Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

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Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts Game Cover.jpg
Developer(s) Rare
Publisher(s) Microsoft Game Studios
Designer(s) Gregg Mayles
Writer(s) Leigh Loveday
Composer(s)
Series Banjo-Kazooie
Platform(s) Xbox 360
Release
  • NA: 11 November 2008
  • EU: 14 November 2008
Genre(s) Platform, vehicle construction
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is a 2008 platform game developed by Rare and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. Set eight years after Banjo-Tooie (2000), Nuts & Bolts follows the bear-and-bird duo Banjo and Kazooie as they compete with the witch Gruntilda for ownership of their home. Although Nuts & Bolts retains the structure of previous Banjo-Kazooie games—collecting jigsaw puzzle pieces to progress—it shifts the focus from exploration to vehicle construction. The player designs vehicles, including automobiles, boats, and aeroplanes, and uses them to complete challenges across various worlds. In multiplayer modes, players can compete or share their vehicles over Xbox Live.

Contents

Nuts & Bolts entered production following the completion of Grabbed by the Ghoulies (2003) and was developed by the same team behind the Nintendo 64 Banjo games, led by designer Gregg Mayles. It began as a remake of Banjo-Kazooie (1998) but was repurposed as an original game. Rare sought a broad audience and, wanting to evolve the platform genre, introduced vehicular gameplay to take advantage of the Havok physics engine. The customisation elements originated from the Rare co-founder Tim Stamper's suggestion for a game similar to connecting Lego bricks. The soundtrack was composed by Robin Beanland, Dave Clynick, and Grant Kirkhope in his final work for Rare.

Nuts & Bolts was released in November 2008. It drew criticism from fans for departing from the Banjo-Kazooie gameplay, but received generally positive reviews. Critics considered the vehicle editor robust and praised the visuals, music, and creativity, though they found some challenges tedious, and some questioned the new direction. Nuts & Bolts was a commercial disappointment, selling 140,000 copies in the United States by the end of 2008. Afterwards, Microsoft laid off staff at Rare and restructured them as a Kinect and Avatar-focused developer.

In the decade following its release, Nuts & Bolts's reputation improved, though it remains divisive. Some journalists reappraised it as the best Banjo-Kazooie game, while others felt it failed to provide the series' gameplay. Nonetheless, its focus on construction and player freedom has been considered ahead of its time, predating popular games such as Minecraft (2011), Fallout 4 (2015), and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023). Nuts & Bolts was among the 30 games included in Rare's 30th anniversary compilation Rare Replay (2015) and one of the first added to the Xbox One's catalogue of backward-compatible Xbox 360 games. It remains the most recent Banjo-Kazooie game, despite fan interest in a continuation.

Gameplay

The player uses a vehicle editor (pictured) to construct vehicles. Banjo-Kazooie, Nuts & Bolts gameplay 2.jpg
The player uses a vehicle editor (pictured) to construct vehicles.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is a 3D platform game in which the player controls the bear-and-bird duo of Banjo and Kazooie to construct vehicles and complete challenges. The player finds or earns vehicle components and blueprints across six worlds to give their vehicles new traversal abilities and complete further challenges. [1] [2] The story is set eight years after Banjo-Tooie (2000). Banjo and Kazooie's archenemy, the witch Gruntilda, returns to their homeland Spiral Mountain for revenge. The Lord of Games ("L.O.G."), [1] who claims to have created every video game, [3] interrupts them and proposes a vehicle-based competition with the winner to own the mountain. [1]

The player starts in the hub world, Showdown Town, a city where they can explore and converse with non-player characters (NPCs). [2] The player uses vehicle components—of which there are more than 1,600 options [4] —to build vehicles including automobiles, helicopters, submarines, hovercrafts, boats, and aeroplanes in Mumbo's Motors, a workshop in the hub. Another character in the hub lets the player purchase additional vehicle parts and blueprints. [2] [5] The player can test drive their creations to determine potential improvements. [6]

Banjo and Kazooie standing next to a vehicle in one of the worlds Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts gameplay.jpg
Banjo and Kazooie standing next to a vehicle in one of the worlds

Like previous Banjo-Kazooie games, [7] the player collects golden jigsaw puzzle pieces, Jiggies, to progress. [1] [5] [7] To do so, they partake in Jiggy Games, time-limited minigame challenges, [8] including races, combat, deliveries, transporting NPCs, and an embedded, side-scrolling parody minigame featuring the character Klungo. [8] [3] The challenges accept multiple solutions depending on the vehicle the player uses and reward a Jiggy to be claimed from a dispenser in the hub. [1] [8] The player receives a trophy for surpassing a challenge's best time; collecting four trophies earns an additional Jiggy. [9] There are a total of 131 Jiggies, [3] and additional worlds open when specific Jiggy thresholds are met. [10]

