Emulators are a wonderful thing. Our Nintendo 64 has been lost in history for a long time, I'm not even too sure what happened to it, but it's gone. However, I have still managed to play some of my all-time favourite games on Project 64, or PJ64 - one of the best Nintendo 64 emulators. I have recently picked up and completed one of the most brilliant games in history - BanjoKazooie. Let me tell you a little bit about it.
It has a simple story: You are a bear named Banjo with a bird named Kazooie in your backpack, and Banjo's sister has been kidnapped by Grunty, the evil ugly witch, so she can steal your sister's beauty. Banjo needs to enter Grunty's lair and enter various unique worlds to collect honeycomb pieces to gain more max health, gather musical notes to open doorways to further your exploration into the lair, and jigsaw pieces that help you unlock new levels.
The idea of the game is so very unique and addictive. It is a classic Adventure game, similar in style to Donkey Kong 64 and Super Mario 64, where you traverse some sort of area, known as the Hub, which houses portals or doorways to small worlds in which there are various moves and items to collect. In each level there are a total of 100 notes, small yellow, well, musical notes. Once you exit a level, the record total of notes collected is added to your... inventory shall we say, and the notes in the level are reset. You have to get all 100 in the one go to leave with 100 more notes in your inventory, though they cannot be added again. Interesting concept. These notes help you open doors that have 'musical locks'. Different doors to harder parts of the lair require more notes. As well as that, there are 10 golden Jigsaw pieces in each world, as well as the lair. Completing various tasks, puzzles, or battles reward you with a Jigsaw piece, and they are used in the hub to open new worlds, by completing a giant puzzle that is a picture of that world.
Along the way you meet various fuzzy critters and friendly friends who either need help or want to help you on your quest. Some of the recurring characters are a mole (I forget his name) who, if you find his burrow mound, will teach you a move. You know, things like ground pound where Banjo jumps, flips over and Kazooie puts her head out and her beak slams into the ground under Banjo's weight. You can also do other things, like shoot eggs from Kazooie's mouth and ass, fly, high jump, and invulnerability (for a short while). These moves will all help you at one time or another to pass obstacles or complete puzzles.
Well, that's the basic premise of the game. It may sound a little childish, but trust me, I'm 18 and still love it to bits, and there's enough older humour in there for the older kids. What has really been done well is the execution of these ideas. Let's start with the music. I have yet to find another game with as good soundtrack as this game - the main tune of Grunty's Lair seems to be a spin on 'The Teddy Bear Picnic', that changes mood depending on the environment you are in. The song never stops playing, it continues in loops, but as you move from one area to the next, the instruments change to reflect the environment. Bells and chimes and strings take over when you near the snowy area, horns and trumpets near the swamp, and when around the graveyard the music turns spooky, all the while playing the same tune without stopping, seamlessly transitioning to different instruments. Enter the worlds and the songs change, but the mood is kept in each area, using lots of different instruments and sound effects that makes the soundtrack just fit in perfectly with everything else.
In some levels there is a skull house, and inside is this odd looking person called Mumbo Jumbo, who uses his power to transform you into any number of different little critters based on what world you are in (if you have enough Mumbo tokens, found in tough places throughout the game), each having their own little abilities, while all being able to fit into smaller holes and not get hurt from falling. Let's see, there's the termite, crocodile, Halloween pumpkin, walrus, and a bee. It's quite fun playing as these little guys and interacting with the NPCs in a whole different way.
In-game banter also provides a source of plenty of laughs, with Grunty speaking constantly in rhymes, Kazooie's snide comments about everything, and even the hints Brentilda gives you about Grunty - little facts that help you towards the end of the game - each disgusting and hilarious in its own way.
One challenge I have tried to do in this game is, of course, complete it 100%. That means collect all Jigsaws (got 'em all), all the notes (total of 900, done that!) every honey comb piece to max out health (2 to go) and all Mumbo's tokens (Don't know how many, but I've got TONS). It has indeed been a grand adventure in each of the nine worlds, and defeating Grunty was a marvellous conclusion to a wonderful game.
[SPOILER ALERT]
The end of the game was classic BanjoKazooie, with humour, puzzles and of course a battle. After you have enough Jigsaws and enough notes to approach Grunty herself, you must complete a board game, each space requiring you to answer a question about either the game, Grunty (the fact Brentilda told you throughout the game), tune or character voice recognition or visual recognition - depending on the space you are on. Once you get to the end, you are rewarded the prize - Banjo's sister, as well as a washing machine and a Grunty plushie. You watch the credits, then Banjo goes back to his home at Spiral Mountain (Banjo and Kazooie are conversing, which a virtual controller controls Banjo to his home, quite simply done and entertaining), then everyone is there relaxing, Banjo mentions he could go for a drink (lols) and then they suddenly realise Grunty got away. So of course you're then back in the Lair and have to go off and fight Grunty.
The game leaves off with a scene of you and some friends on a beahc having a great time, and Mumbo shows you some pictures of a few hidden items that were missed, that are used in the second game. Yes, they explicitly tell you there's another game, they even mention the title. Funny huh. I love their forwardness.
The only thing left now is for me to pick up BanjoTooie, a game roughly on par with its prequel, though much longer, and MANY more worlds to visit, items to collect and moves to master.
Go play it. Now.
Signing out,
~Nattoons
________________
"The advantage of having lived through this is that
I do know I'll come out the other side. The pain
lessons. You manage to distract yourself until the
distractions become more important than the thing
you're distracting yourself from."
