So I haven't been active because frankly I haven't been doing much in the way of gaming lately outside the odd round of Guitar Hero or hopping on WoW for a bit. But over the weekend, two things happened.

1. I bought Warhammer Online. More on this when I feel like talking about it.

2. I bought the X-box Live Arcade release of Banjo-Kazooie.

Why? After all, I still have the N64 game.

Well, quite frankly, Nintendo's joystick design is crap and I don't have a single N64 controller with a thumbstick that isn't totally wobbly. I don't think Banjo-Kazooie would be very fun to play when Banjo can't move faster than a tiptoe.

Most N64 games don't seem to have aged very well. I don't really enjoy playing them. However, there are a handful of exceptions - games that are just plain classic. Games like Majora's Mask, "Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon," and, yes, Banjo-Kazooie. The 360 version was given some minor graphics touch-ups (the 2-D item images like eggs and musical notes are much less pixelated and the models were smoothed out somewhat), but nothing serious. While it looks great, especially for a game as old as it is, there are a few noticable flubs (for instance, half of the texture for Tooty's shirt is missing/blurred), but nothing big enough to detract from the game as a whole.

The game itself has held up really well over the past decade. It's VERY easy, in two hours of play time I cleared the first four worlds with 100%, but that's only to be expected from a game aimed at a young audience and one I've already played myself and learned the ins and outs of. More importantly, I had a blast doing it. The game is so much fun to play through again, I loved the Mumbo transformations, and I'm looking forward to tackling Freezeasy Peak and beyond tomorrow.