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VGC: Xbox is planning a Banjo-Kazooie revival, developer claims

daTRUballin

Member
I always think of how would they modernize them. When I hear people say Ape Escape, I think a Monster Hunter type deal. Gex you get options with hus whole schick. Banjo seems lost to time though. Like most other of his ilk, they seem like fond memories that should stay there.
I always like to think of Mario Odyssey as an example of how to properly modernize a platformer and Yooka Laylee as an example of how NOT to do it properly.

And it's funny when people point to Y-L as proof that Banjo can't work these days when the problem is that Y-L wasn't exactly a modernization of the Banjo formula but rather a 1:1 copy. Arguably even worse.

I think if a new Banjo were to be made, I wouldn't expect it to be EXACTLY like the old games.
 
I always like to think of Mario Odyssey as an example of how to properly modernize a platformer and Yooka Laylee as an example of how NOT to do it properly.

And it's funny when people point to Y-L as proof that Banjo can't work these days when the problem is that Y-L wasn't exactly a modernization of the Banjo formula but rather a 1:1 copy. Arguably even worse.

I think if a new Banjo were to be made, I wouldn't expect it to be EXACTLY like the old games.
Mario Odyssey is its own thing though. We've had Galaxy and Galaxy 2, with a plethora of 3d Mario games. Mario has been modern for awhile now. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's impossible to bring banjo to the 2020s, I just think it's a long shot. Especially given all the devs available to MS. I want a new Zillion and Psy-ops, but the industry has moved on
 

Tg89

Member
No, your posts aren't as bad. I'm mostly talking about others. :p

Yeah, except for the main creator of the entire series.

And not to dog on people that used to work at Rare during the golden age of the company. They were obviously brilliant folks, but I'll be very surprised if a group of younger and passionate developers can't make a Banjo game on par or even better than a group of people close to retirement age. We can't rely on them forever.

Things need to be passed down to younger generations so they could make even better things. That's how things should ideally work.

I guess if they can hire Grant Kirkhope they have a shot. Reality is Rare has sucked for two decades now.
 
Your not wrong on any of this. It seems people think upping the res and 60fps that bitch is enough to make some look better. More polys, more effects more everything is needed. A straight remake with some heavy editing would be a good barometer for banjos resurgence.

Yep. There's real potential with the IP but just remastering the old games with 4K textures and 120 FPS support isn't going to do much. Give a proper remake of the first two games, build up momentum and go from there.

They'll have Crash and Spyro soon; after some time they could do a mash-up 3D platformer with all three of them....somehow.

It would be on PC and XCloud, so it's not like you have to.

48218.jpg


Whoa. Hawt.
 

01011001

Banned
I guess if they can hire Grant Kirkhope they have a shot. Reality is Rare has sucked for two decades now.

lol, Rare was always hit and miss, that dumb myth that they suddenly became so much worse is nonsense.

Kameo was great, as was Nuts & Bolts, Viva Pinata (especially the second kne) apparently is amazing too, but not even remotely my genre so I can't comment on that.

and now with Sea of Thieves they have their most successful game ever it seems and people love it. the amount of free content they release also has been getting not only more frequent but also better and better.
multiple story campaigns and new world elements have completely transformed the game over the years
teh average daily players on Steam alone is 12k (the game is of course also on Xbox and the Windows store + in gamepass... so at least double that I'd say, if not triple)
 
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Tchu-Espresso

likes mayo on everthing and can't dance
Simply; It’s the best 3D platformer ever made. To be honest it’ll never be topped because the level design, moveset, precision and music was a perfect storm.
It’s a good game, but let’s not go overboard with silly statements like that.

Nintendo absolutely robbed Microsoft with the sale of Rare though. All the talent left after the acquisition.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
It’s a good game, but let’s not go overboard with silly statements like that.

Nintendo absolutely robbed Microsoft with the sale of Rare though. All the talent left after the acquisition.
It’s not an over board statement, it’s one I think I’m qualified to make considering I’ve played a shit tonne of games in the genre.

Game got a 92 Metacritic (and a 9.1 user score with 560 reviews) when it released too so it’s not like I’ve got some obscure opinion on it.
 
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It’s not an over board statement, it’s one I think I’m qualified to make considering I’ve played a shit tonne of games in the genre.

