Banjo-Kazooie

[Prowler]

As many of you Switch owners know, Banjo-Kazooie came out on the N64 Switch Online service a few days ago. Which means a lot of people are either replaying it or playing it for the very first time now.

I've definitely decided to replay it again. I loved Banjo-Kazooie and the N64 when I was a kid. So I had to replay it again.

It's definitely dated in some aspects, but that's only natural, considering the game is 20+ years old at this point. That's a long time in the video game industry. Rare really loves the collect-a-thon platformer formula. As fun as BK was back in the late 90s, doing all that stuff 20+ years later can feel like a bit of a chore. Also, needless to say, playing this game as a 31 year old man doesn't have the same impact as playing it when you're an 8 year old kid. BK was one of those games that really enriched my imagination when I was a kid. It was such a fun game with so much charm. It was like a cartoon movie in video game form.

Overall, I still think the game is fun and aged better than some other N64 titles. It's probably one of the games that aged the best from that era, really. There's a reason why it's still generally considered THE quintessential Rare game from the N64 era, after all. Most people have already caught on to the fact that GoldenEye didn't age well.

I'd still recommend Banjo-Kazooie to people who didn't play it back in the day of you're into 3D platformers.

What about you? Have you also been replaying Banjo-Kazooie lately or plan to soon? And do you think it has aged well?

[oldmanwinters]

B-K has always leaned too heavily along the lines of "Collect-a-thon" games for me. But I have always liked the character designs, and I appreciate the cinematic ambition the early games had. Visually (and audio-ally), it is a delight for N64-era.

[Prowler]

B-K has always leaned too heavily along the lines of "Collect-a-thon" games for me. But I have always liked the character designs, and I appreciate the cinematic ambition the early games had. Visually (and audio-ally), it is a delight for N64-era.

Rare always liked that formula for some reason. Back in the SNES days the Donkey Kong Country games already have stuff to collect in each level. But all of that was optional. In the N64 era Rare decided to make the collectibles obligatory for you to progress and beat their games. Banjo-Kazooie pulled it off well, I must say, but Donkey Kong 64 went a little overboard with it.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

I never grew up with Banjo Kazooie, but the sheer hype and demand for him during Smash Ultimate's development made me interested in his games, and I was pretty pleased when he did turn out to be a character.