Original Banjo-Kazooie Team "Pleased" About Duo's Return, But Unsure A New Game "Would Sell"

Why not try rereleasing the originals on Switch and gauge their success before saying they wouldn’t sell?

Just phone it in and give us Rare Replay, Microsoft

I'm still hoping for Rare Replay, maybe they'll cut the xbox games and add in the DK games.

A new game would obviously sell well if done well...it seems crystal clear.

A Hat in Time (game heavily inspired by Banjo-Kazooie) sold well even though it was made on a semi-tight budget by an indie company and its main character was NOT featured in Smash Bros beforehand.

How Banjo wouldn't sell despite being such a major request and playing a big role in one of the most popular games of the past few years is beyond me.

Re release a ported banjo kazooie and tooie from the xbox rare replay and possibly see if nuts and bolts will sell on switch. Why make a new game when these will sell like hot cakes on the switch

I used to get hyped up every year at E3 and other gaming shows for news on Banjo, Conker and Perfect Dark. Thinking one day we'd get a new iteration of these once household gaming franchises.

Now I just truly want Rare to go away and stop.

They continue to spit on these games and they should be ashamed of themselves.

It took them 4 plus years to come up with what Sea of Thieves was at launch which is also embarrassing.

Just die Rare, you haven't been relevant in a long time.

Unfortunately, at this point, it's pretty obvious that the current Rare is simply uninterested in revisiting they're past. Banjo has clout. He is very much still remembered by many people. An outsourced made Banjo&Kazooie is most likely to happen.

Not a Banjo fan, but congratulations to Nintendo and Microsoft for allowing this to happen, congratulations to Sakurai and the developers for making it happen, and congratulations to all the fans who pushed so hard for this for so many years.

That is all!

@Firelork Idk... They just did revisit the past by allowing Banjo in Smash. It could mark a change in their moves, so at least a port of the previous titles.

I loved the original Banjo and Kazooie. It would be great to have Rare Replay on Switch. Playing Banjo 1 and 2 at 60 fps in handheld would be a dream come true.

What a cop out statement. How do they know it won't sell? If it is a good game it will sell a million copies at least and it doesn't need a massive budget either. Just seems like the developers are scared they can't make it good. Sad really as a hat in time has shown that even an indie game can be made well enough to whet the appetite for a 3D platformer.

To be honest? Kind of like the Mother, and F-Zero franchises as well as Game & Watch. Some things just have a legacy that is meant to be left in the past. I'd rather BK be immortalized in Smash than come out rushed release after rushed release to force it down people's throats. (Looking at you Bubsy)

@Kainbrightside I don't think Nintendo are "British enough" to replicate the humour that the Banjo games are known for. A studio in the UK is probably a better option. A release on PS could also help it sell.

@thesilverbrick did the originals even sell well the first time around though?

@hihelloitsme They sold less than the Kinect Sports series

You have my copy

Banjo was trending pretty high on Twitter today. As long as you don't apply another gimmick like Bolts and Nuts, I think a new game would sell pretty decently. We've had the Crash and Spyro remasters do gangbuster numbers, why not remaster BK + Tooie using similar character models as the Smash ones and the same treatment as those remakes? I think that would make for a good Project Scarlett launch title, an exclusive one as well. The assets are there, not a lot of new stuff you have to create from scratch.

I believe one of the developers said they had one time planned a 4 player co-op remake of Kazooie at one point but the idea was scrapped as they thought it would not of sold well. I certainly would have picked it up and I'm sure other fans would have more over Bolts and Nuts (Which I'm sure is a fine game, but not something the franchise should have used as its first new game back after nearly a decade.)

Keep the look he has for Smash Bros. I never liked his design for Nuts and Bolts. I know the bear and bird have been getting the attention as of late but I want a new Conker game more than anything.

If the amiibo and dlc character download sell well enough, rare may not get a say.

I really want a new game (and hopefully the classical 3D collectathon thing, not a "Pimp My Ride" like the last entry was), but it's definitely going to be hard to make another one, considering that many of Rare's key staff left.

As @thesilverbrick said, though, Microsoft and Rare should at least make a compilation of sorts (though I'll pass on Pilot and Nuts n Bolts) or put Rare Replay on Switch to determine the series' fate.

