Most of us may have not been there to live it, but we’ll always feel old hearing it: Banjo-Kazooie is a 27-year-old game. It can drink, it can drive, it can make its way into Smash – Rare’s platforming gem can do it all, and this year on the 26th of November was the anniversary of its launch on Xbox Arcade: the grounds where Banjo and buds became classics among our generation.
It could be the Nintendo 64 anemoia talking, but it’s undeniable simply how well Banjo-Kazooie holds up today. For a game approaching 30 and sorely entrenched in our modern-day parameters of ‘unc status’, the game honestly plays better than a lot of its present competition. It goes to show how Rare crafted something that can conquer time or space, era and place, and always be a stellar time many decades later.
For the unacquainted, you might be thinking how this is even possible; look up a single screenshot of the game and you’d find archaic grass textures, crop fields that look like sandstone slabs, and character models that certainly don’t look fresh out the oven. You’d have a point, but Banjo-Kazooie‘s inextricable, irrefutable charm and the clear passion behind the title’s development make its world or art honestly more mystifying than most today, even if its visually rough around the polygons.
You play as Banjo, a well-meaning, perpetually drowsy, banjo-playing bear who could use some better friends, instead buddying up with the foul-mouthed beaky bird Kazooie, nestling in Banjo’s backpack and being overtly, laughably rude to every character in the game without exception. On a quest to rescue sister Tooty from the evil, endlessly rhyming witch Gruntilda and her lackies, the funky faces you’ll meet – both graphically and in personality – really make everything pop, and the game wouldn’t be such a blast without them.
From the near-sighted mole sensei who teaches you tricks, to the polar bear who’d rather sled-race you through the festive tundra of Freezeezy Peak than providing for his crying cub triplets, the quirky critters are the foundational heart of Banjo‘s design as a game. They’re the biggest incentive to explore each level, and their interactions often net one of the game’s many collectible treasures which are needed for progression through the nine densely-packed worlds.
Throw these nine biomes side-by-side next to the modern platformer hits, a Super Mario Odyssey or Ori, and they’re bound to look graphically defective. Still, 27 years down the line, Banjo-Kazooie‘s art direction and creative vision competes with the shiny, new titles on the platforming market to stand out and be worth playing alongside them even now. If you’re the kind to enjoy playing the foundational stepping stones that brought a particular genre to its modern era, you’d certainly be mistaken to miss out on the bear and bird’s hijinx that still has the magical feeling it did decades ago.
Speaking of the magical feeling, sprawling through these (literally) picturesque worlds collecting the near-thousands of collectibles is endlessly engaging, even if the admittedly dated and unrefined swimming or flying controls can cause a serious headache compared to the modern-day equivalents. Every level is meticulously packed with secrets and treasures that are rarely a dud: whether it be out in the open, found in platforming, or achieved through some outlandish escapade, all the Jiggies and Jinjos, bizarre names aside, prove to still be very fun and a genre-standard.
Banjo-Kazooie as a franchise is 27 years old – and its Xbox Arcade rebirth is 17 now – and yet this game still outshines many of the titles it’s influenced in a decades-spanning, console-hopping legacy. Certainly one of the best ‘pick up and play’ games if you want to have a fun time collecting a bunch of stuff, speaking to silly critters and hearing some swell music along the way, and I couldn’t recommend it more. Graphics aside, this may be one of the most truely timeless gaming experiences.
