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Banjo-Kazooie (N64, 1998)

Banjo-Kazooie (N64, 1998)

Subgenre: 3D Collectathon Platformer (you'll need 882/900 musical notes for note doors and 94/100 jigsaw pieces for level entrances in total!)
Perspective: TP view w/ FP view free look mode (can't shoot in this mode)
​Other: Hub area (gradually opens up a bit more but uses gated progression (collecting and abilities) throughout the game, some minor puzzles and hidden items here as well as some hazards and enemies)

  • Learn new moves and gain transformations along the way which help you reach new areas (can only transform at mumbo's hut, rarely used to reach an item in a previous area (and mainly used in the hub area))

  • Some warp points/cauldrons (can only warp to found cauldrons and there's only a few of them though)

  • Partially non-linear (have to enter the first couple of levels and collect the required moves in order to then enter the third one and onwards - oddly enough you can unlock the swamp level after the first level (mountain) but not get to its hub area segment before getting 180 notes so you have to play the second level (treasure trove cove) first, mostly open-ended exploration-based/maze levels which are also relatively large and time consuming to fully beat)​

  • Can exit unbeaten levels at their entrances

  • Save and quit feature (can save anywhere but it doesn't save partial level progress in terms of notes and jinjos collected - changed in the XBLA ver., only one slot per game, when loading a save you're sent back to the beginning of the hub area/lair rather than the entrance to the level you were at)

  • Note and jinjo rescue progress semi-resets when exiting a level (your stats are saved so if you collected enough notes to progress in the hub area/lair you don't have to go back and get them again but if you do replay a level the items are respawned for some reason so you have to get what you got earlier and then the rest to improve on your previous total if you didn't 100% a category for a level on first try - this gets increasingly annoying in later levels)

  • No checkpoints within levels and collecting progression in a level isn't saved when dying either (surviving is generally easy though)

  • Extra lives system

  • Dropped HP items don't disappear (and eggs shat/shot backwards can be recollected)

  • ​Upgradeable health bar (collect the honeycomb pieces)

  • Can cause environmental changes in some levels (MMX, Wario Land, etc.)

  • No level or hub area maps (the good but not great draw distance makes it harder to spot items by looking around in FP view which leads to some trial & error and the hub area is pretty large)

  • Various required mini-games (collect/eat race, simon says, escort/protect mission of sorts, race, timed memory while harassed by an enemy, board game segment, etc.)

  • Enemies don't respawn until leaving a level

  • Fall damage when falling very far


Playthrough - Video Review - Mini Review

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