@JR150 Banjo-Kazooie series had a rushed game?

@Wasp @hihelloitsme The original Banjo Kazooie sold 3.6 million copies. Not bad at all. And releasing a simple port of the originals in digital form on Switch would be very low-risk to Microsoft, anyway. Pure profit.

@thesilverbrick
Maybe, maybe not. We won't know until they try.

And here I just wish Rare/Microsoft had the rights to Wizards & Warriors so that Kuros could be in Killer Instinct.

I have a hard time believing a new Banjo-Kazooie game wouldn't sell. It wouldn't do Mario numbers but if Nintendo could get the IP from MS or work with them on it, get some of the original team together and have a Switch release, I think there's a good chance it could sell in the 2-4 mil range and turn a nice profit. Could do very well if it saw a release on Switch, PC and the next Xbox.

Grant Kirkhope raises a good question. Yooka-Laylee's critical reception doesn't help matters much, either.

Rare is in an odd state. Totally different personnel that in my mind used Sea of Thieves as a way of trying to learn to make a real game again after Kinect software. But they are making a Battletoads game now. Time will tell.

I do think that if Microsoft seriously supported a Banjo-Kazooie game, people would get excited and buy it, Xbox or not.

It would sell on name alone so long as it was at least "decent". But subsequent games would largely depend on how good the first new title was.

If they revived the series and it was only decent, subsequent games would likely do poorly. But I think that first new one, again so long as it is at least decent, would sell on the name alone.

Just my two cents.

If they made a really good game, I'm sure it would sell well, specially if they released it on the Switch.

He's very wrong/misguided. Look at how well the Crash/Spyro re-releases sold. There is definitely an appetite for classic 3D platformers. It annoys me that he says 'it won't sell' when the actual evidence suggests that it would sell very well indeed.

Anyone can lend out a character to another franchise. Just as long as it's in the best interests of the original IP. The real MVPs are the lawyers. They wrote some very lengthy contracts to make sure everyone gets paid. With that being said I'm happy for people who love this IP you got want you wanted today.

I mean, I'd kill my own mother for a new Banjo if it lived up to the original.

I was disappointed when the Smash reveal wasn’t tied to a new Banjo game, or even an HD remaster. I would love to revisit this series.

@HobbitGamer Buy a cheap Xbox One and a Game Pass sub.

...what else is Rare going to make?
What is Playtonic going to make?
Surely some of Nintendo's and Microsoft's resources could be put to better use over other small projects that get planned.

Everybody strike a dang chain-of-command / workflow agreement, strive for a game like Banjo-Kazooie that most people can agree has at least some degree of merit, and let's get this show on the road!!!

@Mogster
Remember he’s at Playtonic working on the Yooka-Laylee series, new Banjo and even ports of the older games on Switch are bound to have a negative impact on Yooka-Laylee.

I would totally buy a new Banjo-Kazooie as long as it's not like Nuts & Bolts.

"Wouldn't Sell" Tell that to all the Smash players who will be buying the Banjo DLC

@thesilverbrick The person saying that he thinks they won't sell doesn't work for Rare or Microsoft so...

@quinnyboy58 How can it be a cop out statement? The person saying it doesn't work at Microsoft or Rare, he just did the music for 64 Banjo games.

Put it on Nintendo. It'll sell itself.

Just shows how out of touch this person is, especially after all the talent has left. Yooka Laylee has done very well, Luckys Tale has done very well and A Hat in Time has done very well...but whatever I guess they are busy adding stuff to their mediocre pirate game and developing games that will get cancelled.

I'm not fussed if we get a new game or not, never really got into Rare platformers and they are full of backtracking and item collecting that are purely there to pad the game out but there is a need from gamers to see these return

I do not think that today's Rare would be capable of doing it justice. But I think if done by the correct people it would sell. Yooka laylee did fine if I remember correctly.

Putting them in Smash seems like a pretty good stalking horse.

Rare Reply needs to come to Switch.