Nuts & Bolts removes the exploration-based platforming that characterised its predecessors, [1] [2] but the player may disembark from their vehicle to explore on foot. [7] Banjo and Kazooie can grab ledges, swim underwater, balance on tightropes, and jump. They do not retain their traversal and combat abilities from prior games, [7] [11] but Kazooie can use a spanner as a melee weapon. [2] Their agility and the spanner's attack power can be upgraded in the hub. [12] Scattered around the worlds are collectible musical notes, [13] which serve as currency to purchase blueprints and parts. Musical notes vary in value by colour (gold, silver, or bronze). [14]

Players who own Nuts & Bolts and Banjo-Kazooie (1998) on the same Xbox 360 can unlock bonus content, [15] such as novelty vehicle parts. [16] Local and online multiplayer modes let up to eight players compete in challenges, such as races and association football, and battle opponents cooperatively. [17] Players can compete using custom or pre-made vehicles and share vehicle blueprints over Xbox Live. [1] [8]

Development

Conception

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was Rare's first game built specifically for the Xbox 360 (pictured). Xbox-360-Pro-wController.jpg
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was Rare's first game built specifically for the Xbox 360 (pictured).

Rare began discussing ideas for a third Banjo-Kazooie game after Banjo-Tooie's release in 2000. [19] Although Rare generally resisted continual sequels, [20] they knew they were not finished with Banjo, [21] having teased another game at the end of Tooie. [22] Rare became part of Microsoft Game Studios when Microsoft acquired them in 2002 and obtained the Banjo intellectual property rights from Nintendo. [23] The Banjo team wanted the third game to feature game mechanics that were impossible on older hardware, [24] and did not think it was possible to build a worthy successor until the Xbox 360's release in 2005. [21]

What became Nuts & Bolts entered development after Rare completed Grabbed by the Ghoulies (2003), [25] their first game for Microsoft's Xbox. [26] Gregg Mayles led the 71-member team, [19] [27] which included the core members of the Nintendo 64 Banjo team. [18] Nuts & Bolts, Rare's first Xbox 360-specific project, [lower-alpha 1] began as a remake of the first Banjo-Kazooie featuring cooperative gameplay, an idea suggested by Rare co-founder Tim Stamper. [28] [29] However, staff felt the effort it took to recreate the environments would be better spent on a new game and feared that audiences would dismiss the remake as a rehash. [28] [29] They retooled the project and decided to diverge from the series' typical gameplay, believing that audiences were uninterested in traditional platformers. [28]

Rare settled on featuring Banjo and Gruntilda in a competition. The initial concept was a platform game wherein an AI-controlled Gruntilda would interfere with the player's progress. As developing such sophisticated AI would be difficult, they shifted to exploring how to make traversal as fun as obtaining objectives. [29] In a departure from their previous reliance on proprietary software, Rare used the third-party Havok physics engine, and added cars and vehicle gameplay to take advantage of the engine's capabilities. [28] When Stamper suggested making a game like "an interactive Lego set", Rare built a prototype to customise vehicles with blocks and put them in a level they had developed for the remake. [29]

From there, Nuts & Bolts began to take form, [29] and development continued for the next two years. [19] [21] It was the first Banjo-Kazooie game developed without Nintendo, though Mayles said that this did not change Rare's development process. [27] Rare and Microsoft wanted Nuts & Bolts to establish Banjo as an Xbox brand mascot equivalent to Nintendo's Mario. [30] Nuts & Bolts's working titles included Banjo 3, Banjo-Buildie, and Banjo-Threeie, but Mayles chose Nuts & Bolts to appeal to non-fans and differ from previous titles. [25]

Design

Rare developed Nuts & Bolts using a modified version of their Viva Piñata (2006) game engine. [31] They wanted to reach a broad audience of players old and new, [32] with accessibility they felt the Xbox 360 library lacked. [30] They avoided overwhelming the player with vehicle components, made game progression open-ended, and provided vehicle blueprints for beginners while tailoring replay value and the vehicle editor for experienced players. [32] While the team did not feel pressured to match previous games, [32] Rare sought to stay faithful to the series. Mayles and Rare head Mark Betteridge said its humour, characters, structure, and feel remained the same, and they still considered Nuts & Bolts a platformer despite the focus on vehicles. [24] [27]

