As the only platformer that was trying to compete with Mario that even got on the boards, Banjo-Kazooie gave players much-desired humor and bizarre characters. It shot up the rankings to become the 10th best selling Nintendo 64 games of all time. In the era of The Legend Of Zelda and Mario, that's really saying something.
For a franchise that reached such great heights, they only released 2 main titles, so naturally, the fight between them begins. People love the simplicity and pure nostalgia that came along with the original, while Banjo-Tooie came in with a bigger stage and more immersion to go along with it.
10 All In The Details
Banjo-Kazooie only had the short but sweet design of Mario to base itself off. So Rare decided to put as much personality and little details into those levels as you'll get in 1998. For being so old, the amount of little jokes and flare that the levels contain is all original.
Kazooie turns the smaller stages into a positive by making the short levels so memorable. When developers give you a sprawling stage it often leads to big pockets of empty space and drab color.
9 Bigger Is Better
Tooie had the advantage of seeing where its predecessor succeeded and failed. Rare made it bigger with much more content to explore, giving players a freedom that Kazooie lacked. You become more immersed in the free-flowing world that Tooie creates instead of sticking to a specific path.
The worst thing about Kazooie is that just when you start to fall in love with the characters and really get into it, the game ends. Tooie learned that lesson in a big way, giving you just about as much content as you could possibly want in a platformer.
8 Design Quality
It's seen in all kinds of media whether it be film, music, or video games. Small, mostly less funded projects often receive great reviews while big blockbusters get a more negative outlook. When you don't have a lot to work with, you make the most out of your resources.
Now Banjo-Tooie didn't receive bad reviews but it definitely feels as if the focus was a little more spread out. It really had to be considering the jump in size and complexity. Kazooie had great levels like Click Clock Wood and Treasure Trove Cove.
7 Difficulty
One of the big complaints about the original was that some found the game a little easy. So Tooie turned up the difficulty in certain areas, giving players a challenge instead of an enjoyable walkthrough. It's especially important for platformers because of the heavy focus on gameplay.
Kazooie has a few moments of challenge that stand out as the best levels in the game, whereas Tooie keeps a consistent pace with a much longer game. With the focus on moving between worlds rather than exploring the nooks and crannies of one, Tooie's difficulty keeps you engaged at all times.
6 Nostalgia
It has nothing to do with how objectively good the game is, but nostalgia is real. It brings you back to a simpler time where you could get stuck into a great platformer without a care in the world.
In this Kazooie holds the crown, the occasional player might have started with Tooie but its rare. Kazooie holds the key to a lot of our childhoods no matter what aspects of gameplay are better. The blocky graphics and simple, straight path story make it easy to turn your brain off and enjoy the ride.
5 Exploration Over Collection
The original game had a heavy emphasis on collecting objects such as notes, some found it to be a great system while other players too much a part of the game with heavy consequences attached, taking you back to zero if you don't collect over 50 notes on some levels.
Tooie learned from the light wave of criticism and turned it down a few notches, giving players more time to explore the huge world. Certain players that enjoy completing the ENTIRE game appreciate the challenge, most players just find it tedious.
4 Streamlined
The reason most of us enjoy going back to the games of our childhood is the straight forward path to victory. That doesn't mean it will be easy, in fact, some of the simplest formats often present the most difficult challenges.
In the age of open-world RPGs and fast-paced first-person shooters, it's hard to find a game to turn your brain off and enjoy. Without 10 variables to combat with at every turn, old school platformers often boiled down to reaction speed.
3 Interconnected
Tooie intertwines its stages in a pretty forward-thinking way for the time. Instead of your classic main hub, in which you travel to each stage separately, Tooie allows you to bounce through connected stages saving time and boredom for the player.
The main way you get through these worlds is Chuffy, Banjo-Kazooie's answer to the Hogwarts Express. This is only if you beat the boss Old King Coal, otherwise, your left to use the Warp Pads like everyone else. Variety is the spice of life and Tooie provides that in spades.
2 No Repetition
The trouble with having a game as large as Banjo-Tooie is the amount of content you need to fill all that space. They almost always end up in repetitive mechanics or challenges that only slightly differ from one another.
When you strip down the gameplay to the best of the story, players get tight engaging gameplay that doesn't have time to trail off into dead ends. While sometimes you get something you want to repeat over and over again, space-filler rarely accomplishes that goal.
1 Camera Control
Manual camera control for a game that requires constant movement isn't usually a great idea. It makes for clunky execution and for the less coordinated gamers it's all over the place. If you add in the more complicated modes of travel like swimming or flying, you're really playing with fire.
For such a huge factor in the game, Banjo-Tooie really pulls ahead in this department. The camera is the right distance away from the character and gets a lot more handled automatically than Banjo-Kazooie. The only thing you can knock is the speed at which it moves, but every game has its flaws.