Key

Have you played SM64 since? It's a great game still if you haven't fully played it yet.

Goldeneye is great.

Mindy

No, but it would be fun. I have MLB Slugfest for n64 and still have an n64 system just got bored playing baseball games over and over. I started a season and game after game of the same **** had me unplugging it after around game 60 in the whole season.
Golden Eye is my favorite game

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Key

I have many good memories of golden eye from playing multiplayer with my brothers. Plus the main campaign is great. Overall great game.

Key

My Favorite Music in Banjo-Kazooie

As I'm sure you'd come to expect from a game named after two musical instruments, you'd imagine the game would have great music. And you're correct. Much like many games on the Nintendo 64, Banjo-Kazooie is up there as far as my favorite soundtracks from games of that era. What's not to love? Every level has it's own uniqueness as far as the music goes while also fitting with the theme of the level so seamlessly. I think I also mentioned the music in a previous post as well and much like my favorite level, this answer can also change depending on when it's asked.

This is an interesting one to think about though because for me, there's really only one way to answer it. Which song pops into my head more often? Which one do I find to be the most catchy while also fitting the theme it represents. Well funny enough, the answer isn't even a level. It's the theme for Gruntilda's Lair.

I can't think of many other songs from this era that have managed to stick in my head even years after playing the game originality. Something to be said about a theme being able to stay with you for so long. It's not just the fact that the song is catchy. It changes to fit your current situation whether you're entering a new level or you're just exploring the lair. It always plays when you're walking around so I suppose hearing it played over and over again cemented it in my brain. But I'm not complaining. I love the theme for the lair because it just fits so perfectly with the whole theme of the game and I can't imagine the game without it.

Saulaac

Gruntilda's Lair. Wow. I looked it up, and up pops The Teddy Bear's Picnic, written by Henry Hall in 1932. School kids would sing a rude version back in the day. They probably still do, or at least I hope they do.

Gruntilda's Lair was created by Grant Kirkhope, right? I think he has done a great job in bringing out the sinister tones. But the original was not lame either.

Good spot!

Key

Oh **** that's amazing. I looked up the song and I hear the resemblance right away. What a neat find!

Saulaac

After listening to them again, Kirkhope has added interesting things to his version, and they have quite different vibes. One is more "Oh I do like to be beside the seaside." and the other is "Don't go in that water..."

I know next to nothing about gaming music, so Kirkhope / Rare Limited is probably a good place to start, along with Koji Kondo. Would you know of any other good composers in this area? Cheers!

Key

Chameleon Twist

Chameleon Twist falls under the category of games that I know I have played, but have very faint, if any at all, memories of playing through this game. The main thing I remember about it is being able to progress through the game while using your tongue to get through the various puzzles and platforming sections that the game throws at you. Looking back on the game with images and videos for this post, it really brings me back to a time where graphics weren't really the be all end all, mostly because the Nintendo 64 did not have the technology to make games look great. But that didn't stop developers from making the games they wanted to make and making them good.

As much as I would like to say this game sticks out as far as 3D platformers go, it doesn't really. Not saying it's a bad game by any stretch, however I would put this in the same vein as games like Glover or even Gex. It's got everything to make the game great, but falls short on certain things to not make it the greatest platformer on the system.

Although not very hard to guess, your main goal for the game is to go through 6 different worlds as...you guesses it, a chameleon. The game uses the analog stick for the maneuvering as it would have felt awkward using the d-pad on a Nintendo 64 controller, much like many other games in this genre. The controller was not the best thing to use when playing games like this, but it got the job done where it mattered most. And as much as the analog stick would hurt your thumb after continuous use, it did sometimes take away from the experience given that it just really wasn't the most comfortable way to play. But I digress. Would I go back and play this game again on modern consoles? I probably would honestly. But, it's been such a long time since I thought about this game that it would be surprising to see it get rebooted at some point in the future. Hell, I didn't even realize the game got a sequel.

Key

Banjo-Tooie: My Favorite Game on the Nintendo 64

I know there are a lot of games on the Nintendo 64, and looking back on it, I think I have actually really only played a small fraction of what games the system has to offer. But that's more due to not having a lot of games to play back in the day when I had the console originally. But the games that I did play left a huge enough impact to where I can talk about them even today and still remember clearly what I was doing the first time I played. Well, in most cases. Some things are fuzzy and with having played a couple of these a few times after that point, it's hard to say what the first time really felt like. Obviously for those that I have played multiple times after, they left a big impact. There are still a lot of games I plan to talk about this month, but as we are in the realm of Banjo-Kazooie, I figure I could do two things at once and not only talking about the sequel to an already great game, but certainly my favorite game on the system as a whole, based on my own personal experience of course.

Banjo-Tooie. That's the game we're here to talk about today. And I will attempt to answer the question as to why I consider this game to be my favorite on the system. Even up to today's standards, this game can still hold its own. I actually played through Banjo-Tooie somewhat recently as it's available on Game Pass and I had an absolute blast. I remember the first time I ever played this game I just sat in my room and did nothing but 100% every level as I went to finally get to the end to fight the drill monster thing that Gruntilda bones is controlling. Did I say Gruntilda bones? Yes, Gruntilda is a skeleton in this game. Due to you throwing her off the top of her castle and putting a rock over her in the first game. Now she's back and she's come back with more.

