Banjo64
cumsessed
For some reason, I’d always thought THQ had developed Grunty’s Revenge. This made it a ‘don’t touch’ for me. In actuality they are just the publisher, and this is a Rare game through and through.
The premise of the game is simple: in between the events of Kazooie and Tooie, Grunty travels back in time to separate Banjo and Kazooie. Mumbo uses his shaman magic to send Banjo back in time and your mission is to reunite with Kazooie and smash the witch (again).
This game was released for the GBA in 2003 and as such, it can’t compete graphically with the N64’s 3D graphics. However, Rare did a good job with the hardware and the game looks passable even today. The game utilities a semi top down camera angle and pre-rendered 3D graphics and in my opinion, this gives it a charm similar to the Donkey Kong Country games.
In terms of the game play, this was a surprising factor for me and is what drove me on to complete the game within a few sittings. The 8 way directional movement doesn’t feel limiting, it’s actually very satisfying with the d-pad. Banjo can still swim, both treading water and diving where underwater segments are available. The talon trot is here as is feathery flap, they are implemented just like their console equivalents and make traversal fast, fluid and N64-esque. Roll attack, bill-drill and ratatat rap return and make the combat feel excellent. I’m really shocked at how well Rare implemented the core moveset in to this handheld game. There are some negatives, egg-firing is useless in combat and wonder-wing is restricted to specific pads now, but this doesn’t detract from the overall experience.
The actual platforming is solid. Due to the top down nature of the game, there are some platforms which look accessible but aren’t - however it only takes a second to jump and realise this. Once you learn the level, you can speed from one side to the other due to the fantastic traversal. It feels great using talon trot and bounding up hills and platforms.
There are mini-games here, and despite some repetition these are quick, fun and engaging. There are slide based ones where you have to avoid enemies and collect items as they come at you fast. There’s also first person shooter style ones where you have to shoot enemies with your AK-Kazooie7. Fishing mini games too. They’re all good fun.
The transformations are good. There’s only 4 in total, but unlike Kazooie and Tooie you can use any transformation in any world. This opens up really interesting world design where you might need to use the earlier transformations on later levels (e.g the mouse to access a small crack in a wall to access a hidden room). The 4 transformations all feel unique and well designed in terms of their abilities and how they are implemented in the worlds around them.
Outside of the hub world Spiral Mountain, there are 5 main levels here. Cliff Farm (nice and upbeat like Mumbo’s Mountain), Breegull Beech (again, pretty upbeat but a slight uptick in difficulty like Treasure Trove Cove), Bad Magic Bayou (probably my least favourite level just due to the awkward traversal around the swamp and accessing the mansion), Spiller’s Harbour (Rusty Bucket Bay Vibes but it’s a brilliant level) and Freezing Furnace (good implementation of 3 transformations, sees a cameo from Grunty Industries). Like the transformations, its quality over quantity. I really liked all of the worlds. Nice themes, logical lay outs and good platforming, the collectibles guide your way and play on your curiosity. The notes form a loose path of where to explore, sounds obvious, but something that they didn’t implement in Tooie.
The composer for this game is Jamie Hughes. Did he do Grant Kirkhope justice? Yes. The music in this game slaps hard. As soon as I heard the Spiral Mountain theme I was in, but I was only expecting spliced versions of the original OSTs. Instead I got some nice original music:
The game is short but sweet, I got 100% in just under 5 hours. The bosses aren’t challenging, aside from the final boss sequence (which is a really hard gauntlet with no check points). It’s a really nice and pleasant game with satisfying gameplay, level design and a lovely sound track. For me it’s up there ish with Tooie and Nuts & Bolts. Definitely a miniature Banjo-Kazooie (over Tooie) in terms of level design and tightness. If you like platformers (like me) but have never played this I’d easily recommend it.
The premise of the game is simple: in between the events of Kazooie and Tooie, Grunty travels back in time to separate Banjo and Kazooie. Mumbo uses his shaman magic to send Banjo back in time and your mission is to reunite with Kazooie and smash the witch (again).
This game was released for the GBA in 2003 and as such, it can’t compete graphically with the N64’s 3D graphics. However, Rare did a good job with the hardware and the game looks passable even today. The game utilities a semi top down camera angle and pre-rendered 3D graphics and in my opinion, this gives it a charm similar to the Donkey Kong Country games.
In terms of the game play, this was a surprising factor for me and is what drove me on to complete the game within a few sittings. The 8 way directional movement doesn’t feel limiting, it’s actually very satisfying with the d-pad. Banjo can still swim, both treading water and diving where underwater segments are available. The talon trot is here as is feathery flap, they are implemented just like their console equivalents and make traversal fast, fluid and N64-esque. Roll attack, bill-drill and ratatat rap return and make the combat feel excellent. I’m really shocked at how well Rare implemented the core moveset in to this handheld game. There are some negatives, egg-firing is useless in combat and wonder-wing is restricted to specific pads now, but this doesn’t detract from the overall experience.
The actual platforming is solid. Due to the top down nature of the game, there are some platforms which look accessible but aren’t - however it only takes a second to jump and realise this. Once you learn the level, you can speed from one side to the other due to the fantastic traversal. It feels great using talon trot and bounding up hills and platforms.
There are mini-games here, and despite some repetition these are quick, fun and engaging. There are slide based ones where you have to avoid enemies and collect items as they come at you fast. There’s also first person shooter style ones where you have to shoot enemies with your AK-Kazooie7. Fishing mini games too. They’re all good fun.
The transformations are good. There’s only 4 in total, but unlike Kazooie and Tooie you can use any transformation in any world. This opens up really interesting world design where you might need to use the earlier transformations on later levels (e.g the mouse to access a small crack in a wall to access a hidden room). The 4 transformations all feel unique and well designed in terms of their abilities and how they are implemented in the worlds around them.
Outside of the hub world Spiral Mountain, there are 5 main levels here. Cliff Farm (nice and upbeat like Mumbo’s Mountain), Breegull Beech (again, pretty upbeat but a slight uptick in difficulty like Treasure Trove Cove), Bad Magic Bayou (probably my least favourite level just due to the awkward traversal around the swamp and accessing the mansion), Spiller’s Harbour (Rusty Bucket Bay Vibes but it’s a brilliant level) and Freezing Furnace (good implementation of 3 transformations, sees a cameo from Grunty Industries). Like the transformations, its quality over quantity. I really liked all of the worlds. Nice themes, logical lay outs and good platforming, the collectibles guide your way and play on your curiosity. The notes form a loose path of where to explore, sounds obvious, but something that they didn’t implement in Tooie.
The composer for this game is Jamie Hughes. Did he do Grant Kirkhope justice? Yes. The music in this game slaps hard. As soon as I heard the Spiral Mountain theme I was in, but I was only expecting spliced versions of the original OSTs. Instead I got some nice original music:
The game is short but sweet, I got 100% in just under 5 hours. The bosses aren’t challenging, aside from the final boss sequence (which is a really hard gauntlet with no check points). It’s a really nice and pleasant game with satisfying gameplay, level design and a lovely sound track. For me it’s up there ish with Tooie and Nuts & Bolts. Definitely a miniature Banjo-Kazooie (over Tooie) in terms of level design and tightness. If you like platformers (like me) but have never played this I’d easily recommend it.
