Banjo-Kazooie/Banjo-Tooie Tepid Seat

They’ve pondered, they’ve cogitated, they’ve scrawled their way through the early hours (possibly), and all for you lot. Now sit back and watch the lads behind Banjos -Kazooie and -Tooie lay themselves bare to the world in this steamy shock feature regarding … er … I’ve forgotten what I was saying. Here’s the answers to your questions, anyway. Normally I only ask the team to do 20 or so, but seeing as a whole stack of ’em came back this time, I thought I may as well give you the lot …

Q1: I know it’s kind of early but will there be some sort of multiplayer mode? That is something that Banjo-Kazooie lacked last year although it was a really tight ass game (good). (Velvetta Man)
A: Yes, there will be multiplayer modes in Tooie, but not what you might think! We’ve already spent a lot of time on this and will spend much more to make sure you get an ‘even tighter ass game’ this time.

Q2: In what way will this game be different from your other platform offerings this year? (zsmith@mindspring)
A: Well, none of the others will be called Banjo-Tooie for a start. Seriously though, we’ve made sure that B-T will steer itself into its own little corner, leaving the others to find their own space (pretty vague, huh?).

Q3: Throughout the whole of the Banjo-Kazooie development process, which part was the most tedious or difficult to execute? (P.R.I.S.M.)
A: Speaking from the designers’ point of view, the most tedious thing was putting the notes, eggs and feathers down on the worlds. The most difficult was telling the artists that backgrounds and characters aren’t allowed an unlimited amount of polygons and textures. They never seemed to understand this simple concept though.

Q4: Will there be new characters, and will any more characters be playable? (Roy Anlezark)
A: Yes, and yes. There’ll be plenty of old favourites, a heap of new ones, several redundancies for the ‘lesser liked characters’ and even the odd extra controllable character if you’re lucky. See how generous we are?

Q5: Will the composer of the Banjo-Kazooie music be the same for Banjo-Tooie? (Oknarihso@aol)
A: Yes, and a right little busy monkey he will be this year. You’ll also be able to hear his work in Donkey Kong-whatever-we-call-it 64 and Perfect Dark.

Q6: I see that certain features of Banjo-Kazooie can only be accessed by owning/playing (I’m not sure which) Banjo-Tooie, why did you do it? Surely people won’t want to go back to Banjo-Kazooie after playing the sequel. (Mr. Tyrant)
A: Groan, you obviously haven’t read the Banjo-Kazooie rumour mill yet, have you? Basically, there will be events that happen in ‘Tooie which will enable you to gain access to the secrets in ‘Kazooie. These secrets can then be used in ‘Tooie.

Q7: Were you consciously trying to one-up Mario64 with B-K? Mario64 has a snowman level, so you make a bigger snowman level… Mario64 has submarine level, B-K has a giant mechanical whale… Mario64 has an Egyptian level with one pyramid, B-K has an Egyptian level with several pyramids… etc. (kenh@ivanhoe)
A: That’s right. Banjo once had a bigger moustache than Mario, wore brighter coloured overalls and the game was originally called Really Super Duper Mario 64.

Q8: Will the characters be able to separate? (Kevin Walter)
A: Kazooie claims that as she was the star of B-K, she is entitled to at least a few abilities of her own, if not a whole game. Banjo and the others disagree, but that bird has got a real loud mouth and won’t take no for an answer…

Q9: What areas are your favorite and most proud of? (Singincow0@aol)
A: I quite liked the quizboard, as it was a bit wacky and mushroomed from a really small idea into something quite important…

Q10: I read in an earlier Nintendo magazine in Australia that there were 16 worlds in Banjo-Kazooie (Fungus Forest, Mnt. Fire Eye etc.) but there are only 9 now. Did you get rid of them, or did you add them to Banjo-Tooie? (Damian Sanchez)
A: The original plan was to have 16 worlds, but we’d still be working on them now if we had tried to do them all. Consequently, some worlds were merged together and used on B-K, whereas others have provided inspiration for some of B-T’s worlds.

Q11: One question: Are you going to be able to wow us post-Zelda? (Carl Lyons)
A: We’d like to think so. (Sound of trumpet being blown.) Only you will be able to answer that…

Q12: I was wondering since you announced the existence of Banjo-Tooie in the ending of B-K, and several aspects of the sequel existed in the first game (the ice key, sharkfood island, etc.), has your freedom of development been limited by these stones already set in place in any way, or was the game already well underway at that point? (DasPoot@aol)
A: Nothing that was in B-K has limited our freedom in B-T. Some ideas for B-T existed towards the end of B-K’s development, and the secrets were added in a way that we could access them cleverly (heh-heh, just you wait) from B-T.