Mayles wanted Nuts & Bolts to be a fresh start for the franchise in a genre he felt had grown unpopular, stagnant, and in the case of Banjo-Tooie's objectives, tedious. [27] [33] He thought vehicles would make exploration more fun, since he found travelling to objectives was often the weakest part of platformers; the game design grew from this. [34] Mayles expected the new direction to unsettle fans initially but hoped they would come to appreciate it. [27] This approach necessitated larger worlds and extensive playtesting, [16] which took months due to the number of parts and their possible combinations. [35] Game balance was complicated, as the nonlinear gameplay meant each tester approached objectives differently, though the game changed little during its testing phase. [16] Rare also faced difficulty making the 3D vehicle editor simple and understandable. [29] [16] Early editors required players to keep parts attached to vehicles or they would fall. This was changed to make building feel more like a Lego set, so players could see all their parts and choose where to put them. [16]

As with Viva Piñata, Mayles wanted Nuts & Bolts to look distinct. [25] To reflect the vehicle-building theme, Rare designed the worlds to appear imperfectly constructed, with gears in the sky, clouds hanging from cables, and patchwork covering the ground. [9] [29] In contrast, the hub was designed to look real, taking inspiration from the layout and topography of Tenby, Wales, and Saint Malo, France. The designer, Steve Malpass, felt those cities' winding paths enticed people to explore around corners. In contrast to the previous games' modular hubs, Malpass designed Nuts & Bolts's hub as a singular area with different districts, making the divisions between them unclear to maintain realism. [36] Rare initially re-used Banjo and Kazooie's design from the Nintendo 64 games, but thought it lacked charm as a high-polygon model. After several redesigns, the team chose a blockier design with sharp edges reminiscent of an upscaled low-polygon model, which they felt fit Nuts & Bolts's direction. [29]

Leigh Loveday wrote the Nuts & Bolts script, [37] which features self-deprecating humour referencing other Rare games and the state of the video game industry. [38] [39] Loveday, who had not written for a Rare game since Jet Force Gemini (1999), had to balance the distinctive speech tics of the Banjo cast with making gameplay details clear and was required to write in American English rather than British English. [40] Rare used Comic Sans for the dialogue since it was readable on both high-definition and standard-definition displays. [25] Mayles ensured that the script retained the series' humour, and Banjo-Kazooie's original programmer, Chris Sutherland, reprised his role as Banjo and Kazooie's voices. [27] The team considered using full voice acting instead of the series' usual mumbling voices, but Mayles felt this "would have ruined the Banjo charm". [25]

Music

Nuts & Bolts was Grant Kirkhope's (pictured in 2024) final work for Rare, ending his 13-year stint at the company. Grant Kirkhope by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Nuts & Bolts was Grant Kirkhope's (pictured in 2024) final work for Rare, ending his 13-year stint at the company.

Banjo series composer Grant Kirkhope returned to compose Nuts & Bolts [41] alongside Robin Beanland and Dave Clynick. [42] Performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, it comprises rearrangements of Kirkhope's tracks from Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie alongside new material. [41] Kirkhope's new tracks incorporated references to past compositions. His first track was a rearrangement of the Spiral Mountain theme using a real banjo recorded in Pro Tools. He intended the rearrangement to sound "a little rough round the edges, [imagining] Banjo sitting there trying to remember how he played the banjo all those years ago". [43]

The Nuts & Bolts soundtrack was Kirkhope's final work for Rare, having worked there since October 1995. He described composing it as a distressing time. [43] Given the popularity of his first two Banjo soundtracks, Kirkhope felt it was fitting that Nuts & Bolts was his final work. Though Kirkhope had hoped to handle the Nuts & Bolts sound himself, this was unmanageable as he was also composing Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (2008). Beanland and Clynick joined to help compose, and the sound design was handled by the rest of Rare's music team. [43] Sumthing Else Music Works published the soundtrack in 2009. [42]

Release

Microsoft announced an Xbox 360 Banjo-Kazooie game as in development at its X06 conference in September 2006 with an animated trailer but no release date or gameplay details. [44] Apart from confirming in early 2007 that Mayles and the original Banjo-Kazooie team were returning with unexpected elements for the franchise, [45] Rare did not want to show off the game before they felt it was ready and remained silent about the project throughout the year, to the point that in November they had to deny a rumour that it had been cancelled. [25] [46] In February 2008, Microsoft Game Studios announced that the game would be released around the 2008 Christmas shopping season. [47] On its recently created website, [48] Rare challenged fans to guess the game's plot on April Fools' Day 2008. [49] Microsoft formally announced Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts during its Spring Showcase event in May, [50] [51] a few days after screenshots leaked. [52]

