Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #923 in Video Games
• Brand: Nintendo
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platform: Nintendo 64
• Subtitled in: German

Features

• The worlds in Banjo-Kazooie are gigantic, and chock full of crazy items to collect
• Musical Notes, Puzzle Pieces, Mumbo Tokens, and Jinjoes are just some of the swag that Banjo must stuff in his backpack to complete his adventure
• While some of the necessary items are simply stashed off the beaten path, others will require puzzle solving skills to turn up.

Editorial Review
Banjo-Kazooie mimics the look and feel of Mario 64, a truly innovative and visually stunning game that belongs in any Nintendo 64 collection. But don't brush off this 3-D action-adventure as an uninspired clone. On the contrary, Banjo-Kazooie introduces more than enough originality to warrant a spot next to its famous mentor.

The game introduces two of the most charming virtual heroes in recent years--the goofy, floppy honey bear, Banjo, and his faithful, feathered sidekick Kazooie. In the game's introduction, we discover that the sinister witch Gruntilda not only nabbed Banjo's sister Tooty, but stole her beauty as well. Naturally, it's up to the bear-bird team to retrieve Tooty and rid the world of one darned inconsiderate witch.

In this beautifully-rendered and massive game world, players run, jump, swim, climb, and flip over obstacles, defeat all sorts of "baddies," and find and collect numerous items and clues that help the quest to progress. Playing as both Banjo and Kazooie, players hone their characters' actions, learning nearly two dozen special moves that help players expertly defeat foes and successfully tread through the nine worlds.

Banjo-Kazooie is one of those games that can demand hours upon hours of perseverance, patience, and learning of skills to complete. But don't let that discourage you. This epic game is so much fun that reaching the end will be an afterthought. --Eric Twelker

Pros:

• Nicely-paced game world filled with well-designed challenges
• Excellent character control with numerous special moves
• Gorgeous graphics

• Numerous--often complex--special moves may discourage some casual gamers

GameSpot Review
A lot of people are writing off Banjo-Kazooie as a Super Mario 64 clone. Now let's think about this for a bit. Mario 64 was a revolutionary game. It redefined what people expected from a platform game. Banjo-Kazooie follows in the footsteps of Mario 64. It doesn't stray too far from the formula, but it makes the logical progressions you would expect Nintendo to make.

The storyline is fairly typical. Banjo's sister, Tooty, has been kidnapped by the evil witch, Gruntilda. Gruntilda is hoping to use some wacky contraption to steal Tooty's youth. It's up to Banjo and Kazooie, the grumpy bird that lives in his backpack, to venture into Gruntilda's lair and stop the witch before it's too late. Once inside, you'll find an insanely huge overworld and nine levels to contend with. Mario's stars have been replaced by jigsaw puzzle pieces. These "jiggys" are used to open each level. Coins have been replaced by notes. You'll need to have a certain number of notes to proceed throughout the overworld. The red coins have been replaced by birds. Collecting all the birds in a level will give you a jiggy. Each level contains ten jiggys, 100 notes, and five birds. The first thing you'll notice about B-K is its size. The game is much, much bigger than Mario 64. The overworld is huge, and the levels are spread pretty far apart. Usually, the puzzle that opens up a level isn't even near the level's entrance.

The gameplay in Banjo-Kazooie follows Mario, but Banjo and his bird have a lot more moves than Mario ever had. Luckily, there are some great tutorials in the beginning that teach you the basic punching, jumping, and swimming maneuvers. You'll learn the rest (flying, how to use certain items, etc.) as you need them. While Banjo has several different attack moves, I found that his basic roll is usually more than enough to take out all the run-of-the-mill enemies.

Graphically, Banjo-Kazooie takes it to another level. The game maintains the look and feel of Mario 64, but instead of flat, shaded polygons, BK uses a lot of textures. You would think that the amount of texturing and the size of the levels would slow the game down a lot, but it runs nice and smoothly. The camera control has remained the same, but due to BK's many tight, enclosed areas, the camera sometimes fails to show the action from a playable perspective. Expect to miss some things that would normally be incredibly obvious, due to a bad angle. Also, you'll have to control the camera a bit more than you should have to, as it doesn't track perfectly. The sound and music are really well done. The soundtrack is infectious, and the character voices are very cool. All the "speech" is done in a Charlie Brown's teacher sort of way.

