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Banjo Kazooie Returns on 360

1up.com — "For months (even years), rumors have suggested Rare would be returning to their acclaimed Nintendo 64 platforming series Banjo Kazooie...At X06 this morning, however, Microsoft and Rare announced the series would be returning on Xbox 360 with "new next-gen visuals and presentation as well as their sharp wit and hilarious sense of humor"

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  • flutieman07, on 10/12/2007, -4/+27About time they got around to making this game.....guess I have to get a 360 now.
    • Brutis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14my words exactly, it was one of my top 5 on n64, i don't even know why I started playing it. Couldn't put the controller down though.
    • icantdrawanime, on 10/12/2007, -4/+39Damn you Rare, Dont you dare mess up Banjo-Kazoooie like you ***** up Perfect Dark.
    • championchap, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Fully agreed.
      This is the push i was neading to get myself a 360.

      Till now it was fully just Wii gaming i had in mind.
      Although the 360 live arcade has had me enticed for a while too.
    • ahmerhussain, on 10/12/2007, -12/+3My first game was Banjo-Kazooie. Very amazing game.


      But I think that they should release if on the Wii though.

      It would be funnier if they released in on the n64 though,
    • loudthing, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2All I can say is .... wow.
      This is the only reason that I'm going to buy an Xbox 360.
      (Although, I guess it will match my Wii ;)
    • themastersb, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1Nintendo is losing its 3rd parties. :(
    • maiku00, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3ugh.. this could actually finally get me to buy a 360 :|

      This game would be a hell of a lot better on wii
    • millixaw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"Nintendo is losing its 3rd parties.'

      Nintendo sold off Rare to the highest bidder (Microsoft). After the purchase, Rare made quality titles such as Grabbed by the Ghoulies and a censored remake of Conker's Bad Fur Day. I don't think Nintendo missed them much.
    • potat4o, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Indeed, now I have to get a 360
      I love Banjo, I just hope they don't mess with the game to much and make it appeal to older audiences.
    • Dgen_X, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1yeah but it's Rare...so who knows when they'll actually get around to working on or finishing the game

      though this would put another check in the XBox 360 column (like it needs any more...I'm just way too broke)
  • AhrenBa, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Wow, this is amazing, I absolutely loved this game on N64 for some reason! Now that it is coming to Xbox 360, I may just have to side with flutieman07 and get one. :)
  • LordSkywalker, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3They mentioned this like a year ago. I even remember seeing a scanned list with upcomming game with Banjo on it.
  • taboam, on 10/12/2007, -1/+41Rare hasn't made a good game since the N64.
    • pumacub, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Sad but true, Rare hasn't made a good game since leaving their partnership with Nintendo.
    • Tebixan, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2The only games I know of they've made since the N64 are Grabbed by the Ghoulies (a children's game) and Perfect Dark Zero, which I didn't think was all that bad.

      The problem isn't their quality of games, it just seems like they haven't done anything since MS acquired them.
    • DanteDefiance, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2"Rare hasn't made a good game since the N64."

      OMG that ^
    • pumacub, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8There are a few others, like Kameo, which sucked.
    • Bioshocker, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Rare basically sat out the last console generation. And it shows, tbh. They are struggling to find their relevance in an industry that has moved on. The extent to which they are leaning on nostalgia by putting out long overdue sequels to the best of their output, and their failure to create new IP that gains genuine traction (who hasn't forgotten Kameo or Grabbed by the Ghoulies?) is painful evidence to this effect.
    • iamthewinnar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8The real question is how many different ways can we say the same thing... We get it, Rare hasn't made a good game in awhile.
    • ahmerhussain, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Maybe Miscrosoft is puching them to ditch the whole cartoony and childish aspect of thier games, which were what made them great (aside from their many puns), which Nintendo liked so much about them.
    • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7tebixan:
      RARE remade Conker's Bad Fur Day for Xbox after MS acquired them. Then they did a multiplayer version of Conker called Conker: Live and Reloaded, in the early days of Xbox Live.

      They made Kameo, Viva Pinata, Perfect Dark Zero.

      They've made a lot of stuff since the N64, and it's all crap (well, maybe Viva Pinata is okay, it isn't out yet).

      That's probably why you didnt notice they made any games in this timeframe, because they make clunker after clunker.

      And that's probably not going to change soon.

      Nintendo took MS to the cleaners selling their stake in RARE to them. What was left of RARE was worthless, and Nintendo surely knew it.
    • ArmchairAthlete, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think a lot of the developers have moved. I recall hearing that few people who worked on Goldeneye are still there, I think they split off and did Timesplitters.

