Banjo-Kazooie XBLA Rare Retrospective

First there was Dream, then Banjo Kazoo, and finally – once we’d settled on the lead characters and remembered to run a trademark check – Banjo-Kazooie. The year was 1998, character-driven 3D adventures were the Next Big Thing, and people seemed to like what we’d come up with.

Telling the familiar tale of a laid-back Honey Bear, his rather more outgoing Red Crested Breegull associate and a witch obsessed with rhyming couplets who’d abducted the bear’s liability of a sister to steal her alleged good looks, Banjo-Kazooie provided gamers with enough action, exploration, transformation and (yes, alright) item collection to keep them going for a good long while. It fired up imaginations, took players on a tour of unusually vivid worlds, introduced a host of much-loved characters, and further sweetened the deal with a liberal helping of comedy.

And now it’s back. 10 years on, to coincide with the bear and bird returning for a third full-scale console expedition in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, their debut in the original Banjo-Kazooie has been given a current-gen polish by 4J Studios and steered in the direction of Xbox LIVE Arcade for Banjo fans old and new to savour.

Everything that players of the time loved about the game is still in place, and one or two things that they didn’t (cough, Stop ‘n’ Swop) have been tweaked for best results in 2008. An audiovisual makeover is complemented by all the trappings of an XBLA release, including leaderboards and a brand new set of Achievements. Those inclined to lay down the pennies can rest assured that they’ll be paying for a substantial amount of content and gaming time.

So whether you’re new to the whole Banjo business, coming in eager for more off the back of Nuts & Bolts, or simply a lapsed fan of the bear and bird wishing to tread the warm sands of Treasure Trove Cove one more time, we wanted to let you know that Banjo-Kazooie has finally made it to Xbox LIVE Arcade. Sample it at your leisure, and we hope you enjoy the experience.