At its E3 press conference, Microsoft announced that Rare's original Banjo platformer will be released this year for the Xbox Live Arcade. The game will feature slightly upgraded visuals and the long awaited "stop and swap" functionality originally promised at its release more than 10 years ago.
Many will remember that the first Banjo-Kazooie game promised to interact with Banjo-Tooie. That didn't pan out, but that feature will finally be realized on Xbox 360. By finding specific items in Banjo-Kazooie on Xbox Live Arcade, you will be able to unlock things in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts.
This comes as bad news for Virtual Console fans, the game that was originally released on the N64 will be available on Xbox LIVE. It's been reported that Nintendo's logos and cameos will all be kept intact, so it's not all doom and gloom for Nintendo.
Does this mean we'll see other Rare titles on Xbox LIVE rather than Virtual Console? Time will tell.
[source xboxlive.ign.com]
Comments 7
Rats
It's a Nintendo game, i sitll think it should be on VC, but i won't rant forever like i first started doing.
I wonder how good an idea releaseing the info on stop and swap is. That's probably the biggest easter egg in video games. I mean, sure it will sell the game now, but who knows what they could have done with it if they continued to let it sit. I'm still not even saying it's a bad idea, i think it's neat. I'm just interested in how this is going to turn out...
I don't think any of actually expected this would land on the Wii's Virtual Console though did we?
I guess there was always the potential of it coming to DS though.
I think in an ideal world we would have the games available on both systems... but as XBLA will have better graphics (rather than the original ROM) I guess Nintendo wouldn't like a direct comparison.
I'm a firm Wii60 believer, so I'm quite happy to get this on XBLA. Really hope the new game is decent, but I'm not holding my breath, Rare just aren't the same company anymore.
Yeah, it's strange because visually the games still have the same style and look great, but in character it just seems to be lacking.
I think pretty much all of the original developers have left the company now, shame.
Yeah, I guess your right... things will change over time. It's just sad to see, I had such fond memories of pretty much ALL Rare games on the N64, they were instant classics every single time.
Nintendo clearly had the right idea, selling them at the right moment!
If they're able to port the first one over, I don't see any technical reason behind bringing the sequel over aswell..
Even from a politics side, if they've done the first one surely the 2nd will follow.
I can't wait for this game now!
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