Defending Banjo Tooie

This is my attempt at Defending Banjo Tooie which is a Bigger and Darker Sequel compared to Kazooie. Why is it starting to get this notoriety? It had good reviews when it first released... This will be a brief history and addressing the complaints I hear against this game. This game is definitely an epic N64 Adventure with a much darker tone then it's previous game Banjo-Kazooie!

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All Music from the Banjo-Kazooie series by Grant Kirkhope

Banjo audio pulled from game by ThumbsUpMaster

[jiggylookback]

CANARY MARY CAN GO SUCK AN EGG! Preferably a Grenade one...

[Nonjola]

Banjo-Tooie is unfairly overhated. It seems that people began to dislike the game only after certain online critiques focused on its few flaws, neglecting its strengths. Unfortunately, this trend has become typical since the advent of the Internet.

[anthonynapier]

Oh. It's hated, is it? You can turn Kazooie into a dragon and it's hated, is it? Alright.

[williamhamilton]

Honestly I didn’t know this game even was disliked. I had a blast with it as a kid.

[dimples]

I never really understood how the backtracking in Banjo-Tooie was a bad thing. In Banjo-Kazooie, you had these creatively-designed worlds with unique characters and mechanics, and yet you only really have to explore them once before they become obsolete (aside from a single Jiggy in Freezeezy Peak) Banjo-Tooie gives you the incentive to explore new areas that were once inaccessible and even connected to different worlds, which I feel makes the game much more immersive and satisfying.

My favorite example is murdering George Ice Cube because it gives you access to a flight pad and also gets you a Jiggy for cooling down the pool in JRL. Murder is good

[BKFan]

People only started hating more and more once people's shrinking attention spans couldn't give them the patience to complete this game

[ryanwinter]

I was absolutely shocked to hear that the opinions on Tooie were mixed. I've never been so excited for a sequel and also felt like it had lived up to all my expectations before or since, except maybe for pokemon god and silver.

I will say it's not entirely true that people don't complain about Ocarina of Time, that game's reputation has had a target painted on it's back ever since 2006 because fans of other games in the series have sour grapes that it gets more praise than their own fave. But I agree that Tooie's worlds don't feel so empty to me, it helps that enemies respawn. When I was younger, and still even to this day, I would sometimes just play around in the level not really aiming to accomplish much, just see ow far I could glide with Kazooie from the highest point in the level and other such things, the improved controls from BK really made the game fun to just move around in. And I love the minigames!

I know the team working on Banjo hacking tools is kind of fractured at the moment but I really hope they can find a way to resolve their differences or figure out a way to hack Banjo Tooie with a new team, because the thought of romhacks on the scale of Jiggies of Time but with all of Tooie's improved movement and extra moves makes me drool.

[luhyzi]

It’s a small thing, but one thing I love about Tooie is that it shows WHY Banjo and Kazooie need each other. Kazooie may have more speed and moves than Banjo, but she can’t take as much of a beating as him. And his strength and weight makes her attacks more deadly

[bendyfan]

6:00 Switch online version actually did fix it, appart from transporting through Flowers in Cloud Cuckooland the framerate is really solid on switch

[sydcorgia]

Genuinely, when growing up, when people talked about the concept of "the perfect sequel" being a game that takes what the first did, and expands on it enough to make the new game interesting, I thought of Banjo Tooie as the staple example of this. I was genuinely confused when people thought otherwise.

[overshivermountain]

Banjo Tooie... More polished and detailed graphics + accurate shadows and dynamic lighting (something incredibly beautiful and impressive for the N64), better mobility AND animations, cool new moves and mechanics like character separation and first person shooting, more fun and immersive mini-games, epic new bosses for each level, a better developed story and cutscenes, a darker setting that fits great with the cartoony style, more charming dialogue with elevated humor, bigger and more detailed worlds with more things to do, new charismatic and memorable characters, a jukebox that lets you listen to every theme in the game, and a soundtrack that's as good or better than the first game.

Even outside of the main content, you can find amazing additions in the menu, such as a multiplayer mode that allows you to play mini-games with friends and family, you can replay all the cinematics and mini-games and even re-fight all the bosses in the game, it also has a menu of options to lower or raise the volume, change the audio type from Mono, Stereo or Surround, options to adjust the screen and resolution and lastly, the generous option to change the language of the game. To say that this is a good sequel is an understatement, it is an AMAZING game and an AMAZING sequel that surpassed the original.

