Couple of points from the comments I wanted to address. 1. Apparently you CAN skip cutscenes with L + R + B. If that's true, then there's absolutely no indication whatsoever that you can do this. I read every dialogue box and even checked my copy of the instruction manual and can confirm this is never mentioned once. Maybe it was a debug tool for the developers. 2. I've been informed multiple times that the ramp is a shortcut for the pumpkin after all. There's a hole you can squeeze through somewhere, though I'm not sure how I missed it. The Pumpkin was a minor criticism anyway but I'll be sure to do use that route from now on. 3. "Your complaints are nitpicks." It's fine to disagree and your mileage on any criticism will vary, but I'd like to note that any game can seem perfect if we disregard any and all criticisms as nitpicks. I recieve similar comments when reviewing many classic games. Nitpicks may be small, but they add up quickly and can detract from the experience in sufficient numbers. I wanted to be thorough because I found there were a lot of things other reviewers were glossing over or not mentioning.
I never knew you could skip cutscenes :) I absolutely agree with your points with the n64 version's notes, click clock woods as a whole and the whole backtracking thing with Gobi's Desert and Freezeezy Peak. Also it is possible to collect the stop n swop items in the n64 version, but they are permanently in your inventory and completely useless
ExoParadigmGamer What I just started noticing about Banjo's level design (which i CANNOT believe I didnt notice before) is that pretty much EVERY LEVEL is made like a wheel. The center point is ALWAYS a some major building or obstacle that defines the zone you are in (The Termite Mound in world 1. Clanker in World 3. The ship in world 8) and then the other objectives are branched out like the spokes. And every level is like this and it is so crazy that I didnt think about this! especially so considering how well it works too and how it makes the worlds easy to navigate and get around in, unlike Tooie which I would say is a pain in the ass to find stuff to do in or get anything done in a good amount of time. Its why I never understood the team making Yooka-Laylee making their game more like Tooie and less like Kazooie.
That would be due to the inherent urge to make everything "bigger and better", Mugen. Sometimes though, "more" is a better adjective to apply. Still enjoy Yooka immensely, but I do hope they take the criticisms to heart when they make the next one.
I'm incredibly envious of your PVM monitor. Those are the gold standard of CRTs. I keep looking on ebay for them, but can't really afford one. I really hope some company starts making CRT TVs and monitors again for the retro gaming and e-sports and speedrunning communities. It can't be that hard right? Cos all these old ones will die eventually Also have you seen the new HDMI adapter for the N64 that requires no modding? In case you're interested in that sort of thing
To be honest, that'd go for most people, but instead of thinking about the Xbox 360 version, they think about the PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One (pre-bedrock), PS Vita, PS4 (pre-bedrock), Wii U, and the Switch (pre-bedrock) versions. Fun fact, they're still involved with Minecraft, even if not as much as before. I'm saying this because they have published a multitude of resource packs on the Minecraft Marketplace.
Timestamps for Mobile User 00:00:40 - Introduction 00:05:30 - The Story 00:12:10 - The N64 Graphics 00:17:14 - The 360 Graphics 00:20:38 - The N64 Sound 00:22:22 - The 360 Sound 00:23:21 - The Mechanics 00:28:11 - The Camera 00:30:28 - The Combat 00:32:41 - The Level Design 00:35:01 - Exo's Four Criticisms 00:39:43 - The Bottles Bonus Glitch 00:41:13 - Exo's Four Criticisms Continued 00:43:02 - Mumbo Transformations 00:43:56 - SPOILERS: Ending and Final Boss 00:48:17 - Stop 'n' Swop 00:49:34 - Conclusion 00:52:29 - Remake or Rebreak 00:54:52 - Ending and Credits
You do not have to navigate the top of the hedgemaze as the pumpkin. There is a ramp you can walk up as the pumpkin that lets you on top of the mansion in like 2 seconds. And no, that ramp is not enclosed. Theres a small hole you can slip through under the wall as the pumpkin.
OmegaChase1002 And even if it was enclosed you can just climb onto the church roof like you would with Banjo (hop onto the gravestone then roof etc) and then jump from the tower into the hedge ramp area. Never would I have ever thought to go that far out of my way to get onto the hedges by jumping around a fence... It just doesn’t even make sense with regards to the rest of the games design...
OmegaChase1002 that’s how I’ve always done it. It always felt a little weird to do it that way, especially now that I know there is a hole in the wall, but not as weird as going all the way across the map and navigating the hedges like in the video. To be honest it’s not much slower than using the hole since there both in the same area.
I actually laughed so hard at that point, the ramp and the little hole in the hedges are so clear! There's no way the intended route would be so difficult/complex in a game so relatively easy
It's crazy how difference our opinions can be sometimes. Me personally I loved Click Clock Wood and consider it the Climax of Banjo Kazooie. The idea of doing a full stage four times but in different seasons is in a way a summary of the entire Banjo Kazooie experience. The stage even has it's own mini hub world. This stage uses everything you have learned up to that point for a pretty good challenge that will test your skills in the game.
Gotta say, I think Click Clock Wood is probably the best (Or at least, most memorable stage) It's like a game in itself. Funny how opinions are, cos yeah, I remember loving that stage.
I think Grunty doesn't beauty swap right away because she sees this as a game just as much as we do. Thatd explain the quiz at the end. She wants to toy with banjo. As for the jinjos, maybe they cant move unless touched because of a magic spell? Grunty is a witch after all.
It is explained very briefly in the opening that the Beauty Machine is "Getting ready" so it is outright stated that there is a cooldown time; it's just glanced over in a very quick sentence. The idea of Grunty having a Quiz Show with Tootie as the prize was pretty much just because "Nobody would expect this." Grunty toying with Banjo also seems fitting; but I would think she would've had a fake Tootie instead in that case; and remind him that they are both at the top waiting; but even still. To DK64 and Tooie's credit; this is something both of them do better. DK64 explains early on that the Blast-O-Matic is still under construction due to the incompetence of the Kremlings, and Tooie explains that the BOB requires a longass cooldown to blast the whole island.
@Zachary Erickson unlikely but it is possible, B&K are coming to Smash and Microsoft have published a couple of Rare games on Nintendo handhelds in the past. They seem to be on pretty good terms so, while unlikely, it's not totally outside the realm of possibility.
At least this guy is not an asshole, unlike KingK who attacks other reviewers for wanting to stay objective just because he thinks objective critique doesn't exist.
35:50 No, there is a hole. I'm sure you don't feel like booting up BK just to go see it, but there is indeed a hole near the ramp, I believe on the left side. It saves you like 5 minutes. Though it's not like it's well conveyed, since no natural camera angle readily displays it.
10:57 Yes they are randomized. Brentilda is literally random every time. It was a time sink for speed runs for a while. This is really the only thing that I want to give to the comment section community
I like Tooie more. I love how interconnected the worlds are, it makes it seem deeper to me, and I don't find the re-visits to worlds to be annoying at all (except Grunty Industries). Of course I love BK as well!
The XBLA version actually still uses mip mapping. They just dont kick in until very far away. Mip Maps also solve the issue of textures shimmering. This is because if the texture is so small on the screen that the actual texture itself is higher res than the amount of pixels on the screen the sampling will bounce between two or more pixels when moving the camera.
The "Gruntilda Effect" is pretty well executed in Dissidia Final Fantasy, of all games. The game constantly reminds you how much you need to defeat Chaos, but keeps on putting obstacle after obstacle in your way; when you finally reach that final fight, it's such a cathartic moment.