Why wouldn't it sell? Developers today seem to think 3D platformers (except Mario) don't sell, yet everyone went crazy for Crash and Spyro because they have been starved of such games, Ratchet and Clank was a success on PS4 and Astro Bot has been hugely successful for PSVR. The problem with Rare is that they are tied to the one platform that these games are unlikely to sell well and Rare Replay hasn't sold that well either. Put this on Switch in particular and it's a different story

I am sure that with the right marketing it could also sell to a new audience, a new Banjo game! If in a new Banjokazooie game the characters would look like this, that would be great. People hated the blocky look from the Nuts and bolts characters (though personally I also liked those designs). On a small sidenote: Many people aren't very happy with the look of the new Battletoads. I agree, the artstyle of the Battletoads could have been a lot better.

If this is indicative of the quality of thinking over at Rare these days, then it's hardly surprising that they've declined as a studio.

Banjo-Kazooie would sell huge amounts on Switch.

@hihelloitsme it was the 10th best selling game on the console and for a brand new IP I'd say that was a pretty big achievement

Experiencing a new game from a fully reformed Rareware team would be unbelievably awesome but I’d most like to see a sequel to Conker before Banjo.

Kirkhope is a good guy for sending support to the new developers for Rare, but the new Killer Instinct does not even come close to touching how good and how huge and achievement the original Killer Instinct was in the arcade and on SNES.

If they made a true successor to Banjo Twooie, Banjo Threeie, like the ending pointed out, it would sell very well, especially on Switch. The reason the last Banjo game didn't sell, was because it was Nuts and Bolts. That game was PURE trash. Don't go away from the original formula and they will be fine.

I don't think it's a question of "if it would sell" and more about if it can be any good at all.

@thesilverbrick nailed it with the first comment. If they haven't done it already, to time with the SSBU character release though, then it's disappointing. This E3 in general felt like publishers and developers were more out of touch with gamers than ever before.

@thesilverbrick
My exact thoughts there.
Just give us rare replay on switch and see how much love it gets, especially if they give us a physical

I guess we gotta prove them wrong.

What's the point of including these old characters in Smash unless it was a gateway to something new on an Nintendo platform?

The older games with a makeover and a physical release would sell.

Of course It would sell 😱 what are they talking about? It would sell way more than a chameleon and bat game!

The thing is...
If released on Xbox it wouldn't sell well. And would likely be an Xbox exclusive if developed by Rare. Which is unlikely now as Nuts and Bolts was badly received.

Microsoft just need to release Rare Replay on Switch really. Surely it doesn't need to be an exclusive anymore as has been out a few years.

Just repackage it as the Nintendo edition so it has games upto the Cube. And maybe Nintendo can help so we get their owned IP/Rare developed game like DK64 as well.

You're kinda dumb if you don't think a proper new Banjo-Kazooie game would sell. BUT, it would have to be done PROPERLY. And looking at how Nintendo's Smash artist has basically nailed the design of the character is a great place to start. It can't be some half-*ssed facsimile of Banjo-Kazooie it you want people to genuinely love it in 2019; it has to be the real deal and be a proper new version of the classic that gets all the details absolutely right but at 2019 visual/presentation level and with a few minor tweaks to some of the gameplay design too (so it's not tooo/sooo much "collectathon" and more about the truly fun gameplay). But, yeah, a Banjo-Kazooie game done genuinely right in 2019 could absolutely sell as far as I'm concerned.

@thesilverbrick Rare and Microsoft would have to negotiate with Nintendo to re-release the originals since they were published by Nintendo. I say do it!!!!

Drop the damn games already... they'll sell like hot cakes

I have a question:

So I checked the Smash website a little bit ago, and saw 4 question mark boxes after Banjo..... But there should only be 2 left (5 fighters this DLC) .... Is there more coming?
(My screenshot of the website)
http://imgur.com/gallery/0VwHS7d

Look at the success of Crash and Spyro. If Banjo was owned by Activision they would remake the N64 games to great acclaim. Microsoft on the other hand...

Microsoft should release the originals in digital form on the switch (Low cost), then use the revenue to start development of a new Banjo-Kazooie game.
Sounds like a no brainer to me.

I really just want a re-release of all the past Banjo-Kazooie games on the Switch (INCLUDING Nuts and Bolts and Banjo-Pilot). It would be really cool to see Nuts and Bolts remade though to be able to use more parts to make vehicles and maybe to have some new parts added in. Being able to play Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie on the Switch would be truly amazing though.

