Can You Beat Banjo-Tooie Without Backtracking?

One of the most prevalent complaints I've heard about Banjo-Tooie is how much backtracking there is. After playing the game again recently, I decided to find out whether or not you can beat Banjo-Tooie without any backtracking at all. How many collectables can you grab without revisiting a level, and can you beat the game? That's what we're here to find out!
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Stomping Plains Solo Banjo Method by g0goTBC:
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TIMECODES

00:00 — INTRO / RULES
03:04 — COLLECTING WITHOUT BACKTRACKING
12:21 — JINJOS
14:05 — DETOURS
15:22 — SHORTCUTS / FINAL TALLY
19:36 — CONCLUSION

[CloudConnection]

UPDATE: So a friend informed me of a method to get the Cheato Page in the Ancient Swimming Baths without backtracking, by using solo Banjo and the Pack Whack Jump to reach the ledge with the page. I qualify this as a shortcut so as long as you count those, it is possible to collect all 25 Cheato Pages without backtracking! (Thanks to Neotornado for pointing this out!)

ALSO guys, I get it: you can get the Cheato Page on the sign in Glitter Gulch Mine by using the rope, I literally talk about that later in the video, watch the full thing before commenting on stuff that I "forgot" please.

[lynayra]

It's funny that all the "complaints" people have about the game are things I love about it.

[christopherleathley]

Love Banjo Tooie, superior to the first one for me. Excellent video, and didn't know quite the few of these shortcuts. The one on Mayahem temple, the glideless jiggy on Jolly Roger Lagoon and plenty on Grunty's Industries. Fantastic work.

[MrYonnn]

The Jinjo analysis was unbelievably thorough. Great video!

[ramsesjfg]

I've always made the argument that backtracking isn't a problem in Tooie because you can ignore most of it and it technically becomes post-game content. Good job making the perfect video to explain that. I would've never gone this far to explain it. This video is pure gold.

[kawaiinekochick]

Tbh, when people criticize a game that's non-linear it's "backtracking" and when they criticize a game that's too linear, it's "overly simple" but games each have their own intentional design and should be judged by if it accomplished that well. In banjo kazooie, they introduced shortcuts in gruntilda's lair as a way to reward progression, and in my opinion this concept was expanded upon in BT with the more overt train system that you unlock. So, in my mind it's hardly "backtracking" and more of an intentionally designed interconnected overworld that required a little but of meta problem-solving to totally complete. That's honestly why I think it's the better game in every way. They expanded this 3D open world platforming concept to reward high level thinking and exploration.

[jaynajuly]

I actually started trying this challenge a while ago, but the concept of "detour Jiggies" as you call them and, of course, Grunty Industries, stumped me so much that I wasn't sure how to proceed. Glad you figured out a rule set that works for you!

[Katares]

You could argue that the Jinjo at the Glittergulch Mine entrance doesn't count as backtracking because you get the necessary move inside the mine and once you leave it you are automatically right in front of the Jinjo anyway. This would make it almost impossible to not have enough Jiggies at the end.

[oldshcoolnatv]

This video popped up in my feed the other day, and without watching it I decided to play through Banjo-Tooie and answer the question for myself first, just focusing on getting 70 Jiggies. Here are my thoughts/rules I came up with:

-I had looser rules about the Isle O'Hags; since it's required to go through each area of the isle multiple times, I didn't consider anything you do in them to be backtracking. (I did not go back into Spiral Mountain for anything though, since you're not required to go there again.)

-I didn't consider leaving a world to go to the isle and going back into the same world to be backtracking; I see that more as sidetracking than backtracking. So I got the Styracosaurus family Jiggy, since you can take the train to the Cliff Top, use Mumbo, and then take the train right back to Terrydactyland.

-If you consider the first two points to be valid, they solve the issue of needing to backtrack into Terrydactyland to take the train into Grunty Industries, since you can just call the train to the Isle O'Hags stop instead.

