Banjo

Banjo is one of the two eponymous stars of the Banjo-Kazooie series, the other one being Kazooie. He is a brown honey bear always shown wearing a pair of yellow shorts, a shark tooth necklace and a blue backpack. He lives in a house on Spiral Mountain with Kazooie, and has a younger sister named Tooty. He is voiced by Chris Sutherland.

Most of Banjo and Kazooie's adventures involve them trying to stop Gruntilda from unfolding her evil plots.

Dream: Land of Giants
Banjo was originally planned as a supporting character in the cancelled Super Nintendo game, Dream: Land of Giants. Shortly shifting development to Nintendo 64, the developers felt the main character, Edison, was "losing his edge". One of their considerations for a main character was a rabbit, but they eventually decided on Banjo. Early sketches showed Banjo with a sword and another in a sleeveless shirt.

Diddy Kong Racing
Before having his own series, Banjo appeared as one of the playable characters in Diddy Kong Racing. He was among the characters who responded to Timber's call for help in banishing Wizpig out from Timber's Island. Banjo competed in races and world challenges to decide who can ultimately race Wizpig. Banjo is heavyweight and has slow acceleration, but this is compensated for a high top speed. He also has average handling capabilities. Banjo's top speed without Bananas is 57mph.

Banjo's theme instrument is the banjo, which is also his theme instrument in his own series. Banjo and Conker did not return in Diddy Kong Racing DS, likely as a result of Microsoft's 2002 acquisition of Rare, although the remake's main theme still features his theme instrument, the banjos. Statistically, Banjo was replaced with Tiny Kong.

Banjo-Kazooie
In his debut adventure, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo and Kazooie went on an adventure to rescue Tooty from Gruntilda. Before heading out to save her, Banjo and Kazooie stumble upon their long-time friend, Bottles, whose role is teaching abilities to the duo throughout the game. After learning a few moves in Spiral Mountain, the duo cross over a high bridge to enter into Gruntilda's Lair, where most of the game takes place—from the nine levels hosted within.

Along their journey, aside from learning more moves from Bottles, the duo meet a large shaman named Mumbo Jumbo, whose role is transforming Banjo into another object or creature in exchange for Mumbo Tokens. The main collectibles are Jiggys, which are required for Banjo and Kazooie to unlock later levels. They must also free five Jinjos in each level, and collect Musical Notes to access paths in Gruntilda's Lair that were previously blocked off by Note Doors.

Banjo and Kazooie slowly travel up higher into Gruntilda's Lair as they unlock new levels. After finishing all nine levels, Banjo and Kazooie engage in a final battle against Gruntilda from the Top of the Lair. With the help of The Mighty Jinjonator, Gruntilda collapsed from the tower, crashed into the ground, and became trapped beneath a large boulder.

Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge
However, two months later the witch's minion Klungo transplanted Grunty's spirit into a time-altering suit. Gruntilda proceeded to capture Kazooie and mess up time, preventing the duo from meeting in the first place. But with the help of some Mumbo magic, Banjo was able to give chase, rescue his friend and beat down Grunty a second time.

Banjo-Tooie
Two years later, the witch returned in Banjo-Tooie when she was set free by her sisters and she destroyed Banjo's house, killing Bottles. Banjo sets out with Kazooie once more to stop the witch and her two sisters from zapping the whole island of its life-force to give Gruntilda a new body and hopefully finding a way of reviving Bottles as well as the now undead Jinjo king. Using Bottles' brother Jamjars as a teacher, Banjo learned how to operate with an empty backpack and use Kazooie as a handgun - which was the definitive moment in stopping Grunty for the third time.

Banjo-Pilot
Banjo appears as the main and titular character of the racing spinoff, Banjo-Pilot. He has the most average stats in the game, aside from Mumbo Jumbo. Banjo is the champion of Beehive Cup, where the player competes against him in the end, to a dogfight brawl named "Banjo Brawl". Like the other characters, Banjo drops a different projectile behind him in the match rather than Ice Eggs, in his case, Washing Machines.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
With no witch to worry about any more, Banjo started to fix up his house (but gave up halfway through) and live the carefree life. He ate pizza all day and slept all night, leading to him becoming temporarily obese.

After a while, in 2008, Grunty came back again. But this time, she was followed by a mysterious being called L.O.G., who devised a competition to see who will own Spiral Mountain. With his quadruple-chins and obesity magically removed, Banjo was anxious to earn the rights to his home and got to work. After a long test of vehicular combat, he won the challenge and Spiral Mountain's deeds.