You may have been told this already in the comments, but the theme for Grunty's Lair actually references Teddy Bear's Picnic on accident. During the first Guest Grumps with Grant Kirkhope, he's asked about it by Jon, but Grant doesn't recall basing the track on anything, and they decide it must have been done subconsciously.
7:16 In the original N64 releases of BK and BT, you can skip full exchanges by pressing L+R+B. 18:10 - 18:20 I saw and heard this from somewhere before, maybe a vision… 18:59 The N64 releases use Comicrazy as the text font, while the XBLA releases use Andy Bold from Nuts & Bolts. 42:07 Took me _3_ hours.
I'm sorry if that ended up coming out wrong, as I have not intended to gloat; Me taking 3 hours to 100% Click Clock Wood, rather than Exo's 2, is basically me saying that I suck.
"Kazooie also gives Banjo a bunch of other bird like moves such as shooting eggs..." Man, I hate it whenever birds spit eggs at me whenever I walk outside. You go near a tree and they just spit egg after egg at you
You probably know this already but they were actually going to do it at some point, before they started to work on nuts and bolts they were considering doing a remake of banjo in the style of what they did with conker live & reloaded where they change some things, and one of the think they were going to have was grunty hovering around the worlds changing things as you were playing them if I remember correctly
@@chrisfratz Yeah, maybe with Banjo being in Smash Microsoft might try to revive the brand with a remake or even a new game. They've clearly not completely abandoned him, unlike Conker.
Yep with Microsoft and Nintendo parterning up now, and Banjo in Smash now, it's actually looking possible that we'll get a remake. Whereas before it looked like it'd absolutely never happen. But a remake and release on a Nintendo console (as well as a Microsoft console), it'd print money
43:34 there is actually a very small opening covered by grass I'm the hedged that leads to the ramp. I rediscovered this after doing the hedge walk of shame.
48:34 Slight nitpick. The N64 couldn't keep RAM when it was turned off. It kept RAM if you removed the cartridge, and changed it while it was still on. It's called "hotswapping". Though, doing that in practice could potentially damage your console, which is part of the reason why it was scrapped. Spoiler alert: While the Xbox Live Arcade version does feature Stop 'N Swop as it was originally intended, what they did with it is kinda... Disappointing.
With big open worlds, there needs to be enough content to go with it. 76 shows that you can't just make the world bigger without the content to complement it. I like big open worlds but if there is too much nothing between areas it's rather boring and tedious.
You and many will probably disagree, but that's exactly why I enjoy BK so much more than Tooie. Tooie does some great things to the controls of Banjo&K, but the world is too big and empty compared to the first in my opinion.
Microsoft is literally sitting on a gold mine with Banjo. Like if they would just remake Banjo 1 and 2 and bundled them together like a Crash N'Sane Trilogy deal and shortly there after, maybe a year after they annouce an offical Banjo 3 using the engine from the remakes and money would pour in but for whatever reason, they don't do that. Shame really.
Kinda late, but I just wanted to briefly mention that "reprise" is a term most commonly used in music that basically means "the same thing over again" or a "repeat" (or "to resume"). So in this case it seems to imply "basically the same thing and not significantly different enough to be worth mentioning". Admittedly "Repeat" might have gotten the point across better, and Re-meh gets the feelings across a little more clearly up front
33:00 I hate how they do this, they don’t add more content, they just literally make the game world bigger so they can say “the game is bigger” and technically be correct. Mario Odyssey isn’t full of giant emptiness like Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey as a game is that exact size, but every square inch is filled with things to do and everything is placed with a purpose, that purpose being “fun”. Breath of the wild feels like they saw the total lack of an overworld in Ocarina of Time and thought “oh, I know how to fix this” and just made the empty space between towns way bigger. Stupid to try and fix a problem by actively making the problem itself much larger.
Funny how Banjo-Tooie actually fell into this trap too. It is bigger than Kazooie, but it's more empty and boring. While in Kazooie, the worlds were smaller but there was something in every corner.
I don’t understand why Nintendo felt compelled to port the n64 version of banjo and not the Xbox version since to me it’s the superior version of the game in terms of graphics and features.
I'm pretty sure the Xbox version of BK still has mip mapping, just like every other modern (and most N64) game. They just also have anisotropic filtering now, which prevents inaccurate neighbor sampling at steep angles. Aside from an additional 1/3 cost of vram, mip mapping is a nice performance boost and only makes distant textures look better. Without it, you would see a lot of noisy shimmering as sub-pixel texels would fight to be selected. Trilinear filtering was a pretty big selling point for N64 hardware, and that necessarily interpolates between mip levels.
I do agree with a lot of this review, though I'm gonna have to disagree with the feather system and Grunty battle entirely. Personally, I find that using feathers and eggs, for flight, invincibility and ammo, to be a good incentive to look around levels to stack up on those things, while doing your main objectives. I'll concede the fact that the Beak Bomb attack doesn't work the best sometimes. I tend to find that, if you pay attention to the amount of eggs/feathers you have, you'll rarely run out. Not to mention that you only run out of reds when you start ascending, which doesn't happen enough to cause problems, at-least from my experience. I'll have to disagree with how YL being better about it. While I think the special meter or whatever to be an interesting concept, I found it to be more intrusive then anything. I just don't really like how the flight controls in that game either. I get that it's supposed to emulate Laylee struggling to carry Yooka around, but in execution, it feels bad to control. The last world in YL just involves flying around aimlessly, until you finally find something. It just felt so aimless and poorly put together. Probably one of my least favourite levels in a collectathon. As for Grunty, I just don't see it. I'll agree that the flying section can be annoying, but besides that, I find it to be a fun final challenge, where you have to keep spacial awareness on what Grunty's doing while saving the Jinjos, and you have to have good aim with eggs at the start, while being wary of your positioning and Grunty's fireballs. Personally I find it to be a good challenge and a worthy final boss for the game. That said, the "bosses" in the worlds, leave a lot to be desired. I think they are harmless, but they are basically just glorified mooks. Maybe it's just because I know this game so well, but I don't see the issue of unlocking worlds either. Sometimes they can be out of the way, yes, but by the end of the game, it should get more difficult to figure out where the world painting is. I don't really see what's so hard about finding out you can bust open that gate outside MMM, when there are tons of gates that are exactly the same in MMM itself. It's a mechanic the game teaches you about in the world, and you have to use that knowledge to access an area that will lead the way to RBB's world entrance. It's clever game design that teaches you things without saying a word. I do think that placing the CCW painting so early on, to be a bit of a weird design choice, but eh. I can live with it. Funnily enough, the one thing I disagree with, that I don't like much, is Grunty's Furnace Fun. I love the presentation, and that it's just Grunty screwing with you, but I really don't like the structure of it. I'm not a fan of the Grunty, insta-death, or the minigame questions. They either take forever, just kill you, or don't give you enough time to respond. I enjoy Tooie's interpretation more, because it's just testing your knowledge about the game itself, without having dumb insta-death crap, or intrusive minigames. While yes, GFF is doing the same thing, I just find the way it's structured to be annoying to sit through, and you basically know what type of questions you'll get every time. Tooie's feels more fresh, because you never know what the next question might be. God I didn't think I had THIS much to say. I fear for how long my Tooie comment will be..