-I avoided the same detours that you did, and I got 71 Jiggies (with 3 Jinjo families incomplete on my playthrough).

-I have thoughts on the detours though. Even though I chose not to get them when I played in order to see how many Jiggies I could get under the strictest definition of "don't go back into a world once you've entered another", I don't really see most of them as truly backtracking. This is because a lot of them go into a blocked-off room in their world, where you can only access it via another world. So for example, the Hailfire Peaks oil drill Jiggy is technically backtracking, but you're just entering an otherwise inaccessible room in Grunty Industries and then going right back to Hailfire Peaks. So I think you could get that, the Mayahem Temple treasure Jiggy, and the 2 Jinjos through the pipes in Jolly Roger's Lagoon, as they're not what people think of as an annoying kind of backtracking.

-The biggest different between your rules and mine seems to be that you define no backtracking as "once you leave a world you can't enter it again", whereas I define it as "you can't go back into a world once you've entered another". Neither definition is really better than the other, but I chose that definition because I think it gets around the type of backtracking that puts some people off while also not putting up any unnecessary hurdles for yourself (which is what I think the strictness around Isle O'Hags does, although I understand your reasoning for doing that in the context of this video). I think the way I did it will allow people who want to avoid annoying backtracking get the needed Jiggies with some wiggle room built in while also getting the most enjoyment out of the game.

I write this wall of text as someone who loves the backtracking and interconnctedness of the worlds; it's probably the number one thing I love about the game. But it's always a neat challenge to try playing games in a different way, so thanks for putting this question out there, I had a lot of fun thinking about it and doing it.

[LotteYanson]

5:41 Wait, THAT’S how you were intended to get that? I always thought you just had to jump off the rope and grab it like that. Every walkthrough I’ve seen has people get it that way so that’s how I always did it

[porky]

The backtracking is what the game makes so much fun.

There are two game structures, I'm not a big fan of (basically the most popular single player Switch games):
- everything is linear, no reason to go back to a place you already have been to (Mario Odyssey)
- no hard limits to go anywhere, you basically could go everywhere in any order (Zelda BotW)

Having some complex dependency graph is the most important thing for a game to me. That's why I like metroidvania so much.

[fernandovillacis]

Banjo Tooie is my favorite game ever, I don’t mind backtracking at all!

[TrashBoatSA]

Congrats on making a cameo appearance in the newest Game Maker's Toolkit video! (29:40 in the new Boss Keys video on Banjo-Kazooie & Tooie)

[fernando]

Great breakdown of all the information, especially the Jinjos section! Add the fact that the worlds have shortcuts to other worlds inside them and that makes most backtracking collectibles simple quick detours. Tooie is one of my favorite N64 games

[JojovonKoopa]

''Banjo Tooie might just be my favorite game of all time. that's not going to shock you if you've been following me for any amount of time''

Never in my life had I ever liked and subscribed faster.

[NikolasN]

16:48. I SWEAR TO GOD. AS A KID I REMEMBER TRYING TO GET THIS JIGGY WITHOUT HAVING GLIDE YET, BECAUSE IT WAS RIGHT THERE. MY BROTHER AND I SPENT SO LONG DOING IT. SEEING YOU ATTEMPT IT (well do it) AGAIN MADE IT JUST CLICK FOR ME, I UNLOCKED A DEEP DEEP MEMORY. THANK YOU.

[silverarch]

As a fellow Banjo-Tooie lover (there are dozens of us! Dozens!!), this was a really great video!

[thestudlygamer]

AGREED BEST GAME EVER! WE NEED BANJO THREEIE!

[dimlightbulb]

I would also like to point out that the Power Hut Jiggy in Glitter Gulch Mine can also be obtained by using a flip flap ( backflip) along with the height gained from the previously mentioned beak buster (ground pound) to just jump onto the ladder at the start.

[tylerrumfelt]

This is too strict, isle o hags should be an exception to the rules since it’s a hub world