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Banjo-Tooie coming to Nintendo Switch Online 25th October

NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
In widescreen, too.
Let’s see how the framerate fares. These games were rough enough on Xbox on a 4K screen.
My cousin and I played this together on Xbox (we both played it on N64 when it came out) and got as far as Grunty Industries. The game is even more massive, sprawling and interconnected than I remembered. Ridiculously big for its time, and one of the main reasons we all got collectathon fatigue.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Never played Tooie, but did finish the first game. I might finally check it out. The above note about collection fatigue gives me pause, however.
Tooie is similar to Yooka Laylee from memory, where your approach shouldn’t be ‘I’ll collect everything’ if you want to enjoy it. The approach should be ‘I’ll collect enough to progress and complete the game’.
 

Calico345

Gold Member
Oh Snap GIF
 

thomasmahler

Moon Studios
The first game is so much better than this one. I loved the first and actually never finished Tooie.
Couldn't agree more. I always thought it was incredibly impressive how big and interconnected they were able to make the world in Tooie, but they never actually adapted the character controller, the moveset, etc. to actually make sense in this huge world, so it all ends up feeling incredibly strange and way too big and unfocused for its own good.

In BK1, every inch of the world was built with intentionality or was made intentional because the designers hid notes and other stuff in every corner. There really wasn't much if any wasted space in that game. Tooie was the exact opposite.

That was a pretty prevalent thing back in those days. I remember loving how tight games like Quake3 and UT felt, but then the new hip thing after Halo was to just make the levels gigantic... but that really screwed with the tight Design all those games were fundamentally based on. It was more of a 'We do it because we can, not because we should' kinda thing to me in retrospect.

Banjo Kazooie is an absolute first class 3d Platformer that I think still holds up today. Banjo Tooie to me always ended up in the basket of 'They tried something there, but it really didn't work'.
 
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NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
Tooie is similar to Yooka Laylee from memory, where your approach shouldn’t be ‘I’ll collect everything’ if you want to enjoy it. The approach should be ‘I’ll collect enough to progress and complete the game’.
Not really. Rare’s requirements for just accessing the final boss in those N64 games were crazy. In BK you had to collect around 90% of the notes and jiggies - might as well go for 100% at that point. I don’t remember the exact requirements for Tooie because it’s been so long, but it must surely be something similar, because even in DK64 you had to collect almost everything.



In BK1, every inch of the world was built with intentionality or was made intentional because the designers hid notes and other stuff in every corner. There really wasn't much if any wasted space in that game. Tooie was the exact opposite.
BK was a masterclass in level design. A rare (heh) game where every corner of every level had a purpose, and there was so much in so little space. It was a miracle.
I suspect that Rare went crazy with the giant levels and the collectathons because in Tooie and DK64, they removed the lives system. Having limited lives means your levels should be tighter, limiting the backtracking and focusing on the moment-to-moment challenge. If you can’t get a Game Over from losing all your lives, then you might as well get bigger levels and more diluted challenges.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Not really. Rare’s requirements for just accessing the final boss in those N64 games were crazy. In BK you had to collect around 90% of the notes and jiggies - might as well go for 100% at that point. I don’t remember the exact requirements for Tooie because it’s been so long, but it must surely be something similar, because even in DK64 you had to collect almost everything.




BK was a masterclass in level design. A rare (heh) game where every corner of every level had a purpose, and there was so much in so little space. It was a miracle.
I suspect that Rare went crazy with the giant levels and the collectathons because in Tooie and DK64, they removed the lives system. Having limited lives means your levels should be tighter, limiting the backtracking and focusing on the moment-to-moment challenge. If you can’t get a Game Over from losing all your lives, then you might as well get bigger levels and more diluted challenges.
I can’t remember so I’ve tried to look it up. Didn’t realise the threshold was so high on Kazooie, because it’s fairly easy to 100%.

Tooie looks like 70 Jiggies out of 90, which sounds easier but from memory the game is much harder than Kazooie.

 

nkarafo

Member
The first game is so much better than this one. I loved the first and actually never finished Tooie.
Yeah i agree. I don't know exactly why that is though. I think it's the level design. Tooie's levels don't feel as good to explore and there are many more puzzles obtained from mini-games instead of just exploring, IIRC.
 

