Pros: Massive 3D Metroidvania game, with huge interconnected worlds that you travel back and forth between. This game was the closest we'd felt to one seamless living game world, before "open world" gaming became a thing. Banjo-Tooie is a fantastic sequel to Banjo-Kazooie, especially as a sequel, it follows up the events of the first game wonderfully, carrying over so much from the first. Every move you learned in B-K, you still have, and you learn tons of new moves on top of them. Characters you've met, you now see what they're up to, and they're up to quite a lot! If you're familiar with B-K and enjoyed yourself, you'll get a lot out of Tooie!

The big new gimmick is that Banjo and Kazooie can now separate and split-up, and you can switch between the two for character specific moves, that grant you access to new areas or enemy/character interactions. Or possibly using both separately and together for puzzle solving and triggering key events. It really helps magnify the "Metroidvania"ness of these games worlds, which, yeah, you will be backtracking in and out of frequently. It's a different flavor of game than B-K was, where it was very satisfying to complete each world in one go. Can't do that here, and while I don't enjoy Tooie's method as much, there's still a lot to value in what it brings to the sense of adventure.

Mumbo is of course back too, but this time fully playable! Though he just acts as another key type of character for puzzles and gates. Meanwhile newcomer Humba Wumba does the transformations this time around. And each stage now has their own transformation, and each of them are more elaborate than the ones in B-K were. Favorites among them, a snowball that grows or shrinks depending on if you're rolling over snow, or on volcanic ground. A van, yeah, you can straight up be a van that drives around running over enemies (which is pretty fun, admittedly). But my favorite of all is the giant T. Rex, which is just an invulnerable powerhouse, roaring and crashing through anything you desire (also you can be a baby T. Rex! Good to have the cute alongside the badass). All's this to say, this game is packed with content, and in most cases everything feels contextual and fun, and worth doing (unlike... ahem... DK64), and on top of it all, you still get the charm and wit from Rare with these beloved characters! And along with that is the once again excellent soundtrack by Grant Kirkhope, with brand new stages comes brand new music, and it's all fantastic here! And of course, the visuals are top-notch, expect nothing less from Rare.

Cons: The backtracking is a big ask, and can wear you down... It's especially tiresome on replays, where unlike B-K, you don't really have a good sense of when to take a break or a breather. The game could really use a map. And generally, the tone is a bit less cheery, which ain't specifically a bad thing, but it's another element that can make the playtime grow wearisome.

What it means to me: Upon first completion of this game, I was blown away, to the point where I considered this game, to be the best game ever made. Yeah, I was that into it. In time, my views have softened on the game, especially upon trying to replay it. Banjo-Kazooie (the first game) does hold up much better design-wise, in terms of playability, pacing, and so much more, it's just the perfect game. But I will say, Tooie is still a magnificent sequel, and did everything, and does everything, I wanted a sequel to Banjo-Kazooie to do. And I can't fault it there, it's the game it needed to be for its time, a time before Open World games were a thing. And what a hell of a time it was!