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Banjo-Kazooie Trailer - Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Switch Online

Bullet Club

Member


The adventures of Banjo and Kazooie begin here! Banjo-Kazooie will become available for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack members on 1/20!

This action game, released for the Nintendo 64™ console in 1998, features an unlikely pair: a Honey Bear named Banjo and a Breegull named Kazooie. Together, the duo embark on a wild quest that makes use of their wide range of combined special moves. It all starts when the wicked witch Gruntilda kidnaps Tooty, Banjo's little sister, and Banjo and Kazooie set out to bring her back—venturing from Spiral Mountain, along the shark-infested coastline of Treasure Trove Cove, through the icy perils of Freezeezy Peak, and beyond. But with Kazooie spending most of her time inside Banjo's backpack, they're like two heroes in one! Though they may squabble from time to time, with the two of them working together, nothing can stand in their way. Now you can join them on this journey into a magical world of adventure!



 

Saber

Gold Member
How a miss those games...used to play non stop when I was a little cub. Too bad Banjo and Kazooie is a dead IP nowadays.
 
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OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
Loved it back then. Never got around to the second one. Might pay for the expansion at this point.
 
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THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
I'm a little confused as to why we can have threads about one Nintendo online game from 3 decades ago that's on Nintendo's subscription service but we can't have any announcing microsofts subscription games?
 
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THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
It's not like every NSO game gets it's own thread.

This is a beloved Nintendo 64 game that is owned by Microsoft, so it coming to the Switch is a bit more special than Pupperazzi showing up on Game Pass.

Lots of really great games on Gamepass I'd love to make a thread for that get no attention buried in page 300 of the gamepass thread...... it's not different.
 

Megatron

Member
This and paper Mario were the two games I was waiting in to jump in. Since they already said this was coming I jumped in last week and started paper Mario. Stoked to play this portably and FINALLY beat it! (Maybe?)
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Replayed this on 2021 on my N64 and man, it was as fun as ever.

Surprisingly short too. As a kid I could spend weeks playing this, but this time I beat the game in 3 days or so.

Anyway, everyone should check it out. One of my favorites on the 64 and overall one of the best platformers I've played.
 

Kuranghi

Member
How is the quality of emulation of these games? been meaning to check it out

If you ignore the small issues that pedants like me go on about that most won't notice then its a good effort, its just they only really go an extra 100 yards, rather than mile with how they remaster it, ie not fixing things that are easily fixed on modern HW like precision of 2D effects and smoothing out the framerate (which isn't easily fixed, but would be good to try considering fans have done things without having access to what Nintendo have).

In short, its fine/good. If you have a PC it might be better there, but thats not portable ofc. Steam Deck should solve that though.
 

Deerock71

Member
I'm telling you, if and/or when Microsoft buys Actiblizz, we may see a CoD game on the Switch. That remastered Modern Warfare game sounds like a shoo-in.
 

Tg89

Member
'Completely different' is a huge stretch. There's a definite overlap of structure/concepts/mechanics, and Banjo was clearly inspired by SM64.

That said though, they do prioritise different things and their respective strengths lie in different areas.

The biggest influence is the overworld imo. Outside of that, they have an overlap in structure/concepts but they focus on completely different things. Banjo is very much a collectathon through and through, whereas Mario 64 is a platformer. Banjo has elements of platforming and Mario elements of collecting but they both take a very big backseat. They're almost the inverse of each other in many ways.

Banjo is a much slower movement system with very little focus on precise movements and more focus on choosing the right tool from a pretty large and consistently growing moveset. It's focused on collecting things through and through and that's done primarily through exploration, some light puzzle solving, etc. Sure, there's "platforming" but not in the more challenging, precision focused sense of a Mario.

Mario 64 is a platformer through and through. Sure, you're "collecting" stars but most of them really just serve to mark the end of the level (they even kick you out of the level when you collect the star). You have pretty much your entire moveset from the start and the things that are added eventually are incredibly situational and not even available majority of the time. Your moveset also makes you incredibly quick and precise which is a huge contrast to Banjo's (riding Kazooie is kinda the closest you can get to this).

