I never thought I’d see the day, but Nintendo has finally moved forward with remaking The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Switch 2, giving me and many others a chance to play or replay one of the greatest video games ever made and experience it in an entirely different way. Alongside that, Star Fox 64 is also getting a Switch 2 remake that I fully intend on playing, regardless of how many times it has already been remade, and I’m not ashamed to admit nostalgia has a lot to do with it. However, the fact that two of the best Nintendo 64 games are getting remakes for the Switch 2 has me wondering how far Nintendo is willing to go with modernizing classic titles from the groundbreaking 3D console, because I’m honestly not ready for it to stop after Ocarina of Time and Star Fox 64.
The question is where it should go from here, and I’m personally of the opinion that Banjo-Kazooie would be the perfect next entry in this remake streak. Like Ocarina of Time and Star Fox 64, Banjo-Kazooie was a massive part of my childhood, and to this day, it is widely considered the absolute pinnacle of the late-90s “collectathon” subgenre and one of the greatest 3D platformers in video game history. The only problem is that Xbox currently owns Rare, the developer of the original Banjo-Kazooie, so if Nintendo were to remake it for the Switch 2, they would need to form an unlikely partnership with Microsoft.
After Ocarina of Time, Switch 2’s Next Zelda Remake Feels Obvious
Switch 2’s Ocarina of Time remake may have already pointed Nintendo toward the next Zelda classic waiting in line.
Banjo-Kazooie Helped Define What 3D Platformers Could Be After Super Mario 64
It can’t be denied that Super Mario 64 opened the door for 3D platformers, but Banjo-Kazooie helped show how much personality the genre could still have after that door had already been kicked down. It took the basic idea of running around 3D spaces, chasing collectibles, and learning new moves, then wrapped all of it in a world that felt warmer, weirder, funnier, and more alive than most late 90s games could manage. There’s a reason the term “collectathon” still feels almost inseparable from Banjo-Kazooie, because Rare essentially helped define what that kind of game could be at its best.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
What really made Banjo-Kazooie so special was how satisfying it felt to collect everything in and out of sight. Jiggies, music notes, Jinjos, Mumbo Tokens, eggs, feathers, extra honeycombs, and other collectibles could have easily turned the game into a bloated mess that many open-world games of the 2010s became, but the original rarely felt like it was throwing things at players just to fill space. What mattered even more to me, though, was how strange Banjo-Kazooie was, how crude it was for someone whose childhood was largely shielded from the outside world, and how that just made me want to play it all the more.
I still remember getting a Nintendo 64 VHS advertisement in the mail that advertised the game, and after watching it, I immediately wanted to play Banjo-Kazooie. I don’t remember every single thing that was shown on that tape, but I do remember the feeling of seeing Banjo and Kazooie running through those colorful, beautiful worlds and thinking it looked like exactly the kind of game I wanted my Nintendo 64 to exist for as an unintentional smile ran across my face. It wasn’t long after that before I got Banjo-Kazooie, and once I had it, I was completely hooked.
It can’t be denied that Super Mario 64 opened the door for 3D platformers, but Banjo-Kazooie helped show how much personality the genre could still have after that door had already been kicked down.
I ended up replaying it multiple times, if not just to recapture that feeling of visiting every location and collecting everything for the first time again. Banjo-Kazooie had that rare childhood game quality where finishing it didn’t make it feel quite finished, and I feel that ultimately came down to the fact that there was simply nothing like it. And honestly, if I felt like I had the time today, I bet I could go back and replay it yet again without becoming bored too quickly by its dated gameplay.
Some of Banjo-Kazooie‘s greatest strengths were its mascot duo with a shared moveset, a hub world full of secrets, and levels that felt more like compact playgrounds than obstacle courses stretched over empty space. It helped turn 3D platformers into games about poking every corner of a world, trying every ability, and trusting that the developers had probably hidden something worthwhile behind the next suspicious-looking object. In fact, despite having played through Banjo-Kazooie more times than I can remember, if I tried to play it again today, I’m sure I’d still have trouble finding every single secret in the game.
Unfortunately, a lot of collectathon games eventually took the wrong lessons from that formula, including some of Rare’s own later work. The genre became associated with bloat, checklist design, and worlds packed with so many objects that collecting no longer felt as exciting or fulfilling as it once did. Banjo-Kazooie still holds up because it came before that tipping point, though, when the balance was still there and the idea of a 3D platformer stuffed with secrets felt magical instead of exhausting.
The Switch 2 Could Make Banjo-Kazooie Feel New Again
That balance is exactly why Banjo-Kazooie deserves a real remake instead of another simple rerelease. The original game is still playable, and it has already been preserved better than many other Nintendo 64 classics, but there’s a clear difference between access and revival. Banjo-Kazooie doesn’t need to be reinvented into something unrecognizable, but it’s nevertheless one of those games where a faithful remake could make its best qualities easier for modern players to appreciate.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Easy (120s)Medium (90s)Hard (60s)
Of course, the most obvious improvements would come from presentation. A full Switch 2 remake could turn Banjo-Kazooie‘s worlds into lush, animated dioramas, with better lighting, more expressive character animation, greater environmental detail, and music that sounds grander without losing Grant Kirkhope’s original charm. But modern hardware could also offer more responsive controls and cleaner camera movement—things that late 90s gamers generally tolerated because we didn’t know any better.
Banjo-Kazooie doesn’t need to be reinvented into something unrecognizable, but it’s nevertheless one of those games where a faithful remake could make its best qualities easier for modern players to appreciate.
In today’s gaming climate, Banjo-Kazooie also has an advantage that would have sounded strange even a decade ago. 3D platformers are no longer expected to compete with the biggest open-world games by becoming massive, padded, and endless. A modern Banjo-Kazooie remake could be colorful, dense, funny, contained, and proudly old-school, which might actually make it feel fresher than another giant map filled with icons.
However, the business side is the complicated part, although it’s also what makes the idea so interesting. Xbox currently controls Rare, but Banjo-Kazooie still feels emotionally tied to Nintendo hardware in a way very few Microsoft-owned franchises ever could. If Xbox is serious about putting its games in more places, then a Switch 2 remake of Banjo-Kazooie would be one of the easiest wins imaginable.
Microsoft announced its acquisition of Rare on September 24, 2002. The deal was a $375 million cash transaction, and Microsoft’s own announcement named Banjo-Kazooie as one example of Rare’s best games.
With that, Nintendo would get another major Nintendo 64 remake to keep its nostalgia streak alive, Xbox would get to revive a dormant franchise in front of the audience that still has the strongest attachment to it, and Rare’s bear-and-bird duo would finally get the kind of comeback fans have wanted for years. Banjo-Kazooie may officially belong to Xbox right now, but its legacy was built on the Nintendo 64. If the Switch 2 is going to keep bringing that era back, then eventually, Xbox needs to hand over one of its most iconic mascots.
