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Banjo-Kazooie

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Banjo-Kazooie logo

The Banjo-Kazooie games are a series of 3D platform/adventure video games created by Rare Ltd. in 1998. The game stars a bear named Banjo and a bird named Kazooie who go off on numerous adventures to try and stop the evil plans of the witch Gruntilda.

There are currently four games in the series, with a fifth game under development for the Xbox 360.

Main characters

Games

Banjo-Kazooie

Main article: Banjo-Kazooie

The first game in the series, Banjo-Kazooie was released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64. Banjo's sister, Tooty, has been kidnapped by the witch Gruntilda and it's up to the bear and bird duo to save her.

Banjo-Tooie

Main article: Banjo-Tooie

The second game in the series, but third chronologically, Banjo-Tooie was released in 2000 for the Nintendo 64. Gruntilda is freed from her subterranean prison by her two sisters, Mingella and Blobbelda, and proceeds to wreak havoc on the Isle O' Hags to restore her body to its former "glory".

Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge

Main article: Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge

The third game in the series, but second chronologically, Grunty's Revenge was released in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance. During the game, Gruntilda travels back in time to prevent the first meeting of Banjo and Kazooie.

Banjo-Pilot

Main article: Banjo-Pilot

The fourth game in the series, Banjo-Pilot was released in 2005 for the Game Boy Advance. This game is not part of the plot of the series, but is a racing game similar to Mario Kart where the characters race planes.

Banjo-Kazooie 3

Main article: Banjo-Kazooie 3

The fifth game in the series was announced at X06 with the working title Banjo-Kazooie 3. Little is known about it other than what could be extracted from a short teaser trailer, however. The trailer sported a cubist artistic design for the characters and complete fur and feather detailing on Banjo and Kazooie. The game is set to be released on the Xbox 360 with a tentative released date of Holiday 2008, thus marking the tenth anniversary of the series.[1] An ending sequence in Banjo-Tooie suggested the title would be Banjo-Threeie, but Rare has not adopted this name since the X06 debut.

Stop 'N' Swop

Stop 'N' Swop menu with six of the colored eggs and the ice key

Stop 'N' Swop is a hidden feature in Banjo-Kazooie. Evidence suggests that the feature was never fully implemented due to the Nintendo 64 revisions completed in 1999 that kept the feature from being practical.[2] The feature was widely publicized through a column published by Nintendo Power.[3]

Rare announced that special areas and items in the game could only be reached by completing certain tasks in its sequel, Banjo-Tooie. It was later discovered that Banjo-Kazooie contains seven special items which can be accessed using in-game cheat codes[4] or by using a cheat cartridge. These items would then be viewable in a menu entitled "Stop 'N' Swop".

History

An ending sequence in Banjo-Kazooie indicated that two colored eggs in the game would be put to use in the sequel Banjo-Tooie. There was also an inaccessible ice key shown in the sequence, which induced gamers to search for a way to get it. While only two eggs were shown in the sequence, hackers Alan "Ice Mario" Pierce and Mitchell "SubDrag" Kleiman of the Rare Witch Project fansite discovered cheat codes to unlock a total of six different eggs and the ice key.[3] Other ways of getting the six eggs and key were previously discovered via the use of a cheat cartridge.

In the years between the two Banjo titles, Rare representatives were questioned on "Stop 'N' Swop" and how it would be implemented. Ken Lobb was reportedly unwilling to discuss how the connection would be made between the games.[5]

Banjo-Tooie was released in 2000 and offered a way to retrieve the items mentioned in Banjo-Kazooie without the need to acquire the latter title. These items could then be brought to a hen to hatch. In total, there were three eggs, one of which was already with the hen, but which Kazooie had to hatch herself. The ice key, however, was to be used to obtain the Mega-Glowbo, for Kazooie's Dragon transformation. No explanation for "Stop 'N' Swop" was revealed in the game. Nintendo released a statement on the matter expressing that the feature "was not implemented in the game, and although we know there is a code that opens this menu, it does not do anything at all. And as much as I would like to be able to answer your question about why it was not implemented in the game, this is not information that our Consumer Service Department has access to."[6]

A reference to Stop 'N' Swop was included in the 2003 video game Grabbed by the Ghoulies. On one of the chalkboards in the schoolroom is a mathematical equation stating: "[egg] + [egg] + [egg] + [egg] + [key] = ?"

In 2004, a patent filed by Rare was published which suggests that Stop 'N' Swop involved swapping cartridges with the power off to transfer data. The information would be momentarily retained by utilizing the Rambus memory in the Nintendo 64.[2] As a result of changes done to the Nintendo 64 systems produced in 1999, the system could no longer do this effectively.

Another Stop 'N' Swop reference appeared in 2005's Banjo-Pilot. After completing most of the game, Cheato will sell something called "STOP N SWAP" for 999 Cheato Pages. The only result of buying is Cheato saying: "So you want to know about Stop N Swop, eh? I hope you're ready. Here goes... Why don't you stop annoying me and swap this game for a nice book or something?"

In a 2007 interview with Retro Gamer, Rare employees told the magazine reporters that they may have to wait until the release of Banjo-Kazooie 3 for the details of Stop 'N' Swop to be revealed.[7] In March 2008, a new website appeared with an animation of the ice key rotating, the eggs, and the words "the answers are coming."[8] On April 1, however this was revealed to be an April Fool's joke created by The Rare Witch Project.

See also

References

  1. ^ Microsoft’s Shane Kim On ‘Fable 2,’ Why Marvel MMO Was Canceled And More
  2. ^ a b "System method and data storage medium for sharing data between video games". FreePatentsOnline.com. Retrieved 2006-11-17.
  3. ^ a b "Classified Information". Nintendo Power. 143: 52–53. April 2001.
  4. ^ "Banjo-Kazooie Sandcastle Codes". Rare Witch Project. Retrieved 2008-02-18.
  5. ^ Tour of Rare HQ. Retrieved on February 23 2007.
  6. ^ Stop 'N' Swop Article. gaminglegends.co.uk. Retrieved on March 06 2007.
  7. ^ "The Making of Banjo-Kazooie", Retro Gamer, p. 25, March 29 2007 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  8. ^ http://www.stopnswop.com
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