Like many others, I'd heard this game was one of the all-time greats. I just missed it myself, and my cousin only ever played Tooie. So the only thing I heard about this game were praises, and going in I was expecting to have a great time, it is a 3D platformer from the 5th gen (which I'm fairly nostalgic for), and it frequently gets compared to Mario 64 which is a very high comparison. Unfortantely from my ratings, you can see it isn't up to snuff...

Let's start with the positives, because there are definitely positives that I can see people falling in love with this game over. The game looks incredible for its time, and is also very well animated. The only issue with the animations is when it comes to having to use Kazooie's dive attack, as the targets for it have hitboxes that will quickly move out of the way and make you miss from how they move around. Other than that, they add a lot of charm and personality to the game. Speaking of charm and personality, the characters are also all fun. Gruntilda is easily the game's highlight, as her presence can be felt anywhere you go, from the cackles in her lair to her making fun of you in levels just because she can. That her first finale is a quiz show was a blast, I love trivia and things that make you review your knowledge of the game. The music is also very good, especially with how it will adapt itself on the fly to your specific environment, really brings it to life. It's an entertaining world.

Until you play it, as this is where my positives end. That this game gets compared to Mario 64 is strange, as Mario 64 is all about utilizing Mario's movement. His flips, his long jumps, triple jumps, wall kicks, Mario was all about his movement and navigating the courses with those tools. Banjo and Kazooie have a more simplified moveset that doesn't allow for much creative mobility sadly. If anything the learned abilities function more like keys that allow you to access more of an area than allow you to come up with creative solutions to the levels. The last two moves you learn are especially egregious, as they're really just power-ups but nah man you gotta talk to Bottles first. The two movement systems are apples and oranges sure, but Mario's is just much more exciting and involved.

Speaking of "thing should be here but nah you gotta go somewhere else", I wanna talk about Grunty's Lair for a bit. It's a pain in the ass to navigate. The first thing you go to is Mumbo's Mountain where you can't enter it and look over until you find the picture to put Jiggies in to complete the picture and open the gate to the level. Sounds reasonable enough. But it's only that close to the level for Mumbo's Mountian, for the rest of them the pictures and the level can be on opposite ends of the earth. For me the most egregious was Mad Monster Manor, who's level is past the Note Door down the lava area but nope, Picture is nowhere near it. The picture is instead through this underwater pathway in a completely different area, should have checked there first dingus. Also whenever you Game Over, you will restart at the beginning of Grunty's Lair. Now I only Game Over'd once, but this is also true whenever you start the game. Let's just say it's a far longer trip to get back to where you were than it was in Mario 64, even with the shortcuts you can find, which is why it isn't an issue there while it is here. Peach's Castle is much more condensed, so you spend way less time traveling to your key locations than you do in Banjo.

The last nail in the coffin I'd say is the completion requirements for Banjo. To beat Banjo Kazooie you're required to get 94/100 Jiggies and 810/900 notes, so about 93% completion, minimum. If you want to make the final boss less tedious across repeated attempts (you will use resources in this fight) you need 864/900 notes, and if you want a free win you need 880/900 notes. This is especially frustrating when you don't get any hints about what you need to do in the levels themselves. While you can easily find 6 or 7 Jiggies by just exploring alone, that'd only end you up with 70 of the required Jiggies. Insisting players almost 100% your game just to beat it is a bit excessive. I'll admit I opened a guide just to see what the last few jiggies in each area were, but I'd say I found 75 on my own. For another Mario 64 comparison, the game only requires 70/120 stars, 58% completion. This means if you don't like a level, you can just do more in the levels you do like and you'll never have to visit Rainbow Ride unless you're going for 100%. Meanwhile in Banjo, if you don't like a level, well, if you only got 9 in every other level too bad, even if you got 9 here it wouldn't be enough! Go perfect some levels! I would have set it to 80 Jiggies and 750 Notes since Banjo is a different kind of game, but if I were Rare and still insisted the player to at least see every level, then 90 Jiggies and 805 Notes. The higher the any% requirement, the less freedom players have to tackle the game their own way. Only allowing 6 Jiggies to be missed just doesn't leave the player with much wiggle room in a game like this.

The sizes of the levels don't help, while Mumbo's Mountain is good for a starting level, the rest scale up pretty quickly, with Click Clock Woods being huge and requiring you to climb the same tree 4 different times to check for everything. I think at least a Jiggy List that you can find in each area that gives an objective name like Mario 64's stars all have (outside secret and 100 coins anyways) would go a long way. Have that list be in an open spot that the player has to think about how to get to. Something to give the player a hint towards the level objectives they might have missed beyond roaming around the huge levels and praying you stumble upon it.

I wanted to like Banjo Kazooie more than I did, but I still respect the game and what it tried to do. I think if it had some more platforming challenges, the full move set from the start (and still have Bottles holes in places so you can remind/inform players just in case), a less strict Jiggie requirement and some more specific checklist you can either find in a level or in a pause menu, that'd do a lot to help Banjo Kazooie reach the heights I wish it did.