During its E3 2008 conference, Microsoft showcased a Nuts & Bolts trailer and provided a demo to attendees. [53] [54] VG247 named Nuts & Bolts among the best games showcased at E3 2008, [55] and IGN wrote Microsoft and Rare tailored the E3 demo to show that it was a natural continuation for the franchise. They felt it retained the series' core elements while introducing "fresh ideas to a genre that has fallen out of favour with gamers". [53] Conversely, 1Up.com was left unconvinced that the shift in direction was for the best, finding vehicles difficult to control and the level of freedom daunting. [31] The game won IGN's Xbox 360 Best of E3 Special Achievement for Innovation award alongside nominations for Best Platform Game, Best Artistic Design, and Game of the Show, [56] as well as a Best Platform Game nomination for their Overall Best of E3 Awards. [57] Microsoft invited journalists to its UK headquarters in Reading, Berkshire to play Nuts & Bolts in September, [58] and Rare released a demo via the Xbox Live Marketplace in October. [59]

The X06 reveal led to excitement from Banjo-Kazooie fans, [45] as it marked Banjo and Kazooie's first major appearance since Tooie, [60] but Nuts & Bolts proved divisive following its announcement. While some observers found the possibilities offered by vehicle construction exciting, the new direction confused others. [31] [53] Banjo-Kazooie fans had desired for the first Xbox Banjo-Kazooie game to build on its predecessors' gameplay, [13] and Nuts & Bolts's departure from the series' style left many angry; [61] Hardcore Gamer said the new direction was seen as "a giant middle finger to fans". [61] GameRevolution said the release "was undeniably defined by the cries of longtime fans feeling as if they had been wronged... it was impossible to read about Nuts & Bolts without hearing how upset Xbox 360 owners were that the game wasn't a traditional platformer". [62] They noted part of the discourse was rooted in console war sentiments, as some backlash came from Nintendo fans who remained bitter over Microsoft's acquisition of Rare. [62]

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts released in North America on 11 November 2008 and three days later in Europe. [63] [64] Those who pre-ordered Nuts & Bolts received the Xbox version of Banjo-Kazooie for free. [65] Nuts & Bolts sold 140,000 copies in the United States during its first month on sale and over 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom by 2010. [66] [67] It was added to Microsoft's Platinum Hits budget game line in January 2010, [68] indicating sales of at least 400,000 copies within nine months of its release. [69] Despite this, Nuts & Bolts was considered a commercial disappointment. [66] [70] Fable II , another late 2008 Microsoft game, sold 1.2 million copies in the United States within the same timeframe as Nuts & Bolts's 140,000. [66] GameZone attributed the lacklustre sales to poor marketing during a holiday season filled with high-profile releases. [71] Though Nuts & Bolts underperformed, Rare was satisfied with the released product. [72]

Reception

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts received "generally favourable reviews", according to the review aggregate website Metacritic. [73] Critics considered Nuts & Bolts a unique experience, [1] [7] [2] which IGN and Eurogamer said would satisfy gamers willing to invest time in playing it. [7] [3] Rare's reputation had declined in the years following their acquisition by Microsoft. 1Up.com said Nuts & Bolts "puts the ailing developer on the road back to relevancy", [6] with Game Informer adding it proved Rare was still capable of innovation. [74]

Critics commended the visuals, describing the game world as big, cartoonish, colourful, and varied. [lower-alpha 3] VideoGamer.com and Wired singled out the hub's scale and quality for particular praise, [8] [77] and Gameplanet and GameSpy favourably compared its visuals to Viva Piñata's. [2] [75] Some criticised its frame rate for occasional instability; [lower-alpha 4] GameSpot said frame rate dips protracted races and buying items. [1] VideoGamer.com said Nuts & Bolts would be the best-looking Xbox 360 game but for its unstable frame rate. [8] Reviewers praised its soundtrack as fitting [7] [8] and adapting to the player's surroundings. [1]

Many considered the vehicle editor a highlight. [lower-alpha 5] Critics found it deep (to the point that Game Informer considered it "a game in and of itself" [74] ), absorbing, and well designed, requiring players to use their imagination and conceive crafty solutions to problems. [lower-alpha 6] While 1Up.com considered this to be Nuts & Bolts's heart, [6] Eurogamer and Wired felt the concept failed to amount to consistently fun gameplay. [3] [77] IGN and GameSpy, though enjoying the gameplay overall, found the vehicle editor complex and potentially limiting the appeal to less-experienced players. [7] [75] GameSpot and GameSpy criticised the vehicles as difficult to control. [1] [75] GameSpy found this particularly frustrating given how significantly the vehicles factor into the experience. [75] The online multiplayer mode and the competition among custom vehicles it encouraged was consistently praised. [lower-alpha 7] Eurogamer said it was where Nuts & Bolts's best qualities were consolidated, [3] and 1Up.com enjoyed observing how different players overcame the same situation. [6] Conversely, IGN thought it worked better in theory than in practice, finding the amount of strategy it required off-putting. [7]

