IbizaPocholo
NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
Blog: It turns out Banjo-Kazooie was named after the Nintendo president’s grandson | VGC
Before VGC’s launch I was fortunate enough to visit a number of independent studios across Japan – and the drinking establishments around them. During my travels the topic of Yooka-Laylee…
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During my travels the topic of Yooka-Laylee, a spiritual successor to Rare’s Banjo-Kazooie games, would naturally come up, since I worked on it. And during one such conversation, a revelation was uncovered. With the blog section of this site launched, I can finally document it.
Former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi has a grandson called – funnily enough – Banjo Yamauchi. His son is named Katsuhito Yamauchi, or ‘Katsuhi’ for short. When you combine these names you end up with ‘Banjo-Katsuhi’ – and it’s not a coincidence. I know, because the original game’s developers confirmed it.
When I tweeted the story last year, Banjo-Kazooie’s game director Gregg Mayles said of my drunken Kyoto anecdote:
