Kazooie

"Great, I get to peck some more witch butt! Let's go, Banjo!"

- Kazooie

Kazooie is one of the two eponymous starring characters of the Banjo-Kazooie series, along with Banjo. She is a red-crested breegull who lives in Banjo's backpack, and stays in it most of the time. Like Banjo, Kazooie is also named after a musical instrument, the kazoo. Incidentally, Kazooie plays the kazoo in the start-up sequence of Banjo-Kazooie, although it more closely resembles a bugle. The word "bugle" is phonetically similar to "breegull", but it is unknown if this was a coincidence.

Banjo-Kazooie
Kazooie first appears in Banjo-Kazooie. In the prologue, Tooty wants to go on an adventure with Banjo, which Kazooie also wants to do. When Gruntilda kidnaps Tooty, Kazooie anxiously tries to wake up Banjo, and they start their adventure to rescue Tooty.

Bottles teaches moves to both Banjo and Kazooie along the way. Kazooie has an essential role during the adventure, as she learns to fire eggs, reach higher areas, and fly in the air. Kazooie is rude to most of the characters, especially Bottles, and calls them insulting nicknames.

Banjo-Tooie
In the prologue for Banjo-Tooie, Kazooie is playing poker with Banjo, Bottles, and Mumbo Jumbo in Banjo's House. Kazooie is losing, so tricks Bottles by alerting him that she can see Gruntilda outside. While Bottles looks outside the window, Kazooie steals his poker chips. Later, when Gruntilda fired a magical spell at Banjo's House, everyone escaped except Bottles. Kazooie was inadvertently responsible for Bottles' death because when they alerted him about Gruntilda, he thought they were tricking him again.

During the adventure, Kazooie resumes her rivalry with Bottles via Jamjars. Kazooie often breaks the fourth wall with quotes such as, "We'll have this game finished in no time". Banjo and Kazooie gain the ability to separate once they learn the Split-Up technique. Kazooie has less health than Banjo when she is outside of his backpack. She can run faster, jump higher, and has the ability to hatch eggs. Kazooie's technique, the Wing Whack, allows her to hit foes with her wings. While Kazooie is moving or is in midair, she twirls with her wings spread out.

Banjo and Kazooie manage to defeat Gruntilda once more and spend the next eight years a lazy lifestyle.

Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge
In Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge, Mecha-Grunty kidnaps Kazooie and goes back in time, hoping to stop Banjo and Kazooie from ever meeting. During his adventure, Banjo finds Kazooie imprisoned behind bars in Breegull Beach. After battling Mecha-Grunty, Banjo frees Kazooie, and they reunite for the rest of their adventure. As a duo, Banjo and Kazooie managed to defeat Mecha-Grunty and restore the timeline.

At one point, it is revealed that Banjo and Kazooie met on Breegull Beach, where he found her inside a blue backpack.

Banjo-Pilot
In Banjo-Pilot, Kazooie is a playable character and is available from the start, having low top speed, average acceleration and high handling. Being a standalone racer, Kazooie is separate from Banjo for the whole game (the game's tagline even references Kazooie by saying, "Bear no longer needs a bird to fly!"). Kazooie is the boss of Honeycomb Cup, being fought at the end in the match "Kazooie Klash". During the battle, when Kazooie is flying in front, she drops behind Clockwork Kazooie Egg that act like Single Blue Ice Eggs.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
In Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Kazooie, like Banjo, has become lazy and fat from years of inactivity. In the game's introduction, Kazooie is shown playing Xbox 360 with Banjo. When Gruntilda's head shows up and challenges the duo again, Kazooie prepares to fight alongside Banjo. Just before they can fight, an omnipotent entity named L.O.G. intervenes by pausing the game. He creates a vehicle-based journey for Banjo and Kazooie against Gruntilda.

The duo is then given their first vehicle and sent to Showdown Town, after which Kazooie is made the official keeper of the magic wrench that L.O.G. awards them to assist them in their journey. Kazooie can use it at any time to pick up various items, or to magically summon their vehicle if it is out of reach. At the end of the game, she defeats Gruntilda once again with the help of Banjo, and is made the co-owner of Spiral Mountain as a result.

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing with Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo and Kazooie are playable characters in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing with Banjo-Kazooie for the Xbox 360. In it, Kazooie heard rumors of a racing tournament starring a blue hedgehog. Kazooie helped Banjo fix up the Bolt Bucket and join in the race against Sonic and friends.

When achieving All-Star-Move, Kazooie swings the Magic Wrench in the air to summon the Jiggy Rain.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Banjo and Kazooie were released as the third DLC character for Fighters Pass, and the fourth DLC character overall. This is the first game since Banjo-Pilot where Banjo and Kazooie appear on a Nintendo system.

Other appearances
Kazooie is mentioned in the Diddy Kong Racing instruction booklet, before her first appearance in a video game. In Banjo's character description, the manual alludes to her future adventures in Banjo-Kazooie, suggesting that Diddy Kong Racing took place before the events of it.

Kazooie appeared in the N-Gang comic "N-Gang vs. Nintendo", where she played on the same soccer camp team with Banjo, Wario, Yoshi, Peach, Donkey Kong, and Lanky Kong. Mario refereed the match. Kazooie remained in Banjo's backpack for the entire match.

Kazooie, along with Banjo, make a cameo appearance in the selection menu for Conker's Bad Fur Day and Conker: Live & Reloaded. When selecting the chapters, Kazooie's head is used for an umbrella handle in the background.