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing with Banjo-Kazooie
Then in 2010, Banjo got word of a racing tournament of some sort. He decided to put his old racing skills to the test, so he and Kazooie fixed up the 'Bolt Bucket' and went out racing with Sonic and friends. The game features Kazooie pecking Banjo on the back of the head and drops Jiggies onto their opponents using Mumbo's Wrench.

Name origin
Banjo's name is based on a musical instrument of the same name: the banjo. Incidentally, Banjo himself is known to be an experienced banjo-player, although the only time Banjo was ever seen playing his banjo was during the introduction theme in Banjo-Kazooie.

Personality
Banjo's personality is very different from that of Kazooie's. Banjo is a well-mannered, sweet-natured, easygoing bear. He uses "Mr." or "Mrs." when speaking to people and generally likes to help people out - which means a lot of damage control when Kazooie opens her fat beak. While he always means well, he sometimes comes off as a bit slow. He tries to say something witty every now and again, but he usually isn't any good at it. Despite his niceness, he can have short moments of being aggressively straightforward when angry.

Banjo flip-flops a bit when it comes to his bravery - at times he will jump into a situation quickly, but other times he acts timid and doesn't want to commit. In all cases, however, he would much rather sit down and have either honey, pizza or a nap, suggesting he is somewhat lazy but he at least does not have the issue of shoving food into their fat mouth constantly while thinking up new lies and imaginary situations to produce. Throughout the series (mostly in Nuts & Bolts), many characters including Banjo's allies have referred to Banjo as "stupid" and "crazy", but this is a trait not shown in other games in the series. The real issue is mental instability and basically compulsive lies, once come to terms with just maybe a happy life may be possible. Also, Banjo seems to have picked up some of Kazooie's personality, as he occasionally uses insults and sometimes makes some sarcastic remarks.

Banjo's relationship with his younger sister Tooty probably hints that he cares for her deep down inside, since he did ask about her whereabouts when she was captured and even accepted the fact that of all the prizes won at the Furnace Fun in Banjo-Kazooie, it was her he was thinking on taking along. Banjo doesn't at all seem to mind Tooty's company at times since he saw no problem when she began her flute solo in the opening.

Abilities
Banjo cannot run very fast and his jumping often requires some bird-enabled help. When Kazooie leaves the safety of his backpack, Banjo can use it in a variety of ways, such as an impromptu sleeping bag or a potato sack, not to mention as his sole offensive weapon. The backpack also seems to have an infinite storage capacity, containing most items with ease. Banjo, being a bear, is an excellent swimmer and has learned how to paddle faster and hold his breath longer. Unlike Kazooie, Banjo has the ability to climb structures and grasp ledges with his fingers, allowing access to difficult to reach spots on the duo's adventures.

When Banjo is paired with Kazooie, he has a lot more skills at his disposal. The duo can perform a Forward Roll while running to attack enemies; Kazooie can use Banjo as leverage to perform the Rat-a-tat Rap; they can fly through the use of flight pads and utilize Kazooie's ability to fire different types of eggs.

Banjo also has access to the powerful magical abilities of his allies Mumbo Jumbo and Humba Wumba. Depending on the game, one of the two will grant Banjo and Kazooie the ability to transform into different creatures, each with its own unique skills and powers.

In Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, the Bear and Bird have forgotten their abilities and instead must battle their arch-nemesis Gruntilda the Witch by creating awe-inspiring vehicles for all sorts of terrain and conditions. With an almost unlimited assortment of weaponry and gadgets to add to these machines, Banjo and Kazooie will no doubt be ready for whatever challenges their new adventures may bring. Kazooie is also given a magical wrench used to smack enemies as well as magically carry objects and turn pipes. She attacks with it from the safety of Banjo's backpack.

Trivia

 * When Banjo uses the Breegull Bash, he can be heard letting out a small laugh.
 * If Banjo tries to jump in the beginning of Nuts & Bolts, he'll cause a small shockwave, causing the camera to shake a bit as he drops to the ground.
 * At the beginning of Conker's Bad Fur Day and Conker: Live and Reloaded, when Conker walks into the bar, Banjo's stuffed head can be seen over the fireplace.
 * In various artworks, Banjo's backpack bears a pin of Rare's logo, due to the fact that Rare made Banjo.
 * In Minecraft, Banjo is a skin the player can use. This skin is most notably used by popular Let's Player and actor Michael Jones of Rooster Teeth Productions and its gameplay division, Achievement Hunter.
 * In Viva Piñata there are multiple references to Banjo. The Fizzlybear species attacks using golden puzzle pieces, an item Banjo collects in the Banjo-Kazooie franchise. Also, an accessory called the "Breegull Carrier" is modeled after Banjo's backpack he usually wears (which can be worn by the Fizzlybear species), and also references Kazooie's species, the Breegull.