Banjo-Kazooie

A breath of fresh air, a wonderful diversion, a good use of puzzle-solving energy. It’s like "Mario 64," but better. Any improvement over a game that got little but perfect ratings when it was released is an improvement to be applauded.

Features the best graphics we've seen on the console, it one-ups Mario 64 in terms of gameplay, it sounds astounding and it may just be the most clever title we've ever played.

The kind of game that sends reviewers thumbing through their thesaurus in search of new words to describe its greatness. I can honestly say that it’s as true today as it was the day of release.

Brilliant, plain and simple, and another example of why Nintendo have become so dependant on Rare -- the company produces games that are every bit as good as Nintendo's own, if not better.

While not necessarily breaking down walls in innovation, Banjo-Kazooie takes us down a path we've been before and makes the ride a whole lot smoother.

While it fails to achieve the lofty status of greatest platform game of all time, still held by an overweight plumber, Banjo Kazooie is a close second, and that ain't half bad.

Banjo-Kazooie isn't going to win any awards for originality, but who really cares? If you have to borrow a little to make a fun, absorbing adventure, so be it.

This game has set SO many bars for my expectations in Adventure Platformer games. True to the basic run around and collect items formula discovered in the N64 era, every collectible feels worth collecting. No collectible feels terribly tedious and after playing this game for decades you see a flow to optimizing collect-as-you-play. The worlds feel big but not too big for how fast Banjo traverses. The music in every level is catchy and does a cool environmental change depending on where the protagonist is (e.g. music sound different underwater). Banjo-Kazooie is one of my top 5 recommended games on the N64.

The one technical limitation of the notes not saving when you die, and rusty bucket bay just ****.

I wanted to like this game as a kid but it lacked the substance that other platform games at the time had.

It was not really very fun, I KNOW it is many people's favorite game, but i played it and, i believe my cartridge was broken in someway too, but the game also just had way to much mechanics and items and.... Lets say in Mario 64 to 100% the game you gotta collect 6 stars in every level, now here you gotta collect 100 notes, 10 Jiggy's, 5 jimbo's and a bunch of mumbo's, now THAT is way to much for me to enjoy a game.

Tedious platforming, poor fighting mechanics, confusing swimming controls, horrible mini games, repetitive challenges, and an insulting pop quiz level comprise the complete failure that is Banjo-Kazooie. It is a nostalgia driven experience beyond anything else.