Q13: How come Gnawty was a baddie in Donkey Kong Country and is now a goodie in B-K? And how come, when Mumbo shows you his secret pictures, Wozza is not in his cave when Banjo goes to collect The Ice Key? (Luke Morgan)
A: Several of the B-K team were at the heart of the DKC team, hence the Gnawty connection. Part of our fun is seeing how we can sneak references or characters from older games into new games and then seeing if people notice. This tradition will continue on into B-T, so keep your eyes peeled, especially for an appearance by one of our veteran heroes…
Even Wozza didn’t want to wait in the cave until we had finished making B-T, so he left in a huff.

Q14: In Mad Monster Mansion, there is a room with two pictures. One of Gruntilda, and one of this evil pirate bloke. What I want to know is: Will he be the next villain to face BK? Or is he somehow in league with Grunty? Is he mates with BK? Or is including his picture just arseing with my mind? (Chris Todd)
A: Well spotted sir! The evil pirate bloke has a mission and purpose all of his own, but this is neither the time nor place to reveal even the merest hint. You might learn more from a certain tavern in the near future…

Q15: Will Banjo-Tooie use the 4MB Expansion Pak? (Lumb)
A: At this point we haven’t decided one way or the other. Another poor answer I’m afraid.

Q16: It’s probably a bit early to ask, but what’s the basic story line for B-T? Tell me that there’s no-one to rescue, and that it’s not situated on a tropical island like a certain racing game…. (Ben Kosmina)
A: Your luck’s out I’m afraid. It’s a race to rescue a tropical island! Or maybe not. Perhaps you’d like to create your own story? Simply use one or more of these following phrases; rescue princess, evil bad guy, save the day, take over the world, reluctant hero, action blah… blah… blah…

Q17: What other games have the B-K lads worked on? (Yawn, I know, but I care…) (Nick Ferguson)
A: We’ve got a fair bit of experience within the B-K team, including games for the NES, SNES, Gameboy, Nintendo 64 and even Coin-op. Members of the team have worked on Donkey Kong Country, Diddy’s Kong Quest, Goldeneye, Donkey Kong Land, various versions of Battletoads (including a little known coin-op) and even a few gems that even the devoutest Rare follower will have never heard of, namely Pyramydya and the blockbuster that wasn’t, Albert Stops For Tea.

Q18: On B-T, the ice key, Sharkfood Island, etc., will all be available. So, will it glitch or anything if we already have the ice key (via Gameshark)? (Katy Brown)
A: If we can come up with a really spoilsporty-type plan, those Gameshark ice key grabbers might find that their prize possessions don’t work! (Cue over the top laughter.)

Q19: Can we hope for multiple endings? (Philippe Côté)
A: You can hope all you like. We’re toying with the idea of revealing sneak previews of Banjo-Threely and Banjo-Fouro, where you will have to have every Rare game ever made to access the secrets.

Q20: In B-T, will the duo have the same moves from the last game or will we need to bother Bottles again for new abilities? (J Diogo)
A: There’ll be plenty of new moves to learn as well as keeping some of the old ones, but whether Bottles can face Kazooie’s insults a second time has yet to be seen…

Q21: When you were creating the sounds for Banjo-Kazooie, how did you handle the business of Banjo? Did you put out an advertisement in the local paper for voice actors, or did you just collar some innocent employee and say ”this is now part of your job requirement”? (JDuran8444@aol)
A: ‘Banjo’ is actually B-K’s lead programmer. As he and the musician were the only ones that could ‘do’ voices without sounding completely crap, they were ‘nominated’ to do most of the ones you hear in B-K.

Q22: Banjo-Kazooie took top honors for video games, but the only thing I didn’t like about it is the fact that there weren’t really any bosses (excluding the world’s most difficult boss: Gruntilda). Do you plan to have any bosses in Banjo-Tooie? (Spar985@aol)
A: Yep, we’ve got some of those new-fangled boss type things in the plans alright. Whether they see the light of day…

Q23: What did Banjo’s goldfish do to deserve to get thrown on the grill in the first ending? Does Mumbo (the cook) have something against goldfish? Or does he just like the taste? (Mad Monkey Boy #7)
A: It was either the goldfish or roast Breegull, as Banjo hadn’t got anything else in his cupboards. But you never saw the fish actually get eaten did you?

