1. Banjo Kazooie
I played the Xbox 360 Arcade version via Emulation
Quick Background:
This is a game I randomly felt like playing after watching a video about it. I'm 27 years old, so not quite a 90s kid but I have older brothers that were around for this era, so I had an N64 when I was a kid. We didn't have this game though! We only had the sequel, Banjo-Tooie. Banjo-Tooie is a game I've tried to play through a few times as a teenager/adult but just does not hold my attention. Banjo Kazooie I also tried in the past a few times through emulation, but back then N64 emulation wasn't great and certain things in Banjo Kazooie looked rough (like the loading screen transition with the jigsaw pieces), so I didn't end up sticking with it then either. As time went on I was disillusioned with the idea that I would like the game, as it just seemed like a game you had to play as a kid to really appreciate as an adult. Well it turns out I was wrong!
Review
Banjo is a great 3D platformer. It's a really focused package, the levels feel very efficient and don't really waste your time. Typically I prefer my platformers to have a lot faster movement, and in this generation Mario 64 easily trounces this game in that aspect. However I believe that is actually to this games benefit! The slower movement really keeps the pace of the game in tact. Even though you can just ride on Kazooie's back most of the time, which is faster than normally running around, you still have to get off Kazooie to interact with most things in the world (jump/fly pads, attacking, etc.), so you still get forced to play at the game's pace. This gives you time to really appreciate the level design and makes playing the game feel a bit more relaxed overall.
The level design in this game is pretty small, which for the time makes sense. I appreciated this because it really made the levels feel less like whole worlds and more like rooms that were created by Grunty to be a part of her lair. The ways you collect most of the main collectibles, Jiggies, also don't vary much at all with respect to your moveset. Banjo and Kazooie have about 4 or 5 moves that are frequently used to complete all the tasks for collecting Jiggies. While it sounds repetitive, and it definitely is, it also doesn't really get old. The simplicity of it is pretty charming, and I actually thought it was quite impressive how much they did with so little.
One of my least favorite aspects of the game however, was probably the Mumbo transformations. Of the 9 main levels in the game, 5 of them have Mumbo transformations. Most of these are even more limited than your base moveset. Quite a bit more limited, in fact. Other than the bee, they're all only able to run around and jump, and thats it. What's special about them is typically just that they can safely walk across terrain that would damage you in your normal form- or in the Ant's case in the first level, walk on sharper inclines than the Talon Trot. The Bee can fly for free, without spending the red feathers like normal flight, which is kind of cool, but the level you use it is very unique in that it has 4 different variations and you can only transform in one of them. Overall they're not bad, they don't really make the game any worse by being this simple, but I just found them incredibly underwhelming.
I really enjoyed all the levels however. My favorite level was probably Rusty Bucket Bay. I had a great time figuring out the harder jiggies of that one all on my own. The music and sound effects are incredibly charming. The humor isn't exactly my favorite these days, the breaking the 4th wall stuff doesn't really do it for me anymore, and otherwise its very clearly written for kids and I am not one, so that's fine. I also 100% the game! Honestly that probably only added about an hour of playtime to the game compared to not 100%-ing it so I didn't feel that accomplished, but I literally never 100% games (only one time before this) so it was still cool. The final boss is also a great finale, the Gruntilda fight feels really long and I was pretty frustrated with parts of it (the flying beak buster stuff) but I enjoyed getting it done. The Furnace Funtime section was also really fun, I heard about it before playing the game and wasn't expecting it to be that enjoyable but I was a big fan. Really cool to call back to all the old locations of the game for trivia questions, really adds on to that "focused package" feeling.
Great game. Would recommend playing the 360 version so you can play without worrying about the notes penalty on death. Easy to emulate if you feel like looking for it and your PC can handle it.
Rating: STRONG 8/10
Backloggd link: Here
I doubt I'll keep writing reviews this long but I had my thoughts lined up on this one.