[liambrown]

Banjo Tooie in my mind is the example of a perfect sequel. Familiar and same, but still feels and looks slightly different. Picks up where the first one left off, but builds on the move set so that it develops perfectly. The increased difficulty was also a welcomed touch. A lot of us were small children when we played Kazooie, and loved it for its accessibility to kids our age. By the time Tooie came out we had aged a couple years which is huge when you're in elementary. We were ready for more of a brain challenge from 3D platformers at this time.

[alekboii]

Tooie is probably my fav sequel of all time. It's made for the fans of the first one, instead of new players.
I don't want just another game like the first one that I would be able to speedrun in a handful of hours.
I feel like if people get their wish, I won't ever get a good sequel anymore.
This is a game I can get lost in, and I love that.
Edit: spelling

[okfinebethatway]

Banjo-Tooie is my favorite game ever and I'm glad to see it getting love and appreciation after so many people seem to dunk on it for a while. For me, I love 3D collect-a-thon platformers and Metroidvania style games and Tooie feels like an amalgamation of those genres.

I know a lot of people think the first game flows better because in Tooie the jiggies and other collectables take a lot longer to get and you have to backtrack. I actually like that more. I often use this analogy since I'm someone who hunted down every North American N64 game for my personal collection:

Banjo-Kazooie feels like the first half of building up a game collection. The jiggies/games are abundant, sometimes tricky to get but you'll find a lot wherever you go.

Banjo-Tooie is like finishing off the second half of a game collection. The jiggies/games take more time to get, you'll definitely have to go back to places you've already been to complete it but its a lot more satisfying and rewarding when you finally get what you were looking for.

They're both fun experiences in their own way but the latter in both situations contain the more satisfying results in my opinion. On top of that, Tooie has more moves, fun minigames, multi-player, more characters, deeper lore on existing characters and a world that feels much more alive and interconnected.

Also, I know the X-box version fixes this but I really hate how in the N64 version of Banjo-Kazooie you lose all your musical notes when you die or exit a level. I'll take the occasional frame rate issues on the N64 version of Tooie over that flaw in Kazooie any day.

Wasnt expecting to write so much lol. Great analysis! I greatly enjoyed your Donkey Kong 64 defense too (which I also 100% agree with)! Be definitely sticking around for more.

[marclink]

Tooie was the best thing 4 year old me got to experience. To me, Kazooie is like playing with those big megablocks. Tooie on the other hand is more mature, more refined. It's the smaller lego pieces. Less straightforward, but there is so much more depth. More to be done. Each world had to be not only fully explored, but also memorized. The moment you make the connection between two worlds and get rewarded is so much more satisfying.
Nowadays, I feel like people prefer the one time visit, full clear and move on to another stage that Kazooie provides. Moving the Tooie, the completionist might find it frustrating. But maybe back then, having all the time in the world to get lost in Tooie is what made me appreciate it more. And today, that kind of time isn't available to everyone.

[donaldthescotishtwin]

I hated it the first time I played it, due to the large confusing maps and backtracking. But on my second replay I fell in love with it. Definitely not as iconic as the first game but it’s a really good example of expanding and building from the first game, some of it I’d argue is done better than the first.

[tylerperry]

The real reason why these n64 games got so much hate is because we have the famous YouTubers who just point out any little flaw for likes and subscribers

[ryanvrecic]

forget the haters. THIS game OWNS. Awesome review! I was late into playing kazooie and then tooie years later, and they are some of my most memorable games. Enjoyment rarely match by just about any game I've ever played. Blast anyone on the 'net that has serious beef wit hthis game .

[Tylerthemememan]

The boss battles were the best! It was always my favorite thing about the game. Not to mention, you get to replay boss battles in the main menu and I love that!

[OtterloopB]

I love Banjo-Kazooie... but it's also a bit too segmented for my tastes.

But Tooie? Ah man, I love Tooie! It feels like a massive, interconnected world! The atmosphere is better too, thanks in no small part to the incredible soundtrack. Trekking across the Isle 'O Hags, sneaking through the ducts in Grunty Industries, stepping into HailFire Peaks for the first time, walking into Jiggywiggy's Temple... there's this large, sprawling atmosphere and _feel_ to Tooie. It has a game feel that Kazooie doesn't have.

Even the animation in Tooie is better! I love how Banjo's backpack bounces as he moves in Tooie, whereas in Kazooie it's static. It gives Banjo a level of dynamism that makes him that much more fun to control.

As tightly designed as Kazooie is... it also feels cut off from the larger scope the world of Banjo offers. For me, Tooie edges the win for me between the two.