Totally agree about everything you said. His taste is whack and his opinions were a bit forced at the end. This game oozes charm throughout with great pace. CCW and Grunty are legendary
@@tophario1492 I just don't agree with his mindset half the time. It comes off like things have to be fast paced and easy to pick up and play for a game to be good and replayable. Not everything needs to be speed runnable. Whenever anything is even remotely challenging for him, he complains about it I swear. Not everything needs to be like Sonic, and not everything needs to be beaten in one try. (And this is coming from a Sonic fan no less. It's okay to slow down sometimes.)
The essence of Banjo is to slow down and enjoy the levels. It's not episodic like Mario. Banjo Tooie is going to be hell for him at this rate. It's all about reveling in the ludicrous banter with npcs and giggling at the dry British humor. These aren't obstacle courses but fully fleshed out worlds brought to you through the lens of an affable country bumpkin and his snarky partner.
@@tophario1492 Exactly. I'm fairly certain 80% of the Banjo Tooie review is just going to be complaints about the size of worlds and backtracking. God I'm going to end up going off on one. It doesn't help that it's basically my FGOAT. (Also if it takes over 2 hours to find 4 jiggies in Jolly Roger's Lagoon, then that's your own fault. This may be personal experience, but I can average every world's completion around 1 hr 30 minutes, and that's just from playing naturally, I don't even try speedrunning.) I can already hear all the complaints and nitpicks now, nothing he says is gonna surprise me about this.
@@tophario1492 Furthermore, I can already tell he's gonna complain about the length and that, "it's too long to be a replayable collectathon". Not everything needs to be beaten in a couple sittings, collectathon or not. A big reason I love Tooie, is because I get to feel immersed in this weird interconnected world, and help out these NPCs only Rare would create. It feels like a living, breathing world, where-as Banjo-Kazooie felt a lot more closed off and disconnected by comparison. (That being said, A Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie hybrid, where EVERYTHING was interconnected sounds like it could be really cool. I always wondered where those worlds were in coloration to the Tooie ones.)
The thing to realize about Kazooie's flight, is that she didn't know how to fly before and learned how to fly from a Mole. Moles don't exactly have the means to take off and fly at a moment's notice, necessitating the Flight Pads. Reminder as well that in the sequel that Kazooie had to be informed that she could glide by spreading her wings after leaping. Kazooie never had another bird to inform her of how to do bird things and learned to do bird things from things that are most certainly not birds. Can't fault her for having some weird methods.
Great video. It’s rare to find a review that looks so objectively at such a beloved game, without feeling like it’s just for attention. Regarding the Beak Bomb (divebomby move) and how you felt that it was difficult to aim - did you know that you can hold “R” when flying or swimming to centre the camera directly on Banjo’s back? This makes it much easier to aim as you can centre Kazooie’s head on your target. Keep up the awesome vids!
Yeah, while it *is* a bit annoying it's the only instance of it in the game, which compared to other games I've played, one instance of backtracking is pretty much harmless imo
i mean,there was a minor negative undertone towards that games pacing in the review. i am honestly interessted how that review will go considering this one already went into some of the improvements it made
I’m positive someone pointed it out, but here goes: In the space in Mad Monster Mansion mentioned at 43:50 where there is a ramp surrounded on all sides by wall, there IS a small hole in the wall for Pumpkin Banjo, forever engraved in my head as Banjack-o-lantern, to fit through. It may help with any replays you do of Mad Monster Mansion in the future, and save time on tricky platforming.
Click Clock Wood is an interesting level for me. It's absolute hell for beginners/people who haven't played the game in a while, but it's nowhere near as bad the second time through. I'd say if you can climb the tree competently enough without falling down, the level becomes much more manageable, though I understand that's not always easy, especially if you're playing it for the first time. And while there were too many Cluckers coming out of the walls all over the place and having all the music notes spread all over the four seasons was pretty tedious, I feel there were some aspects Click Clock Wood offers that doesn't make it THAT annoying to replay through the seasons. Like how Autumn and Winter have slopes on the ground floor to have you travel that area easier after Spring guided you the first time, how Summer and Autumn had those leaf platforms on the side of the tree so you didn't have to take the exact same path up all the time, and how putting the flight pad in the final season, Winter, gave a nice bit of catharsis after having enough time to understand fully how the level works. Not to mention that level is probably the prettiest one in the game, and those attention to details are really really nice once you notice them. The beautiful colors of Autumn, the desolate feeling of Winter, how those Robin Hood enemies change depending on the season, how Mumbo has all his torches' fire off during the Summer because it's too hot, how Gobi returns for some reason making him the only character introduce in a stage to reappear in another, there's just so many cool aspects to the stage. The bee transformation was underwhelming though. Either more of the stage should've utilized it or it shouldn't have been introduced at all (which would be a shame since it's a great transformation). Anything other than the half-cocked take they took in the final game where it was given in the first season and then never used again for the entire rest of the stage. So yeah, there's a lot to like about the stage, but probably more to dislike as well, especially for first-time players.
Holy shit Grunty's Lair is _actually_ based on the "If you go down to the woods today..." nursery rhyme!? I sing it every time I hear it, but I wasn't sure if it was just a coincidence or not.
+Identified as Toast Okay, but how would anybody know to do that? Unless it's in the manual or something. As far as I know the games themselves never say as much.
@@ExoParadigmGamer yeah I know the game doesn't tell you it at all so I can't really blame you for not knowing it, I only figured it out because of a speedrunner. Even then it is still a handy feature to use
If you found the very minimal backtracking of Kazooie to be an annoyance, I can't wait to hear you rag on Tooie. That whole game was one big clusterfuck of backtracking. Still was a great game though.
Honestly, thank you so much for this. This is the first video of yours I've watched, specifically because I started Banjo after the Smash announcement and found myself not really enjoying it as much as most people claim. I basically dropped it after Freeze-Eazy Peak because of how awful the beak bomb controls. Seeing this review made me want to play it again, seeing as how you like the game so much despite being able to point out every major issue I had with the game as someone who hasn't played much of it before 2019. Also, I'm glad to find someone who agrees with my that every other game these days uses size over content. Great video, man.
50:21 "The story, while not on the level of something like Trials and Tribulations..." Appreciate the shoutout to my personal FGOAT, Exo. Not even one of them, it IS my FGOAT.
Quick note for you Exo. Those facts about Grunty Brentilda tells you aren't random, they are the same three choices every time, but which one ends up being used as the correct fact is dependent upon which save file you are playing on. Also that ramp in Mad Monster Mansion you found isn't isolated from the pumpkin transformation. It is accessible from around the back gate to the hedge maze from the Church area. Just thought I'd give you the nice fun fact and advice. Still a great video as always either way.
Are We Not Gonna talk About How The Same Company Who Put Banjo Kazooie On Xbox 360, is the same company who helped with the Minecraft Legacy editions? (Wii U, PS3, Xbox 360)
Excellent work; you really delivered on all fronts with this one. I largely agree with your assessment, even if I do think you were a bit harsh at points (the combat isn't _that_ bad, and I opine that a lot of the early and mid-game levels wouldn't work as well if flight wasn't available in them). Banjo Kazooie is probably my favorite game from the fifth generation, so it's always nice to see a new perspective on it, especially one as in-depth as yours. Can't wait for the Banjo Tooie ROR!
with the original rare team gone, it would definitely not be good imo. The only way it would turn out well is if Nintendo somehow acquired the IP but thats not going to happen. We've also seen the spiritual successor Yooka-Laylee, which was kind of underwhelming.
