Banjo-Kazooie

Banjo-Kazooie is the first game in the Banjo-Kazooie series. It was created by Rare Ltd. in 1998. In this game, Banjo and his friend Kazooie must save Banjo's sister Tooty from the evil witch Gruntilda before she steals Tooty's beauty. Banjo-Kazooie was followed by Banjo-Tooie in 2000 for the N64.

Plot
The witch of Spiral Mountain, Gruntilda, is inside her lair, asking her cauldron Dingpot questions about who is the 'nicest and fairest of them all', to which Dingpot reluctantly answers, "You are, mistress". She continues asking, until Dingpot finally breaks his 'silence', and tells the witch that Tooty, another inhabitant of Spiral Mountain, is in fact the fairest of them all. Grunty reacts angrily, and then decides to kidnap Tooty, and steal her beauty. She grabs her broom and sets off immediately.

Meanwhile, Tooty is running around Spiral Mountain, when she is greeted by Bottles the mole in front of Banjo's House. She eagerly tells Bottles that she is going on an adventure with her brother, Banjo. Inside the house, Banjo is sleeping soundly, with his breegull friend, Kazooie, sleeping in his backpack, which is hanging on a coat rack. Tooty and Bottles are still talking, when Bottles spots Grunty in the distance, but confuses her for Banjo (due to his short-sightedness). Grunty immediately goes for Tooty, and a struggle ensues. Kazooie is awoken up by the clamor and Bottles' cries for help and tries to wake Banjo up. Banjo and Kazooie leave their house, only to discover that Grunty has gone off and kidnapped Tooty. Bottles tells the duo that they must venture to Gruntilda's Lair to rescue Tooty and offers to prepare them to fight Gruntilda by teaching them some basic moves and repairing the bridge leading to the lair's entrance. Banjo and Kazooie set off on an adventure into the lair to save Tooty.

Once inside the lair, the two find a Jiggy, which is used to open and unlock levels around the lair by completing Jigsaw Puzzle pictures. They soon find a painting that fits their first Jiggy, opening the first level, Mumbo's Mountain. Banjo and Kazooie enter the first world and find that their quest is not as easy as they had anticipated. They find that they need to rescue Jinjos, who will award them with a Jiggy for their efforts, as well as collect Musical Notes, which are needed to open up Note Doors, to progress through the deeper areas of Gruntilda's Lair. They also meet Mumbo Jumbo, a skull-faced shaman who offers his services to the bear and bird by transforming the duo into certain animals.

The two continue progressing through the lair, gathering Musical Notes, Jiggies, and other collectibles along the way, as well as rescuing Jinjos along the way. They also encounter Mumbo Jumbo and Bottles several times, who continue to help the two by transforming and teaching them moves (respectively), as well as Gruntilda's nicer sister, Brentilda, who gossips about her ugly sister.

Banjo and Kazooie eventually reach Gruntilda but are forced to play her quiz show, Grunty's Furnace Fun. Thanks to the information provided by Brentilda's gossips, the pair complete Grunty's game and Grunty escapes. They rescue Tooty and hold a barbecue back home. However, Tooty reminds Banjo that Grunty is still at large.

Banjo and Kazooie make their way back up the lair until they finally reach the roof with help from Dingpot. On the roof, Gruntilda challenges them to a more direct confrontation and an epic battle ensues. But, with the help of the Jinjos they rescued in the various worlds of Gruntilda's Lair, Banjo and Kazooie defeat Gruntilda and ultimately knock her off her tower. She crashes into the ground, creating a crater of her shape, which is then covered by a large boulder that falls from the tower and trapping her beneath it. Banjo and Kazooie finally take a well-deserved break at the beach, where the bear and bird and their friends anticipate a sequel, Banjo-Tooie. Meanwhile, Gruntilda, whose minion Klungo is trying to rescue her, swears her revenge.

Main Characters

 * Banjo the Bear
 * Kazooie the Breegull
 * Gruntilda Winkybunion
 * Tooty
 * Bottles the Mole
 * Mumbo Jumbo
 * Brentilda Winkybunion
 * Klungo

Worlds
There are nine main worlds, one overworld/hub world, one starter world and three worlds that were unfinished so were not featured in the game. This comes to a total of eleven worlds featured in Banjo-Kazooie.

Main Worlds

 * Mumbo's Mountain
 * Treasure Trove Cove
 * Clanker's Cavern
 * Bubblegloop Swamp
 * Freezeezy Peak
 * Gobi's Valley
 * Mad Monster Mansion
 * Rusty Bucket Bay
 * Click Clock Wood

Other Worlds

 * Spiral Mountain (starter world)
 * Gruntilda's Lair (overworld/hub world)
 * Grunty's Furnace Fun
 * Top of the Tower

Unfinished Worlds

 * Fungus Forest- Could have been where the Click Clock Wood Jigsaw is now. Was inputted into the game Donkey Kong 64.
 * Hammerhead Beach- Only the Beta name of Treasure Trove Cove.
 * Mount Fire Eyes- This level is used in Banjo-Tooie as the fire side of Hailfire Peaks.
 * An unnamed ore mine world. Reused as Glitter Gulch Mine in Banjo-Tooie.
 * An unnamed amusement park. Reused as Witchyworld in Banjo-Tooie.

Game Reaction
Banjo-Kazooie was highly successful when released, selling nearly two million copies in the United States.


 * IGN: 9.6
 * GameSpot: 9.5
 * GameStats: 9.2
 * 1Up.com: 9.2
 * Metacritic: 92 of 100 (Based on 19 reviews)
 * Game Rankings: 91% (Based on 14 reviews)

Re-release
The game was re-released on the Xbox 360 Live Marketplace. It currently costs 1200 Microsoft Points. The game has also been inputted with various items that can be found in Banjo-Kazooie and used in the new game Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.

The game was updated with improved graphics and several new additional features:
 * Fully working Achievements
 * Working Leaderboards that also show Online Worldwide Leaderboards.
 * All of the Nintendo references, including the Nintendo 64 logo, have been removed and some of the logos of Nintendo are replaced with Microsoft logos.
 * Fully compatible with HD.
 * Many bug fixes from the original N64 version and glitches have been removed.
 * A remade Main Menu (The 3 Save Files are still in the game).

Awards
At the 1999 Interactive Achievement Awards, Banjo-Kazooie won in the Console Action/Adventure and Art Direction categories, and was nominated for Console Adventure Game of the Year and Game of the Year. In an episode of Reviews On The Run, Banjo-Kazooie was ranked number 1 on the list of the "5 classic Rare games you should try", beating out Sabre Wulf, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Kameo: Elements of Power, which were also running for the same award.

Music
The music from the game was composed by Grant Kirkhope. A CD Soundtrack was also available exclusively to Nintendo Power Subscribers and sold at Best Buy stores. Two additional tracks were included on the CD that Nintendo Power Subscribers received.

Beta Images
Banjo-Kazooie