Banjo-Kazooie devs rally support for spiritual sequel
Help them revive the 3D platformer genre!
British game developer Rare has been creating games for nearly three decades. In its early years, Rare was quite prolific, releasing over forty games for the NES alone. In 1994, the company forged a partnership with Nintendo that led to the creation of some of gaming's biggest and most recognizable titles, classics such as Donkey Kong Country and Goldeneye 007.
Rare was acquired by Microsoft in 2002, and since then the developer's games just haven't had the creative spark that earlier Rare titles possessed. Its releases under the Microsoft banner mostly range from forgettable, like 2003's Grabbed By the Ghoulies, to terrible, franchise-burying sequels like 360 launch title Perfect Dark Zero. One of these ruined franchises was Banjo-Kazooie.
2008's Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was met with generally positive reviews, but didn't please longtime fans of the series who considered it too much of a departure from the standard formula. Apparently some developers of the first two games in the series weren't too happy with the direction Nuts & Bolts took either, and now they are drumming up support for a "spiritual successor" to Banjo-Tooie.
There's no word on a Kickstarter yet, but some of the original game's developers are building support via Twitter. So far, original Banjo dev Steven Hurst and composer Grant Kirkhope are on board, as well as the unnamed developer who started the Twitter campaign.
Here are a few select tweets from the feed:
It wouldn't be to try and recreate Banjo. It would be something new.
a game that shares that same kind of humour, silly characters, fun game play, great tunes and all that stuff that we enjoy making.
Great news! @grantkirkhope & @klungo, two of the original Banjo team are on board + me = 3 washed up devs with a mission! #gaming #heaven
Frankly, Banjo-Kazooie is one of my favorite games ever and I'd love to see another game take up the mantle. After the wildly different Nuts & Bolts and near death of the 3D platformer genre in this console generation, a game that retains the sense of humor, open landscape and fun platforming of the Banjo series would be a welcome addition to my game library.
Let's just leave the collectables out of it, ok?
 |
Staff article by Matthew Jay (September 26, 2012)
A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this news article, you can update your bio from the Settings page. |
| Recent News Articles | |
If you enjoyed this Banjo-Kazooie article, you're encouraged to discuss it with the author and with other members of the site's community. If you don't already have an HonestGamers account, you can sign up for one in a snap. Thank you for reading!
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
User Help | Contact | Ethics | Sponsor Guide | Links
None of the material contained within this site may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Banjo-Kazooie is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to Banjo-Kazooie, its characters, screenshots, artwork, music, or any intellectual property contained within. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors. Staff and freelance reviews are typically written based on time spent with a retail review copy or review key for the game that is provided by its publisher.