Banjo-Kazooie

1998 · Platform · Nintendo 64

Overview

Banjo-Kazooie was Rare's response to Super Mario 64 — a 3D collectible platformer with a bear and bird duo, each with distinct abilities. Nine worlds with 10 musical notes, 10 jiggies, and multiple collectibles each created a dense exploration game with more content per world than most competitors. Grant Kirkhope's jazz-influenced soundtrack was one of the N64's finest.

Deep Dive

Banjo-Kazooie was directed by Gregg Mayles at Rare and represented the studio's most ambitious 3D platformer design. The game's character duo — Banjo the bear carrying Kazooie the bird in his backpack — allowed separate abilities for each character. The game's hub world, Gruntilda's Lair, served as both a navigation structure and a narrative space.

Developer Story

Banjo-Kazooie was developed by Rare under director Gregg Mayles in approximately two years. The game was produced with Nintendo's partnership and launched in North America in June 1998. It became one of the N64's best-selling platformers and established Rare as Nintendo's most important second-party developer.

Did You Know?

Before the final battle, Grunty's Furnace Fun puts the player through a game-show quiz about the adventure — and about Grunty herself.
Grant Kirkhope's soundtrack uses a technique called Dynamic Music — the music changes instrumentation and arrangement based on what Banjo is doing and where he is.
A planned third game in the series was cancelled when Microsoft purchased Rare in 2002 — the series moved to Xbox with Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts in 2008.