A year ago I did a RTTP for Banjo-Kazooie, and said I'd like to try to do one for Tooie at some point. I wasn't really committed to doing another thread as I replayed the game though, and doing one like the first thread where I detailed my experience going through the worlds wouldn't work quite as well due to the constant backtracking. Nevertheless, I finished my replay of Banjo-Tooie, so I figured I might as well share my thoughts on it.
Back when I was a kid, Tooie really seemed like everything a sequel should be. It was one of the few video game sequels to pretty much pick up right where the original left off and expects you to have played the original, up to and including keeping all of the moves from the old game. The worlds were bigger, the scope of the story and setting was massive compared to the original, the worldbuilding and humor expanded further, it really seemed like the perfect sequel.
As the years have gone on though, I found myself more attracted to Kazooie's more focused, linear progression, and less interested in Tooie's labyrinth, interconnected worlds. It's well-known at this point that people felt Rare's later efforts at 3D platforming became bloated, between Tooie and especially DK64, and my last replay of Tooie was a decade ago, where I lost patience about 2/3 of the way in and never finished it. But this time, I really wanted to commit to giving it an honest try, and see if I could rekindle some of those pleasant memories I had of it as a kid.
As I said, on paper, Tooie really seems like everything a sequel should be. The worlds are bigger and more complex, some flaws in the first game were addressed (every world gets a proper boss battle and transformation now, Notes stay collected), and much like its big brother series Donkey Kong Country, the sequel was darker, more morbid. Not just in story and tone, but literally - there's a lot of darkness and muddy textures in Tooie, which sometimes can add to the atmosphere, but sometimes makes it genuinely difficult to navigate at times. Certain indoors or underground sections can be easy to get lost in or have a hard time finding the exit because there's a grip grab ledge that isn't flagged well, or there's a hole or wall you can blow up but can't always see. Still, for the most part I think the change in tone helps give the game some edge and character; the first game is mostly a straight forward fairy tale-like adventure with a few winks to the audience and some goofy characters. Tooie has some bite, starting with the death of Bottles and some fairly morbid Jiggy quests, up to and including killing the Ice Cube married couple. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I think we're better off for it than a straightforward retread of the first game's atmosphere and tone. In some ways it's the inverse of the first game; whereas Grunty's Lair was dark, mysterious, and foreboding, it hosted what were for the most part fairly lighthearted and pleasant worlds to explore. The Isle O' Hags is not exactly a pleasant wonderland, but it's overall much less intimidating to explore than Grunty's Lair; but on the other hand, Tooie's worlds are for the most part, more hostile and dark than those of the previous game. The main exception to this is oddly the final "full" world in the game, Cloud Cuckooland, which almost feels like the developers wanting to shock you with something totally zany and magical after some rather dark and grueling worlds. Grunty has also dropped the rhyming and turned into a skeleton, and even kills her own sisters! It's a shame they couldn't do a full world based on Cauldron Keep as they originally planned, as I really enjoy the little snippets we got of it.
As much of a diehard fan I am of the original Banjo-Kazooie, I'm not sure I'd call it a "funny" game. There are some amusing moments, and it's very charming overall, but I don't think of it as a game that is particularly comedic outside of being a well-made Rare platformer. Tooie, on the other hand, embraces the comedy full-on, starting with the intro cut scene as Kazooie tries to cheat in a poker game. There's a lot of scenarios and dialogue that you definitely wouldn't get in most typical 3D platformers, like interacting with the gross food clerks in Witchyworld, aliens crashing their ship and dying, a significant increase of fourth wall jokes (at one point Kazooie acknowledges the boss theme before a boss even appears), and probably the most infamous one, the rock formation in Terrydactyland that is shaped like... well, just click. Not all of the humor has held up (Jolly Roger embraces a few... questionable LGBT stereotypes, as well as the characterization of Wumba), but it's definitely what I would argue the game's strongest and most notable character trait, not just compared to its predecessor, but other 3D platformers. The only other game that would be even more in-your-face with its humor as Conker's Bad Fur Day, to the point of arguably taking priority over the gameplay.
Speaking of gameplay... I think the biggest issue people have with Tooie, myself included, is, ironically, trying to approach it as a direct gameplay successor of Kazooie. On paper, yes, it follows the major trappings of the first game; you collect Jiggies, Notes, and Jinjos spread across multiple worlds as you learn new moves, interact with NPCs, and jump around while solving puzzles. However, Tooie is much more focused on task management than the first game; there are many more Jiggies that require multiple steps compared to the first game, and there is a lot more backtracking involved. Not just between worlds, but between Mumbo and Wumba's huts, and splitting up Banjo and Kazooie. The other big change that I also believe is important in terms of how the player approaches it is most of the worlds need to be "opened up" in one way or another. I think players can get frustrated trying to complete Jiggy tasks going back and forth and having to open up parts of the world in the process; in my replay, I found the best way to mitigate this frustration was to focus first on "opening" up the world before spending too much time looking for Jiggies; get all the Warp Pads activated, make sure all the major sections of the worlds can be accessed, and then you can start running around and completing tasks. It's a significantly more efficient way than just trying to go one Jiggy at a time. For example, you're gonna want to start off Mayahem Temple by summoning that giant gold statue with Mumbo to kick open the doors that lead to the rest of the world, or drive around Witchyworld with the van to drop coins off in all the park areas, so that you can access each of the areas more efficiently to complete tasks. When approaching the worlds with this mindset, I found the game much more enjoyable than my last replay. Even still, some worlds can be a pain with this approach; Grunty's Industries labyrinth design, constant attack drones, and unpleasant visuals rendered it the only world I didn't bother going for 100% on.
