That's not fucking semantics, when the whole game revolves around you having to collect, while in the other one it's an optional thing. It's like saying eating the cheese in pacman is the same as getting all the tapes in bioshock.
but the point of Banjo Kazooie is to collect all that shit, see? SMG is all about the experience before you get to the star/flag pole. It'd be the same end result if you didn't collect anything at the end
Do oh not need stars to progress? Same difference innit.
Are you not experiencing the levels while getting stars/collecting jigsaws?