Q24: Will Banjo-Tooie use the same Jiggy, Note, Honeycomb Piece, and Mumbo Token system of Banjo-Kazooie to advance through the game? How about them Jinjo blokes, will they resurface to flail at us helplessly once again? (Pikachelsea)
A: Some of the system will be the same, but a lot of it will be brand-spankingly new. And yes, you can expect to see your permanently in peril Jinjo buddies again, this time in an expanded role!

Q25: Have you ever been a bit surprised at how close and/or unclose some of the rumors were? (DPrice6@aol)
A: Some of the rumours were fairly close, but most of the suggestions on how to find the ice key, sharkfood island, secret eggs, etc, were so amusingly inaccurate it kept us entertained for quite a while.

Q26: Will Banjo actually regain his English speaking abilities? He said ”Oi’m BAAAnjooo” in DKR yet he said nothing in Banjo-Kazooie, will he speak in Banjo-Tooie? If he does speak in Banjo-Tooie can he have a Somerset accent, that would be really funny. (Bungle)
A: Banjo is currently practicing his speech, having been informed that ‘Guh-Huh’ just isn’t good enough. You’ll have to wait to hear the results (or lack of them).

Q27: How did you ever come up with the name Banjo? Did you just decide that he’ll play the banjo and name him respectfully? Is it the same for everyone else? Like Kazooie? (Yengwa)
A: The bear was named Banjo way before he even saw a musical instrument. When we realised we could name other characters after instruments, Kazooie was originally called Kazoo (as she played one) and Tooty was also previously known as Piccolo. Then Mr. Trademark stepped in and we had to make a few reluctant changes. Mumbo Jumbo has a voodoo magic connection and Gruntilda just sounded horrible.

Q28: Is the same game engine from Banjo-Kazooie being used in Banjo-Tooie? If so, since the graphics in B1 were amazing, did you tweak the engine quite a bit? (Nicoli)
A: Yes, the B-K engine is being used for B-T, but it’s had ‘a few tweaks’. As Mumbo said in B-K, ‘Banjo-Tooie make Banjo-Kazooie look like joke’. The masked one isn’t wrong.

Q29: Why is Banjo-Kazooie gay? (LlamaHerd)
A: Because he’s happy and carefree.

Q30: Will mad cow disease at all affect the release date of Banjo-Tooie? If all of you (programmers, artists) were stuck inside Banjo-Tooie, what would you eat and why? (Daniel Thomas Bowers)
A: No it won’t affect the release date, as we’re already quite mad. As for something to eat in B-T, I’m sure the goldfish that Mumbo was BBQing at the end of B-K would just about be ready…

Q31: Obviously aside from the ice key, Sharkfood Island, and desert door, are there any other places in B-K that are locked until B-T comes out? I’m thinking, maybe the closed barrel in the wine cellar in Mad Monster Mansion, or the two doors in the room with Grunty’s transformation machine. (Josh Gelman)
A: Heh… heh… heh… keep on guessing… ho… ho… ho… all will be revealed… hee… hee… heee… Sorry about that, the simple answer is yes.

Q32: Loggo the Toilet. WHY? Is this in some way related to a seriously traumatic bog-related incident early in the lives of the developers? Still, now he’s in Banjo and the public has been suitably disturbed, can you confirm whether he’ll return in Tooie? (The Cussing Snake)
A: Toilets are very important in everyday life, so it was about time one made an appearance in a game. Loggo has already threatened to ‘flush himself until he’s sick’ if he doesn’t get a part in the next game.

Q33: Do you ever get annoyed that you could work for ever and make the game as good as you possibly can, yet Edge will still say the 3D camera system sucks and that Mario 64 is better? (Ross Bullimore)
A: Everyone is entitled to their opinion. We always take note of valid criticism, and will try our utmost to make B-T even more successful than B-K has been.

Q34: I would like to know how much the game is completed yet? Also, could you tell me when did you first start to work on Banjo-Tooie? (Martin Pilon-Tremblay)
A: I’m not going to guess at a percentage, as it will be printed all over the place. How about ‘some’ or ‘less than all of it’? As for when B-T was started, about June to August ’98 for most of the team.

Q35: How many people are on the Banjo-Tooie team? Who’s got the hardest job? (Leif Cussen)
A: There are currently 13 people on B-T, six software engineers, four artists, two designers and a musician. I’ve got the hardest job, as I’ve had to answer all these questions as wittily as possible, without revealing too much about the game.