      A shame, I've really enjoyed their games for SNES and N64.
    • Dabellah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I am surprised reading through all of these comments and not seeing one about Jet Force Gemini =x

      That game was revolutionary in the action and way it played out! I loved that game from start to finish and there was nothing more satisfying than blowing the hell out of a little alient ant thingy with a rocket launcher. Those guts, they could fly...
  • MordechaiCohen, on 10/12/2007, -8/+0Going from Nintendo to Microsoft? Following in Conker's footsteps, I see.
  • cubiculum, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2"[S]harp wit and hilarious sense of humor"
    ...
    WTF? People find this game funny? Full of "sharp wit?" Wow, they must think gamers have pretty low standards.
  • pumacub, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4What a welcome headline in the morning, Banjo was one of my favorite N64 games.
  • PlasticLack, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I'm definitely looking forward to this. Although I never played Banjo-Tooie - was that one any good?
    • ahmerhussain, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Yea it was!

      But, i liked the original better. The Stop-and-Swap feature was never implemented though...
    • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Not really. The "seasons" mechanism meant they reused the levels instead of having more. It got old having to do every level at least 3 times in order to pick up all the coins.

      Plus the story was not nearly as good and the ending wasn't nearly as good.

      And remember that island in Banjo-Kazooie that they said you'd explore in Banjo-Tooie? There was no sign of it (see stop-and-swap above).

      It was a good game, but it was a huge disappointment. Much like Perfect Dark (the first one), it was all in all okay, but such a huge let down from expectations that you're likely to be unsatisfied with it.

      At least it was better than Conker's Bad Fur Day. Better than all 3 Conker games put together.
    • Darkshine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1There were three?? o_o Heck I didn't even know they made a sequel.
  • afex, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Banjo: the game that everyone loves but cannot explain why.

    must...get...gold...puzzle...pieces
    • andrewrchambers, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8maybe everyone liked it because almost every single object in the game had a set of eyes and an unbelievably cute name

    • ahmerhussain, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Must get Jiggies!
    • iamthewinnar, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Duh-Huh!
    • BassCadet, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I can explain why:

      It had amazing, deep, classic N64 3D Platformer gameplay.

      Why did all production of great 3D Platformers end with the N64? Donkey Kong 64, Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie...these were great!

      Super Mario Sunshine was a lot of fun, but you had to put a good hour or two into the game before it got addicting.

      I hope Super Mario Galaxy brings it back although I am worried control is going to be kinda loose with the Wii controller.
  • pumacub, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6Ok, I just watched the video... does anyone else think Banjo looks stupid? The character model has no, well, character.
    • afex, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2FALSE! he is just as lovable as before!
    • jparkinson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i thought the exact same thing... when i first saw him i thought "wow Banjo looks like he is ***** stoned or something" I can't put my finger on it, but he looks really weird... maybe his brow... that might be it. Either way, i hope that they pull it together for this game, I absolutely loved the original, never played banjo-tooie... i don't know why but i never got around to it.
  • Sirocco, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Glad to see Microsoft is pushing Rare to pump out original IP. Oh wait... they've squirted out a Perfect Dark sequel, they're working on a new Banjo entry, and they're still busy trying to rip off Animal Crossing with their Viva Pinata project, where you enjoy running around with creatures that in real life would be beaten to a pulp.

    Rare is dead to me.
  • andrewrchambers, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5ah the music! man the music in that game was great. the best was when you walked into the snow area in the hub and the music changes very christmassy and cold.

    the best n64 sound that i can remember
  • ahmerhussain, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3WHY DID YOU GUYS LEAVE NINTENDO!!!???

    Rare has made many of my favorite childhood games like 007 Goldenete, Banjo, DK 64, DKR 64, and most of all CONKER'S BAD FUR DAY!!!!
    • jpbleuu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4they left nintendo because microsoft bought them.
  • j.carcinogen, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1The teaser trailer looks pretty cool. I have to admit that that I also want the DOA volleyball game for the 360 too.

    That settles it, Wii and 360 FTW.
  • Vandalizer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Well, ever since Rare's employees split, (There were two splits that I remember; one was when some of the guys went to make timesplitters and the other split was when Microsoft bought out Rare) the games havent been near as good. I hope they're able to bring back the classic feel of this game.
    • andrewrchambers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4and don't forget that nintendo had a lot to do with what came out of the rare building...

      goldeneye wouldn't even have multiplayer had ken lobb not told them to put it in.
    • Indolentron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's just too bad they aren't the same company anymore. If they had the old members on board and hadn't sold out to Microsoft, I'm sure they could do some crazy awesome things with the Wii. I can't imagine a Banjo Kazooie game on the Xbox 360 being all that different from the original two on N64 as far as gameplay goes.
  • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3Banjo-Kazooie was great. But RARE was done for long ago. Even Banjo-Tooie was disappointing. The Conker games (all 3 of them) were even worse.

    RARE lost all the good people who did games like Banjo a long time ago. Now they make crap like Kameo and Conker Reloaded.

