Banjo-Kazooie fever has reignited after a game of executive quote telephone that ended with Xbox's Aaron Greenberg acknowledging "how much" the classic platformer means to fans. At around the same time, an old quote from Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto surfaced reminding us all of how outstanding Banjo looked ahead of its original release on Nintendo 64 - so good that it helped get The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time delayed.
The quotes come from the 5/8/98 issue of Famitsu magazine, a piece of which was shared by @m0m0_0ssrr_ on Twitter and translated by @gosokkyu. Ocarina of Time had originally been scheduled to launch in late 1997, but by this point it had already shifted back multiple times. "The Zelda delay is partially because of Banjo," Miyamoto said. "It's so amazing that we don't want to be outdone."
Miyamoto went on to lavish Banjo-Kazooie with praise, saying that if Mario is a "makunouchi bento" - a type of lunch box popular in Japan - then Banjo is "a deluxe makunouchi bento." He added that he didn't know "how the art style will go over but once you're in, you'll be hooked."
Miyamoto on Banjo-Kazooie, Famitsu 5/8/98🇯🇵"the Zelda delay is partially bc of Banjo—it's so amazing that we don't want to be outdone""if Mario's a makunouchi bento, Banjo's a deluxe makunouchi bento""idk how the art style will go over but once you're in, you'll be hooked" https://t.co/YwQX9QEkQPOctober 19, 2024
Ocarina of Time wasn't delayed just because Miyamoto was afraid Banjo-Kazooie would show it up, of course. Miyamoto noted in another old magazine interview (GamePro 114) that the need to get Yoshi's Story finished at the time also contributed to the delay. Ocarina of Time was also originally intended as a disk-based game for the Japan-only 64DD add-on, and the change to a cartridge release likely also had a significant effect on development time.
I'd wager there's an element of Nintendo marketing at play in that Famitsu quote - Nintendo did originally publish Banjo-Kazooie, after all - but Miyamoto was nothing if not consistent in talking up Banjo back in the day. "I admit that Banjo-Kazooie is a very high quality video game," he told IGN in 1998. "Talking about the 3D system, for example, it had a lot better 3D system than Mario 64 - and they have come up with some great technology. For example, they have lots of enemies at the same time on screen."
Banjo-Kazooie developer Rare was essentially an arm of Nintendo for years as it put out games like Donkey Kong Country, Banjo-Kazooie, and GoldenEye 007, but it was technically an independent company - up until Microsoft bought it out in 2002. Under the Xbox banner, Rare gave us Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts in 2008, a personal favorite of mine that nonetheless tended to be maligned by other series fans for ditching traditional platforming mechanics in favor of puzzle-driven challenges with build-it-yourself vehicles.
Now Rare is primarily known as the Sea of Thieves studio - pending whatever Everwild turns out to be - and most of its classic franchises remain on ice. The rights to those IPs, including Banjo, remain with Xbox, but up to now the company has not seemed keen on doing anything with them. With execs like Greenberg and even Phil Spencer himself acknowledging the Banjo love, maybe there's reason to hope that'll change.
You'll find both Ocarina of Time and Banjo-Kazooie on our list of the best N64 games.
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