Game got a 92 Metacritic (and a 9.1 user score with 560 reviews) when it released too so it’s not like I’ve got some obscure opinion on it.
So have a lot of people, including me, and I in no way support your assertion. And if we use you logic, Mario64 is the better game. You can love it to pieces, but to say it's unequivocally the best 3d platformer is absurd.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
So have a lot of people, including me, and I in no way support your assertion. And if we use you logic, Mario64 is the better game. You can love it to pieces, but to say it's unequivocally the best 3d platformer is absurd.
How is it an absurd statement? Even if you don’t think it’s the best I’d be surprised if you’re a fan of the genre and don’t consider it one of the best.
 

01011001

Banned
Simply; It’s the best 3D platformer ever made. To be honest it’ll never be topped because the level design, moveset, precision and music was a perfect storm.

the moveset? tbh that's Banjo's biggest issue imo. the movement is extremely simple and most moves have a singular use case and are very static.

that's especially apparent when compared to Mario 64 and how extremely versatile every movement ability is in that game and how much depth there is to the game.

watching Mario 64 speedruns gives me the impression that I'd have to practice for years to do some of th stuff they do. watching high level Banjo gameplay never gave me that. the movement is pretty slow and your available moves don't really feel all that deep
 

daTRUballin

Member
They still got B-K's director. (who is currently working on Everwild)

200.gif
And Robin Beanland. And Louise O'Connor. And Ryan Stevenson. And Leigh Loveday. And Chris Marlow, etc. etc.

It doesn't matter how many times you point out the people that have remained though. People will just keep repeating the very old myth that nobody from the old days is left over and over again.
 
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levyjl1988

Banned
Microsoft has gaming studios but still no games.

Microsoft would be really stupid to ignore the hype that is Banjo Kazooie.

 

Tchu-Espresso

likes mayo on everthing and can't dance
It’s not an over board statement, it’s one I think I’m qualified to make considering I’ve played a shit tonne of games in the genre.

Game got a 92 Metacritic (and a 9.1 user score with 560 reviews) when it released too so it’s not like I’ve got some obscure opinion on it.
It wasn’t even considered the best platformer on the system it was on.
 

Nydius

Member
What reality? Your reality?

This is the reality:


90% postive out of 190k reviews.

😅
Wow. One whole game out of the library of Rare's IP that they only got to work on after Kinect completely flopped.

I guess you missed the years where Rare was relegated to being little more than Microsoft's Kinect and New UI Experience bitchboy studio.

And now they're not even involved in the development of the new Perfect Dark game.

But hey, they made that totally niche pirate GAAS game that almost flopped at launch, needed a complete overhaul, and is now riddled with season passes and MTX bullshit. Kudos! Such greatness!
 

MidGenRefresh

*Refreshes biennially
Wow. One whole game out of the library of Rare's IP that they only got to work on after Kinect completely flopped.

I guess you missed the years where Rare was relegated to being little more than Microsoft's Kinect and New UI Experience bitchboy studio.

And now they're not even involved in the development of the new Perfect Dark game.

But hey, they made that totally niche pirate GAAS game that almost flopped at launch, needed a complete overhaul, and is now riddled with season passes and MTX bullshit. Kudos! Such greatness!

Kinect flopped so hard that it sold 35 million units. :messenger_grinning_sweat:

Niche pirate game? Are you feeling okay, sir? The game is in top 50 most rated games of all time on Steam.

I'm telling you people, today's conference is going to break so many people.

Nydius Nydius , take care of yourself. 😚
 

PJX

Member
No matter how pretty you make the textures, that isn't going to make the character models any more detailed, or the animations any better. Those are things only a full-on remake can bring. Just look at games like Demon's Souls Remake, or RE Remakes 1-3 (and the upcoming RE4 remake) for examples of what those can do versus just taking the same base engine, models, animations, etc. and slapping some 4K textures on them.

Not to mention remakes can also give a chance to redesign parts of the game and expand on them, or fix things that may've been flaws in the original release. Classic REmake did that brilliantly, same with RE2 Remake and stuff like FF VII Remake (more or less).
This place is full of armchair developers.
 