    This will likely be just a crappy cash-in, with none of the glimmer of genius they used to have.
  • tizz66, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I *really* hope they do a good job of this. Banjo Kazooie is my favourite game of all time (partly because of the memories I have around the time I was playing it), and I would seriously love to play a new game with them.
  • matariel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Rare is all but finished. They haven't been able to reproduce any of the magic they had in the N64 days. Here's to another Rare series turning to *****.
  • Jassman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Damn, I'm excited about this. Yes, I am aware of Rare's recent failings and the fact that they lost a lot of their talent to Free Radical (the guys who went off to do Time Splitters). But with the original games being about an 11 out of 10 on the fun scale, how can they possibly screw this up? Even if it almost certainly won't measure up against the two N64 games, it will still be better than 99% of the next-gen game line-up.
    • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7See Kameo. See Conker Live and Reloaded. See Perfect Dark Zero.

      They can screw it up effortlessly.
  • keef06, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"Between 2000 and the final acquisition of Rare Ltd., more than 50 people left the company. After the acquisition was complete, at least 30 more left. Commentators have noted that Rare's first Xbox title, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, is the company's biggest flop to date." - Wikipedia

    Rare just isn't the company it used to be.
  • ultimazombie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1All I want to know is if there is going to be an ice key and stop 'n' swap...
  • Covenant9, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1While I'll agree that PDZ as a single player game is a disappointment....the multiplayer is actually a lot of fun as is the cooperative mode.

    Also, I suspect the majority of people who call Kameo "crap" has never bothered to play it for more than half an hour. It's a good game and can be pretty tough at times. It's also quite violent despite it's "kiddie" appearance....you impale trolls and beat them to a bloody pulp most of the time.

    Personally, I still look forward to what Rare can do.

    • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I suspect that you are wrong. I have played Kameo for at least 5 hours. Check my Live gamer card for the achievements if you'd like (mrtheawesome).

      It sucks. The story is awful. The level design is mediocre. Every boss fight is the same!

      And the game feels slapped together. When you're in levels, it feels a bit like Banjo Kazooie. When you're out in the world between levels on the horse it's a straight Zelda 64 knockoff. And then, suddently a fight with a million zillion ogres crops up and you have to duel it out, then they disappear. And if you don't get to the fight in time... you just die where you are, and are instantly reincarnated in the same spot with a new timer.

      It disgusted me that I had to run down all the ice ramps in the (2nd) ice level to get out to the center area to fight some ogres, then had to work my way back into the level and climb up the ice wall again.

      The game is a tech demo. They thought of 7 cool capabilities for a character and instead of figuring out how to make them work together, they just made you switch characters instead.

      I don't give a crap if it's violent. Banjo-Kazooie was "kiddie" and was 10X the game Kameo is.

      And as to it being difficult, there's a difference between being difficult and being annoying as hell. The water boss isn't difficult, it's stupid. You cannot control which way the weapon balls are spit or which way the boss aims. So you have to wait until the weapon balls happen to be in the right spot so you can throw them in the bosses mouth. Oh, and you have to hope they don't just start flashing (through no fault of your own) as you get there.

      That isn't difficult, it's crappy game design.

      Ask J Allard:
      http://www.joystiq.com/2005/12/13/j-allard-says-the-water-boss-s-ked-in-kameo

      (note, digg was throwing a quote at the front of that link for me. Hope it works for you.)
    • icealchemist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"While I'll agree that PDZ as a single player game is a disappointment....the multiplayer is actually a lot of fun as is the cooperative mode."

      By fun, do you mean the worse game ever?
    • RenoKb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"It's a good game and can be pretty tough at times. It's also quite violent despite it's "kiddie" appearance....you impale trolls and beat them to a bloody pulp most of the time."

      Because impaling things mindlessly and beating things until they bleed definitely makes a mature game. Just like a game that is basically a tech demo for brest physics is mature.

      "Mature" gamers need to get over themselves; they're more or less 15 year olds who are too insecure with their image that they can't have a good time. A game with bouncing breasts and orcs getting impaled are not as mature as a game that doesn't try to sell itself on "being mature" and sells itself as "fun."
    • Covenant9, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0HappyScrappy:
      I feel Kameo is a good game.

      Thanks for your detailed run down of why you didn't think it was. Your opinion is valid. So is mine. I would detail what I like about it but that would invite a point by point breakdown of why I'm wrong so I won't bother.

      icealchemist:
      o.O Thanks for that well thought out rebuttal.

      RenoKb:
      I'm still for the life of me trying to figure out your point. I was only suggesting that someone who hasn't played or read about the game might think, based on the look of the title character and the artwork, that this belongs in the same section as "My Little Pony in Rainbow Land" or "Dora's Backpack Adventure". My 5 year-old loved the artwork and the title character but I couldn't play it around her due to the violence.
  • InitialDMP5, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't like the square edged look of the characters now. I remember them looking more round and soft. And their eyes were very big. Now they look like they belong at knots berry farm or something. I'm guessing they decided to make the characters look a little more mature or something. While doing this, they lost a lot of the personality.