Reviewers enjoyed exploring the worlds. [1] [2] [6] 1Up.com and GameSpot thought Rare made exploration fun and not a burden necessary to find minigames, [1] [6] which GameSpot said was a problem in previous games. [1] Eurogamer and Wired considered the Klungo minigame a highlight. [3] [77] Though they called exploration fun, Gameplanet said there was little to do outside completing missions, [2] and some questioned whether Rare's departure from the previous' games platforming was for the best. GameSpy described Rare's decision to forgo traditional platforming as brave but said Nuts & Bolts did not live up as a sequel, [75] while GamesRadar+ said it was unrecognisable as a Banjo game aside from some fan service. [76] Eurogamer wrote Nuts & Bolts's lack of platforming made its flaws more obvious, [3] while IGN said that players should not ignore Nuts & Bolts just because it diverged from its predecessors and that it was "a great change of pace from the usual Xbox 360 fare". [7]

Nuts & Bolts features Rare's characteristic humour, [76] and reviewers praised its writing. [lower-alpha 8] Game Informer said the writing "deftly blends legitimate laughs with a compelling commentary on the state of video games", [74] and GamesRadar+ appreciated Nuts & Bolts's levity in a landscape full of somber games. [76] Reviewers highlighted Rare's self-deprecation (targeting their failures like Grabbed by the Ghoulies) [3] [75] [76] and jokes about game clichés, [77] gamer culture, and Xbox 360 hardware problems. [3] [77]

Though they enjoyed completing challenges, critics felt Nuts & Bolts became tedious as it progressed, crowded by an abundance of racing minigames that prevented players from experimenting. [lower-alpha 9] VideoGamer.com said the best missions featured "some of the most ingenious next-gen gameplay we've seen", but overall their quality was inconsistent. [8] Eurogamer thought Nuts & Bolts failed to resolve Viva Piñata's problem of a needlessly protracted tutorial that could have been avoided with experimentation and trusting the player's intuition. They also felt the game suffered from repetition, as players could overcome most challenges by simply upgrading their engine. [3] Game Informer and GamesRadar+ added the game required players to spend considerable time collecting items, even while the script mocks Rare's reputation for making such games. [74] [76]

Post-release

A month after the release, Rare released a patch to make small dialogue text more readable on standard-definition televisions. [78] In April 2009, Rare released the L.O.G.'s Lost Challenges downloadable content, [79] which adds 12 objectives, seven multiplayer modes, and new achievements. Completing all challenges unlocks a new version of the Klungo minigame. [80] Rare also ran a contest from December 2008 into January 2009 in which players could share their custom Nuts & Bolts vehicles for a chance for their inclusion in the game. [81] Rare added the seven winners' designs through L.O.G.'s Lost Challenges. [79]

Nuts & Bolts was among the 30 games included in the Xbox One compilation Rare Replay , released to coincide with Rare's 30th anniversary in 2015. [82] The Rare Replay version runs via an Xbox 360 emulator and includes L.O.G.'s Lost Challenges. [82] [83] Rare dedicated one of its Rare Revealed documentaries to the development of Nuts & Bolts. [84] Nuts & Bolts was also one of the first games added to the Xbox One's catalogue of backward-compatible Xbox 360 games. [85] As an Xbox One X enhanced game, [86] its graphics are upscaled to run at a 4K resolution. [87]

Legacy

Journalists continue to characterise Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts as divisive. [88] Xbox: The Official Magazine wrote that it is commonly described as the black sheep of the Banjo franchise. [84] According to Hardcore Gamer, while Rare's reputation had already declined following the Microsoft buyout, it was Nuts & Bolts that "solidified the negativity of the company", its departure from the series' roots seen as a betrayal that eroded fans' trust. [89] In February 2009, Microsoft restructured Rare in response to the lacklustre performance of Nuts & Bolts and their other Xbox 360 games, [90] directing them to focus on Xbox Live Avatars and the motion control-based Kinect peripheral. [91] Nuts & Bolts was Rare's last non-Kinect game for several years; GamesRadar+ wrote that following it, Rare was "continually hit with layoffs, further diluting the brand and reducing the studio's output to minigame collections and the occasional Xbox Live Avatar outfit". [92]

