Yooka-Laylee made quite an impact when it was revealed in Spring 2015, with the newly formed Playtonic Studios gaining a lot of attention by virtue of a promising Kickstarter pitch video and the fact that the team was largely comprised of former Rare staff. Already positioned as a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, fans are hoping that it'll deliver a modern take on the old-school of 3D platformers.
It's been a while since Playtonic went all out with new game footage, but it continues to reveal snippets of new information. In a 'birthday' post on its website, a new character called Kartos is introduced along with an accompanying 'Challenge' level music track from David Wise.
Lovely, isn't it? Very cheerful. This particular piece is designed to accompany a section of the game starring our latest character reveal, Kartos. During their adventure, Yooka and Laylee will have many encounters with this humble minecart, and together they'll hit the tracks in search of paper-shaped golden nuggets.
In addition the studio has hired three new staff with game art and stage design experience, introduced simply as Hamish, Gary and Damien.
In a funny coincidence, in his previous work with Curve Digital Hamish won a Mario Kart 8 'Nindies' competition that we ran at EGX 2014; you can see his moment of glory below.
Do you like the look of Kartos, and is Yooka-Laylee high on your list of most wanted Wii U eShop games?
[source playtonicgames.com]
Comments 62
I love the track! This game is still something I cannot wait to play.
Lovely music. I really hope this game turns out to be good.
The new character really reminds me of the minecart in Pyjama Sam.
David wise is such a genius!
I'm super hyped for Yooka-Laylee, and the more I see and hear of it, the more excited I get! You can't beat this kind of music, you really can't.
This game is continually increasing my interest. A David Wise name drop gets me every time. Now I need to go listen to some DKCTF soundtracks.
Nobody transports you more instantly to a tropical climate than David Wise
I am still excited for this game, I just hope it does not disappoint.
Im feeling DKC vibes. Both in the track and in the potential minecart levels
David wise track, more like David Wise Crack! PUNS!!!
@Royalblues There's never been a game series that is no longer profitable, and left untouched by it's publisher, that you've ever said 'I'd pay so much to get another game in that series!' for?
Kickstarter lets gamers help make these games happen. No publisher was ever going to touch Shenmue III, but it's happening because there's a decent number of people that are really passionate about that series and are happy to donate to see it happen. Likewise, the 3D platformer is pretty much dead these days, but old school Rare fans were able to donate to a bunch of ex-Rare staff and make it possible for them to make another one.
I can't wait for this. I may even want it more than Zelda. Hoping and dreaming it will be a runaway success on all platforms and 3D platformers make a glorious comeback. It's time!
Can't come soon enough! Still think Nintendo should have funded it, has the potential to be THE definitive Indie.
More David Wise goodness! Man, I just love all his tracks... this might tempt me to get this game.
Donkey Kong Country's mine carts meet the "everything is antrophomorphic" nature of the Banjo-Kazooie universe, with David Wise composing a very BK-esque track to go along with it.
Ladies and gentlemen, Rare is back.
I just hope this brings the 3D platformer genre back in a big way! It's definitely my all-time favourite genre and one of the ones I always find myself going back to time and time again with such classics as the Spyro trilogy, Crash trilogy, Ty 1 and 2 and Rayman 2 and 3.
I'm just here for the music...David Wise still has it. lol
Donkey Kong Country's mine carts meet the "everything is antrophomorphic" nature of the Banjo-Kazooie universe, with David Wise composing a very BK-esque track to go along with it.
Ladies and gentlemen, Rare is back.
^ This!
@DarthNocturnal love it!
@JaxonH I'm willing to suffer thru some mine cart levels for a 3D platformer. This may be as close as I ever get to a good Jak and Daxter sequel.
Love the track (it's David Wise) and I also love the character's name, hopefully Sony Santa Monica won't sue them
Do we have any idea at all when this game is coming out? Is it possible that we'll see it this year?
Do we have any idea at all when this game is coming out? Is it possible that we'll see it this year?
Yooka Layle is my most awaited game. I can't wait to get it. Huge 90s Rareware/Banjo-/Conker/DKC fan here. These guys are the best! The track was good, it sounds a lot like Tropical Freeze, but ya know, same composer. Can't wait for this game!
@rjejr Jak and Daxter? You're going to be very disappointed...
that song is hot as heck
That music is brilliant. It all looks promising, I hope it delivers. Probably will be the Wii U's swan song.
That song is very good. So far, this looks to be one of the few Kickstarters that I won't regret supporting.
I wonder how far they're on in making this game. Someone said this could be the WiiU's swan song, I literally have been thinking this on and off for a few months now. Although I have a feeling Nintendo will want to be the one to make the swan song game. But this could easily be the third party swan song game.
Soundtrack is absolutely great, but I couldn't expect anything else from David Wise. Kartos looks... very Viva Pinata-like to me. I already knew that there is some Viva Pinata staff involved, but you really can see that they're taking inspiration from that game when you talk about character design. It looks good and I can't wait to see another screenshot.
Sounds like something out of Diddy Kong Racing, I dig.
David Wise is the Donkey Kong music guy though, right? Personally I'm more excited to hear what the Banjo Kazooie composer has to offer.
