For many N64 owners back in the day, Rare was at the top of the game. Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie were two of the best platformers on the system and the bear and bird combo became iconic figures in the platforming mascot era. Fans were desperate for what they dubbed 'Banjo-Threeie', and that desire still lingers today.
Before we jump in, we know there are Banjo-Kazooie sequels out there. Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge was a fine attempt at bringing the duo to the GBA. And Nuts & Bolts? Depends on who you ask... Neither of these are Banjo-Threeie in many people's eyes. So leave it to Project Dream, creators of the remastered trailer for Banjo-Kazooie from last year (who have also done one for the sequel), to put its heart, soul, and jiggies into creating a Banjo fan's dream.
The project is nothing short of remarkable, stunning, beautiful, gorgeous — every lovely adjective you can think of, we're throwing them at the trailer. The project is set 22 years after Banjo-Tooie and sees the aging bear take on Grunty once again as she amasses an army to fulfill her final revenge.
From the looks of it, transformations aren't simply spells that turn the bear and bird into different animals or objects — this time, the duo can turn into different shapes. There's a pixelated Banjo riding a wooden toy train track — perhaps a little Diddy Kong Racing reference? — and one of Banjo that looks like he's made out of cardboard. How utterly charming.
Each of the worlds looks incredible, just like they're straight from a real Banjo-Kazooie game. And the accompanying music from Dark-Grunt Music is just the icing on the cake. The attention to detail is staggeringly good, and we really want someone to tell us this is real.
Well, sadly, outside of the trailer, it isn't. Project Dream, cleverly named after the RPG that became the basis of Banjo-Kazooie, has said that there are no plans to create an actual, playable demo of Banjo-Threeie.
We'll cling on to this trailer for dear life and watch it over and over again. We may have teared up at this once, or twice, or maybe five times. You can watch the whole thing below.
Don't forget to check out Project Dream's YouTube channel to see snippets of reimagined levels from both N64 Banjo games. You'll be mesmerised.
Let us know what you think of this fan-made trailer down below!
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 34
Fans are doing Microsoft's and Rare's jobs, while those two cry about how much of a fail Nuts and Bolts was.
Did Banjo Thirdie never cross their minds?
Kinda cool... also kinda soulless somehow. I think it'd be difficult for a new team to capture the feeling the original two games had... probably why no one has really managed it 😂 But I still kind of wish Rare would try again...
Banjo thrice.
It's deeply weird to me that Microsoft never greenlit a third mainline entry. A new Banjo-Kazooie game would go a long way toward filling the mascot platformer hole that ecosystem has.
Although I probably wouldn't buy it. Playing through the original has nuked my interest in touching any other game connected to this IP.
Here’s the million dollar question: Will we ever get a real Banjo Kazooie 3?
@HotGoomba in their defense, Nuts & Bolts was shameful.
@Ralizah Judging by Microsoft's choices it seems ever clearer that live service is their focus (fits in with the Game Pass focus) and the Nintendo era Rare IP that would fit live service the most is Perfect Dark which is getting a reboot.
If only it was real, you can tell alot of work went into it. How I wish Banjo Threeie existed...
@Grumblevolcano I mean, they're experimenting with Halo Infinite's multiplayer mode, but, from what I hear, it's going poorly. I haven't heard about any of their other recent releases being live service-focused.
Sony is the only one of the big three I know of that's explicitly making a massive push into the area of live service games.
I will never understand why people put so much energy in fake trailer... if they would put more energy in their own work it would make a lot more sense to me... but maybe it was just for practice
Anyone remember when Rare were good?!
"Fans were desperate for what they dubbed 'Banjo-Threeie'," "Neither of these are Banjo-Threeie in many people's eyes." We're missing some nuance here; the fans didn't come up with the name Banjo-Threeie, Rare did. A game of that name was specifically teased during the Tooie ending, just like B-K called out Banjo-Tooie by name in its ending
I remember when Tooie was announced and I was like, "What? They kept that silly name?" So when I got to the end of that game I took the name Threeie in stride. So while I won't say they promised us Banjo-Threeie—after decades of observing the games industry I think we can all agree there's no such thing as a "promise," in games, only hopeful thinking that sometimes turns in to the game we wanted—there's a reason fans want a game following the specific BK/B2ie formula named "Banjo-Threeie."
