From those that revitalized DK and redefined a genre with Goldeneye comes a gargantuan 3-D platformer starring a clumsy honey bear and his snarky bird sidekick. It's Banjo-Kazooie, a game tailor-made for the players who have long-since conquered SM64 and are salivating over the next challenge. Packed with 128-megs of power, Rare ensured that its own imaginative twist on the Mario formula would encompass a plethora of gameplay techniques, richly textured environments, insanely detailed animations, and nine massive worlds with no shortage of missions to complete. The story begins as an ugly witch named Gruntilda kidnaps Banjo's younger sister, Tooty, and plots to absorb her beauty via a dubious machine. Our heroes must rescue Tooty and bring down Gruntilda!

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You start with a lovely tutorial sequence in an area called Spiral Mountain to experiment with Banjo's wide assortment of moves like rolling attacks and head stomps. Switch to Kazooie to try out her own ability array, with several including a spring jump and limited flight unlocked over the course of your adventure. During Banjo's journey, he will encounter Mumbo Jumbo, a playful witch doctor who can transform the duo into various animals to accomplish specific objectives. Progress is based on collecting musical notes and jigsaw puzzle pieces (affectionately called Jiggies) which are scattered around each world and hidden in strange places. When retrieving a Jiggy, the game does not kick Banjo out of the world a la SM64. To the contrary, you can collect everything in a single run per level or bounce out as desired.

Printed in Issue #47, July-August 1998