Banjo-Kazooie In-Depth Design Commentary: Part I
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- Hey folks,
With Yooka-Laylee right around the corner, I figured this was the perfect time to an in-depth design commentary on Banjo-Kazooie, the game's "spiritual predecessor". This is part one of a (likely) four part series. Hope you folks enjoy!
Twitter: / brownbear_47
Facebook: / brownbeargaming
Timestamps:
-- Platform: 0:30
-- Introductory Cinematic and Box Art: 2:51
-- Tutorial: 5:18
-- Mumbo's Mountain: 8:47
-- Grunty's Lair and Future Payoffs: 13:01
-- Treasure Trove Cove: 14:40
References:
-- www.theguardia... (Rare work culture)
-- / ghoulyboy (Twitter of Gregg Mayles, designer on Banjo Kazooie, source of sketches)
@11:08 I'm going to hazard an educated guess that this has a couple of reasons. Firstly is the gating you mentioned. The Talon Trot would let you bypass the first world and access more of the Lair than you are meant to see, which could lead to frustrated wandering. Second I think is pacing. They don't give you all of the moves at the beginning because you have just learned jumping, attacking, swimming, climbing, and how health and enemies work. Forgetting the Rat-a-tat rap or Beak Barge exists because you used the Beak Buster from the beginning will make several puzzles frustrating. Also I like how they use most of the moves at least once in future levels (Firing eggs from behind into Leaky, Shock Jump and Flight Pad in Clanker's Cavern) to reiterate their uses and usefulness. They did a great job at slowly introducing new concepts while making sure you don't forget old ones.
Yup, that's a very logical and pertinent hypothesis regarding the design choice. I'm really fond of Rare's work in that era, yet I'm still puzzled as to how they went from this to the meandering Donkey Kong 64 that is absolutely dreadful to play as an adult with its character-coded collectibles requiring countless backtracking, not to say anything about the less responsive camera that someone got even worse in Conker Bad Fur Day.
I love seeing games like this getting super in-depth analysis. I feel like a lot of the same types of games get this level of attention by most game design-focused channels, so thanks for giving Banjo-Kazooie this kind of study. Looking forward to more. :)
I hope it's like Matthewmatosis' review of Dark Souls.
Snacker was the most terrifying thing ever as a kid. Whenever my brother and I fell into the water we'd press start and exit the game... :D
Great video!
This video deserves more views.
You should do Banjo-Tooie after this, great video!
I love your focus on the box art as an introductory function, because I originally bought the game because of a promotional image on the Xbox 360 release with banjo and kazooie on a bright beanstalk, I'd Loved these characters and the world they were in since I played nuts and bolts as a kid, and vaugely knew that they were in other games where you adventure around, and I saw the image of them standing there in this fantastical setting almost inviting me in and I immediately wanted to play it
Excellent video(s).
I hope their being featured in Super Smash Bros helps establish the game and the character(s) of Banjo-Kazooie as being important figures within the medium as a whole.
This is a legitimate question. One I've never really seen an answer to...
So, like... what on earth was Banjo doing when Grunty was constructing her giant ostentatious lair on the side of the valley? Did it ever not occur to him that something was dearly wrong with his neighbor when she was making the outside of her home to look like an exact replica of her face...?
Or was it a case of Grunty's Lair already built and Banjo moved to Spiral Mountain? If so, why?! Was the giant stoney-faced lair up on the side of the valley not a big indicator that maybe this wasn't the best bit of real estate?
hey, it probably made the mortgage cheaper
You didn't mention or think of something that I like about mumbos mountain. Mumbos mountain is a joke, in the bit of grunty's lair outside of mumbos mountain, there is some intimidating music with chanting and the sound of stones moving. And when you enter mumbos mountain, goofy silly music starts playing, and when you finally meet mumbo he is a short odd looking guy in a mask who can barely turn you into a bug.
I think calling the reissues "remakes" is a bit of a misnomer because its almost 1for1 at it's core. It wasn't (correct me if I'm wrong) built from the ground up, it used the same source elements and did some minor refinements here and there. A more fitting term would be a restoration or a facelift. Admittedly this may sound to some like splitting hairs.
In any case, I enjoyed the video. Glad to see this IP still getting love almost 25 years later.
Great comments on the honeycomb/draw distance between the original and the HD port - I agree both are fantastic.
The more methodical feel of banjo kazooie probably comes from rare's prior skill on SNES, a system with hardware that better supported slower games better
This is a nice, chill video. Reminds me of Matthewmatosis' commentary for Devil May Cry 1.
I am a big Banjo-Kazooie fan, this was an instant sub for me
Heads up, the Xbox release was an enhanced port, not a remake. It has very few new assets. Additionally, it ran at a locked 30fps, not 60.
Love the premise. Subscribed and look forward to this journey with you.
great analysis, presentation and eye for detail
Whoa, this is awesome! Keep up the excellent analysis please!
have you watched Veegie's video? he also does a really good in-depth analysis of BK
However Treasure Trove Cove was not going to be in the original version of the game. The original version was called just "Kazoo" and had this engine similar to Pacman World. Treasure Trove Cove was one of the first worlds that Gregg Mayles designed after they moved away from the original concept. The first world that he made after moving away from Kazoo was the Temple level which didn't make it's way to the final game. All worlds from Kazoo were discarded because they didn't have the right structure for a panoramic 3D game.
I'm looking forward to how you're going to explain the other aspects of the game, such as why the final six Empty Honeycombs don't grant you one more bit of health.
Can't wait for the next vid! Banjo kazooie 4 life!
Great video! Cant wait to see the next parts : ]
great video, loved it and subbed. are you going to compare yooka laylees design to banjo kazooie? i get the feeling that it wont be nearly as good as banjo kazooie :/
e: oh nvm, you said something about future yooka laylee coverage in your march channel update video, great!
I think my biggest concern for yooka laylee is that the sound design seems empty. Making the levels seem empty. Have you experienced this too?
You just earned a sub congrats
Great work! Have you considered doing the same thing about Banjo Tooie? Maybe not as thorough but analysis would be great!
Intelligent, thorough, and a relaxing voice. Great video, Subbed. Do tooie!
Even with the inaccuracies, N64 games are much more enjoyable in an emulator on PC than on the real 64. Just can't stand the N64 blurrovision. Project64 can't seem to get layered textures or whatever it is right to save it's life. so many paths and surface effects just disappear as you get close to them, but I'd still rather play BK that way, BK doesn't even run at 640x480 on the real console, You can run it up to the max resolution of your display in an emulator and it works pretty well.
Also, Banjo Kazooie is a masterpeice, while Banjo-Tooie is just too damn convoluted for it's own good. It's not nearly as fun or accessible as BK.
I've never heard the variation of 'tutorial' sound like 'terterial' as you did. Is that a common pronunciation from where you're from?
Why is this game marked as Yooka Laylee by UA-cam?
When's part II?
the "remake" is the Xbox rare replay, right?
I'd like to know about this. If you figure out what the remake is outside of this comment thread, would you please reply here?
Eric Rohner yes, it's playable on the 360 Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Rare Replay, and on PC emulators. there's a few retexture projects for that
Thanks for the reply jtn191. :)
Looking back at Mario 64 after banjo Kazooie really makes it look like the Mario designers threw a bunch of random shit around. Or I guess Mario 64 levels feel more like a jungle gym whereas BK levels are actual places.