Bloobs

Al Pachinko, Konami President
In widescreen, too.
Let’s see how the framerate fares. These games were rough enough on Xbox on a 4K screen.
My cousin and I played this together on Xbox (we both played it on N64 when it came out) and got as far as Grunty Industries. The game is even more massive, sprawling and interconnected than I remembered. Ridiculously big for its time, and one of the main reasons we all got collectathon fatigue.

What, the Xbox remasters are great. Locked 60 fps. Draw distance maxed out. Full HD.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Just a reminder that you're getting a worse experience on this console, the Xbox Rare Replay release was much much better.
That may be true, however you have to balance it out against using a dead console/ecosystem vs a thriving one.

The convenience of handheld and having an OLED panel, which I’m assuming is much more common for Switch users than Xbox users.

I found Kazooie to be very playable on NSO.
 

Saber

Member
Not a good game imo. Which is a bummer, I was so hyped back at time when I played Banjo Kazooie.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
Just sell the rights of Banjo to Nintendo if you're going to do sweet fuck all with it Microsoft

We need Banjo Threeie!

MS should just give this IP to Nintendo if they're gonna continue to do fuck all with it
I laughed because this is exactly what I wrote before scrolling up and finding your comment, so true
 
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LordOfChaos

Member
I loved banjoo kazooie but sold my n64 to get a playstation at the time, then tooie was announced...ive waited 24 years to play this thing.
I have this weird feeling about it, like I wish i could have sent Tooie back for my child self to play, the first one was our childhood but for some reason we never went to get the second
 
My first thought when I saw this topic was I never played this but loved the first game and one day really should play this one as well. It sounds like I didn't miss out on much and would be better off replaying Kazooie.
 

Nvzman

Member
What make it better than the emulated version with 60fps and widescreen patches?
60fps patch causes the timers in the game to break as well as some animations to not appear correctly.

Imo in general 60fps patches are neat with N64 games for the novelty but they almost always tend to break game logic, so without patches that fix that, I'd always rather just take the 30fps as the game was coded to run at. This is back in the age where tying game logic to framerate was extremely common, older console games are mostly not designed to run at framerates beyond what they were designed around.

Additionally, the 360 port has enhanced UI graphics, some added features like Stop n Swop for Tooie, and achievements, so yea I'd still argue its preferrable to emulation. N64 emulation is extremely ugly to begin with imo, a lot of graphical effects in games tend to break above 240p, Conker's Bad Fur Day being the most notable example.
 
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Gambit2483

Member
I wonder if it has the old Stop n Swap stuff still in it....
I think this is why I tuned out of the series...

Iirc, the first game ended with a hint of multiple "secrets" that would eventually tie-in to the sequel..As a kid I thought that shit was the coolest thing ever...but (of course) was ultimately disappointed when it was scrapped.
 

rodrigolfp

Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
60fps patch causes the timers in the game to break as well as some animations to not appear correctly.

Imo in general 60fps patches are neat with N64 games for the novelty but they almost always tend to break game logic, so without patches that fix that, I'd always rather just take the 30fps as the game was coded to run at. This is back in the age where tying game logic to framerate was extremely common, older console games are mostly not designed to run at framerates beyond what they were designed around.

Additionally, the 360 port has enhanced UI graphics, some added features like Stop n Swop for Tooie, and achievements, so yea I'd still argue its preferrable to emulation. N64 emulation is extremely ugly to begin with imo, a lot of graphical effects in games tend to break above 240p, Conker's Bad Fur Day being the most notable example.
Nah. Would play the 60fps, widescreen, HD textures...
 

Trilobit

Gold Member
Man, I loved these games as a kid. Only played them at a friends house, but thought they were very cool adventures.
 

lordrand11

Member
That may be true, however you have to balance it out against using a dead console/ecosystem vs a thriving one.

The convenience of handheld and having an OLED panel, which I’m assuming is much more common for Switch users than Xbox users.

I found Kazooie to be very playable on NSO.
Last time I checked the game was single player with couch coop. Nor do you have to pay $50 yearly for access to it. Rare Replay can be purchased for $10 or less anywhere you buy games. So in this case, other than the *ecosystem* being dead you're getting an overall better product and ownership of said product instead of access to something that can be yanked at the publisher discretion.
 
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