Oh wow people weren't just overrating this due to nostalgia it's actually good what the heck
What aged well:
- The music. Grant Kirkhope is imo not nearly on the level of David Wise, but I do think this is some of his best work. Charming and catchy.
-The movement. Look, the movement options in Banjo are moreso a set of discrete states that you can switch between, rather than something fluid, dynamic, and momentum focused like Mario 64. That said each of those states does feel good on its own and the rate at which you unlock them is perfectly paced.
- The level design: It's by far the best part of the game and it's frankly astonishing that it's this good. As one of the first "collectathons" Banjo gets everything that makes that sort of game engaging. A wide variety of objectives, worlds that are big enough to explore but small enough to not feel like a slog, and secrets around every corner. For being Rare's very first 3D platformer they set a standard here that would not be matched for several years, from what I hear of DK64 and Tooie, especially not from their own games...
-The credits. Folks, games need to bring back credits sequences where they treat every enemy and boss as a "cast member" and have a big roll call where we get to see all their names and they do a little fun animation. What are we even doing out here in the modern era of the medium that we've forgotten this great joy of the video game platformer.
What didn't age well:
- The last two worlds: Ok I said the level design was great and on the whole it absolutely is but I think Rare's idea of ramping up the challenge for the end was "make one world have tons of opportunities for cheap deaths that make you collect every note in the level over again" and "make a world so huge that it's impossible to figure out where you missed something" and that's certainly not how I'd like to see it done.
-The final boss: Between this and the last two worlds Banjo's biggest problem is sticking the landing. This is just not a well designed fight and relies exclusively on your mastery of the two jankiest moves in the game.
-The camera: I can give a pass on this considering the time it came out but yeah of course the camera is bad lol
-The humor: Kazooie can be funny at times but man this just comes off as mean spirited (and straight up offensive to overweight people pretty much constantly). A bit of it's time as well in that respect unfortunately.
As someone who grew up just after this era and has never really known how much of the mythologizing of Rare (especially N64 Rare) was warranted, this game is the proof that Rare really did have something special going on that translated into 3D. Was nice to experience it for the first time and find it lived up to the hype.
What aged well:
- The music. Grant Kirkhope is imo not nearly on the level of David Wise, but I do think this is some of his best work. Charming and catchy.
-The movement. Look, the movement options in Banjo are moreso a set of discrete states that you can switch between, rather than something fluid, dynamic, and momentum focused like Mario 64. That said each of those states does feel good on its own and the rate at which you unlock them is perfectly paced.
- The level design: It's by far the best part of the game and it's frankly astonishing that it's this good. As one of the first "collectathons" Banjo gets everything that makes that sort of game engaging. A wide variety of objectives, worlds that are big enough to explore but small enough to not feel like a slog, and secrets around every corner. For being Rare's very first 3D platformer they set a standard here that would not be matched for several years, from what I hear of DK64 and Tooie, especially not from their own games...
-The credits. Folks, games need to bring back credits sequences where they treat every enemy and boss as a "cast member" and have a big roll call where we get to see all their names and they do a little fun animation. What are we even doing out here in the modern era of the medium that we've forgotten this great joy of the video game platformer.
What didn't age well:
- The last two worlds: Ok I said the level design was great and on the whole it absolutely is but I think Rare's idea of ramping up the challenge for the end was "make one world have tons of opportunities for cheap deaths that make you collect every note in the level over again" and "make a world so huge that it's impossible to figure out where you missed something" and that's certainly not how I'd like to see it done.
-The final boss: Between this and the last two worlds Banjo's biggest problem is sticking the landing. This is just not a well designed fight and relies exclusively on your mastery of the two jankiest moves in the game.
-The camera: I can give a pass on this considering the time it came out but yeah of course the camera is bad lol
-The humor: Kazooie can be funny at times but man this just comes off as mean spirited (and straight up offensive to overweight people pretty much constantly). A bit of it's time as well in that respect unfortunately.
As someone who grew up just after this era and has never really known how much of the mythologizing of Rare (especially N64 Rare) was warranted, this game is the proof that Rare really did have something special going on that translated into 3D. Was nice to experience it for the first time and find it lived up to the hype.