In Grabbed by the Ghoulies, a monstrous version of Kazooie's head, labeled "Breegull", appears in the Trophy Room of Ghoulhaven Hall.

In Viva Piñata and Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, there are several references to Kazooie. An accessory called the "Breegull Carrier" that is modeled after Banjo's backpack he usually wears, is named after Kazooie's species, the Breegull. Piñatas can also wear "Kazooie Talons".

In Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise, a statue of Banjo and Kazooie can be placed at the garden.

Physical appearance
Kazooie has red-orange and yellow feathers, green eyes, long chicken like legs, and a sharp beak. There is a tuft of feathers on her head that sticks up.

Personality
Kazooie has a very different personality than that of Banjo's. She is rude to nearly everybody, and Banjo's close friends, Mumbo Jumbo and Bottles, do not like her that much. Banjo is the only character whom Kazooie is never rude to. Her rudeness often lands the two of them into trouble with other characters. She has respect for Banjo, because she stops insulting characters whenever Banjo tells her off. Although Kazooie has been willing to help other characters, she usually has selfish motives, such as expecting a reward from that character.

In the introduction for Banjo-Tooie, Kazooie is shown to cheat at games by tricking others. Later, when Bottles dies from Gruntilda's magical spell, she shows no remorse and makes a few wisecracks about it.

An idle animation in the Nintendo 64 games shows Kazooie poking her head out of Banjo's backpack and pecking at Banjo's head. He is sometimes shown to be annoyed by it and briefly wrings Kazooie by her neck.

Abilities
As with Banjo, Kazooie learns most of her moves from either Bottles, Jamjars or Bozzeye, depending on the game. Kazooie has the ability to fly, run up steep slopes via Talon Trot, fire eggs from her beak and behind, peck at enemies and other targets, gain temporary invincibility via Wonderwing, and whack enemies with her wings via Wing Whack.

In Banjo-Tooie, Kazooie's standalone abilities are demonstrated while she and Banjo are apart, such as hatching an egg. If the duo bring a Mega Glowbo to Humba Wumba, Kazooie can transform into a dragon.

In Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Banjo and Kazooie's abilities were taken by L.O.G., who instead puts them on a journey of them constructing and driving vehicles. Kazooie stays in Banjo's backpack for the whole adventure. She carries a magical wrench, Mumbo's Wrench, which she can smack Gruntbots with, carry objects, and turn pipes. She also carries it in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing with Banjo-Kazooie.

Banjo-Pilot

 * Character stats
 * Top Speed: 2/5
 * Acceleration: 3/5
 * Handling: 4/5

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing with Banjo-Kazooie
"Banjo and Kazooie are an adventurous bear and bird duo, always on hand to thwart the schemes of their nemesis, the rhyming hag Gruntilda.
 * Instruction Manual
 * Racer Profile: "Banjo, the heroic Honey Bear, and Kazooie, the wisecracking red Breegull will race on their weird and wonderful wheels. Can the duo outperform Sonic and friends for the checkered flag?"
 * All-Star Move: "Kazooie pulls out Mumbo's Wrench from Banjo's backpack and waves it towards the heavens sparking a magical light of energy as golden Jiggies rain down."
 * Profile
 * Species: Honey Bear
 * 1st appearance: Diddy Kong Racing (1997)
 * Likes: Kazooie
 * Skills: Plays the banjo
 * Vehicle: Bolt Bucket
 * All-Star Move: Jiggy Rain
 * Description:

''Banjo himself is a big, amiable Honey Bear, polite and well-mannered — in stark contrast to the Red-Crested Breegull Kazooie who lives in his backpack. Loud, sarcastic and rude, Kazooie's inability to keep her beak shut often lands the pair in trouble...''

Together they race in the Bolt Bucket, a quirky vehicle custom-built by their longstanding ally (and a real wizard in the garage) Mumbo Jumbo."

Official website

 * The missing piece of the puzzle is found as Banjo & Kazooie join Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a playable fighter! With Banjo’s bare hands to bruise rivals up close and Kazooie’s egg-cellent shooting skills, your rivals will be singing the blues in no time. For their Final Smash, these perfect partners call upon a flock of Jinjos and the Mighty Jinjonator to deal the final blow to any “feeble jerk” that may stand in their way!

Trivia

 * In a pre-release screenshot of Donkey Kong 64, there is a shower stall in DK's Tree House depicting both Banjo and Kazooie's heads on the curtains. The shower stall and their cameo was removed in the final release.
 * In the ending for Banjo-Kazooie, when Mumbo shows pictures of Stop 'n' Swop items to the duo, Kazooie remarks "Hey, why isn't it called 'Banjo-Kazooie-Tooie'? I'd better be in it too!".
 * In Banjo-Kazooie, if the player holds while Kazooie is talking, she talks faster, making her voice considerably higher in pitch. If done enough times, Kazooie's voice stays high pitched regardless of whether the player is holding . In Banjo-Tooie, although it is possible to speed up Kazooie's voice, it does not remain high-pitched.
 * During the "To Boldly Go... Anywhere" challenge of the Terrarium of Terror's fourth Act in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Banjo mentions that Kazooie's favorite film is titled "The Phantom Meanies", although she doesn't like telling others that fact.
 * Kazooie once won the "Who'd Get You The Best Secret Santa Prezzie?" contest hosted by Rare Ltd.'s official Twitter account. Because of that, designer Gregg Mayles described her Secret Santa present by saying she "would wrap herself up, then burst from the paper, screeching and flapping her wings before giving the lucky recipient a playful peck or three. Then she’d laugh about it until her next chance to do something mischievous".