-Ghastly Bespoke, Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer
It has a simple story: You are a bear named Banjo with a bird named Kazooie in your backpack, and Banjo's sister has been kidnapped by Grunty, the evil ugly witch, so she can steal your sister's beauty. Banjo needs to enter Grunty's lair and enter various unique worlds to collect honeycomb pieces to gain more max health, gather musical notes to open doorways to further your exploration into the lair, and jigsaw pieces that help you unlock new levels.
The idea of the game is so very unique and addictive. It is a classic Adventure game, similar in style to Donkey Kong 64 and Super Mario 64, where you traverse some sort of area, known as the Hub, which houses portals or doorways to small worlds in which there are various moves and items to collect. In each level there are a total of 100 notes, small yellow, well, musical notes. Once you exit a level, the record total of notes collected is added to your... inventory shall we say, and the notes in the level are reset. You have to get all 100 in the one go to leave with 100 more notes in your inventory, though they cannot be added again. Interesting concept. These notes help you open doors that have 'musical locks'. Different doors to harder parts of the lair require more notes. As well as that, there are 10 golden Jigsaw pieces in each world, as well as the lair. Completing various tasks, puzzles, or battles reward you with a Jigsaw piece, and they are used in the hub to open new worlds, by completing a giant puzzle that is a picture of that world.
Along the way you meet various fuzzy critters and friendly friends who either need help or want to help you on your quest. Some of the recurring characters are a mole (I forget his name) who, if you find his burrow mound, will teach you a move. You know, things like ground pound where Banjo jumps, flips over and Kazooie puts her head out and her beak slams into the ground under Banjo's weight. You can also do other things, like shoot eggs from Kazooie's mouth and ass, fly, high jump, and invulnerability (for a short while). These moves will all help you at one time or another to pass obstacles or complete puzzles.
Well, that's the basic premise of the game. It may sound a little childish, but trust me, I'm 18 and still love it to bits, and there's enough older humour in there for the older kids. What has really been done well is the execution of these ideas. Let's start with the music. I have yet to find another game with as good soundtrack as this game - the main tune of Grunty's Lair seems to be a spin on 'The Teddy Bear Picnic', that changes mood depending on the environment you are in. The song never stops playing, it continues in loops, but as you move from one area to the next, the instruments change to reflect the environment. Bells and chimes and strings take over when you near the snowy area, horns and trumpets near the swamp, and when around the graveyard the music turns spooky, all the while playing the same tune without stopping, seamlessly transitioning to different instruments. Enter the worlds and the songs change, but the mood is kept in each area, using lots of different instruments and sound effects that makes the soundtrack just fit in perfectly with everything else.
In some levels there is a skull house, and inside is this odd looking person called Mumbo Jumbo, who uses his power to transform you into any number of different little critters based on what world you are in (if you have enough Mumbo tokens, found in tough places throughout the game), each having their own little abilities, while all being able to fit into smaller holes and not get hurt from falling. Let's see, there's the termite, crocodile, Halloween pumpkin, walrus, and a bee. It's quite fun playing as these little guys and interacting with the NPCs in a whole different way.
In-game banter also provides a source of plenty of laughs, with Grunty speaking constantly in rhymes, Kazooie's snide comments about everything, and even the hints Brentilda gives you about Grunty - little facts that help you towards the end of the game - each disgusting and hilarious in its own way.
One challenge I have tried to do in this game is, of course, complete it 100%. That means collect all Jigsaws (got 'em all), all the notes (total of 900, done that!) every honey comb piece to max out health (2 to go) and all Mumbo's tokens (Don't know how many, but I've got TONS). It has indeed been a grand adventure in each of the nine worlds, and defeating Grunty was a marvellous conclusion to a wonderful game.
[SPOILER ALERT]
The end of the game was classic BanjoKazooie, with humour, puzzles and of course a battle. After you have enough Jigsaws and enough notes to approach Grunty herself, you must complete a board game, each space requiring you to answer a question about either the game, Grunty (the fact Brentilda told you throughout the game), tune or character voice recognition or visual recognition - depending on the space you are on. Once you get to the end, you are rewarded the prize - Banjo's sister, as well as a washing machine and a Grunty plushie. You watch the credits, then Banjo goes back to his home at Spiral Mountain (Banjo and Kazooie are conversing, which a virtual controller controls Banjo to his home, quite simply done and entertaining), then everyone is there relaxing, Banjo mentions he could go for a drink (lols) and then they suddenly realise Grunty got away. So of course you're then back in the Lair and have to go off and fight Grunty.
The game leaves off with a scene of you and some friends on a beahc having a great time, and Mumbo shows you some pictures of a few hidden items that were missed, that are used in the second game. Yes, they explicitly tell you there's another game, they even mention the title. Funny huh. I love their forwardness.
The only thing left now is for me to pick up BanjoTooie, a game roughly on par with its prequel, though much longer, and MANY more worlds to visit, items to collect and moves to master.
Go play it. Now.
Signing out,
~Nattoons
________________
"The advantage of having lived through this is that
I do know I'll come out the other side. The pain
lessons. You manage to distract yourself until the
distractions become more important than the thing
you're distracting yourself from."
-Ghastly Bespoke, Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer
You shouldn't need to justify a games "childishness", in fact it's games that bring back memories and cute, harmless fun with the default "Hero saves world and beats bad guy, happy end!" that reminds one self of happiness. I personally still love Kirby games and the anime Hoshi no Kaabi (originally a kids show but good fun nonetheless).
ReplyDeleteI think I'd like to try this along with some of my other favorites (Mario 64 and what not)again. Thanks for the inspiration to go old school Nattoons.