I consider it a remaster. Its a complete replacement for the original in my eyes. It may still have flaws from the original, but it doesn't make anything worse. It makes the original an inferior version, and I think thats what a Remaster score is to me, although I can respect you giving it just a remake.
The audio quality in this video is astounding, and is a welcome improvement when compared to old RoRs (such as the Mario Advance series) Also, the new ranking system is a good expansion to rating reviews. Keep up the good work!
I honestly like the review, however I think your being quite a bit whiny about the Grunty fight. Its not made to be a difficult fight, its made to be rewarding. Your using EVERY skill you learned in your Adventure to beat her. Thats extremely satisfying. You need to lighten up about that
Aren't the music notes the main collectible seeing as they are ultimately what decides if you can progress or not for most of the game? Also, jesus the Jinjos looks like nightmare beasts with the black levels like that
It absolutely did. It got raked over the coals for being exactly what they said it would be, an old-school collect-a-thon oozing with Rareware charm. In the 2 years it's been released, I've replayed it about 10 times. I love it.
43:33 Actually, there's a tiny hole in the wall between the graveyard and the maze that leads to that ramp that leads to the mansion's 2nd floor. I actually didn't know about this either until a couple of years ago, because it's hard to see, even in the XBLA version. I remember following the wall like you do here during my first attempt at 100%, then later I learned you can climb the church and up the clock tower, then jump to the ramp to the second floor, before finding that hole at ground level and feeling pretty stupid.
You know, some of us are still kind of waiting on that XROSS Platform video on Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. Cause that seems like a really interesting one I'd like to see in full detail and all.
It's not obvious but there IS a aiming reticle in the game, though it's not a typical crosshair or similiarly. You use Kazooie's head while flying to aim for the enemies or areas to Beak Bomb. Knowing how to use this trick makes it much easier to aim.
33:00 A massive truth bomb right there! We need more games like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided that utilize every square meter in its fullest. Unique rooms, lots of objects, every place having a story to tell through people, environments, emails, hidden stashes, etc.
Grunty’s potshots involve you listening to the audio. If she fires while you’re standing still, it’ll go for you. If you’re moving, it’ll go in the direction you were headed when the noise sounds. The best thing is to fake her out with your moves. Hitting Grunty with the beak bomb is much safer it you don’t aim down. You can beak bomb straight, and you won’t run the risk of tumbling off the roof. Finally, and most confusing of your complaints, Grunty takes a break from her fireballs so you can shoot eggs at her. Each part of that phase has a pattern with pauses for you. It’s not as simple as just dealing with a clunky mechanic with no room for error.
Click Clock Wood is actually my favorite stage. I feel the use of the seasons is great, plus it has the best music in the game. Try replaying it again to see how you feel.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Couple of points from the comments I wanted to address.
1. Apparently you CAN skip cutscenes with L + R + B. If that's true, then there's absolutely no indication whatsoever that you can do this. I read every dialogue box and even checked my copy of the instruction manual and can confirm this is never mentioned once. Maybe it was a debug tool for the developers.
2. I've been informed multiple times that the ramp is a shortcut for the pumpkin after all. There's a hole you can squeeze through somewhere, though I'm not sure how I missed it. The Pumpkin was a minor criticism anyway but I'll be sure to do use that route from now on.
3. "Your complaints are nitpicks." It's fine to disagree and your mileage on any criticism will vary, but I'd like to note that any game can seem perfect if we disregard any and all criticisms as nitpicks. I recieve similar comments when reviewing many classic games. Nitpicks may be small, but they add up quickly and can detract from the experience in sufficient numbers. I wanted to be thorough because I found there were a lot of things other reviewers were glossing over or not mentioning.
Forgot to pin this my dude
I never knew you could skip cutscenes :) I absolutely agree with your points with the n64 version's notes, click clock woods as a whole and the whole backtracking thing with Gobi's Desert and Freezeezy Peak. Also it is possible to collect the stop n swop items in the n64 version, but they are permanently in your inventory and completely useless
ExoParadigmGamer What I just started noticing about Banjo's level design (which i CANNOT believe I didnt notice before) is that pretty much EVERY LEVEL is made like a wheel. The center point is ALWAYS a some major building or obstacle that defines the zone you are in (The Termite Mound in world 1. Clanker in World 3. The ship in world 8) and then the other objectives are branched out like the spokes. And every level is like this and it is so crazy that I didnt think about this! especially so considering how well it works too and how it makes the worlds easy to navigate and get around in, unlike Tooie which I would say is a pain in the ass to find stuff to do in or get anything done in a good amount of time. Its why I never understood the team making Yooka-Laylee making their game more like Tooie and less like Kazooie.
That would be due to the inherent urge to make everything "bigger and better", Mugen. Sometimes though, "more" is a better adjective to apply. Still enjoy Yooka immensely, but I do hope they take the criticisms to heart when they make the next one.
I'm incredibly envious of your PVM monitor. Those are the gold standard of CRTs. I keep looking on ebay for them, but can't really afford one. I really hope some company starts making CRT TVs and monitors again for the retro gaming and e-sports and speedrunning communities. It can't be that hard right? Cos all these old ones will die eventually
Also have you seen the new HDMI adapter for the N64 that requires no modding? In case you're interested in that sort of thing
New ror is always makes my day better
what are you doing here? XD
@@ajddavid452 yeah what are you doing here?
I agree
Really? Strange🧐
Love your videos!
When somebody mentions "4J Studios" the only thing I think of classic Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition
Perfect dark though
Same, there was a Banjo-Kazooie skin in one of the skin packs.
I have over 500 hours in Minecraft Wii U edition, thanks 4J
To be honest, that'd go for most people, but instead of thinking about the Xbox 360 version, they think about the PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One (pre-bedrock), PS Vita, PS4 (pre-bedrock), Wii U, and the Switch (pre-bedrock) versions.
Fun fact, they're still involved with Minecraft, even if not as much as before.
I'm saying this because they have published a multitude of resource packs on the Minecraft Marketplace.
@@crying2theocean203 pathetic i have 1,500
19:07 “found that it fit the BK universe”
woah so we talkin’ burger king now?
aceclutchh U Braggin Bout Burger King w/ Me?
That's Banjo-Kazooie, not Burger King, you moron.
Benito Sierra ...you...you don’t get it.
@@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx At least I understand what Exo says.
@@benitosierrajr3958 nice bro u got him
Timestamps for Mobile User
00:00:40 - Introduction
00:05:30 - The Story
00:12:10 - The N64 Graphics
00:17:14 - The 360 Graphics
00:20:38 - The N64 Sound
00:22:22 - The 360 Sound
00:23:21 - The Mechanics
00:28:11 - The Camera
00:30:28 - The Combat
00:32:41 - The Level Design
00:35:01 - Exo's Four Criticisms
00:39:43 - The Bottles Bonus Glitch
00:41:13 - Exo's Four Criticisms Continued
00:43:02 - Mumbo Transformations
00:43:56 - SPOILERS: Ending and Final Boss
00:48:17 - Stop 'n' Swop
00:49:34 - Conclusion
00:52:29 - Remake or Rebreak
00:54:52 - Ending and Credits
The hero we need but dont deserve
You do not have to navigate the top of the hedgemaze as the pumpkin.
There is a ramp you can walk up as the pumpkin that lets you on top of the mansion in like 2 seconds.
And no, that ramp is not enclosed. Theres a small hole you can slip through under the wall as the pumpkin.
