Review by: Chris Harding
Published: November 8, 1998

Put together a banjo-playing bear, a raucous bird, a hideously ugly witch, a cute little sister, and a mole with Coke-bottle glasses, mix it all up with great 3D graphics, throw in all sorts of adventure, and you’ve got the next great platform game for the Nintendo 64, Banjo Kazooie. Following in the golden footsteps of Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie continues in the ways of wonder, amazement, and sheer adventuring mass with over ten huge worlds to visit, and over one-thousand items to find.

The story begins with Gruntilda, an evil witch who needs to improve her hygiene, doing “mirror, mirror on the wall” impressions. Unfortunately her experience with the mirror is no better than that of the Wicked Queen in Snow White, so Gruntilda decides to resort to kidnapping. Her victim is Banjo’s sister Tootie. Gruntilda plans to steal Tootie’s beauty and replace it with her own ugliness, using an evil invention created by the evil witch. A noise outside awakens Tootie’s brother Banjo and his best friend Kazooie. Deciding to investigate, the two begin their adventure by finding Bottles, the near-sighted mole who tells the pair that Tootie has been kidnapped by Gruntilda. Now it’s up to Banjo and Kazooie, a bear and a breegull, to rescue Tootie before Gruntilda robs her of her beauty. Bottles will be around the entire game to teach you everything from the basic moves to the advanced techniques you’ll need to survive.

Once Bottles has taught you the basics in the first level, Spiral Mountain, it’s time to meet the witch in her lair. Inside, there are nine other worlds to conquer in your quest to free your sister from the clutches of the evil Gruntilda. While on your quest you’ll need to collect musical notes, Jiggys (puzzle pieces), Jinjos, Honeycomb pieces, and Mumbo tokens. Doors are locked with musical spells and you must have a certain number of musical notes in order to break spells and open doors. To open doors to new worlds you must complete puzzle pictures by filling in missing puzzle pieces. Find all the Jinjos on a level and get a free Banjo; find six honeycomb pieces and receive extra life. Throughout the game there are many places that neither Banjo nor Kazooie can get to; enter Mumbo Jumbo, the witch doctor. Over the course of the game he will turn you into a number of different things (a termite, an alligator, and a pumpkin to name a few) all for a small fee of mumbo tokens, and this will allow you to gain access to those otherwise forbidden places.

That’s right, no plumbers allowed here — this time you’re taking control of a floppy-eared bear and his pet bird. And while Banjo may look more like a basset hound than a bear, Kazooie oozes with more personality than the plumber boys put together, and more than makes up for the game’s somewhat disjointed look and feel. Adding in a separate character to control at the player’s leisure is game development genius. While there is a definite “best character” to use in a given situation, the game does allow for stylistic play, and rewards players for using innovative tactics.