Ahhhhhhhh David Wise you bloody genius!! I am so hyped for this!!!!
@Pluto14 Yup, very Viva Pinata, because paper-mache animals look exactly like mine carts made out of wood and steel...
Like so many people have already said the inspirations for this game are Banjo-Kazooie and Conker's Bad Fur Day. Both games had inanimate objects brought to life by giving them some eyes and a voice. (in the case of Conker's Bad Fur Day)
The main designers of Yooka-Laylee are designers of the older games, so I highly doubt that there is any inspiration taken from Viva Pinata.
@rjejr Calling the spiritual sequel of Banjoo-Kazooie/Tooie a Jak and Daxter sequel borders on sacrilege...
@Expa0 Exactly. Came to say this.
@Expa0 Exactly. Came to say this.
@leo13 They are aiming for October. We should see it at E3 I would hope
@Dankykong they are planning this to release in October...with Zelda U being November (we all know that's the case) Yooka-Laylee wouldn't be the last hurrah. Also depends on Retro's Metroid Wii U game...not sure if it will launch this year or next....
I see the Tropical Freeze vibe still runs strong on mr. Wise's veins.
Augh, why must I be at work right now?!?! I can't listen to this without quietvand headphones! Listening to this will be the first thing I do when I get home!
Of course, this is going to be the game of the year to me. So much time has passed since awesome Banjo-Kazooie games. I hope the game is a huge success on all platforms.
Wait... Is David Wise the composer for the game or has he only contributed this one song?
@TsukiDeity He'll be contributing a few songs I think,as will Grant Kirkhope.the composer of the original Banjo games.
@NintyMan
Definitely sounds like it came from Tropical Freeze!
@TsukiDeity Him and Grant Kirkhope are both doing the music.
I just want the Toybox (+) thing to come out already!!!!
@SmoochyTea
Perhaps King went on to travel to the world of Yooka-Laylee after Sam frees him from his rusty prison.
Well, I listened to it, and it's pretty good! Wise rarely disappoints!
I wish David Wise would compose more game soundtracks!
His music is wonderful!
This is turning out to be a fantastic game. Might get this, even though I don't have much interest in the Banjo-Kazooie series.
Either way, at this point, one could only imagine how great the gameplay will be. The entire game will most likely be absolutely brilliant though, no doubts on that.
@TheRealThanos J&D is my all time favorite game. Any game that gets a positive comparison from me to it is living well.
Oh the times when you could make a character simply be slapping a pair of eye balls on an inanimate object, how much I've missed you! Hopefully the games will include those mumbling sounds from BK, you know the ones when the characters talk. These were gold.
This is the first project I've backed on KS, and it's been great so far: excellent talent, huge enthusiasm and momentum, and frequent updates. David Wise's music is excellent as ever - that track sounds like it could have come straight out of DK Tropical Freeze, and I mean that as a compliment.
Very Donkey Kong Country-esque. The music as well as the minecart. Although I'm sure it'll turn out just lovely, sometimes I wish they didn't 'borrow' so very much inspiration their older games... :/
Nice track.
Be sweet if this game got a physical release, it's probably going to be deserving of one.
@rjejr True enough, but still: Rare did set the bar for the genre by beating Nintendo at its own game with the Banjo Kazooie games. Might have even been a partial inspiration to the boys at Naughty Dog, who knows...
Looks like rusty pup !!! What ever happened to that game anyways?!
@TheRealThanos "Might have even been a partial inspiration to the boys at Naughty Dog"
Maybe, but ND made Crash Bandicoot in '96, 2 years before BK. I know CB isn't as well regarded as BK, but it did precede it by 2 years, so I think ND was well on there way to J&D regardless of what Rare did. Insomniac released Spyro the Dragon same time as BK in '98 so there was a wave of companies making 3D platformers at that time. I've always held a soft spot for that first Spyro game as an inspiration for the games that followed - in 1998 it had more voice acting than most Nintendo games made today (excluding Monolithsoft). Since it released same time as BK Spyro is my inspirational game - 3D, voice acting, 1st person camera, collectepedia and power ups, it had it all. 2nd game was even better. 3rd game was a sloppy mess slideshow on Gamecube. The PS2 games were just as bad as the J&D sequels.
So while I won't knock Rare, they were obviously one of the first and best - they did DKC years before - I like my Playstation games. I'd buy Rare Replay Day 1 on Wii U.
If it makes you feel any better Starfox Adventures is in my top 5 w/ Uncharted 2 and FF7 and FF8. J&D is SA w/ a jump button. That makes it my favorite Nintendo console game BTW.
And now I just realized... This is going to be recorded with real instruments for the final game! This soundtrack is going to be so good!
@rjejr Damn, you're actually right. I messed up there...
But no harm, no foul. I like almost all platform games, so Jak and Daxter are no exception, although as far as Playstation 3D-platformers go, I'd put Ratchet and Clank a bit higher in the rankings.
Agreed on the Spyro games. I've played all the PSX originals and I also have the Wii version, which I never finished. Got stuck at some giant boss fight and never got past it, so I lost interest...
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