Difference between revisions of "Banjo-Tooie"

''Banjo-Tooie'' takes place after the events of ''[[Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge]]'', chronologically placing it as the third title of the series. ''Banjo-Tooie'' also takes place two years after the events of ''Banjo-Kazooie''. In it, [[Mingella]] and [[Blobbelda]] free [[Gruntilda]] from the boulder she was trapped under, and they then attempt to help Grunty recover from her skeletal appearance with their [[Big-O-Blaster]] invention, which sucks the life from characters and objects in the [[Isle o' Hags]]. Banjo and Kazooie go on an adventure to stop Grunty and her sisters. ''Banjo-Tooie'' has a more cynical tone than its predecessor and introduced darker elements to the series, such [[Bottles]]'s death.

On a dark and stormy night, two years after Gruntilda's defeat, [[Klungo]] continues his ongoing two-year effort to free''' ''' the witch from beneath the boulder that crushed her following the final battle with Banjo & Kazooie in the previous game. Meanwhile, Banjo, Kazooie, [[Bottles]], and [[Mumbo Jumbo]] are playing poker together at Banjo's House, with Kazooie constantly cheating, such as claiming Grunty's return so that she could steal some poker chips.

Suddenly, [[Spiral Mountain]] experiences tremors like that of an earthquake, which disrupts Banjo and friends' game. The tremors were caused by a massive digging machine called the [[Hag 1]], piloted by Grunty's sisters, [[Mingella]] and [[Blobbelda]], who have come to rescue their sister. After the quake, Banjo says someone should go investigate. Kazooie claims to be too scared, so Mumbo bravely decides to go. Kazooie then reveals she was faking so she can steal some of his chips.

 

The skeletal Grunty runs after him, firing spells rapidly. Upon reaching the house, Mumbo rushes inside to warn Banjo, Kazooie and Bottles. Grunty then starts charging a powerful spell to destroy them all. Banjo & Kazooie see Gruntilda, and leave at once with Mumbo, but Bottles, believing it to be another trick, stays put and ends up getting obliterated along with the house. The witch sisters then leave Spiral Mountain in the Hag 1, heading for their castle, leaving behind some minions to destroy the area as well as Klungo.

 

The next morning, Banjo, Kazooie and Mumbo observe the damaged state of Spiral Mountain and their house. They witness Bottles crawling out of the ruins, dying and becoming a ghost. Mumbo is outraged by this turn of events and swears revenge. He tells Banjo and Kazooie to go after the witch before leaving behind the duo. Kazooie is excited to have another chance to beat Grunty again, but Banjo worries that this new adventure will not be as easy as the last one.

 

The duo follow the Hag 1's tracks into a cave, encountering Klungo, who attempts to impede them. After defeating the dim servant, who leaves to be violently punished by Grunty, they continute following the Hag 1's trails, leading them through various areas of the [[Isle O' Hags]], the island on which Spiral Mountain & Grunty's lair is located, and the game's hub world. They arrive in Jinjo Village, where the Hag 1 has also caused trouble, flattening the house of the grey [[Jinjo]] family (one of the ten families residing in the village), and killing them. Banjo and Kazooie continue on, to the Royal Jinjo Palace, where [[King Jingaling]], resides. The ravaging of Hag 1 scared the jinjos off, and King Jingaling requests the duo's help in gathering them back in the village. He informs them of [[Master Jiggywiggy]] and the ancient order of the Crystal Jiggy, which is crucial to their quest. He then gives them a [[Jiggy]] to help them get started, and opens a secret passage to the Isle O' Hags.

 

While Banjo & Kazooie stop to discuss the encounter, Gruntilda and her sisters have arrived at [[Cauldron Keep]], their lair. Mingella and Blobbelda introduces the [[B.O.B.]], Big O' Blaster, which can suck the life force out of any living thing. They intend to store large amounts of life force in a tank, and have Grunty shower in it, restoring her old body. Grunty decides to steal King Jingaling's life-force, as he just helped Banjo and Kazooie, and decides to deal with the rest of the Isle later. A beam is fired, making Jingaling's golden palace dead as a rock, and turning Jingaling into a zombie. Grunty reassures her sisters that with Bottles dead and Jingaling zombified, Banjo has no hope of reaching Cauldron Keep in time. Banjo and Kazooie, still outside the palace, narrowly miss the beam, and realize that the situation is much more desperate then previously anticipated.

 

They continue to Bottle's house, where his family are waiting for him. Kazooie has no problem telling the family about Bottle's death, but Banjo convinces her not to. Using the passageway King Jingaling opened, they make their way to the Isle O' Hags.

 

The two soon find the (closed) entrance to the first level, [[Mayahem Temple]], and Master Jiggywiggy's sacred temple. They learn that Jiggywiggy is a powerful sorcerer (with a Jiggy-shaped head), who will help them on their adventure by opening worlds, but they need to gather jiggies to prove themselves worthy. With the first Jiggy at hand, they can start, and Mayahem Temple is opened.

 

On their journey they collect a total of 90 Jiggies, and receive help from old and new friends. They often stumble upon Mumbo's hut, where he agrees to go out and use his magic to solve puzzles and open passages for them. They also encounter Drill Sergeant [[Jamjars]], Bottles' military brother, who agrees to teach the duo new attacks (if, of course, they can present the proper number of [[Musical Notes|musical notes]]). They also meet [[Humba Wumba]], a female shaman and Mumbo's arch-rival, who requests magical [[Glowbo]]s in exchange for transforming Banjo and Kazooie into something else (thus taking on the role Mumbo had in ''Banjo-Kazooie'').

 

 

Finally, the pair reaches Cauldron Keep. After facing her henchman Klungo for the last time, Grunty traps the duo in her "[[Tower of Tragedy]]" quiz, where where she asks a series of questions based on the Banjo's current adventure (much like in [[Grunty's Furnace Fun]]), but only ends up mercilessly killing off her sisters for losing. After surviving the lethal game show, they hurry upstairs to reverse the effects of B.O.B., thus reviving Bottles and Jingaling.

 

They then rush to the top of the tower and face off against Grunty with both her magic and Hag 1 machine, as well as answer a few more questions. After the duo eventually disable the Hag 1, Grunty resorts to using her most powerful spell (likely the same one she used to destroy Banjo's House and kill Bottles (and maybe even the same one she tried to use as she fell from her lair in the first game)), but they shoot one last egg at her, causing the witch to drop her spell in the Hag-1. The explosion destroys the machine along with most of her weak, skeletal body, leaving her nothing more than a talking head.

 

Banjo and Kazooie return to the Isle o' Hags to celebrate with their friends, including the now reformed Klungo, but they arrive too late as the party was already over. Kazooie then suggests a new fun idea: kicking around Grunty's head atop Cauldron Keep, much to their joy and her disgust. She vows to have her revenge in the game's sequel, "''[[Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts|Banjo-Threeie]]''"

''Banjo-Tooie'' was critically and commercially successful upon the time of its release. The scores were consistently very high and rivaled its predecessor, ''Banjo-Kazooie''. IGN praised the multiplayer system and its characters but criticized the frame rate issues at points of the game.

:GamePro - 4.5 of 5

:GameSpot - 9.6 of 10

:IGN - 9.4 of 10

:Official Nintendo Magazine - 9.7 of 10

:GameStats - 9.2 of 10

:1Up.com - 9.6 of 10

 

''Banjo-Tooie'' was nominated for many awards - including a nomination for the "Moving Images Award" at the 2000 BAFTA award ceremony, and was also nominated for "Console Action/Adventure Game of the Year", "Console Game of the Year", and "Game of the Year" at the 2001 Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences awards.