OmegaChase1002 And even if it was enclosed you can just climb onto the church roof like you would with Banjo (hop onto the gravestone then roof etc) and then jump from the tower into the hedge ramp area.
Never would I have ever thought to go that far out of my way to get onto the hedges by jumping around a fence... It just doesn’t even make sense with regards to the rest of the games design...
@@linearlink
wait, you can do that?
OmegaChase1002 that’s how I’ve always done it. It always felt a little weird to do it that way, especially now that I know there is a hole in the wall, but not as weird as going all the way across the map and navigating the hedges like in the video. To be honest it’s not much slower than using the hole since there both in the same area.
Navigate? The hole is literally right there.
I actually laughed so hard at that point, the ramp and the little hole in the hedges are so clear! There's no way the intended route would be so difficult/complex in a game so relatively easy
It's crazy how difference our opinions can be sometimes. Me personally I loved Click Clock Wood and consider it the Climax of Banjo Kazooie. The idea of doing a full stage four times but in different seasons is in a way a summary of the entire Banjo Kazooie experience. The stage even has it's own mini hub world. This stage uses everything you have learned up to that point for a pretty good challenge that will test your skills in the game.
Very well put. Hearing the lair theme change to Click Clock Wood is a total vibe
Now, on N64, it sucks but on XBLA, it's a great level. I agree with you.
Gotta say, I think Click Clock Wood is probably the best (Or at least, most memorable stage) It's like a game in itself.
Funny how opinions are, cos yeah, I remember loving that stage.
Click Clock Wood is my 2nd least favorite stage.
Was about to comment the same thing
I always felt Click Clock Woods was overrated, and also a pain in the butt to complete on the N64. There were a lot better levels in Banjo-Kazooie.
I read that in your voice, Goomba
CCW is a nice stage, but I simply love the theme of MMM.
You said Kirby lacks story? Oh man... Kirby ooses story and lore... Thing is... It is hidden inside of pause screens
I beg your pardon?
Don't have much experience with Kirby, so maybe the story/lore make up for it, but pause screens sound like a shit way to convey story.
@@joeytoby1 you wouldnt like souls games
Kirby lore is just flavored text, and the localization sometimes changes or entirely removes some part of the pause screen descriptions
@@pee-bot true
I think Grunty doesn't beauty swap right away because she sees this as a game just as much as we do. Thatd explain the quiz at the end. She wants to toy with banjo.
As for the jinjos, maybe they cant move unless touched because of a magic spell? Grunty is a witch after all.
In that cutscene when you enter the lair Klungo says that that the machine will start soon. Meaning that there may be a cooldown period.
@@enigmatixthecringechampion5004
a bit of a stretch, but okay.
at least tooie outright state thereis a cooldown period.
Eh, yeah.
It is explained very briefly in the opening that the Beauty Machine is "Getting ready" so it is outright stated that there is a cooldown time; it's just glanced over in a very quick sentence.
The idea of Grunty having a Quiz Show with Tootie as the prize was pretty much just because "Nobody would expect this." Grunty toying with Banjo also seems fitting; but I would think she would've had a fake Tootie instead in that case; and remind him that they are both at the top waiting; but even still.
To DK64 and Tooie's credit; this is something both of them do better. DK64 explains early on that the Blast-O-Matic is still under construction due to the incompetence of the Kremlings, and Tooie explains that the BOB requires a longass cooldown to blast the whole island.
@@OmegaChase1002 not a stretch lmao it's why it's mentioned
"Spiral Mountain may be the best opening stage theme in video game history"
City Escape : Am I a joke to you?
great review btw exo
I feel like they're conveying different styles/moods, and both of them do their job perfectly.
Frigate Orpheon has entered the chat
You and KingK just casually dropping reviews on the same day. Man you spoil me and I love it
Prayin for the XBLA ports to come to Switch
This was supposed to be it's own comment but I only just noticed I accidentally typed it as a reply :(
Cake Jerry It’s alright my dood, everyone makes mistakes
@Zachary Erickson unlikely but it is possible, B&K are coming to Smash and Microsoft have published a couple of Rare games on Nintendo handhelds in the past. They seem to be on pretty good terms so, while unlikely, it's not totally outside the realm of possibility.
At least this guy is not an asshole, unlike KingK who attacks other reviewers for wanting to stay objective just because he thinks objective critique doesn't exist.
16:53 Anyone remember the cheese you could enter in Banjo-Tooie? That were some solid 5 fps.
lol you picked the worst example, the cheese wedge is a stable 30fps inside
35:50
No, there is a hole. I'm sure you don't feel like booting up BK just to go see it, but there is indeed a hole near the ramp, I believe on the left side. It saves you like 5 minutes.
Though it's not like it's well conveyed, since no natural camera angle readily displays it.
What’s the hole for?
20:32 top scan line has a tendency to bug out.
Me: *staring intently at the screen as he is zooming up*
Video: *Surprise Ad*
GOOD REVIEW BUDDY ❤️❤️
Haedox lives!
10:57
Yes they are randomized. Brentilda is literally random every time. It was a time sink for speed runs for a while.
This is really the only thing that I want to give to the comment section community
I like Tooie more. I love how interconnected the worlds are, it makes it seem deeper to me, and I don't find the re-visits to worlds to be annoying at all (except Grunty Industries).
Of course I love BK as well!
Click Clock Wood is actually my favorite level! Such a great game and it features a handsome hippo!
Where is this hippo?
@@TaurusAnimations-z6x Second level! Captain Blubber on the pirate ship! You can't miss it!
@@captainblubber That's Treasures Trove Cove, Click Clock Wood is the last main level
@@TaurusAnimations-z6x Haha, I think you are just confused. I said the 'game' features a handsome hippo, not the 'level'.
10:46 It is randomized. It was hard to speedrun furnace until the BK speedrun community found an exploit
I can't get enough of Banjo Kazooie, thanks for bringing more content of this bear and bird
In the N64 version, Mumbo’s talking sprite always creeped me out. His eyes seem more sunken in... but in the XBLA version, his eyes bulge out more
XBLA seems to use the Banjo-Tooie heads for almost all characters. Those who don't appear in Tooie will retain their original B-K heads here.
The XBLA version actually still uses mip mapping. They just dont kick in until very far away. Mip Maps also solve the issue of textures shimmering. This is because if the texture is so small on the screen that the actual texture itself is higher res than the amount of pixels on the screen the sampling will bounce between two or more pixels when moving the camera.
"It still doesn't explain how eggonizing it can be"... Lmao nice almost slipped that one by me.
The "Gruntilda Effect" is pretty well executed in Dissidia Final Fantasy, of all games. The game constantly reminds you how much you need to defeat Chaos, but keeps on putting obstacle after obstacle in your way; when you finally reach that final fight, it's such a cathartic moment.
You may have been told this already in the comments, but the theme for Grunty's Lair actually references Teddy Bear's Picnic on accident. During the first Guest Grumps with Grant Kirkhope, he's asked about it by Jon, but Grant doesn't recall basing the track on anything, and they decide it must have been done subconsciously.
7:16 In the original N64 releases of BK and BT, you can skip full exchanges by pressing L+R+B.
18:10 - 18:20 I saw and heard this from somewhere before, maybe a vision…
18:59 The N64 releases use Comicrazy as the text font, while the XBLA releases use Andy Bold from Nuts & Bolts.
42:07 Took me _3_ hours.
Ew for the last one.
