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Key · 09-17-2018, 01:43 PM

Banjo Kazooie

We're moving on into 1998 and before I go through all the games I want to talk about, I instead want to start this off by talking about one specifically - Banjo Kazooie.

You wanna talk about platformers that have kept a staple in the video game world? Of course you do. And that's what we're going to do.

Banjo Kazooie if you're for some reason unaware, is one of Rare's finest pieces of work. Everything from the story to the gameplay to the graphics style. It's all got its own charm that really separates it from other platformers. It is a collectathon as well however the genius behind the level design makes it possible to progress through the levels while collecting anything. Never really feels like a chore because the whole game is set up in a way that is pretty interesting and fun. And yeah, of course the level design is quite good as well. Though that should be obvious. Every level has its own theme and the enemies etc revolve around it, to an extent. There's also always something to do in the levels which allows you to explore all of them. A lot in the same vein as Super Mario 64.

I remember back in the day when this first came out, it was definitely harder than it should have been, but that's not really a bad thing. I mean, Click Clock Wood deserves the spot for my favorite level for that reason. The difficult in general does rise quite a bit as you progress but the power ups you get make that just a bit easier.

Talking a bit about the HUB world. Banjo Kazooie sort of took a different route and made it so Gruntilda's Castle acted as the hub world. Again, a lot in the same vein as Super Mario 64. Though instead of paintings, you're filling in puzzles that you collect. They definitely opened the game up more when Banjo Toole came out but this was still pretty cool when playing through Banjo Kazooie for the first time.

There are boss fights as well. I like all of them honestly but I absolutely have more love for the Gruntys Furnace Fun before the final fight. It's such a neat way to kind of wind down after beating all the levels while simultaneously having to be methodical and smart to get to the end of the board. All leading up to that final fight wit Gruntilda which is just a stellar boss fight. I remember being blown away by the final Jinjo when it hits Grunty over and over again. Many fond memories.

I'll of course be talking about Banjo Toole as well in time but I want to briefly mention that it's been a long time since we've had a set of sequels like the Banjo games. Banjo Toole single handedly improved on everything Banjo Kazooie already did. So yeah, I highly recommend both.

We don't mention Nuts and Bolts around here. Just fyi.

09-17-2018, 01:43 PM	#663 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	Banjo Kazooie We're moving on into 1998 and before I go through all the games I want to talk about, I instead want to start this off by talking about one specifically - Banjo Kazooie. You wanna talk about platformers that have kept a staple in the video game world? Of course you do. And that's what we're going to do. Banjo Kazooie if you're for some reason unaware, is one of Rare's finest pieces of work. Everything from the story to the gameplay to the graphics style. It's all got its own charm that really separates it from other platformers. It is a collectathon as well however the genius behind the level design makes it possible to progress through the levels while collecting anything. Never really feels like a chore because the whole game is set up in a way that is pretty interesting and fun. And yeah, of course the level design is quite good as well. Though that should be obvious. Every level has its own theme and the enemies etc revolve around it, to an extent. There's also always something to do in the levels which allows you to explore all of them. A lot in the same vein as Super Mario 64. I remember back in the day when this first came out, it was definitely harder than it should have been, but that's not really a bad thing. I mean, Click Clock Wood deserves the spot for my favorite level for that reason. The difficult in general does rise quite a bit as you progress but the power ups you get make that just a bit easier. Talking a bit about the HUB world. Banjo Kazooie sort of took a different route and made it so Gruntilda's Castle acted as the hub world. Again, a lot in the same vein as Super Mario 64. Though instead of paintings, you're filling in puzzles that you collect. They definitely opened the game up more when Banjo Toole came out but this was still pretty cool when playing through Banjo Kazooie for the first time. There are boss fights as well. I like all of them honestly but I absolutely have more love for the Gruntys Furnace Fun before the final fight. It's such a neat way to kind of wind down after beating all the levels while simultaneously having to be methodical and smart to get to the end of the board. All leading up to that final fight wit Gruntilda which is just a stellar boss fight. I remember being blown away by the final Jinjo when it hits Grunty over and over again. Many fond memories. I'll of course be talking about Banjo Toole as well in time but I want to briefly mention that it's been a long time since we've had a set of sequels like the Banjo games. Banjo Toole single handedly improved on everything Banjo Kazooie already did. So yeah, I highly recommend both. We don't mention Nuts and Bolts around here. Just fyi.