The world design is no doubt extremely impressive for how complex and interconnected it all is. It's clear a lot of thought and ambition went into it, and it's even more impressive for an N64 title (which had infamous lag on it, thankfully fixed on the 360 remaster). That said... sometimes there really is too much of a good thing. A lot of the worlds feel like they have dead space for the sake of appearing big, and most of the worlds arbitrary limit themselves to only 5 Warp Pads, meaning even with them in place you'll still find yourself having to retread ground a lot. (Cloud Cuckooland, despite only having 2 Warp Pads, actually manages to feel more traversable than most of the worlds thanks to a rather centralized design focused on a wrap-around mountain and plenty of access to Flight Pads.) And there's no getting around it: the game desperately needs a map. As mentioned, the darker levels can make it difficult to figure out how to navigate them, and maps with clear checkpoints and direction would have helped a lot. Perhaps that would have been a big task for a straightforward remaster, but it would have been nice of the 360 version accommodated the lack of in-game maps in some way - they did add hints for each of the Jiggies, which is nice.
Additionally, although Jamjars works as a replacement and contrast to Bottles, with his amusing rhymes and military man outfit, it's hard to not feel like sometimes the developers were really stretching to come up with new moves at times - the Bill Drill is just an updated Beak Buster, the Springy Step Shoes are a time-limited Shock Spring Jump, and the Sack Pack really only feels different from the Shack Pack because the developers wanted it to be. The Breegull Blaster is a fun idea, but I have never found the FPS sections of the game particularly enjoyable and there's only a few of them throughout regardless.
There's a lot of concepts and characters from the first game that are expanded on significantly - Mumbo, minigames, boss battles, and transformations, to name a few, and their implementation is a mixed bag. Mumbo is essentially a "do whatever the developers need for this world" character device, with little else of interest when playing as him. The minigames are plentiful and while some of them are fun and interesting, it's hard to not feel like after a while you're seeing the "red = 1 point, green = 2 points, blue = 3 points" minigame in different flavors over and over and over. The boss battles are overall quite good and I made a point to battle each one even when I wasn't aiming for 100%; the only one I felt was particularly poorly designed was Lord Woo Fak Fak as trying to navigate the primitive 3D swimming controls while aiming underwater is actively unfun, even with the submarine transformation. Speaking of, each world getting its own transformation is a nice step up from Kazooie. While Kazooie's transformations for the most part were simply functions of needing a small character to access holes and tight squeezes, the transformations in Tooie are more varied, and most of them have the ability to engage in combat. They even brought the bee back and gave it a stinger attack! I don't think they're all hits - the washing machine is particularly frustrating in its limited movement and weak attacks, and the detonator really doesn't do anything interesting but clear access to some pathways - but I appreciate their inclusion and implementation for the most part.
Oddly enough, when replaying Banjo-Tooie, I recalled Super Mario Odyssey, and found myself appreciating what that game accomplished quite a bit. Odyssey takes a similar idea as Tooie - big worlds with warps, changing scenery, and interconnected pathways - but manages to make it feel so much less intimidating and easier to navigate. The in-game map naturally helps with that, as well as the more liberal use of checkpoints (and quick travel to boot). While it would be unfair to ask a 2000 N64 game to be as fleshed out and technically proficient as a 2017 Switch game, it's hard to not feel like Odyssey took inspiration from the Banjo series and also addressed some of their shortcomings. If there was ever a true follow-up to Tooie, I would 100% want them to look at Mario Odyssey for inspiration, just as they did with the original Mario 64 all those years ago.
While I certainly have my issues with Banjo-Tooie all in all, I do feel if approached with the right mindset (and maybe a Google search bar by your side just in case), it can be enjoyed for what it is quite nicely. Its biggest problem will always be being in the shadow of its more focused, more revered predecessor; if I was to consider Banjo-Kazooie a 10/10, Tooie is likely more of an 8 or 8.5; a flawed, but entertaining and highly ambitious game, showing that Rare could still put out some really solid titles even after its perceived honeymoon. I'd go as far to say it's their last genuinely great game released on a Nintendo console.
I won't bother with a world ranking this time around as I didn't play for 100% (Grunty's Industries saw to that), but I will say, I think came away feeling Hailfire Peaks was my favorite. The central concept is a lot of fun, and knowing the Fire Side is based on the beta Mount Fire Eyes from the original game adds to my appreciation of it considerably (with a Gobi appearance to boot). They did a good job contrasting the Ice Side to Freezeezy Peak as well; it's not a fun winter wonderland, but a harsh, bleak tundra with a massive oil rig polluting the environment. Put the two together and you have what I would consider the most memorable level in the game. While I love the concept and layout of Cloud Cuckooland, but I do wish the scenarios were more interesting; it relies heavily on minigames and ignores its weird and wacky design.
Warts and all, that's Banjo-Tooie. I'm glad I gave it another chance because it's definitely better than I last gave it credit for. It's been a bit over 20 years, and I'd still like to see a sequel someday, regardless of whether or not it actually comes.
