Banjo-Pilot: Character Cameos
When you first play Banjo-Pilot, you’ll notice that a whole bunch of your favourite faces from the previous games have returned to fly through the sixteen courses on show. Banjo, Kazooie, Grunty – they’re all there. But what’s even more interesting is the characters which didn’t make it into the planes. Cheato hides out the back to unlock new modes in return for you returning his pages. Roysten the goldfish returns in a nice new fishbowl in the trophies section. There’s also a couple of characters and nostalgic sights from the previous games in the race track backgrounds, such as Clanker in Clanker’s River, and Jinxy in Jinxy’s Dunes and Gobi’s Valley.
What’s more interesting, is that hidden on certain tracks are some of the Rareware characters you’ve learned to love. You’ll notice their sprites if you slow down and take your time. Below are a few screenshots of these characters.
Name: Expresso the Ostrich
First Appearance: Donkey Kong Country
Head off to Jinxy’s Dunes in the Honeycomb Cup and you’ll be able to find Expresso the Ostrich, from Donkey Kong Country. When he doesn’t have his beak in the ground, the bird might just pop up and say hello as you go past. Keep to the right side of the track as you go around the final bend to find him.
Name: Gobi the Camel
First Appearance: Banjo-Kazooie
Travel to Gobi’s Valley in the Jiggy Cup, and you’ll find Gobi. This character cameo is the easiest to spot of the lot, since he appears three times on the track in different areas, one of which being right in the middle of the course, just waiting to get run over by the planes. On the right is a shot of everyone’s favourite camel at just one of his locations in the level.
Name: Tiptup the Turtle
First Appearance: Diddy Kong Racing
Take some time to sniff the roses in Clanker’s River and you may catch a glimpse of your old racing buddy Tiptup – without a vehicle of his own to ride in, he’s chosen to stand on the grass with an arm out waving to you. Go run the poor fellow over, will you?
Name: Boggy the polar bear
First Appearance: Banjo-Kazooie
Head into the freezing cold winds of Freezing Furnace in the Beehive Cup, and you’ll be able to spot Boggy the polar bear, just around the bend from the home stretch of the course. He’s a bit harder to find than other cameos, hiding off the edge of the course, just out of view from racers speeding through the middle.
Name: Sabreman
First Appearance: Sabrewulf
If you keep your eyes peeled during the last, open area of Jolly Roger’s Lagoon just before the finishing line, you’ll see a little more than just giant beehives. Sabreman stands on one of the patches of grass with an arm out, waving to any racers passing by.
Name: Master Jiggywiggy
First Appearance: Banjo-Tooie
Keep your eyes out on the edge of the track in Mayahem Temple, as you might just spot Master Jiggywiggy standing in the grass, spectating your races. Jiggywiggy’s decided that Mayahem Temple isn’t the only place for him to spectate your races, as he’s decided to show up at Terrydactyland as well. When the course first splits into two different paths, keep your eyes on the grass patch between the two paths to see him.
Count on Rare for slipping in a couple of character cameos into their games. Big thanks to Toots for contributing screenshots for this feature.