@Hinade I love Grant probably my favourite person in gaming but I just feel this is strange for him to say. Doesn't seem inline with his usual thinking imo and sounds like a line from the Rare PR department! I mean Gregg Mayles is still there, got to think he could do a good job on Banjo with some new British talent that is at Rare. It won't sell like GTA 5 of course but then most games don't! Surely it can get to 1 million if good, Yooka did and it was very average (I enjoyed it after patches but I get it wasn't amazing).

hell even yooka laylee is kinda success...banjo would smash! no pun intended

I agree it wouldn't be a good game unless playtonic does it.and yes he they are finally back home

@Ventilator Ah, I see. I can play it on Switch by playing it on something else. 😜

I think it is a fair thought. Current Rare likely is not interested in making a new game and playtonic (old Rare) didn’t burn up the charts either with thier spiritual sucessor. Banjo’s is in a better position in smash, its a nostalgia placement that doesn’t have to bet on a new game selling well. Look at e3 barring Nintendo it was mostly guns and blood. Given that gaming has a perpetual self conscious air about it where mature games are seen as earmarks of adulthood (to hide the sex and violence obsession as most of the stories are throw aways) mascots that don’t keep a steady fanbase and market (both are key) wont sell enough for a decent ROI. At least we are shifting to a lighter color palette in our death games with battle royale games so perhaps in another gen or two mascots will be prevalent again. Good time for MS to toss in a banjo game.

It's like they are denying obvious money, The 3D Platformer genre has recieved a major boost in popularlity due to recent titles like

Ratchet & Clank PS4

A Hat In Time

Yooka Laylee

Spark The Electric Jester 2

Clive & Wrench

Suzy Cube

Super Mario Odyssey

Super Lucky's tale

Spyro Reignited Trilogy

Crash Bandicoot Nsane Trilogy

Jak & Daxter even got a whole trilogy rerelease on PS4 Physical.

The interest is still very much there if that isn't evidence enough though.

@Varkster To be fair, A Hat in Time was only successful -because- it was made on a small budget. The issue with continuing Banjo is less that 'it wouldn't be profitable' and more that any profit it could make would not be an efficient allocation of resources. I.e: Rare could make money off a new Banjo game, but could simply make more money by setting any team that might work on Banjo to a different task.

@impurekind What you're saying is correct, and is exactly the problem. AAA games in 2019 take more resources to create than they did in 1998 by a significant margin. Profitability is not a fixed line, but is always assessed relative to other potential projects. The pertinent question isn't 'could Banjo Kazooie make money' but 'could BK make more money than anything else we could produce for the same budget?'

I did not get on with nuts and bolts at first, then went back to it and really enjoyed it. Some of the challenges are funny and you could be really creative.

it will sell on the Switch i can guarantee you that

@Letemspin Same here! Once I went at it from a different view, I loved N&B. I really liked the Museum level, with the music in each area of the museum. I would actually welcome N&B on Switch

I don't think they bother to read your messages on Nintendolife. Why not go to their own website and let them know ?

I'm just happy to see this collaboration happen as Banjo was one of the defining games of the N64. As far as a sequel, I would imagine seeing Yooka-Laylee and a couple other titles not blowing up the charts deterred them. It's not that they sold bad but it would have to sell a couple million units before it would probably worth it to Microsoft.

@NevG did they on Rare Replay? Because they have already rereleased them.

I don't know if a new game would sell or not. That game design is kind of dead, but Odyssey did well so there is hope.

I personally wouldn't buy it because outside of nostalgia those games aren't for me.

It's a shame to see Kirkhope so pessimistic, but I get where he's coming from. But with games like N'Sane trilogy, Spyro, Hat in Time, and I'm sure some others making pretty big waves, it's kinda hard to keep subscribing to the "traditional 3D platformers won't sell". Especially these days where nostalgia has effectively switched over to the days of PS1 and N64 games, where for years prior it was mostly about 2D games. I feel like now more than ever, a platformer Banjo might actually do decently.

Also let's not forget that the only thing they've tried since Tooie was a game about building cars. Which, while fun, is such an awful barometer for how people would receive a 3D platformer sequel.