The game no longer focuses on Gruntilda's Lair, however you do still have very limited access to its entrance. But that's about it. The real fun is realizing that you are about to venture into a whole new world that has seemingly been here this whole time, and we just didn't know it. After a fight with good ol' Klungo of course. Once you progress enough, you'll waltz into Jinjo Village, and off you go on perhaps one of my favorite adventures on the console and in gaming in general. This game is just absolutely jam packed with creative areas and interesting things to do in each level. And the level design has certainly stepped up from the previous game, as you'd expect surely. To what extent I had no idea, but god damn when I say that these levels are crafted so beautifully and perfectly, that is still seemingly an understatement. What we got in Banjo-Kazooie is nowhere near what Banjo-Tooie accomplishes with these worlds you fall into. Once again oozing with individuality and things in each of them that relate to the world around them as opposed to feeling like a to-do list. The levels feel alive and it often if not every time feels like you're walking into somewhere that has been around for years, instead of feeling like places that were just crafted for the time that you walk in. Hence feeling alive and moving.

You've got your original arsenal of moves that Banjo and Kazooie have learned in the prior game, but there is so much more to come in Banjo-Tooie when you add even more to your arsenal of badass moves. Kazooie can turn into a fire breathing dragon if you want. You can separate from each other and do tasks on your own and learn your own moves separate from one another. Making it even more rewarding when you get to those moments that split you up, because maybe you'll learn something unique to the character or maybe something else. It's all wonderfully crafted to keep you wondering throughout and making it all the more worthwhile to finish everything you can and collect everything you can to see the game in its entirety.

But why is it my favorite game on the system? Well as you've probably read already, I really like this game a lot. I have had nothing but great times playing through this game each time I have played through it, and each time I always find myself in awe of how meticulously crafted everything is to make it move as smooth and refined as it does. But it also shows what it means to make a sequel to an already great game. Rare didn't have to go above and beyond with Banjo-Tooie, they could've rehashed old tricks and left us with what we already had. Instead, they decided to go bigger and bigger and it really paid off in many ways. Added more opportunities to see how creative you can be when controlling Banjo and Kazooie either together or separately, and even the idea of separating them and being able to do so in game was really something special. We spent so long with them in the previous game stuck together that you'd always sort of wonder what it'd be like if they did play as their own. And it really worked out throughout this whole game. Little details and big details much like that just proves continuously that this game is truly a remarkable piece of art that unfortunately did not have a great sequel itself, despite it being one of the best sequels if not the best sequel to any game on the system.

Key

Memories of the Nintendo 64 - Multiplayer

I'm going to go on a bit of a different topic and talk about Nintendo 64 on a more personal level and also I will be abbreviating it into N64 for the rest of this post to save myself the trouble of typing it out all the time. I grew up in the 90's. I was born in the 90's. The first console I ever played with the Nintendo Entertainment System otherwise known as NES. Then of course I played the Super Nintendo after that and enjoyed it immensely though my memories of those two consoles are faded if not non-existent. Now, we come to the N64. And I believe that most of my love of gaming if not all of it specifically stems from me and my two brothers time with the system. We were young so not a lot of responsibilities going on so it was our time to enjoy the system for what it was. And man did we. Banjo-Kazooie, Diddy Kong Racing, Super Mario 64, we played through them all. And felt the frustrations individually and of course at times asked each other to respectfully leave the room. On top of all of that though, we also made a lot of great memories playing multiplayer on more than plenty occasions. It was genuinely the only time in my life that I enjoyed playing multiplayer games so much though I was a bit of a sore loser. Whatevs.

Games like Goldeneye: 007 and again Diddy Kong Racing come to mind. When we didn't feel like hunting each other down in levels and shooting at each other while being James Bond, we did the mini game levels as well as races in Diddy Kong Racing. Or we played together on Star Wars Episode 1: Racer. If it had multiplayer capabilities, we were playing it. And it was fun. It really was. When people talk about couch gaming with your friends or family, that's what they're talking about. I have an infinite amount of nostalgia for that time in my life as well as just my interest in gaming in general. As I said before, I am pretty sure about 99% of my love for gaming stems from this time in my life. Which is probably why I can remember certain things so vividly even though some things are fuzzy. Yeah it could get frustrating in multiplayer sometimes because maybe you were the one that was not doing well, and playing with two brothers is not always a recipe for success in that regard. But mostly fun nonetheless.

It was a much simpler time back then because we never even imagined what it'd be like today when it came to gaming. So we took every opportunity we had to either play games on our own or play them together. Even my dad would get into it sometimes and ask to play Diddy Kong Racing. He legitimately enjoyed it which then made our time with it even more fun. I think this was the only stretch of time that me and my two brothers all sat in the same room together and legit bonded with gaming. Hasn't happened since then, at least not with all three of us in the room at the same time. I still game with my younger brother when I get the opportunity and it's of course a great time. It just makes the memories of those times that much better to remember and in a lot of ways sort of created how I look at games in general.

I have been told that I am a lot more forgiving than others when it comes to looking at games. I don't really always look for the best graphics or best voice acting or whatever it may be. Of course those games are sometimes a lot of fun to play, but I think growing up in the time that I did allowed me to also appreciate mechanics and how a game runs with everything simultaneously. And instead of focusing on how it looks, you grew to appreciate how it worked as well. Super Mario 64 is a good one to mention here because while it does not have a multiplayer function, I remember a lot of times in my childhood where all of us were sitting in the same room trying to progress on our selected game file as there were 4 available. Made for some fun moments despite only one of us playing at a time. And simultaneously the game doesn't really hold your hand. It gives you all the moves you have to learn but you have to figure out how they work. Though even for its time Super Mario 64 did look great, it was how the game worked that really made it shine.

Though today I don't really do a lot of multiplayer gaming, I tend to just stick to single player experiences and have my own time with them. As much as I would like to jump into more multiplayer, I think the whole idea of it is just kind of meh. The reason why I enjoyed it so much back then is probably due to just not really having much option to do otherwise so it's what we were stuck with. Didn't keep us from having many good times though.