I'm sorry if that ended up coming out wrong, as I have not intended to gloat; Me taking 3 hours to 100% Click Clock Wood, rather than Exo's 2, is basically me saying that I suck.
"Kazooie also gives Banjo a bunch of other bird like moves such as shooting eggs..."
Man, I hate it whenever birds spit eggs at me whenever I walk outside. You go near a tree and they just spit egg after egg at you
omencito This comment is so underrated
Now I want a from-the-ground-up Banjo Kazooie Remake...
You probably know this already but they were actually going to do it at some point, before they started to work on nuts and bolts they were considering doing a remake of banjo in the style of what they did with conker live & reloaded where they change some things, and one of the think they were going to have was grunty hovering around the worlds changing things as you were playing them if I remember correctly
@@chrisfratz Yeah, maybe with Banjo being in Smash Microsoft might try to revive the brand with a remake or even a new game. They've clearly not completely abandoned him, unlike Conker.
DenshiDraws In the Banjo Tooie engine? Yes.
I hope we get BK and BT remasters in the same vain as the Crash and Spyro ones!
Yep with Microsoft and Nintendo parterning up now, and Banjo in Smash now, it's actually looking possible that we'll get a remake. Whereas before it looked like it'd absolutely never happen. But a remake and release on a Nintendo console (as well as a Microsoft console), it'd print money
43:34 there is actually a very small opening covered by grass I'm the hedged that leads to the ramp. I rediscovered this after doing the hedge walk of shame.
And I just had a mini ROR marathon this evening.
Goddamn!
Edit: Nice visual gag at 17:27
Ikr jesus christ
48:34 Slight nitpick. The N64 couldn't keep RAM when it was turned off. It kept RAM if you removed the cartridge, and changed it while it was still on. It's called "hotswapping". Though, doing that in practice could potentially damage your console, which is part of the reason why it was scrapped.
Spoiler alert: While the Xbox Live Arcade version does feature Stop 'N Swop as it was originally intended, what they did with it is kinda... Disappointing.
43:30
Oh man! Not knowing there's a hole in the wall by the graveyard with a ramp leading right up to the house would suck! I feel sorry for you
My nitpick for this game, you never fight Klungo. He just disappears.
Although they make up for this in the sequel.
With big open worlds, there needs to be enough content to go with it. 76 shows that you can't just make the world bigger without the content to complement it.
I like big open worlds but if there is too much nothing between areas it's rather boring and tedious.
You and many will probably disagree, but that's exactly why I enjoy BK so much more than Tooie.
Tooie does some great things to the controls of Banjo&K, but the world is too big and empty compared to the first in my opinion.
@@cxx23 It's fine
I genuinely love Tooie. It really deserves more praise.
Microsoft is literally sitting on a gold mine with Banjo. Like if they would just remake Banjo 1 and 2 and bundled them together like a Crash N'Sane Trilogy deal and shortly there after, maybe a year after they annouce an offical Banjo 3 using the engine from the remakes and money would pour in but for whatever reason, they don't do that. Shame really.
Should've kept Re-meh. Easier to understand than the more vague Reprise.
Gonna agree with this, and as a long time viewer I find it iconic!
Adding a fifth rating is a good idea though
I agree.
Kinda late, but I just wanted to briefly mention that "reprise" is a term most commonly used in music that basically means "the same thing over again" or a "repeat" (or "to resume"). So in this case it seems to imply "basically the same thing and not significantly different enough to be worth mentioning". Admittedly "Repeat" might have gotten the point across better, and Re-meh gets the feelings across a little more clearly up front
reprise is more clever tbh
Was not expecting this to come out, Great work as always Exo
33:00 I hate how they do this, they don’t add more content, they just literally make the game world bigger so they can say “the game is bigger” and technically be correct.
Mario Odyssey isn’t full of giant emptiness like Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey as a game is that exact size, but every square inch is filled with things to do and everything is placed with a purpose, that purpose being “fun”.
Breath of the wild feels like they saw the total lack of an overworld in Ocarina of Time and thought “oh, I know how to fix this” and just made the empty space between towns way bigger. Stupid to try and fix a problem by actively making the problem itself much larger.
Funny how Banjo-Tooie actually fell into this trap too. It is bigger than Kazooie, but it's more empty and boring. While in Kazooie, the worlds were smaller but there was something in every corner.
I don’t understand why Nintendo felt compelled to port the n64 version of banjo and not the Xbox version since to me it’s the superior version of the game in terms of graphics and features.
I'm pretty sure the Xbox version of BK still has mip mapping, just like every other modern (and most N64) game. They just also have anisotropic filtering now, which prevents inaccurate neighbor sampling at steep angles. Aside from an additional 1/3 cost of vram, mip mapping is a nice performance boost and only makes distant textures look better. Without it, you would see a lot of noisy shimmering as sub-pixel texels would fight to be selected. Trilinear filtering was a pretty big selling point for N64 hardware, and that necessarily interpolates between mip levels.
B-K is one of the best games ever made, and Click Clock Wood is an epic masterpiece. Fight me. ;)
After having played Spyro 3 and Toy Story 2 so many times, I would love to give Banjo Kazooie a proper try someday.
@@ultrairrelevantnobody1862 I just got an Xbox One S and Rare Replay. Absolutely worth it.
This is my favorite new channel. Long form OG gaming content. THE BEST
I do agree with a lot of this review, though I'm gonna have to disagree with the feather system and Grunty battle entirely. Personally, I find that using feathers and eggs, for flight, invincibility and ammo, to be a good incentive to look around levels to stack up on those things, while doing your main objectives. I'll concede the fact that the Beak Bomb attack doesn't work the best sometimes. I tend to find that, if you pay attention to the amount of eggs/feathers you have, you'll rarely run out. Not to mention that you only run out of reds when you start ascending, which doesn't happen enough to cause problems, at-least from my experience.
I'll have to disagree with how YL being better about it. While I think the special meter or whatever to be an interesting concept, I found it to be more intrusive then anything. I just don't really like how the flight controls in that game either. I get that it's supposed to emulate Laylee struggling to carry Yooka around, but in execution, it feels bad to control. The last world in YL just involves flying around aimlessly, until you finally find something. It just felt so aimless and poorly put together. Probably one of my least favourite levels in a collectathon.
As for Grunty, I just don't see it. I'll agree that the flying section can be annoying, but besides that, I find it to be a fun final challenge, where you have to keep spacial awareness on what Grunty's doing while saving the Jinjos, and you have to have good aim with eggs at the start, while being wary of your positioning and Grunty's fireballs. Personally I find it to be a good challenge and a worthy final boss for the game. That said, the "bosses" in the worlds, leave a lot to be desired. I think they are harmless, but they are basically just glorified mooks.
Maybe it's just because I know this game so well, but I don't see the issue of unlocking worlds either. Sometimes they can be out of the way, yes, but by the end of the game, it should get more difficult to figure out where the world painting is. I don't really see what's so hard about finding out you can bust open that gate outside MMM, when there are tons of gates that are exactly the same in MMM itself. It's a mechanic the game teaches you about in the world, and you have to use that knowledge to access an area that will lead the way to RBB's world entrance. It's clever game design that teaches you things without saying a word. I do think that placing the CCW painting so early on, to be a bit of a weird design choice, but eh. I can live with it.