I enjoyed Nuts and Bolts well enough for what it was, but it wasn't a Banjo Kazooie game.
Tried the Games with the Ultimate Game Pass and i personally do not like them, very over hyped.
@Ralizah Forza Motorsport 7, Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2, Forza Horizon 4, Gears 5, MCC relaunch, Bleeding Edge (though support ended early), Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite. In terms of the future, both Forza Motorsport and Everwild has been reported on to be live service. That's a large proportion of XGS releases since Game Pass existed, sure some are more live service than others but all of them can be considered live service.
guess we have a different definition of "stunning"
I just woke up and haven't had coffee, so bear with me as I try to explain how I feel about this... And no that wasn't a pun, speech-to-text literally typed it like that.
I'm not a fan of the lighting. I like the cartoony aesthetic of the level design, but I don't think the realistic lighting compliments it. I think about how lighting looks in other 3D platformers, like Super Lucky's Tale or Super Mario Odyssey, and I think this should be more in line with those games.
Ultimately though, this is just a CG animated trailer for a game that will never exist. I doubt the team that made this has the ambition and talent to make it into a real game, (though I welcome them to prove me wrong), and if a Banjo-Threeie was officially developed by Rare, it would look nothing like this.
Awww. There is something sad about Banjo just standing there in each scene.
@Grumblevolcano Aren't almost all of those paid releases with single-player campaigns, though? I'm not debating that Microsoft focuses more on co-op-heavy experiences, but I'm just not sure I'd be comfortable labeling them "live service games." Not in the same sense as something like Fortnite, anyway.
@Ralizah “It's deeply weird to me that Microsoft never greenlit a third mainline entry. A new Banjo-Kazooie game would go a long way toward filling the mascot platformer hole that ecosystem has.”
Lol, Microsoft absolutely greenlit and funded a third mainline Banjo game. Nuts & Bolts is the third game that Rare, the Stampers, and the original team came up with. Just because you didn’t like it doesn’t mean it wasn’t intended to be the third game in the series.
As for why they haven’t taken the IP away from Rare and given it to someone else to make a fourth entry (since Rare is apparently content to focus on new IP), they probably just haven’t had anyone else to give it to. Maybe that’ll change when they gain ownership of Toys For Bob and Vicarious Visions, but Xbox’s first party problem has always been too much IP and not enough talented studios to do anything with it.
Makes me wish we had more N64 and gcn remakes/remaster for the 3ds at the time.
@Leuke exactly !!! That's precisely what I thought while watching it, nice visual but no life at all. It's still a tremendous effort and I love it, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed. Maybe if the banjo model wasn't static, it would help idk
Cant we all just agree that it would be great if we got Threeie even if the graphics are either cel-shaded or hyper realistic or whatever?
We just need a new game. It’s time for a revival!
People on here saying they don’t like Banjo Kazooie should get a life ban!
@Ralizah Halo Infinite multiplayer is the most extreme live service game of the bunch listed but the others listed do have live service features. Gears 5 for example is a full price game that also featured FOMO via limited time season rewards, a microtransactions store to buy skins and free content updates (maps, modes) which coincided with those seasons.
most of rare's team that did BK/BT are called playtonic now and made Yooka Laylee 1+2. I feel like now that they're officially working on part 3 we're finally getting our unofficial Banjo Threeie 😬
@Gunit1099 I think so, and the background was pretty motionless too... I mean the beehive wasn't hopping, that says it all 😂
I miss the 2000s so much.
The fans who made this have mad talent, creativity, and attention to detail. Why has Microsoft not approached them yet on the remakes/sequel that they have created? Give them a job MS!
@Ralizah They technically did. It is a bit complicated. They first wanted to do a new classic Banjo-Kazooie game for the XBOX360, but then wanted to turn it into a remake of the first one, but then decided to make a brand-new game in the form of Nuts & Bolts.
@Leuke I couldn't do any better that's for sure, but I feel like injecting a little more life into it before releasing it would have gone a long way.
it would be nice to finely get the 3rd part of the story after getting Banjo Tooie including Mario Party 3 added to the nintendo switch online nintendo 64
@BANJO https://x.com/Sacredsonikkuu/status/1712770579433222245?s=20
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