How is it an absurd statement? Even if you don’t think it’s the best I’d be surprised if you’re a fan of the genre and don’t consider it one of the best.
So you backtrack as soon as some push back arrives. You said it was the best 3d platformer, not one of. Even then I'm not 100% on board, but I'd say it's up there. And a little hint: the no true Scotsman shit is pretty lame and says you need a better argument.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
So you backtrack as soon as some push back arrives. You said it was the best 3d platformer, not one of. Even then I'm not 100% on board, but I'd say it's up there. And a little hint: the no true Scotsman shit is pretty lame and says you need a better argument.
There’s no backtrack? It is the best platformer ever made. If I have to explain to you that that’s my opinion rather than an iron clad fact then that’s an issue for you to work on mate.
 

jigglet

Banned
This could be a system seller for me. As long as it's still rooted in the 90's. I imagine the urge to fill it with 40 hours worth of cutscenes must be strong.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
wAOFFL9.gif

Streamers and YouTubers??? Get the fuck outta here with that shit.
Yeah you know, people who provide commentary on the games they like :messenger_tears_of_joy: I’m sorry if that’s a novel concept to you, as you post on GAF, another platform where people provide commentary on the games they like.
 
Yeah you know, people who provide commentary on the games they like :messenger_tears_of_joy: I’m sorry if that’s a novel concept to you, as you post on GAF, another platform where people provide commentary on the games they like.
CL1h8nT.gif

Now we do the pretend you don't get what I meant in the last post. Let's just say it's your favorite and move on. At this point you'll tell me about an editorial piece in a random EGM issue.
 

Batiman

Banned
Wow. One whole game out of the library of Rare's IP that they only got to work on after Kinect completely flopped.

I guess you missed the years where Rare was relegated to being little more than Microsoft's Kinect and New UI Experience bitchboy studio.

And now they're not even involved in the development of the new Perfect Dark game.

But hey, they made that totally niche pirate GAAS game that almost flopped at launch, needed a complete overhaul, and is now riddled with season passes and MTX bullshit. Kudos! Such greatness!
Get your numbers right before you spit nonsense
 

nkarafo

Member
Meh, Banjo-Kazooie was a fine collectathon platformer back in the day. There is no way they will be making something similar today. And sure, Yooka-Laylee was decent but i don't see that happening again. Collectathons are not good for low attention span players, which is the majority nowadays. Plus, it's easy to screw it up and make it as annoying as Donkey Kong 64.
 

Scotty W

Gold Member
Can anyone explain why Banjo Kazooie is constantly brought up? It looked like a Teletubbies 3D platformer. Was it actually a quality title back in its heyday?
I don’t understand it. I remember waiting eagerly for it back in the day, but unfortunately it is just kind of frustrating and annoying, a fact I rediscovered when it released on NSO. Maybe the sequel is better.
 
I don’t understand it. I remember waiting eagerly for it back in the day, but unfortunately it is just kind of frustrating and annoying, a fact I rediscovered when it released on NSO. Maybe the sequel is better.
There decent at times really good. I don't think it was so good people are clamoring for a return. Even if it did, none of the fans would be happy considering it would need to go through major changes.
 

Rykan

Member
Yeah you know, people who provide commentary on the games they like :messenger_tears_of_joy: I’m sorry if that’s a novel concept to you, as you post on GAF, another platform where people provide commentary on the games they like.
Ah yes, I love those type of videos. " Hi guys, today we're reviewing one of the best games ever! That's right, we're talkin' Banjo Kazooie! I used to play this all the time with my older brother when I was 7 years old and.."
 

Riky

$MSFT
It definitely is considered better than Mario 64 by a large portion of streamers/YouTubers who love the genre. And if not better, they are seen as the top 2 games by far. This is some shit take son.

It's definitely up there with Mario 64, it still plays great today on Xbox and it looks timeless I still go back to it regularly.
Nuts and Bolts was a good game but not a good Banjo game, hopefully we get a proper sequel today but I've been let down before so we'll see.
 
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01011001

Banned
That perfect dark score doesn't stick out a bit to you?

that's still mostly positive isn't it? and that's all that matters.

review scores are useless anyways, but it was established as a metric here and so I brought the scores, and the only "mixed" one is PDZ
 
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that's still mostly positive isn't it? and that's all that matters.

review scores are useless anyways, but it was established as a metric here and so I brought the scores, and the only "mixed" one is PDZ
But the game was all bad. Kameo was a big meh. Viva pinata was good though. Why did you bring these up again?
 

Riky

$MSFT
I doubt if this game exists that Rare are making it, they have two teams and one is working on Sea Of Thieves content and the other Everwild and they've only recently gone back to Twycross.
 
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