Funnily enough, the one thing I disagree with, that I don't like much, is Grunty's Furnace Fun. I love the presentation, and that it's just Grunty screwing with you, but I really don't like the structure of it. I'm not a fan of the Grunty, insta-death, or the minigame questions. They either take forever, just kill you, or don't give you enough time to respond. I enjoy Tooie's interpretation more, because it's just testing your knowledge about the game itself, without having dumb insta-death crap, or intrusive minigames. While yes, GFF is doing the same thing, I just find the way it's structured to be annoying to sit through, and you basically know what type of questions you'll get every time. Tooie's feels more fresh, because you never know what the next question might be.
God I didn't think I had THIS much to say. I fear for how long my Tooie comment will be..
Totally agree about everything you said. His taste is whack and his opinions were a bit forced at the end. This game oozes charm throughout with great pace. CCW and Grunty are legendary
@@tophario1492 I just don't agree with his mindset half the time. It comes off like things have to be fast paced and easy to pick up and play for a game to be good and replayable. Not everything needs to be speed runnable. Whenever anything is even remotely challenging for him, he complains about it I swear. Not everything needs to be like Sonic, and not everything needs to be beaten in one try. (And this is coming from a Sonic fan no less. It's okay to slow down sometimes.)
The essence of Banjo is to slow down and enjoy the levels. It's not episodic like Mario. Banjo Tooie is going to be hell for him at this rate. It's all about reveling in the ludicrous banter with npcs and giggling at the dry British humor. These aren't obstacle courses but fully fleshed out worlds brought to you through the lens of an affable country bumpkin and his snarky partner.
@@tophario1492 Exactly. I'm fairly certain 80% of the Banjo Tooie review is just going to be complaints about the size of worlds and backtracking. God I'm going to end up going off on one. It doesn't help that it's basically my FGOAT. (Also if it takes over 2 hours to find 4 jiggies in Jolly Roger's Lagoon, then that's your own fault. This may be personal experience, but I can average every world's completion around 1 hr 30 minutes, and that's just from playing naturally, I don't even try speedrunning.) I can already hear all the complaints and nitpicks now, nothing he says is gonna surprise me about this.
@@tophario1492 Furthermore, I can already tell he's gonna complain about the length and that, "it's too long to be a replayable collectathon". Not everything needs to be beaten in a couple sittings, collectathon or not. A big reason I love Tooie, is because I get to feel immersed in this weird interconnected world, and help out these NPCs only Rare would create. It feels like a living, breathing world, where-as Banjo-Kazooie felt a lot more closed off and disconnected by comparison. (That being said, A Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie hybrid, where EVERYTHING was interconnected sounds like it could be really cool. I always wondered where those worlds were in coloration to the Tooie ones.)
Clicked on and liked this video so fast. Looking forward to a stellar ROR, Exo!!
Huh. On the same day Masae Anela ends her LP of Banjo Kazooie. That’s some funny timing there.
Literally who
pejnismiggle a friend of Chuggaconroy
@@pejnismiggle get out
And around the same time that The Completionist's review of Banjo-Kazooie was uploaded.
The thing to realize about Kazooie's flight, is that she didn't know how to fly before and learned how to fly from a Mole. Moles don't exactly have the means to take off and fly at a moment's notice, necessitating the Flight Pads. Reminder as well that in the sequel that Kazooie had to be informed that she could glide by spreading her wings after leaping. Kazooie never had another bird to inform her of how to do bird things and learned to do bird things from things that are most certainly not birds. Can't fault her for having some weird methods.
woah EPG is really pumping these out, good for him!
Banjo-kazooie click clock woods is my favorite level. I don't know how to explain it but that map holds a special place in my heart.
Great video.
It’s rare to find a review that looks so objectively at such a beloved game, without feeling like it’s just for attention.
Regarding the Beak Bomb (divebomby move) and how you felt that it was difficult to aim - did you know that you can hold “R” when flying or swimming to centre the camera directly on Banjo’s back?
This makes it much easier to aim as you can centre Kazooie’s head on your target.
Keep up the awesome vids!
Can you do the Crash Bandicoot trilogy Remake or Rebreak (Original PS1 vs N Sane Trilogy PS4)?
I think he would play it on PC because of the 60fps.
@@oscarzxn4067 Besides, he will review Spyro Reignited Trilogy the same way that he will do for Crash Bandicoot N'Sane Trilogy.
He said it’s in the pipeline
*Switch Trilogy
Watch the video
I really don't agree with the criticism of the backtracking. I honestly don't think it was bad or a honest problem to address.
Yeah, while it *is* a bit annoying it's the only instance of it in the game, which compared to other games I've played, one instance of backtracking is pretty much harmless imo
well,i mean,he said too that it was not a bigger problem. just that it doesnt really add anything and it would have been better without it
@@lpfan4491 That's true, it could've been reworked so it wasn't necessary, but at the same time I'm not losing sleep over it :P
If he hated the backtracking *here* he’s gonna despise it in tooie
i mean,there was a minor negative undertone towards that games pacing in the review. i am honestly interessted how that review will go considering this one already went into some of the improvements it made
It’s funny to think the entire game Grunty is just cramped into that machine until Banjo & Kazooie actually confront her
Didn't expect for this short of a wait for another Exo video but ok 😁👌
I’m positive someone pointed it out, but here goes:
In the space in Mad Monster Mansion mentioned at 43:50 where there is a ramp surrounded on all sides by wall, there IS a small hole in the wall for Pumpkin Banjo, forever engraved in my head as Banjack-o-lantern, to fit through. It may help with any replays you do of Mad Monster Mansion in the future, and save time on tricky platforming.
Click Clock Wood is an interesting level for me. It's absolute hell for beginners/people who haven't played the game in a while, but it's nowhere near as bad the second time through. I'd say if you can climb the tree competently enough without falling down, the level becomes much more manageable, though I understand that's not always easy, especially if you're playing it for the first time.
And while there were too many Cluckers coming out of the walls all over the place and having all the music notes spread all over the four seasons was pretty tedious, I feel there were some aspects Click Clock Wood offers that doesn't make it THAT annoying to replay through the seasons. Like how Autumn and Winter have slopes on the ground floor to have you travel that area easier after Spring guided you the first time, how Summer and Autumn had those leaf platforms on the side of the tree so you didn't have to take the exact same path up all the time, and how putting the flight pad in the final season, Winter, gave a nice bit of catharsis after having enough time to understand fully how the level works.
Not to mention that level is probably the prettiest one in the game, and those attention to details are really really nice once you notice them. The beautiful colors of Autumn, the desolate feeling of Winter, how those Robin Hood enemies change depending on the season, how Mumbo has all his torches' fire off during the Summer because it's too hot, how Gobi returns for some reason making him the only character introduce in a stage to reappear in another, there's just so many cool aspects to the stage.
The bee transformation was underwhelming though. Either more of the stage should've utilized it or it shouldn't have been introduced at all (which would be a shame since it's a great transformation). Anything other than the half-cocked take they took in the final game where it was given in the first season and then never used again for the entire rest of the stage.
So yeah, there's a lot to like about the stage, but probably more to dislike as well, especially for first-time players.
43:50 there's a hole along the hedge to let you get in that area
Finally I was Looking forward to this Review !
I love how long these videos are, so you can talk about your opinions clearly amd fresh!
Holy shit Grunty's Lair is _actually_ based on the "If you go down to the woods today..." nursery rhyme!? I sing it every time I hear it, but I wasn't sure if it was just a coincidence or not.
You can skip the dialogue in game by holding the L R and B button for the N64 version
+Identified as Toast Okay, but how would anybody know to do that? Unless it's in the manual or something. As far as I know the games themselves never say as much.
