Fresh Review: Banjo-Kazooie
I played Banjo-Kazooie for the first time in 2023 with zero memories of it; I went in completely blind. What I was expecting was a nice, nostalgic relic of gaming’s past. The type of game that is “good for its time” but, when stacked up to modern design, will feel incredibly dated. Instead of what I expected I got a game that is simply “good”. Period. Even more importantly, I gained an understanding of how quickly the collectathon genre of games declined after Banjo-Kazooie established the template.
Every single collectathon that has been released since Banjo-Kazooie added more stuff to collect. More items, more worlds, more hoops to jump through. They took Banjo-Kazooie’s success and thought, “this works, let’s add more stuff.” No developer looked at Banjo-Kazooie and said “the key to masterful design is having just enough”.
Instead of adding more and more items you needed to collect, Banjo-Kazooie mastered the art of letting you enjoy the game, whether you wanted to collect 1% or 100%.
What Banjo-Kazooie Did Right
You are Banjo, a bear. And Kazooie, a bird who lives in Banjo’s backpack. Your sister Tooty has been kidnapped by an evil witch named Gruntilda because she is vain and Tooty is prettier. That is actually the story. Yes it is that silly. Yes we need more games like this.
The gameplay loop is collecting stuff. You have a hub world (Banjo-Kazooie’s house), which contains paintings that transport you to different worlds. Each world has a set number of items you can collect (Jiggy pieces, Musical Notes, honeycombs, and Mumbo tokens). After you collect all of the Jiggies in a world you can unlock new worlds. After you find a certain number of Musical Notes you can unlock secret areas within each world. The formula is simple enough that it doesn’t get boring, but repetitive enough that it doesn’t get stale.
Collectathons exist because players enjoy collecting things, and Banjo-Kazooie understands that better than any game I’ve played. Rather than throwing 50 different items at you and requiring you to find every last piece they subtly remind you there are things to find.
As mentioned previously each world is visually distinct and has a bunch of different areas. Treasure Trove Cove is an island with a pirate ship and an underwater cave. Clanker’s Cavern is an industrial world filled with machines and gears. Gobi’s Valley is a desert world with an Egyptian theme, complete with a Sphinx that gives you riddles to solve. Dire-Dire-Docks is an aquatic world with submarines and underwater areas. Click-Clock-Wood has you explore the same exact landmass you did in the Clockwork Realm, but during Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. This means each season provides brand new challenges.
Fun During The Funnest Time
A big part of what makes Banjo-Kazooie so amazing is how it respects your time. If you want to collect every last piece of junk in the game you can. Nothing is going to stop you. But if you want to rush through it, you can do that too.
Other collectathon heroes Skyrim, Final Fantasy XIV, Injustice 2, and Shadow of War. Few games now demand that you collect everything in order to progress. Most games let you skip around and enjoy the gameplay at your own pace.
Banjo-Kazooie’s transition animations are super cool. In every world there is a Mumbo the Shaman hut. You can spend your Mumbo tokens here to turn into different animals (crocodile, walrus, pumpkin, bee, termite, and dragon to name a few). Each animal has unique abilities that allow you to traverse each world differently. Transforming into each animal feels incredible and suits each world’s design.
Each animal power fits its respective world perfectly. You become a crocodile to smash cracked walls in Clanker’s Cavern. You turn into a bee to fly to high platforms in Click-Clock-Wood. The animations of each animal feel strong and suited to the task you need them for.
Banjo learns new skills as you play the game. Instead of going through menus and watching tutorials Banjo-Kazooie teaches you through its level design. You come across an obstacle, you use a power to overcome it. You find a bigger obstacle you can’t overcome, you learn a new move!
Everything in Banjo-Kazooie feels natural and baked into the world. There are no chores.
Charm, Not Nostalgia
Banjo-Kazooie has a ton of charm. The writing is witty and hits more than it misses. Banjo and Kazooie joke around a lot, but it’s never annoying. The jokes are quick and never dragged out. Since Banjo-Kazooie isn’t pushing a constant barrage of jokes the jokes land harder.
Gags and characters in Banjo-Kazooie feel natural and authentic to themselves. There’s no snarky holier-than-thou protagonist teaching you life lessons. Banjo-Kazooie shows you how to respect your player.
Enemies and bosses have distinct patterns that are easy to learn. Once you learn those patterns you can take your time and figure out the best way to defeat them. Aside from Ice Gobi none of the bosses felt cheap to me. They were challenging because they required you to understand your abilities and the world you were in.
Technical Aspects You Don’t Think About
Banjo-Kazooie looks and sounds great. It’s aged remarkably well considering how old it is. Character animations are incredible. Enemy animations are very detailed. Enemy movements are easy to predict and learn.
All of these small details work together to create a game that feels great. Banjo-Kazooie shows other developers how to respect players’ time.
The Voice acting is great. Each world has a dedicated soundtrack that embellishes the world without overpowering it. Transformation sounds are unique and satisfying. Item collection sounds are satisfying. Boss fight music is epic and timed perfectly.
Beautiful World Design
Later Collectathons Suffered Because They Wanted More
Rare realised they could make more money from you if they stuffed as much content into their games as possible. Donkey Kong Country had a grand total of 42 Chaos Emeralds. DKC2 raised that bar to 64.
Banjo-Kazooie understood that sometimes less is more.
Play Banjo-Kazooie Today?
Banjo-Kazooie is fun from start to finish. I had an absolute blast playing Banjo-Kazooie. The game is a masterpiece of design and is perfectly polished.
The only real complaints I have are that every once in a while the camera gets a little wonky. And trotting sucks. There’s just no nice way to explain how terrible the Turbo Talon Trot is.
Other than that, Banjo-Kazooie is a flawless package.
The graphics are decently aged as well. Pre-rendered backgrounds allow for so much more artistic diversity without overtaxing the hardware. Character models are adorable. Each world has a unique art style that blends seamlessly. Nothing about Banjo-Kazooie looks old because the artists knew what they were doing.
Closing Thoughts
Banjo-Kazooie is everything gaming wants to be. Challenge without frustration. Rewards players that dig deeper. Humor that isn’t forced. Characters with personality.
Instead of learning from the best design philosophy other collectathon titles kept adding more onto Banjo-Kazooie until they strayed too far from what made Banjo-Kazooie so great.
Try It Today
Banjo-Kazooie if you’ve never played it. Give Banjo-Kazooie a chance if you’ve played other collectathon games since and want to see what made them so awful after Banjo-Kazooie. Study Banjo-Kazooie if you make video games because Nintendo truly understands how to make you love playing games.
Rating: Banjo-Kazooie is a 10/10. Please continue reading our guide on The 10 Best N64 Games Of All Time to learn more about great games you should pick up today.
Timothy discovered retro gaming at forty and never looked back. A construction foreman by day and collector by night, he writes from a fresh, nostalgia-free angle—exploring classic games with adult curiosity, honest takes, and zero childhood bias.
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