Why We Haven't Seen Banjo Kazooie Comeback...

Banjo-Kazooie coming back with a new game or as a remake seems to be something that seems obvious to everyone, and yet we still haven't seen a comeback yet. In today's video, I'm going to explain and explore the reasoning behind this, and the small glimmer of hope that might still be alive for some kind of a new banjo kazooie game.

[Laughy-Flaaffy]

Banjo Kazooie was my favorite video game in my childhood. The fact I’m 30 years old now and we still haven’t gotten Banjo Threeie is baffling to me

[xenodweeb]

I genuinely don't get why Rare's CEO wants us to believe they care about stagnancy when for years they've done nothing but make microtransaction fodder cosmetics for Sea of Thieves. If they made an actual game in between the content milling, that would be one thing, but apparently overpriced ship cosmetics in a game you have to pay upfront for allows you to be successful enough that you don't need to bother, so who cares if it creates a hole in the logic of Rare's excuses?

[Magnum__Dong]

I can't believe that Yooka Laylee is getting a remaster before Banjo Kazooie.

[LightGuy]

Craig's use of the phrase 'Kinda successful' puts insult to the whole ordeal for the bear and bird as well as the pinatas.

[jacealbine]

Rare is just a name now. Everyone that made rareware good is long gone. The new rare doesn't care what their old fans want.

[scarrantsandreviews]

The conventional wisdom around 2010-2016, when a lot of us were hoping to see Crash and Spyro return, was that these games were "relics of the past that no one wants in current year." They would sell poorly supposedly.


And then the Crash remakes sold something like 15 million copies and Spyro sold like 10 million.

I think both numbers are several times higher than those franchises peak from back in the day.

[rockowlgamer]

The last Banjo Kazooie game was Nutz and Boltz which came out in 2008, "right group and right opportunity to make one". That right time sure is taking over 16 years.

[VigilanteLulu]

Man, the crew of Smiling Friends were really onto something with the Gwimbly episode and making fun with out-of-touch CEOs who say it's THEIR property to do nothing with.

[username_redacted_]

Dude, regarding the merch. Theres been a fuckton of Banjo-Kazooie merch that's been coming out since 2018. The First4Figures statues being some of it (the Banjo-Kazooie in a flying pose, Grunty, Mumbo, The 5 jinjo colors from the first game, crocodile Banjo, Walrus Banjo, Bee Banjo, Termite Banjo, Pumpkin Banjo and a statue of Banjo and Kazooie playing a banjo with Bottles), not to mention all the merch that has been sold on Fangamer over the last several years including hoodies, shirts, record sets, pins, stuffed animals, puzzles, keychains, hats etc. AND the several figures that have released by different comanies including the Amiibo from Nintendo, as well as the figures by Premium DNA Toys, YouTooz, Totaku and the two Pop figures that were recently released as well.

The huge flow of Banjo-Kazooie merch started in 2018 when the flying pose Banjo-Kazooie statue from First4Figures was announced (I know this becase I preordered it in July that year). I knew then, that something was happening as there has been NOTHING merchandise-wise that has been released for Banjo-Kazooie since its original game came out. I was was annouced for smash the following year.

What I'm saying is, all this merch is nothing new. They've been milking the franchise merch-wise for the last 6 years, with no actual game in sight.

[Kevin-lvwv]

A Banjo Trilogy with Kazooie, Grunty’s Revenge and Tooie all remade would go so hard

[supermakermatic]

British person here, a lot of the supposed "Banjo-bashing" humor you're pointing to is just self-deprecating British humor. "Laughing at" is percieved in the UK to be the same as "laughing with", a similar situation would be The Beano and The Dandy, two children's comics by the same company where a running gag in both was characters being tormented or punished by reading or going to the world of the other comic (at least before the Dandy was discontinued and had its most popular strips folded into the Beano), but it obviously doesn't translate well overseas - the N64, and consequentally Banjo, aren't very popular over here so it's practically inevitable that these cultural clashes would happen, somewhat resembles Sonic's lack of popularity in Japan

[Blubeans]

I bought a whole Xbox One back in 2019 just to play those games, and we are still waiting for threeie we're dying here 😔🙏

[Virtue_Signaling_Land_Whale]

This is so stupid of RARE. Look at how popular and successful 3D mario titles are, and Banjo is super popular with millennials cuz everyone is nostalgic as hell with this IP. This is easy money printing IF they do a proper sequel, not some nuts and bolts bs we got.

[deatheater]

if rare doesn't like banjo then why don't they sell banjo to someone that will make it

[teamsonicchannel]

Banjo jas a loyal fambase as seen by his reveal in smash

[scizorzzz]

Nintendo just needs to buy Rare's

[jacksonpercy]

I reckon Rare Replay should be released on steam. That would make a lot of fans of not only Banjo but many other Rare IPs very happy.

[stevenstocker]

I wish Microsoft would find a balance between their hands off and overbearing, what the point of having ownership of these studios and franchise if you're not got put them to use, or atleast sell them on.

[Sunbreaker]

RARE has faded into obscurity. This studio is a distant shadow of its former glory, with Sea of Thieves marking the end of an era.

[TheCartoonGamer]

Gotta say, I do agree with Craig Duncan there - there's no malice towards Banjo in his wording. I've mentioned it before, but that's exactly what happened with the first Yooka-Laylee. I liked it just fine, but the general reception was pretty mixed, despite it doing a lot of what fans had wanted (barring any technical issues, etc). If there were to be a new Banjo, I really want it to do something new to justify its existence - no remaster of a game that's more than playable now. Something familiar, akin to the original game + Tooie, but something different.

I'll also repeat it here, but Rare has never stuck to one franchise for very long. Historically, they usually make one game, maybe a sequel, then move onto something else. If you want to hear Duncan in a more positive context, I urge you to listen to his interview with DK Vine from a few years back. You'll also hear that his favourite DK game is Donkey Konga, so y'know.... everyone's a little weird.