Anyway. I think Mario 64 is the better game. Banjo is up there though. Just hard to compare them directly, similar to SMW vs. DKC2 (though those are a lot more similar).
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
NO MS logo?
jmlvDNl.png
 

Xbox version is obviously the crispest one. Doesn't mean that it's the best: HD clashes with low poly and SD textures, bothers my sense of harmony. But stable 30fps is the king feature.
On Switch I personnally like the fidelity "choice" of keeping the original 4:3 ratio, but I'm not sure if it really is important with that game. Less crisp than Xbox, but HD nonetheless. No 30fps is a bummer, even if it would have been a most surprising feature given that it's emulation.
Interesting to see that in the end, the most consistent version is the N64 one. SD textures fit well with SD.

The best version is the one that doesn't exist: small definition, high stable framerate.
 

OldBoyGamer

Banned
I’m torn as to which version of this to play now.
Do I go original N64? Xbox360 HD version or this new switch version?

If I go switch I’ll have to upgrade my sub. Which I don’t mind doing if the emulation is top notch.

Side note. I really wish they’d do something about that animal crossing Dlc. I don’t have AC so it’s completely useless to me.
 

Xbox or N64 for me.
Do I go original N64? Xbox360 HD version or this new switch version?
Switch emulation is not very good I see texture artifacts due to texture filtering+tiling on the Switch (which always looked hideous for me on emulators), the only advantage is that you can spend extra and use a N64 controller with it.
In fairness they did say they were 'taking criticisms seriously' after the massive backlash they faced, so it's not completely improbable. They caved under pressure to reinstate 60hz Wii U BC games in Europe after a huge Miiverse campaign, for example.
The issue is how low-budget this whole endeavour is, remember the problems with Wii U N64 emulation, against the Wii emulation previously? This was because the emulator was done on NST (Nintendo Software Technology) in US by a guy, that guy left. Boom.

The Wii U campaign you mention only made them change the ROM's they were using, didn't make them improve the hideous emulator. Here is a good video on that, I guess.

This emulator (along with the Gamecube/Wii one) was commissioned to the NES mini and SNES mini team, NERD (Nintendo European Research and Development) who previously did the NDS emulator for the Wii U, it was commissioned to be compatible with more games than the ones on Super Mario 3D All Stars but clearly had a short deadline to it and wasn't developed further, I assume Nintendo put the guys doing something else or they just moved on.

This is a very small team and there's no one stopping people in there from moving on once they get a good resume.


It's really not worth your money, IMO. They don't even add widescreen support for a handheld that is widescreen.
 
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Banjo64

cumsessed
I’m torn as to which version of this to play now.
Do I go original N64? Xbox360 HD version or this new switch version?

If I go switch I’ll have to upgrade my sub. Which I don’t mind doing if the emulation is top notch.

Side note. I really wish they’d do something about that animal crossing Dlc. I don’t have AC so it’s completely useless to me.
If you already have an n64 and CRT then buy the original cart. If you are on a 4k or 1080p set and have an Xbox, play the remaster. Switch last as the emulation is shoddy.
 

Caio

Member
I have a Switch collecting dust, not gonna play this on a Switch.

But wait, I have a brand new XSX, and I'm downloading the whole Rare Replay collection(30 games I believe), from GamePass, right now :D
Viva Pinata: TIP is the first.
So, which Games are remastered ?
 
I have a Switch collecting dust, not gonna play this on a Switch.

But wait, I have a brand new XSX, and I'm downloading the whole Rare Replay collection(30 games I believe), from GamePass, right now :D
Viva Pinata: TIP is the first.
So, which Games are remastered ?
N64? Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie and Perfect Dark. All ported by 4J Studios.

The rest are probably better emulated than their Switch counterparts
 
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Diddy X

Member
First one was brilliant, second was bigger and more varied, not sure if better.

Hopefully this means a Banjo-threeie is in the works, I mean why bring it to Smash Bros and now this...
 
First one was brilliant, second was bigger and more varied, not sure if better.

Hopefully this means a Banjo-threeie is in the works, I mean why bring it to Smash Bros and now this...
^ Hold your expectations.

Microsoft owns the IP and they've shown in the past that they don't know what to do with it (plus, the BK team left Rare aeons ago and I'm not sure they still have it judging by how deadpan and by the book stuck in the past yooka laylee was).
 
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Diddy X

Member
^ Hold your expectations.

Microsoft owns the IP and they've shown in the past that they don't know what to do with it (plus, the BK team left Rare aeons ago).


There is always hope, I think some studio in MS can pull off a good Banjo-Threeie
 
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