Banjo-Kazooie

Banjo-Kazooie is a collect-a-thon platformer franchise created by Gregg Mayles and Steve Mayles at Rare, launching on Nintendo 64 on June 29, 1998. The franchise follows Banjo, an easy-going brown honey bear, and Kazooie, a sharp-tongued red-crested Breegull who lives in his backpack, through worlds stuffed with collectibles, puzzles, and the recurring villain Gruntilda the witch. The original two Nintendo 64 games are among the most beloved platformers ever made, scored by Grant Kirkhope, and the franchise has been largely dormant since 2008’s divisive Nuts and Bolts for Xbox 360. No new Banjo-Kazooie game is currently in development as of mid-2026.

Banjo-Kazooie (1998) and Banjo-Tooie (2000)

Banjo-Kazooie released June 29, 1998, for Nintendo 64, published by Nintendo in North America and Europe. The game follows Banjo and Kazooie collecting Jiggies and Musical Notes across nine worlds to rescue Banjo’s sister Tooty from Gruntilda, a witch jealous of Tooty’s beauty who intends to steal it using her beauty-transferring machine. The game’s combination of movement versatility, world design that rewarded exploration and backtracking with new abilities, and Grant Kirkhope’s adaptive soundtrack made it one of the defining N64 platformers. Banjo-Tooie followed November 20, 2000, significantly expanding the world size and interconnecting the levels so that actions in one area had consequences in another, a design philosophy that increased complexity at the cost of some of the original’s accessibility.

Both games were re-released on Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade in 2008 and 2009 respectively, and were included in the 2015 Xbox One compilation Rare Replay. Banjo-Kazooie was added to the Nintendo Switch Online Nintendo 64 library in 2022, and Banjo-Tooie followed on October 25, 2024, making both available on Nintendo hardware for the first time since their original N64 releases.

Grunty’s Revenge, Banjo-Pilot, and Nuts and Bolts

Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge released September 12, 2003, for Game Boy Advance as a handheld entry set between the events of the first two N64 games. Banjo-Pilot followed on Game Boy Advance in 2005 as a kart racing spinoff. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts released November 11, 2008, for Xbox 360 as the franchise’s fifth entry and the most commercially divisive, shifting the core gameplay from platforming to vehicle construction and racing. The game was technically accomplished and built a dedicated audience around its vehicle creativity systems, but a significant portion of the franchise’s fanbase rejected the premise as a fundamental departure from what made the original games worth playing. Nuts and Bolts has been the franchise’s final entry for over fifteen years.

Banjo and Kazooie in Smash Bros. and the Dormant Years

Banjo and Kazooie appeared as a downloadable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on September 4, 2019, the first time the characters had appeared in a Nintendo product since the original N64 games, made possible by an agreement between Microsoft and Nintendo. The Smash appearance generated significant enthusiasm for the possibility of a new game and demonstrated that both the characters and the audience still had genuine commercial value. Microsoft and Rare have acknowledged fan interest in the franchise without confirming any project. As of June 2024, reporter Jez Corden confirmed no new Banjo-Kazooie game was in active development. Rare’s current focus is Sea of Thieves, which has grown significantly since its 2018 launch. Gregg Mayles, who created the franchise, departed Rare in 2025 after thirty-six years with the studio.