falling flat for someone who didn't grow up on that style of collectathon 3D Platformer.

Nuts and Bolts, on the other hand, feels like something I can recommend without those sorts of caveats as long as you're into the vehicle building and all the weird, unconventional stuff you can do with that.

So, once I read this thread I started replaying Banjo-Kazooie. Having a blast :P