Diddy Kong Racing Artist Responsible For Banjo-Kazooie's Faithful Smash Ultimate Design

Great! Now where's my Banjo amiibo?

Banjo looks great in Smash, he looks like in the official statue that you can pre-order since last year. He looks like in the N64 artwork in both cases.

Rare's games have been enhanced for Xbox One X (4K). Now that Nintendo and Microsoft seem to be friendly rivals like Japanese Ryu and American Ken, I wonder if we'll see a Diddy Kong Racing remaster (can't call the DS version anything like that) on Switch and Xbox like a joint effort. I mean, Diddy Kong Racing, the best mascots racer ever, who wouldn't want that?

Good old Paulie Boy!

At the very least, It’s better then nuts and bolts

Banjo who?!

(Legs uncontrollably shaking with excitement under desk)

Still want Rare Replay on Switch, but with it being on a Nintendo console we get a special edition which includes the original Diddy Kong Racing game. I do miss Jet Force Gemini too.

I have read this just because I want more DIDDY KONG!

We British 💪😁
Nice to see rare doing something and in the spotlight for a change.

Diddy Kong remaster ? DAY ONE for me .... and many others I guess

Reading these articles about Banjo and Rare's return to the fold, despite the legal difficulties, all these people that helped make our childhoods beautiful coming back together again... It just brings me so much joy.

@Fuz I still think something is off about him

I hope they have the theme tune from Click Clock Woods

As much as I love this design of Banjo, it's almost a shame he is still employed at what's left of his era at Rare. Besides Banjo's Smash design, exactly what projects have his talents been put towards at what's left of Rare in the past ten years? "Sea Of Thieves" DLC content? Besides the moolah, there is no earthly reason for a Diddy Kong Racing alumni to be kicking the can from nine to five in a Microsoft office, where he'll be lucky to have his name on the two games Rare might actually release in this lifetime given their 2-3 games per century release rate since the Microsoft acquisition. Playtonic should extend this man a hearty invite to join his former Rare co-workers down the street, where he can simultaneously create actual video games with soul that aren't designed to meet corporate Microsoft initiatives and help grow an independent developer in the image of nineties era Rare, a developer that is solely their own.

Is Sea of Thieves really that great of a game? I know no one that plays this game and the internet barely talks about it. I personally can not really imagine this game been that much of a hit. Especially compared to Rare's other games.

Banjo-Kazooie is still remembered to this day, same goes for DKC, Diddy Kong Racing, Conker, Perfect Dark, and Battletoads. I would dare even say, that Grabbed by the Ghoulies is a much more talked about game compare to Sea of Thieves. I could be wrong, but from what I experience SoT is a game that kinda went under the radar of many players.

@RareFan It's alright I guess. Sailing is fun with friends, but there doesn't seem to be much to do so far. I only played like 3 hours so far though.

@BlueOcean Let us never speak of the DS version. It doesn't exist.

@koaeinferno Yeah let's ignore the DS version.

@RareFan Sea of Thieves had little content at launch but in the following months Rare started releasing content and mechanics. The recent Anniversary Edition has a lot of stuff. It is one of the best-selling Xbox One games and one of the most popular on Game Pass and for a while it was more popular than Fortnite in streaming (and I mean before Apex was released). It has been very popular since launch and it's one of the Unreal Engine 4 games with best graphics (I think that it has the best visuals but it's 30 fps unlike Fortnite). It's an online game though, so you can have either fun or frustration. A Banjo-Kazooie game with this level of quality would be awesome.

@BlueOcean Ok I will have to keep playing still. Sailing is just plain fun when you have a cooperative team.

@koaeinferno Yeah, you can play solo for a small adventure or you can try to find a good team for a great adventure. Playing with random people can be really frustrating or can be surprisingly rewarding. Just like real life.

D'oh, what I'd give to walk through that Fall Season door of Click Clock Woods right about now...

They did a great job. They look awesome.

@BlueOcean defo, give Diddy Kong Racing the Crash treatment. DKR is still king of its generation of kart racers imo, would love to see it's world and tracks remastered.

@liveswired Yes.

@BlueOcean I remember the whole PR about Rares new RDA at the time! DKR was insane, karts, hovercraft, planes all in the one race in 3D, stunning visuals, no pop up, it was show stopping stuff and generations ahead of Nintendo!!

Yeah, the circuits design is very clever so there isn't pop up and at the same time they aren't narrow and just a few use any kind of fog... DKR also has a great adventure mode. It is an early N64 game and I was really impressed by the visuals at the time, it looked so much better than the other N64 games. The 3D models, big detailed bosses, circuits... Gameplay with cars, hovercrafts and planes was and still is a lot of fun with tight controls. Rare really made games light years ahead of Nintendo. The realistic environments in Goldeneye, the worlds of Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie and the stunningly advanced backgrounds and shadows in Conker's Bad Fur Day that still looks awesome in HD or UHD (Xbox One S/X).