Pros
Varied Levels With Lots Of Charm Put Into Them
Charming Characters
Almost Every Jiggy Is Fun and Interesting To Get
Good Controls And Camera
Wacky Transformations
Lots of Collectibles To Find
Fantastic Soundtrack
The Final Boss Is Great
Stop N Swop Is Really Cool

Cons
1 Frustrating Crocatile Minigame
The Entirety Of Grunty's Furnace Fun is HELL
Collecting All The Notes Is Kind Of Annoying Without a Guide

Jogado no Xbox Game Pass pelo Cloud Gaming. Banjo-Kazooie é um jogo muito especial. A inventividade dos cenários, a diversão das músicas, o espírito de procurar e coletar, o design de personagens, tudo é muito, muito especial, remanescente de uma época em videogames que não vai voltar.

Mas Banjo-Kazooie também é um jogo antigo, com seus problemas (mesmo que a versão de X360 resolva alguns). Desafios levemente obtusos, controles que decidem não funcionar, progressões estranhas.

Podem me chamar de frouxo, mas o mês que esse jogo ficou parado já diz bastante sobre o porquê de eu deixar ele de lado por enquanto. Talvez as pessoas lembrem dele com carinho pela nostalgia, em uma época onde essas coisas não eram problemas, mas o melhor que tinhamos? Eu comecei tão animado, eu fiz o passeio na 1ª fase... simplesmente porque foi o que eu mais joguei do jogo quando criança.

Jogar Banjo-Kazooie e entender o quão especial ele é... só me faz querer que alguém reimagine Banjo-Kazooie para mais pessoas, incluindo eu, consiga entender o quão especial ele é.

Of all the games in Rare’s expansive catalog, Banjo-Kazooie best encapsulates the studio’s storied history. A quirky 3D platformer that represents Rare at the peak of the creative prowess, it was released on the Nintendo 64 at a time when the console was already flagging against Sony’s CD-powered juggernaut. The circumstances of its release, and Rare’s subsequent shift from working exclusively with Nintendo to joining Microsoft, have led the bear and bird to becoming a forgotten duo.

In any case, the creativity here is undeniable. Banjo-Kazooie feels like an indie developer’s fever-dream Unity platformer that was given enough support to blossom into a full-blown, high-quality game. Banjo and Kazooie are as zany as heroes come, and the supporting cast is even zanier. Who thought to pit the player against a crotchety green witch who always speaks in rhyme? And how about the “Game Over” cutscene, which in 2023 wouldn’t get off the drawing board, much less into the final source code? Green-skinned Barbie is so 1998.

Every room is different from the last, and the game always kept me in the dark about what was coming next. But when every level is an experiment, there are bound to be a few flops, and in Banjo-Kazooie the questionable design decisions disproportionately weigh down the back half. Rusty Bucket Bay and Click Clock Wood have finicky platforming bits, with long walks of shame when you inevitably fall and need to try again. Then there’s Grunty’s Furnace Fun, the final stage, whose name that’s only two-thirds true. It feels like a throwback to NES-era game design, with the bonus addition of guide-proof trivia questions thrown in just for kicks. I didn’t much enjoy it, though I admit I felt a small sense of satisfaction upon passing it and then laying the smackdown on the final boss.

While these sections are annoying in a modern context, one in which I have thousands of games to play and not enough time to play them, I suspect if I went back in time to 1998 I’d feel differently. Nintendo 64 game carts were expensive, and for a kid with just a couple of them, Banjo-Kazooie’s level of difficulty would’ve been a godsend, providing extra hours of fun. Although many players gave up before reaching the true ending, the good vibes they felt while dashing, jumping, and flying around the game’s lovingly crafted levels were crystalized in their memories for decades to come.

As I write this review, it’s already been over a week since I finished Banjo-Kazooie. Yet even now, with my playthrough not even a month behind me, I can already feel my recollections of the game growing fonder. Frustration fades away and only fond impressions of pure creative exuberance remain. Perhaps this explains why everyone thought Yooka-Laylee was a good idea until they didn’t.

Everything in the world of BK is so charming and alive. I wish Rare continued making games in this same joyful and colorful theme. Sadly, I didn't hear good things about the sequel but I might give it a try one day, who knows. Furnace Fun wasn't a good time for me, it heavily punishes people returning to the game after a long break, so I had to cheese my way through by looking up the wiki for answers (I feel bad for this). As for the final boss, it was probably the most fun and difficult boss fight I have ever played in a platformer. The game was so fun to play from start to finish. Highly recommended :)

Your sister, Tooty, has been kidnapped by the nefarious witch Gruntilda. It's up to you, Banjo, and your trusted, but surprisingly bitter companion Kazooie, to save her from having her beauty stolen. The only thing in your way? Gruntilda's luxurious lair, decorated with portals to multiple realms you must plunder for resources to reach your sister.

Man oh man do I wish that I'd played Banjo-Kazooie when I had a lot more patience for 3D Platformers that expect precision movements. I found that I myself was the biggest obstacle between myself and enjoying this touched up Nintendo 64 classic. It's a wonderfully designed collectathon platformer with 9 levels filled to the brim with a variety of objectives, collectibles, and new abilities to enrich your journey through Gruntilda's lair.

But.

It's also a 90s 3D Platformer. That means you have to wrangle with the camera, deal with a host of imprecise controls that become barriers to progress (I'm looking at you, swimming and flying controls), and some pretty obscure objectives that require you to make pretty large leaps in logic to complete. Especially in the latter half of the game's 9 massive playground-esque levels, I hit multiple walls where I really ended up scraping against every bit of the terrain in order to find some basic progress. You also have limited lives, and losing them sends you all the way back to not just the beginning of the level you're working on, but to the beginning of Gruntilda's lair. Every time something a poor choice or cheap mechanic led to the loss of all of my lives I could feel my blood pressure rising. Man.

Beyond my grievances however, is a colorful, huge game that really encourages you to dig in and explore everything it has to offer. Every level introduces new objects to engage with and a slew of new moves and new ways to convince you engage with older moves as you run, jump, and climb your way through each of the 9 levels. Not all of the level design is intuitive within the game's limited camera control and movement, but its a richly designed experience that's every bit as creative and interesting as its contemporaries; I found myself reflecting on my relationship with the later entries in the Spyro trilogy which are two games that definitely take a similar approach in collecting and objective driven gameplay to Banjo Kazooie. I love those games.

So why don't I love Banjo-Kazooie?

Well. I played them Spyro games when I was all of about 8 years old. My relationship with those games goes back an entire generation at this point. It's aged like a fine wine.

I played Banjo-Kazooie as a 27 year old. 27 year old had a pretty bad time. I yelled. Hooted. Hollered. Cheered when it was over. Because of course I did - I don't find as much fun in repetition as someone experiencing it for the first time as a child does. As someone who has that deep connection with it that goes back years. 27 year old me probably rates this a solid 2.5 stars; removing myself and looking at Banjo-Kazooie from the top down and understanding its target audience and its existence over time make its a far more engaging experience.

Banjo-Kazooie is pretty good.