Banjo Kazooie
When I was a wee lad of somewhere between 6 and 8 years old, My sister and I received a Christmas present that would change my life forever. A Nintendo 64, but not just any Nintendo 64, one that came with a grey controller AND an Atomic Purple controller. But wait, theres more! It also came packaged with Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie, which are still two of my favourite games to this day, over twenty years later.
I have played through Banjo Kazooie more times than I can count, and every time I do, I enjoy it just as much as the last. Theres something about this game I find so replayable, I'm not sure if it's the charming characters, the fluid movement system, or just that damn catching jingle when you collect a Jiggy, but something keeps me coming back time and time again.
Have you ever had one of those weird memory connections between two seemingly unrelated things? Well, if you're unsure what I mean, whenever I smell a quiche, I think of the room with the entrance to Clankers Cavern. You know the one with the pipe you need to raise up by hitting a switch, that lets you cross the water to get over to the level entrance. Why does quiche make me thing of that? I don't really know, brains are weird. Once when I was a kid my parents were having a party for something, I feel like it might have been new years, but I'm not sure. Anyway, mum made mini quiche's, I was in my room playing Banjo Kazooie, just before I went into Clankers Cavern, Mum brought in a plate with a few mini quiche's for me, because she knows I love them, and would have been bummed if I missed out on having any. I sat in my room listening to the Gruntildas Lair theme song looping staring at the entrance to Clankers Cavern as I devoured those mini quiche. Now the smell of a quiche is enough to bring that memory flooding back, funny how something so inconsequential can stick with you for seemingly no reason.
Banjo Kazooie’s story is, well it’s nothing special really. Your basic damsel in distress plot, except instead of a love interest it’s your sister. I’ll give Rare credit, it’s a little more involved than the old Mario plots of princess captured for…. reasons, go, save her. The games antagonist, Gruntilda actually has her reasons for kidnapping Banjo’s little sister Tooty. Being a witch, she has some unexplained power to be able to steal the beauty of another, after being told by her mystical cauldron Dingpot, that the prettiest person in all the land is Tooty, Gruntilda kidnaps her with plans to syphon her beauty to make herself the most beautiful of all. it's barebones, but it serves as a good enough plot to kick off one of the most enjoyable adventures I experienced as a child in the world of video games.
Honestly, I don't even know what the point of this review is, or what I want to say. I just really love Banjo Kazooie. The sassy back and forth banter between Kazooie and Bottles throughout the game always gives me a chuckle, Kazooie is just the epitome of sass. The layout of the levels is meticulously planned out, leaving such a lasting impression on me, I can just about picture the entire layout of every level in the game just in my head, which is no easy feat for me, as I don't have a very visual imagination at all. The music! Oh lawdy lawd the music! Grant Kirkhope did a phenominal job on the soundtrack, it will forever be one of my all time favourite video game soundtracks. Every levels music fits the vibe perfectly. Jumping into the water in Treasure Trove Cove for the first time and hearing the tense rythmic music as Snacker the shark faded into view gave me a sense of dread I had never felt before, and that never really stopped happening. I replayed the game last year and at 30 years of age still felt my chest tighten and my heartbeat increase a few bpm as I hopped in the water to grab that elusive blue jiggy under the dock and my ears were filled once again with that tune. ugh! it's just SO GOOD!
Anyway, I don't really know what else to write, I might come back to this another time and tidy it up, add some more thoughts. I just really wanted to write this as a way to get the ball rolling on my shorter written reviews for the new website. If you haven't played Banjo Kazooie, or if you've not replayed it in a long time, do yourself a favour and set aside an afternoon to sit down and enjoy this masterpiece of 90's 3D platforming. You won't regret it.
9.5/10
Published on: March 13, 2024