Nonetheless, Nuts & Bolts's reputation improved in the years following its release. [93] GameRevolution wrote that fans began to judge it on its own merits rather than for what it was not. [62] It was included in the reference book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die in 2010. [94] Kotaku , revisiting Nuts & Bolts that year, praised it as a brave game that challenged conventional game design by letting players deal with a problem in any way they wanted rather than simply solving it. [95] Likewise, Eurogamer wrote in a 2012 retrospective that the customisation tools provided versatility that meant it held up well. [96] After Rare Replay's release, GamesRadar+ expressed pleasure players would be able to experience Nuts & Bolts without the discourse that encircled it in 2008. [13] Reviewers said it was among the compilation's best, [97] [98] [99] and praised its unique gameplay. [62] [99] GameRevolution opined that whereas the Nintendo 64 Banjo games had not aged well, Nuts & Bolts still felt fresh a decade following its release, with accessible-but-advanced customisation tools and a script that remained funny a decade later. [62] Polygon said Nuts & Bolts's distinctness made it difficult to remain upset over the shift from traditional platforming. [99]

Some retrospective reviewers have reappraised Nuts & Bolts as the best Banjo-Kazooie game, [93] [62] describing it as innovative. [lower-alpha 10] Its emphasis on player freedom and construction has been considered ahead of its time. [13] [84] GamesRadar+ noted that in the years following the release, construction-based games, such as Minecraft (2011), Kerbal Space Program (2015), and Fallout 4 (2015), became popular, and credited Nuts & Bolts with pioneering customisation technology that later games would incorporate. [13] Malpass and Mayles found Minecraft's similarities to Nuts & Bolts striking. [84] The 2019 sandbox game Trailmakers was inspired by Nuts & Bolts, [100] featuring similar vehicle customisation tools and design elements. [101] Many commentators noted similarities between Nuts & Bolts and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 's (2023) vehicle customisation mechanics. [102] [103] [104]

Not all retrospective assessments were positive. GamesRadar+ and Hardcore Gamer said that while Nuts & Bolts was great when judged individually, fans' dislike was not meritless. [61] [13] GamesRadar+ said it was "a game with an identity crisis", unable to find a balance between continuing the Banjo series and delivering new gameplay, [13] and Hardcore Gamer said it failed to provide Banjo gameplay despite its attempts at fan service. [61] Hardcore Gamer suggested that it should not have featured the Banjo intellectual property. [61] Xbox: The Official Magazine felt Nuts & Bolts came at the wrong time and would have been better received if it was released after livestreaming platforms became popular, due to its focus on clever problem-solving. [87]

In a 2013 appearance on Game Grumps , Kirkhope expressed dissatisfaction with Nuts & Bolts. He felt it was a mistake and Rare should have made a platformer in the style of the previous games instead. He said the decision to focus on vehicles, which he protested, had been motivated by fears a traditional platformer would not sell. [28] In 2019, Kirkhope clarified on Twitter that he considered Nuts & Bolts a good game but believed it should have featured an original intellectual property rather than Banjo. [105] Mayles echoed these sentiments in a 2020 Xbox: The Official Magazine retrospective. While he still felt Nuts & Bolts was a proper continuation of the series, Mayles admitted that "maybe it was too radical a departure. Perhaps we should have taken an even bigger risk by removing the game from the Banjo world and building it as something else". [84]

Nuts & Bolts remains the most recent Banjo-Kazooie game. [61] Despite fans' resentment of Nuts & Bolts, journalists have noted they remain interested in another installment. [106] [107] Former Rare personnel established the independent studio Playtonic Games in 2014 to develop a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, Yooka-Laylee (2017). [108] [109] Additionally, fan requests for Banjo and Kazooie's inclusion in Nintendo's crossover fighting game series Super Smash Bros. led to their addition to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018) in 2019. [110] Mayles' brother Steve said the enthusiastic responses to their addition could convince Microsoft to commission another Banjo-Kazooie game. [111]

