Gamertell

I just read a lovely piece over at Destructoid about the absolute awesomeness of the original Banjo-Kazooie, and I just had to put my virtual 2 cents in. Writer Chad Concelmo described his trepidation over the new Xbox 360 BK, citing the perfection (yes, he goes there) of the original game, and lists the reasons why Banjo was a better overall game than Super Mario 64.

I’m here to say that I totally agree with him. As blasphemous as that may sound, I really thought Banjo was a tighter, more colorful, and overall, more fun experience. Yes, it had two years to rip off Mario and improve - and I’m prefacing this by saying that Mario 64 was a revolutionary, incredible, industry-shifting experience. I have a save file with all 120 stars to prove my love for the earlier game, but for me, Banjo was still better. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I was in high school at the time, maybe I just liked the goofy personality of the game over Mario‘s more sterile (or you might say pure) design, and maybe I just like huge, massive, expansive cartoon worlds to lay in. For whatever reason, Banjo-Kazooie is still one of my favorite platformers of all time.

I’ve heard a lot of backlash against it lately, at retro gaming sites and on podcasts, bashing Rare’s Nintendo 64 era copy-cat approach. Sure, they made Nintendo knock-offs, but by God, they were fantastic Nintendo knock-offs! No, Banjo and Conker and Jet Force Gemini weren’t revolutionary, but they were ultra-polished and packed to the brim with content. And in the case of GoldenEye, Banjo-Tooie, and even the deceptively Mario Kart-like Diddy Kong Racing, there was serious evolution on established formulas.

In fact, the underrated Banjo-Tooie was one of the first 3D platformers that embraced sophisticated world-bridging shortcuts. The game was perhaps too complex for its own good, but there were so many ways and means of traversing the interlinked worlds (including a level-spanning train, pipe system, and series of caves), and so many puzzles that required creative use of the myriad abilities.

I don’t get the Rare-hate, and I certainly don’t understand folks who poo-poo Banjo-Kazooie - it’s seriously fantastic. As Concelmo mentioned in his post, the music and overall atmosphere are superb - I know this will sound cheesy, but I actually felt very drawn in to the game (like I was really on my own little adventure) thanks to the fantastic music, lighting, characterization, and art direction. I probably couldn’t articulate this when I was 15, but Banjo-Kazooie was one of the first games that really made me fall in love with the idea of exploring a virtual world.

To all the haters, I say “Give it an honest chance”. Should you hate any game that lacks guns and an overall color palette that ranges from gray to brown, I say “I’m sorry” because you’re seriously missing out.

Read [Destructoid]

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