If you were a fan of Mario 64, then it's pretty apparent that you're going to like Banjo-Kazooie as well. BK may be a Mario clone, but that isn't exactly a bad thing. In fact, it's a pretty good thing. In a world filled with mediocre N64 games, it's nice to see another truly great game on the system. -- Jeff Gerstmann

--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Customer Reviews

Mario 64 and then some
I got Banjo Kazooie a couple of years ago for Christmas and it's still one of my favorite games. It's a lot like Mario 64 except better in many ways. The levels are a lot bigger and more challenging. There are more moves to learn, more enemies, and bigger bosses than any other 3D platformer except for Donkey Kong 64. It's fun finding and collecting the puzzle pieces so you can get to the next level and closer to the chance of putting Gruntilda back on her broom and on her way. As you go on, the levels get more and more difficult. The level with all 4 seasons in it and Gruntilda's board game are especially difficult. You also have to collect 5 of your friends in each level for a puzzle piece. Not to mention collecting 100 musical notes for another one. There is a lot to find in each world, but the game is fun enough and keeps you interested enough to do that without getting frustrated. The snow level was completely awesome and had some of the beat graphics I have ever seen.

At the end of the game, Gruntilda is a pretty hard boss to beat. There's a secret you can get right before you jump in the pot that sends you to fight her that will double your energy IF you have collected enough music notes throughout the game. Banjo Kazooie revolutionized 3D action/adventure games a step further than Mario 64 did and did it with authority. If you like 3D action/adventure games, you got to get this game.

You can't get off of this Game!! It rules!
The evil witch Gruntilda has stolen Banjo's younger sister, Tooty, in hopes to steal her beauty. Banjo, and Kazooie, the bird that's lodged in his pack, will have to rescue her. You start off in Spiral Mountain, in which the mole, Bottles, will teach you some basic moves. Then you move on to Gruntilda's gigantic lair, in which you will be searching all over for world entrances, into Munbo's Mountain, and Treasure Trove Cove, Clanker's ( a large shark-shaped trash compacter) Cavern, Bubblegloop Swamp, Frezeezy Peak, Gobi's Valley, Mad Monster Mansion, Rusy Bucket Bay, Click-Clock Wood, then Grunty's game show, in which you answer Banjo trivia, and finnally the final battle. Yes, its a lot, and it will take you quite a long time. But it is SOOO fun!
In each world, you will find:
10 jigsaw pieces, or jiggies, which are either lying around or a reward for doing, or defeating something. You use jiggies to open the door to each world (note: sometimes puzzles are faar away from the actual world)
100 musical notes. These are used to get through musical doors, to advance farther in your quest. These are much easier to get than jiggies.
5 Jinjos. A mix between a dino and teddy bear. if you find all five in a world, you get a jiggy.
1 Witch switch. Hammer this switch with Grunty's face on it and a Jiggy will appear somewhere in the lair.
Bottles. In every world up to Gobi's valley, he has a molehill, and if called on, will teach you a new move.
Mumbo: He's only in some worlds, in a big shaman's skull, bring him Mumbo tokens and he will change you into a different creature, essential for findind some jiggies and notes.
Cheeto: He hides in the dark corners of the liar. He doubles your capacity for; blue eggs (ammo), red feathers (flying), and gold feathers (invincebility).
Cauldrons: these also hide in the nooks and crannies of the lair. They provide shortcuts within the lair.
I suggest buying a strategy guide, it's very hard trying to find where the jiggies and notes are.
I am amazed by Rare's building of the worlds and lair. This game will be so much fun. You'll find yourself addicted.

Best Game Ever!
I have played every single game by Rareware, and every one of them astounds me. But this... this is paradise on wings. Every single new level involves new challenges with ways to figure them out. The music is so addicting that you will often find yourself not wanting to quit a level just so you can hear the refrain one more time. Everything Kazooie, the bird, says is hilarious, and the way the characters tell their names, often referring to themselves in the third person, is funny too. The gameplay is flawless. Every single move will seem completely natural all of the time. It is addictive. If you try to cheat, or find out how to get a certain Jiggy, you have been warned: After a certain amount of cheats, Rare erases your gamepack memory. The graphics are stunning. All you have to do is look at a honeycomb up close, and you will believe that Gamecubes are primitive compared to the Nintendo 64. Rare's attention to details is astounding. Each enemy carries out a choreographed set of moves when you enter its range, squeaks, and runs towards you. The main villian, Gruntilda, spouts rhymes randomly, which sometimes get boring, as they are reused over and over again, but it doesn't matter, as they are so funny. Difficulty is the only place in this game where it plays to perhaps half a percent off. Each level doesn't get harder in itself, just more complicated. The last one consists of a giant tree that you will curse every time you fall off and have to climb up again, which will happen invariably every single time you turn the game on. However, this pales in the need to beat this great game. If you get every single item there is, which will take a long time, a secret or two might be revealed for banjo-Tooie...
In short, anyone who does not buy this game needs help, and quickly. Anyone who does buy this game, you will never regret it.