    I loved Banjo Kazooie so much when I played it. I remember I got it for my birthday. I played that game for 3 days straight. And I never beat Gruntilda!!! I have not beat that game. I even tried about 2 years ago to try and beat her again, and me and my buddy played for 3 hours and we couldn't beat her!!! we threw the controller down, said "fu(% this game!!" and drank the pain away.

    But I still love the game.

    Rare is going to ruin this game. The whole reason Rare was awesome with nintendo was because nintendo was running the show. No decision was made without nintendo saying it was okay. And if nintendo didn't like something, it would get changed. Normally I don't like that type of control, but nintendo was doing it to ensure an AAA title. See retro studios for another example of nintendo getting its hands dirty to get a game done, and done right.
    • dagamer34, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Ditto on Nintendo running the show. But Nintendo has a new favorite studio (Retro Studios) and they haven't failed to disappoint yet!
  • PoVRAZOR, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Meh... imho the only notable part is the slick drawn room sketch effect, but it's unlikely the game will feature it realtime. It looks to be more cleverness of the CG movie department.
  • jmdajr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Killer Instinct please
  • Krusk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Banjo Kazooie and Banjo Tooie were easily my two favorite games on the N64. I loved Goldeneye, but these two took the cake.
  • peerlink, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I love the background music with the electric guitar, it rocks much more mature game its the game xbox 360 needed to kick it into shape i reckon rare might go back to Nintendo you know :P , anyway... someone said its from kameo, does anyone have this an an mp3 ?
    • andrewrchambers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0the music is from banjo kazooie...
  • Lonecow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I don't know. I was kind of excited, but then I thought, a game based mostly on comedy.... Rare hasn't been funny since Conker, and afte rconker all their jokes are really cliche and LAME. They should put money into good comic writing before they get too far with this.

    Then if that does well... BATTLETOADS!
  • zeejay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'm playing the original BK now on the N64 w/ my daughter. She absolutely loves it. Call it sacrilege, but personally, I think it's better than Mario64 in pretty much every way. All the levels are genius, the variety of moves are awesome, and the music/sound is *still* awesome.

    Count me as another for whom this is the 360 "tipping point." I will now buy one.
    • andrewrchambers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0as i said before the music is imo the best on N64... its just great.

      hear it change when you walk to the ice area in the hub... it just fits perfectly.
  • totaljerkface, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think rare should leave character design to someone else... i hate the characters they create... at least with what's been created since goldeneye. they are unoriginal garbage cutesy characters.

    i did enjoy playing banjo kazooie... but the characters made me want to vomit. a bear named banjo with yellow shorts? who thought that was a good idea? why do i want to assume the identity of this crappy interchangeable character who has appeared with no nostalgic value whatsoever?

    at least when sonic was introduced he had the whole speed gimmick... and a very stylized look and surrounding world.

    i think with conker maybe they realized just how crappy of a character they had that they decided to try and make it edgy. too bad they were still using a squirrel as the main character. a squirrel is at about the same level as a pigeon.

    maybe their next game will involve patsy the pigeon.... who wears a red sweater vest.
    • andrewrchambers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"at least with what's been created since goldeneye"

      hmmm.... i don't think rare can claim they created the characters in goldeneye....

      and the banjo-kazooie character design was fine - they just need to sort out the model on the 360 version
  • yodanation, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Besides Ocarina, The Banjos' were my favorite N64 games. Too bad I'm getting a Wii.
  • 88iou, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Please let this be good.
  • dotdan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Honestly, with the lineup of XBox360 games, I'm more and more tempted to get one instead of a Wii.

    All I'm really looking forward to is Zelda, Mario, and SSB. Zelda will be on the GCN, and Mario/SSB don't even have a solid release date yet. On the other hand, we have that zombie game, the assassin one, new Banjo Kazooie..
  • oligore, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0With rare being owned by nintendo I hope that you can still play Rare 64 the games on the wii's virtual console.
  • Artican, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I weep for the first awesome B-K adventure-style game that I will not get a chance to play... ._.

    And it looks absolutely amazing... though the borderline-realisitc characters don't look quite right... but... whatever...
  • SheepLicker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I hope they don't screw it up hardcore like they did with Perfect Dark Zero, that was an abomination...

    Though most of the original team members are going to be working on it, it should be pretty good.
  • zaybertamer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0well this sucks. I do not want to pay ~386 or ~490 (yes thats tax added. i would have to pay for them as well.) to play banjo kazooie. Shame too, BK would be good fun with the wiimote.
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