Notes

  1. ↑ Rare's previous Xbox 360 games entered development on other platforms: Kameo: Elements of Power and Perfect Dark Zero (2005) were originally developed for the GameCube, while Viva Piñata (2006) began on the original Xbox. [18]
  2. ↑ Score based on 71 reviews. [73]
  3. ↑ Attributed to multiple references: GameSpot , [1] IGN , [7] VideoGamer.com, [8] and Wired . [77]
  4. ↑ Attributed to multiple references: GameSpot, [1] IGN, [7] VideoGamer.com, [8] Eurogamer , [3] and GameSpy . [75]
  5. ↑ Attributed to multiple references: GameSpot, [1] 1Up.com , [6] Eurogamer, [3] Game Informer , [74] and GamesRadar+ . [76]
  6. ↑ Attributed to multiple references: IGN, [7] Gameplanet, [2] 1Up.com, [6] VideoGamer.com, [8] and Game Informer. [74]
  7. ↑ Attributed to multiple references: GameSpot, [1] Gameplanet, [2] 1Up.com, [6] and GameSpy. [75]
  8. ↑ Attributed to multiple references: Eurogamer, [3] Game Informer, [74] GameSpy, [75] GamesRadar+, [76] and Wired. [77]
  9. ↑ Attributed to multiple references: 1Up.com, [6] VideoGamer.com, [8] Eurogamer, [3] and GamesRadar+. [76]
  10. ↑ Attributed to multiple references: GamesRadar+, [13] GameRevolution , [62] Kotaku , [95] and Eurogamer. [97]

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Banjo-Kazooie is a 1998 platform game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. Controlling the player characters, the bear Banjo and the bird Kazooie, the player attempts to save Banjo's kidnapped sister Tooty from the witch Gruntilda. The player explores nine nonlinear worlds to gather items and progress. Using Banjo and Kazooie's traversal and combat abilities, they complete challenges such as solving puzzles, jumping over obstacles, and defeating bosses.

<i>Banjo-Tooie</i> 2000 video game

Banjo-Tooie is a 2000 platform game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 console. It is the second game in the Banjo-Kazooie series and the sequel to Banjo-Kazooie. The game follows the returning protagonists Banjo and Kazooie as they attempt to stop the plans of the witch Gruntilda and two of her sisters, who intend to vaporise the inhabitants of the game's island setting. The game features worlds significantly larger than those of its predecessor, requiring the player to complete challenges such as solving puzzles, jumping over obstacles, collecting items, and defeating opponents. It also includes a multiplayer mode in which up to four players can compete in several minigames repurposed from the main campaign.

<i>Grabbed by the Ghoulies</i> 2003 video game

Grabbed by the Ghoulies is an action-adventure game developed by Rare and published by Microsoft Game Studios exclusively for the Xbox. It was released in North America in October 2003, and in Europe in November. It was re-released worldwide on the Xbox 360 as a downloadable Xbox Live Originals game in February 2009. This was removed from the store in June 2015, two months before a remastered version was released as part of the Rare Replay compilation for Xbox One. The game follows a young boy, Cooper, who sets out to rescue his girlfriend from a haunted mansion infested with supernatural creatures.

<i>Banjo-Kazooie: Gruntys Revenge</i> 2003 platform game for Game Boy Advance

Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge is a 2003 platform game developed by Rare for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance (GBA). It is the third instalment in the Banjo-Kazooie series and takes place between the events of the Nintendo 64 (N64) games Banjo-Kazooie (1998) and Banjo-Tooie (2000). In Grunty's Revenge, the evil witch Gruntilda travels back in time to prevent the events of Banjo-Kazooie from happening, and the bear Banjo and his bird friend Kazooie set out to stop her. Grunty's Revenge retains the focus on collecting items and most of the other game mechanics from its predecessors, but is presented in 2D rather than 3D. Aside from the main game, players can also access minigames such as fishing and target shooting.

<i>Viva Piñata</i> (video game) 2006 video game

Viva Piñata is a 2006 life simulation game developed by Rare and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. The game revolves around the player tending to a neglected garden in Piñata Island, in which different variations of piñatas based on animals must be bred whilst fending off disruptive interlopers. The project was headed by Gregg Mayles and the team behind the Banjo-Kazooie series, based on an idea from Rare co-founder Tim Stamper. Microsoft wanted the game to become a key franchise for the platform, and developed a tie-in television show to accompany the series.

<i>Banjo-Kazooie</i> Video game franchise

Banjo-Kazooie is a platform game series developed by Rare. The games feature a male bear named Banjo and his friend, a large female red bird named Kazooie, both of whom are controlled by the player. Banjo originally made his debut as a playable character in 1997 as part of the cast of Diddy Kong Racing. Throughout the various games, they are tasked with thwarting the various evil schemes of a witch named Gruntilda. The first game, Banjo-Kazooie, was released in 1998 to critical acclaim and was followed by three sequels and a spin-off racing game.

