Might be the hardest poll I've made yet. Two of my most favorite games of all time. But....the sequel to me was slightly more memorable. Still have fond memories of that game.
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As a child, with all the time in the world, I preferred Tooie. Discovering the huge worlds, speaking to every NPC and squeezing everything out of that big, connected world was wonderful.
These days I prefer the original as I play in smaller bursts and the gameplay feels tighter (perhaps they went too far with the move set in Tooie).
Nuts 'n' bolts is a great game in its own right but arguable not comparable. If Rare put a 'traditional' Banjo game out on 360 first, I think the reception would have been more positive.
The GBA games were 'meh'.
These days I prefer the original as I play in smaller bursts and the gameplay feels tighter (perhaps they went too far with the move set in Tooie).
Nuts 'n' bolts is a great game in its own right but arguable not comparable. If Rare put a 'traditional' Banjo game out on 360 first, I think the reception would have been more positive.
The GBA games were 'meh'.
Kazooie. Straight forward and to the point with some tight platforming and memorable characters and worlds, just right. Tooie is a bloated mess, which is a shame because it starts so strong but becomes too ambitious for it's own good.
Nuts and Bolts is fun and a great lil car creator, I think it's pretty underrated honestly. And even despite the new gameplay it still FEELS like Banjo, ya know? The music and vibe of the game is strong as ever.
Nuts and Bolts is fun and a great lil car creator, I think it's pretty underrated honestly. And even despite the new gameplay it still FEELS like Banjo, ya know? The music and vibe of the game is strong as ever.
Probably yes. Voted the first one. It's my favorite game anyway
Kazooie
It's not perfect but it wins by default. I played like 20 minutes of Tooie and I hated it, meanwhile I'm not really into Nuts n' Bolts' gameplay
It's not perfect but it wins by default. I played like 20 minutes of Tooie and I hated it, meanwhile I'm not really into Nuts n' Bolts' gameplay
I did it, i voted Tooie
Sue me. I liked the big worlds. I liked the backtracking. And i liked the OST more than the first.
Sue me. I liked the big worlds. I liked the backtracking. And i liked the OST more than the first.
God Banjo Pilot was such a massive disappointment. Fuck that game.
Kazooie is in my top ten favorite games. While I played Tooie more as a kid, I have a lot less patience for the backtracking, bloated world design and piling on of tasks and sidequests as an adult. Kazooie is lean and efficient, even if there are times when it feels too easy or simple. Tooie's a solid game and worth playing, but Kazooie just has way more replay value and levels that are designed to be like little sandboxes you explore without overstaying their welcome.
I think Tooie's worth trying out, I definitely consider it inferior to Kazooie but it's a fun romp all the same at least for one playthrough.
I think Tooie's worth trying out, I definitely consider it inferior to Kazooie but it's a fun romp all the same at least for one playthrough.
It's BK because it's a pitch perfect, laser focused platformer in nearly every way with its small flaws being fixed in the XBLA version, but I do want to talk about Tooie some.
Tooie tried to do its own thing and consequently opened itself up to a lot more flaws. The level of ambition it had was great and I honestly do believe the first four levels to exceed the best of Kazooie, it just falls apart once you reach Terrydactyland and Grunty Industries and its worst aspects of having to cross multiple worlds and do fetch quests for single jiggies reaches its zenith, and by the final world it's just a big mess.
It's not as good as its predecessor (off the top of my head Mumbo should have been entirely cut as a playable character) but it's still a worthy game in its own right, especially with the updated XBLA version.
Now bring em' to Switch you bastards.
Tooie tried to do its own thing and consequently opened itself up to a lot more flaws. The level of ambition it had was great and I honestly do believe the first four levels to exceed the best of Kazooie, it just falls apart once you reach Terrydactyland and Grunty Industries and its worst aspects of having to cross multiple worlds and do fetch quests for single jiggies reaches its zenith, and by the final world it's just a big mess.
It's not as good as its predecessor (off the top of my head Mumbo should have been entirely cut as a playable character) but it's still a worthy game in its own right, especially with the updated XBLA version.
Now bring em' to Switch you bastards.
Tooie felt oversized, messy, and too grim. Jolly Roger Bay was cool, but everything else felt pretty forgettable to me.
