Collection essentials #401: Banjo-Tooie (N64)

Fans of the hit Banjo-Kazooie would be happy to receive this sequel two years later. The “Tooie” in the title this time is not the name of a character, but rather a fun way to incorporate the number “two” in a way that rhymes with the first game’s title.

Banjo-Tooie on the surface seems very much like the first time, with our heroes taking on the evil witch Gruntilda once again. Much of what I said about the previous game applies to this one, such as the brilliant sound design and fun cartoony vibes. Gameplay feels mostly the same at first too, and you actually start this game with all the unlockable moves from the previous game, which is a pretty cool thing that video game sequels don’t usually do.

However, when you start playing through Banjo-Tooie, you’ll come to find that it’s not simply “more of the same” and it does feel like its own thing. The first game was fairly straightforward and had you going through isolated levels and collecting as much stuff as you could along the way. You’re doing that here to an extent, but there is much more of an emphasis on puzzle-solving. And now, the game’s levels are often interconnected. Solving puzzles often involves doing stuff in multiple worlds. You might need to get a thingamajig from one level to bring to a character in another level, for example. You’ll be doing a lot of backtracking and revisiting places trying to figure out how to nab more collectibles. 

Rare kept the gameplay variety coming, as they were sure to introduce plenty of minigames and non-standard gameplay sequences. For example, the game suddenly turns into a first-person shooter! Banjo-Tooie also has multiplayer for up to four players, separate from the main game, featuring some of the minigames found in the main story. I never played these very much and I haven’t heard about them being especially well-remembered, but it’s cool that they’re there.

Overall I think I do prefer the original Banjo-Kazooie and its more straightforward design, but being a little less good than one of the best games of the generation is no insult, and there are definitely some people who will prefer the more complex nature of Tooie. It’s another wonderful game and easy pick for my essentials list.

Side note: at the time I bought it, Banjo-Tooie was my 64th Nintendo 64 game!