Perfect Dark is a science-fiction video game series created by Rare and owned by Xbox Game Studios. It debuted in 2000 with the release of the Nintendo 64 first-person shooter Perfect Dark. The series follows Joanna Dark, an agent of the Carrington Institute agency, as she uncovers conspiracies by rival corporation dataDyne. In addition to video games, the series has expanded into novels and comics. These supplements to the video games have resulted in a significant development of the series' fictional universe.

Gregg Mayles is a British video game designer currently working for video game company Rare as creative director. He is one of the longest-serving members of the company, having worked there since 1989.

<i>Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise</i> 2008 video game

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise is a 2008 simulation video game in the Viva Piñata series for the Xbox 360. Developed by Rare and published by Microsoft Studios, the game builds atop its predecessor, in which the player tends a garden and the piñata creatures that come to live there. New features to the series include a cooperative multiplayer mode, a new plot, additional types of piñata creatures, Xbox Live Vision Camera support, and two new areas for capturing piñatas.

<i>Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing</i> 2010 video game

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is a 2010 kart racing video game developed by Sumo Digital and published by Sega. It was released for Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, and Windows, featuring characters from multiple Sega franchises. The game is the third title in the Sega All-Stars series, preceded by Sega Superstars Tennis. A mobile version was developed by Gameloft, and released for iOS in June 2011, as a paid download. A version for OS X was released by Feral Interactive in April 2013.

<i>Project Dream</i> Cancelled role-playing video game

Project Dream was the codename of a cancelled role-playing video game (RPG), Dream: Land of Giants, that served as the basis for the 1998 game Banjo-Kazooie. Developed by Rare, it was aimed for release on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), and later the Nintendo 64 (N64). The plot followed a young boy, Edson, who caused trouble with pirates. The SNES version of Dream used an isometric perspective and had a fairy tale theme. After transitioning to the N64, the project became a more complex 3D RPG that had a greater emphasis on the pirate theme. Eventually, Dream was scaled back to a linear platform game in the vein of Donkey Kong Country (1994) that starred Banjo the bear, who became the protagonist of Banjo-Kazooie.

Steve Burke is a British video game composer, sound designer and voice actor. He is mostly known for his work at the British video game developer Rare.

<i>Banjo-Pilot</i> 2005 kart racing video game for the Game Boy Advance

Banjo-Pilot is a 2005 kart racing video game for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) and the fourth instalment in Rare's Banjo-Kazooie series. It plays similarly to the Mario Kart series by Nintendo: the player races one of nine playable characters around tracks, attacking other racers with bullets and collecting power-ups. The game features a number of single-player and multiplayer modes, such as time attack and item hunts. Unlike other kart racing games, characters control airplanes instead of go-karts.

<i>Yooka-Laylee</i> 2017 video game

Yooka-Laylee is a 2017 platform game developed by Playtonic Games and published by Team17. It was released for Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in April 2017, Nintendo Switch in December 2017 and Amazon Luna in October 2020. Developed by a group of former key personnel from Rare, Yooka-Laylee is a spiritual successor to the Banjo-Kazooie series. After years of planning to develop a new game, Playtonic Games initiated a Kickstarter campaign that attracted significant media coverage and raised a record-breaking sum of over £2 million. The game follows chameleon Yooka and bat Laylee on their quest to retrieve a magical book from an evil corporation.

<i>Rare Replay</i> 2015 video game compilation

Rare Replay is a 2015 compilation of 30 video games from the 30-year history of developers Rare and its predecessor, Ultimate Play the Game. The emulated games span multiple genres and consoles—from the ZX Spectrum to the Xbox 360—and retain the features and errors of their original releases with minimal edits. The compilation adds cheats to make the older games easier and a Snapshots mode of specific challenges culled from parts of the games. Player progress is rewarded with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews about Rare's major and unreleased games.

<i>Viva Piñata</i> Video game franchise

Viva Piñata is a video game franchise created and produced by Xbox Game Studios and Rare. The series' first game, Viva Piñata (2006), was conceived as a mobile gardening game before Rare was acquired by Microsoft. It was released on Xbox 360. It launched alongside an animated series produced by 4Kids. The game received two console sequels: Viva Piñata: Party Animals (2007) and Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (2008), as well as a handheld release, Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise (2008), for the Nintendo DS.

Banjo & Kazooie Video game character duo

Banjo & Kazooie are the protagonists of the video game series Banjo-Kazooie, created by the British developer Rare. They were introduced in the original Banjo-Kazooie (1998). Banjo is a honeybear who is accompanied by Kazooie, a bird who is often seen seeking shelter in Banjo's backpack and emerging to perform various moves and attacks. The pair's numerous adventures usually pit them against the evil witch Gruntilda.

References

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Works cited

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