@@ExoParadigmGamer yeah I know the game doesn't tell you it at all so I can't really blame you for not knowing it, I only figured it out because of a speedrunner. Even then it is still a handy feature to use
@@ExoParadigmGamer In the PAL version (my copy) you can use JUST B. Even then, why use L, R, B, in place of Z, R, B?
Rebecca Stewart Is the PAL copy optimized for PAL50?
@@theobserver4214 Yes, it is. My copy at least is, I don't know if that's not the case for some copies.
If you found the very minimal backtracking of Kazooie to be an annoyance, I can't wait to hear you rag on Tooie. That whole game was one big clusterfuck of backtracking. Still was a great game though.
I can't believe he doesn't like Click Clock Wood! I LOVE that place! Playing through it for the first time was magical
It's my favorite level but it is pretty long and punishing
36:18 Rusty bucket bay, Am happy am not the only one who always forgets where to unlock it.
Honestly, thank you so much for this. This is the first video of yours I've watched, specifically because I started Banjo after the Smash announcement and found myself not really enjoying it as much as most people claim. I basically dropped it after Freeze-Eazy Peak because of how awful the beak bomb controls. Seeing this review made me want to play it again, seeing as how you like the game so much despite being able to point out every major issue I had with the game as someone who hasn't played much of it before 2019. Also, I'm glad to find someone who agrees with my that every other game these days uses size over content. Great video, man.
I was JUST watching a Rare Retrospective where it was focusing on Banjo and Kazooie!
Sick Earthworm Jim intro, it's surprising how well it fit right next to the banjo kazooie music
Huh your getting better pacing with your review releases, that's cool
50:21 "The story, while not on the level of something like Trials and Tribulations..."
Appreciate the shoutout to my personal FGOAT, Exo. Not even one of them, it IS my FGOAT.
10:16 WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOOOOOOOOOOOAR
Nothing like an hour of ROR to liven up my day.
Yuuup
Quick note for you Exo. Those facts about Grunty Brentilda tells you aren't random, they are the same three choices every time, but which one ends up being used as the correct fact is dependent upon which save file you are playing on.
Also that ramp in Mad Monster Mansion you found isn't isolated from the pumpkin transformation. It is accessible from around the back gate to the hedge maze from the Church area. Just thought I'd give you the nice fun fact and advice. Still a great video as always either way.
39:38 That quote from Dexter made that scene more funnier. XD
Are We Not Gonna talk About How The Same Company Who Put Banjo Kazooie On Xbox 360, is the same company who helped with the Minecraft Legacy editions? (Wii U, PS3, Xbox 360)
Excellent work; you really delivered on all fronts with this one. I largely agree with your assessment, even if I do think you were a bit harsh at points (the combat isn't _that_ bad, and I opine that a lot of the early and mid-game levels wouldn't work as well if flight wasn't available in them). Banjo Kazooie is probably my favorite game from the fifth generation, so it's always nice to see a new perspective on it, especially one as in-depth as yours. Can't wait for the Banjo Tooie ROR!
Where is our real banjo kazooie remake and not a port
This is a remake
with the original rare team gone, it would definitely not be good imo. The only way it would turn out well is if Nintendo somehow acquired the IP but thats not going to happen.
We've also seen the spiritual successor Yooka-Laylee, which was kind of underwhelming.
@@seandonovan7062 What if Nintendo and Microsoft pay Playtonic to remake Banjo Kazooie?
Cliffordlonghead it’s a remaster
N Sane Trilogy, Nitro Fueled and Reignited Trilogy are great and they were not Made by Naughty Dog or Insomniac, so I'm not sure about that.
I was just watching the Glover video yesterday. Perfect timing always.
I consider it a remaster. Its a complete replacement for the original in my eyes. It may still have flaws from the original, but it doesn't make anything worse. It makes the original an inferior version, and I think thats what a Remaster score is to me, although I can respect you giving it just a remake.
The audio quality in this video is astounding, and is a welcome improvement when compared to old RoRs (such as the Mario Advance series)
Also, the new ranking system is a good expansion to rating reviews.
Keep up the good work!
I honestly like the review, however I think your being quite a bit whiny about the Grunty fight. Its not made to be a difficult fight, its made to be rewarding. Your using EVERY skill you learned in your Adventure to beat her. Thats extremely satisfying. You need to lighten up about that
Already hyped for that Crash 4 video my dude
The darker look in your XBLA footage actually imitates how it looks on my older plasma TV pretty well.
Aren't the music notes the main collectible seeing as they are ultimately what decides if you can progress or not for most of the game?
Also, jesus the Jinjos looks like nightmare beasts with the black levels like that
Great video, super fascinating. Always wondered about the differences between the versions.
Keep up the good work.
I need to thank you for giving Yooka-Laylee the time of day. That game got a raw deal if you ask me.
It absolutely did. It got raked over the coals for being exactly what they said it would be, an old-school collect-a-thon oozing with Rareware charm.
In the 2 years it's been released, I've replayed it about 10 times. I love it.
27:40 you can aim, it's just where the center of kazooie's head is pointing.
46:50 hitting grunty with the beakbomb is satisfying af though.
Who would figure out the first point
FINALLY DREAM 64 HAS FOOTAGE
43:33 Actually, there's a tiny hole in the wall between the graveyard and the maze that leads to that ramp that leads to the mansion's 2nd floor. I actually didn't know about this either until a couple of years ago, because it's hard to see, even in the XBLA version.
I remember following the wall like you do here during my first attempt at 100%, then later I learned you can climb the church and up the clock tower, then jump to the ramp to the second floor, before finding that hole at ground level and feeling pretty stupid.
Spyro's next after Tooie?
Does that mean Crash Bandicoot is coming...
You know, some of us are still kind of waiting on that XROSS Platform video on Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex.
Cause that seems like a really interesting one I'd like to see in full detail and all.
I'm gonna say it. Banjo Kazooie is the best platformer on N64.
It's not obvious but there IS a aiming reticle in the game, though it's not a typical crosshair or similiarly. You use Kazooie's head while flying to aim for the enemies or areas to Beak Bomb. Knowing how to use this trick makes it much easier to aim.
You are probably one of the greatest reviewers on the site.
33:00 A massive truth bomb right there!
We need more games like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided that utilize every square meter in its fullest. Unique rooms, lots of objects, every place having a story to tell through people, environments, emails, hidden stashes, etc.
Yo... I think a Remake or Rebreak of Resident Evil could be good, considering how high-quality the remake, and it’s later re-release is.
I'm not entirely sure why, but Click Clock Wood is actually my favorite world in Banjo Kazooie.
Grunty’s potshots involve you listening to the audio. If she fires while you’re standing still, it’ll go for you. If you’re moving, it’ll go in the direction you were headed when the noise sounds. The best thing is to fake her out with your moves.
Hitting Grunty with the beak bomb is much safer it you don’t aim down. You can beak bomb straight, and you won’t run the risk of tumbling off the roof.
Finally, and most confusing of your complaints, Grunty takes a break from her fireballs so you can shoot eggs at her. Each part of that phase has a pattern with pauses for you. It’s not as simple as just dealing with a clunky mechanic with no room for error.
Click Clock Wood is actually my favorite stage. I feel the use of the seasons is great, plus it has the best music in the game. Try replaying it again to see how you feel.
18:12 - Mmm, delicious foreshadowing.