Wouldn't sell well? I think everyone with a switch would buy banjo threeie the day it would be announced, I'd bet my life savings on it being the switches best seller

@HobbitGamer Cool. I just bought a Switch btw.

@Ventilator Hope you enjoy it!

Well considering how insanely well the Crash and Spyro remakes sold I think Banjo can have a place. Heck this could be MS's way of perhaps testing the waters

I've never owned an Xbox One, but I will say a big reason I still keep my 360 around is because of the Banjo ports to it. I'd love a version of Rare Replay on Switch and given the track record of stuff like Cuphead and Lucky's Tale making it over, I think the chances of Switch getting it just went up a decent amount. I mean, if they aren't gonna make Banjo-Threeie, they can at least give us the cleaned up ports of the older games.

Rare Replay utilizes BC to make those games work. Porting to Switch is probably never going to happen, especially for games that were relying on 360 port emulation.

If you're a Rare fan, just get an Xbox. The Killer Instinct reboot was insanely good and Sea of Thieves has a TON of classic Rare charm.

Hell has freezed over so many times in Smash we should be at Absolute Zero by now. First was the advent of third parties no one ever thought would happen, now we have a one-time Nintendo second party game representation that is second party currently to a whole nother video game company, yet... Here's Banjo-Kazooie. LOL, what a world we live in. Totally blown away by this surprise. Lots of Nintendo and Microsoft hand shaking.

More proof that Mictosoft is incompetent at an actual game market

@HobbitGamer I do. Thanks

@thesilverbrick I've had Grant added on Facebook for 7 years. I don't know why they chose him for this article as he's working on new projects like Mario + Rabbids and isn't in the loop on how big a Banjo remake would truly be with the past 10 years of the online fanbase growing because of gaming's increased exposure

Mario Odyssey proves that there can be critical success for a 3D platformer. And Banjo is a name where if nobody has played a Banjo game, everyone has a friend who has a friend who is obsessed with it. I've watched an LP of Banjo 1 and 2 and read a lot of reception of Yooka Laylee: I suspect it could sell IF it cuts the most tedious aspects of the collectathon genre. Most people who played those games remember that positively, but Yooka was bombarded by people who don't find monotony fun.

It would need a sense of humor and charm, solid controls, a good amount of content, and a genuine concern for whether what the player is doing at any given moment is fun. Any 3D collectathon game needs all those things or it will probably be considered bad.

given that the Crash trilogy was big enough that they're doing a Crash Team Racing remake, I'd say Banjo 1/2 on the Switch isn't that bad of an idea considering Microsoft and Nintendo have been really buddy buddy through Minecraft's Xbox Live integration among other things

@thesilverbrick Exactly! With proper marketing and attention quality development , a new BK game would sell extremely well. The characters will be in smash; giving them further exposure and getting the original on the eshop is a great Idea. Cmon we have Yokalalee in existence. These characters have personality!

It is not about appetite, it has more to do with Talent. You know the thing that Rareware bleed to death before the sale to Microsoft. Anyone claiming otherwise, I implore you to revisit every Xbox game made by Rare. The best one was a Kinect game. Unless you thought the great graphics of Viva Pinata somehow makes the game better then mediocre due to the odd/horrifying/terrible gameplay overall.

Nintendo gave birth to RARE and raised it to a cool teenager, then he left the house to become a man but Xbox found him and did unspeakable things to him. Now he wont even come outside anymore, poor Rare just come back home boy its okay your family is here by nintendo

anyone spot the scene in the reveal of banjo standing on top of spiral mountain at the bridge going into gruntildas lair? looked a lot like the original game to me. fingers crossed rare replay makes it's way to switch 🤞

I would think the fact that Rare Replay is such a success would indicate there's sales potential in it. The fact that MS bothered to X1X enhance the original Banjo series this week, and do B&K in Smash seems like they're feeling out potential in the brand....I think Kirkhope might be a step behind on that one....the suits seem curious.

I would buy a new banjo kazooie game the day it came out. I grew up with Rare game, first the donkey kong country series on snes and the banjo 1 & 2 and later on conker's bad fur day on n64. What I would really love to see though is a remake of the first 2 banjo games with totally redone graphics like Spyro Remastered did, that would be amazing since the graphics in the banjo series are really showing their age now.