Kazooie had a couple of rough points (Rusty Bucket Bay?), but the highs of Freezeezy Peak, Treasure Trove Cove and Click Clock Wood blow it out of the water.
Never played Nuts n Bolts.
Kazooie had a couple of rough points (Rusty Bucket Bay?), but the highs of Freezeezy Peak, Treasure Trove Cove and Click Clock Wood blow it out of the water.
Never played Nuts n Bolts.
The impossible Lair. Great game.
If that's not allowed, then the original. Had just so much flair and character at the time, loved it.
If that's not allowed, then the original. Had just so much flair and character at the time, loved it.
I'm not sure I totally agree the first four worlds are better than the best of Kazooie but there's a definitely slump in the second half of Tooie. It doesn't help that Terrydactyland is just an ugly, unappealing world. So much brown.
I actually think Cloud Cuckooland might be my favorite Tooie level, just because it's so unlike the rest of the grim, murky Tooie worlds and it doesn't have much actual backtracking (a few Jiggies related to other worlds, but all of the items native to CCL can be acquired within itself).
I will say Tooie is definitely the funnier game. Rare got really mean with it at times.
The original, but I think Nuts & Bolts is an amazing game too. Tooie is my least favorite because it's just a huge slog to get through.
For me at least Mayahem Temple to Jolly Roger's Lagoon represent some of the best of Banjo as a series and what it could do. The worlds are sprawling and filled with quests and stuff to do, with multiple areas to explore and varying objectives instead of "find the thing" or "do one task to get the thing." I even like Terrydactyland well enough (and felt the darker palette worked for a more "serious" game compared to the first), but other than that the back half is just weak.
Tooie also gave the series more of its own personality. Where BK was fairly standard with its writing Tooie brought in a sardonic wit to the series without delving into lame cynical lampshading like Nuts & Bolts.
A hard poll for the OP but an easy one for me, the original BK takes it quite handily, though I respect the sheer complexity of Tooie that works as both its greatest strength and weakness, in the end you gotta go with the tighter design of BK.
Nuts and Bolts. I'm generally a big fan of collectathons, but by the time I got round to Kazooie and Tooie (after I'd played N&B), they were both just an absolute slog.
I get why those who liked the games before N&B dislike the genre shift, but I really got into the silly vehicle building.
I get why those who liked the games before N&B dislike the genre shift, but I really got into the silly vehicle building.
The first game is the best one but Nuts and Bolts is underrated. I understand to most it's not a "traditional" Banjo game but it's still really good.
Banjo Tooie, maybe the levels are too big and the hub world isn't as memorable, but I really like the worlds like the dinosaur one playing a T rex and Cloud Cukoo Land. It felt like they more unique than the first game's worlds where beach and haunted mansions were more of a 3D novelty.
Even when I try to give it a chance, you've got to put in a lot of creativity to the building part to actually make things interesting instead of just doing the simple thing that works, the levels are disappointingly lifeless, the fact each one has like three different versions instead of being able to host all the objectives just comes across like messy design and in general I like to sum it up with the mechanic in the hub where to actually claim your won jiggie you've gotta go to a specific vending machine and then taxi your jiggies to the hub centre, needless layers of fluff.
It's just a game that's all over the place with no strong focus, like the slapdash attempt to implement notes like they threw their placements at a dartboard.
I can at least appreciate Grunty's Revenge's attempt at replicating the BK experience as hard as it possibly could on extremely limited hardware.
This really crystallizes my thoughts on Tooie. It starts off well enough but you're right, you hit Terrydactyland and the worlds get too big for their own good and start depending on massive amounts of backtracking and interconnedtness in order to do anything. In Banjo Kazooie, there is exactly one Jiggy that you need to backtrack for - the race with the walrus in Freezeezy Peak, as you need the running shoes skill from Gobi's Desert. Tooie has you constantly going back and forth, opening shortcuts and transitions all the time.
On top of that, I think the moves you get in Tooie are just really niche to use. They're so dependent on splitting up both Banjo and Kazooie and giving them their own stuff - backpack skills for Banjo and flying/jumping for Kazooie. It just adds to the tedium eventually, where you're splitting them up, struggling to platform with Banjo by himself, stopping at Mumbo's tent to take him to a pad to press a single button, going to Wumba's tent to transform, etc.
