4.5/5 ★ – LTVGJoe's review of Banjo-Kazooie.

The problem I’ve always found with reviewing retro games is that it’s difficult to find a point of reference to compare them against. It doesn’t seem fair to compare them to modern titles, especially since they could have influenced the genre, as you’ll be comparing them to games that potentially learned from their mistakes and perfected what they were trying to do. Similarly though, it’s difficult to compare them to the titles that were around when they released because you’re looking at it all with the benefit of hindsight; you know which games were influential, which ones stood the test of time, and which ones faded into obscurity faster than a Call of Duty DLC. With Banjo-Kazooie though I didn’t have this problem, because even when compared to modern 3D mascot platformers, Banjo-Kazooie is an incredible game. It’s easy with the benefit of hindsight to see the games the influenced it, and most of the characters are mainstays of the genre and time period. For example you have the “anthropomorphic main character”, the “cute younger sister”, the “evil but ultimately endearing baddie”, and the “witch doctor character who helps you on your adventure”, the parallels between Banjo-Kazooie and the other titles at the time like Crash Bandicoot are easy to draw. Heck, there’s even an inexplicably ‘sexy’ female character who’s rarely (if ever) mentioned throughout the game until she appears in the final cutscene for "reasons". What sets Banjo-Kazooie aside from its contemporaries though is the focus on characterisation through dialogue, something not many of the titles that rose above the noise at that time actually bothered to do. The evil witch Gruntilda and her good sister Brentilda were particular standouts for me, Brentilda in particular being an amusing depiction of a woman who’s truly sick of her sister’s wicked ways. Where most titles of the time might try to play towards the audience’s kindness, Brentilda instead tells Banjo and his faithful feathered friend Kazooie about Grunty’s time in school at Fat Hag High, and is happy to regail the protagonists (and player) with stories of how bad her sister smells, how mean she is, and how generally gross she can be. This idea of “outwardly cute but inwardly mean” is a motif that’s consistent throughout the rest of the game as well, with characters like Kazooie and Bottles having a habit of dropping surprisingly cutting insults at each other into casual conversation. It even extends to the world design in later levels, with Click Clock Woods being a particularly good example of the “3D platformer” habit of throwing new things at the player in later levels without giving them any time to prepare in order to give some kind of difficulty curve. Outside of this though the rest of the game is so beautifully realised, and has aged so utterly immaculately that this couldn't color my opinion of my time with it. It’s par for the course in recent years to frame old, beloved 3D platformers as “in need of a remake” but honestly I find it hard to say that about Banjo-Kazooie; it still looks, sounds, and plays beautifully, and it’s fully playable on current generation consoles through Rare Replay and Xbox Backwards compatibility. When I look at the issues I had with the game; the wonky difficulty curve that’s virtually nonexistent until the final level throws new enemy types at you that require split-second reactions to avoid of defeat, or unlocks and environmental puzzles being at times unnecessarily obtuse for seemingly no other reason than inflating the play time, it’s easy to overlook the fact that these are hallmarks of the genre at the time, not the game itself. Even the wonky camera controls that seem to do what they want when they want is really an issue that was prevalent in many N64 games of the time, so it doesn’t seem fair to level that criticism against Banjo-Kazooie specifically. It’s plain to see why Banjo-Kazooie is such a beloved platformer, and why it’s considered such a seminal title for the genre. Playing it for the first time in 2023 I’m taken aback by just how much of the game’s DNA has found it’s way into many far more recent 3D platformers. It’s honestly difficult to imagine a world in which Banjo-Kazooie never released, and with the franchise left languishing since it’s most recent entry in 2008 with the somewhat less beloved Nuts & Bolts, I’d say it’s time for the Bear-and-Bird combo to make a comeback. The fan reaction to their inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s final character pack shows that the love is still there for them, they just need someone to shepherd them into the latest generation. Forego the remake dance that we’ve seen so much recently, and bring them back in a new, totally original title. It’s time.