If you know anything about Banjo-Kazooie at all, then it’s probably safe to assume that you were either a 80s or 90s baby. If you happen to be a video game aficionado of any sort, then you should also have an idea what Banjo-Kazooie was all about. This platform video game released in 1998 followed the story of friends Banjo and Kazooie. Banjo was a bear and Kazooie was a bird. The puzzle game became an instant and huge success during its time. It became a hit among all ages and all different types of gamers. Here are 10 things about the famous Banjo-Kazooie that you probably never knew about before.
1. Millions of copies
The success of Banjo-Kazooie is reflected on just how many copies of the game were ever sold. In the United States alone, the video game sold about two million copies. Although that may be small in today’s standards, it was more than impressive back in the late 90s.
2. Award-winning game
The great features of the game weren’t left unnoticed by critics. In fact, the game received two awards in 1999. Both awards were from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. The first was for Console Action Game of the Year, and the second award was for Outstanding Achievement in Art/Graphics. The graphics in the game were certainly an advancement from those that came before it.
3. Donkey Kong
Banjo and Donkey Kong came from the same roots; however, Donkey Kong came out first. As a matter of fact, Banjo actually made his debut in a Donkey Kong game–1997’s Diddy Kong Racing. Banjo was even a playable character. Being in this game was a great way to introduce Banjo to the world, but not everyone noticed or paid attention.
4. Honeycombs
During the developmental stages of the game, there were no honeycombs anywhere in sight. The game used a different life system, where you are out after three strikes. The honeycomb platform makes more sense given that Banjo is a bear and bears love honey. Before the honeycombs, Banjo wore extra layers of clothing that came off after each strike. Honeycombs were a lot better.
5. Fans naming characters
The creators of the game from Rare actually gave their die-hard fans the opportunity of a lifetime. In 2000, some fans were given the chance to name three characters in the game through a magazine contest. The three names that came about from this contest were Old King Coal, Chris P. Bacon, and Bullion Bill.
6. All about the Jinjos
The video game developer Rare were quite infamous for the inside jokes among its employees. It was only natural that many elements of the game were based on these inside jokes. The bipedal creatures known as Jinjos were based on an inside joke as well. The first Jinjo was an orange creature based on a red-haired employee nicknamed Ginge–short for ginger.
7. Yooka Laylee
Straight from Banjo Kazooie fashion, Yooka Laylee was released a couple of years ago as a follow up to the game. Former employees from Rare called the game Banjo’s spiritual successor. The game was funded through Kickstarter and rather successfully at that. However, the game was met with mixed reviews after the initial release.
8. Stuffed heads
Around the height of Rare’s popularity, there were many games that had plenty of crossovers with each other. In fact, you could see Banjo and Kazooie in Conker’s Bad Fur Day. The only problem is you actually shouldn’t expect to see them alive; you’d only see their stuffed heads in the game.
9. Gruntilda
If Gruntilda looks or sounds familiar to you, it’s because she’s actually a mash up of a number of different witches. Upon closer look, you could probably see the Evil Queen from Snow White there, especially since their stories are quite similar. The green of her skin is probably a nod to the Wicked Witch of the West, and there were even some references to Macbeth in there somewhere.
10. Limited soundtrack
We all remember the way music was distributed back in the days. We needed to get a hold of CDs in order to listen to music. Banjo fans were even more limited in this aspect considering that you had to be a Nintendo Power magazine subscriber in order to have access to the CD soundtrack. That was 14 songs that a lot of people missed out on.
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