Banjo and Kazooie are the main characters in all of the games in the Banjo-Kazooie series. Banjo was originally supposed to star in a game called Dream for the SNES but due to time constraints he first made his appearance in the game Diddy Kong Racing created by RareWare on the Nintendo 64. The game introduced future franchises, like Conker. Banjo eventually got his own game series, Banjo-Kazooie. Due to the success of the first game, many sequels have been produced with the two main heroes, Banjo and Kazooie.
Banjo[]
Banjo is the main character in the game and the character in which the series was named after. His name comes from the instrument Banjo, which is small, circular and is similar to the guitar. The Banjo has normally four to five strings which are plucked to make a sound. In the Banjo games, the sound of the Banjo is often heard in game music. Banjo's character on the other hand resembles a brown bear. He's dressed in yellow shorts fitted to his waist with a black belt. He also carries a blue backpack around in which Kazooie resides most of her time in until she splits up with Banjo beginning in Banjo Tooie. Banjo also wears a shark tooth necklace around his neck in which he never takes off.
Banjo began his first appearance in the hit racing game, Diddy Kong Racing for the Nintendo 64. In this game, Banjo was a playable character who was able to access three different types of vehicles in races (car, plane, hovercraft). Banjo in this game rode a light green vehicle and tended to have an advantage in speed and disadvantage in acceleration. Later, Banjo reappeared in his own game series. Originally, Banjo was meant to appear in a game titled Dream for the SNES, but due to time constraints, this game was never released.
The first game that came out in the Banjo-Kazooie series was simply titled Banjo-Kazooie. This is the second game in which Banjo makes an appearance. In this game, Banjo's sister, Tootie, gets kidnapped and both Banjo and Kazooie end up rescuing her from Gruntilda Winkybunion, the duo's rival. Not too long after Banjo-Kazooie was released, Banjo Tooie for the same platform, Nintendo 64, was released. This game was a sequel in which Grunty, instead of searching for beauty, was now searching for revenge against Banjo for how he had ended up defeating her in the previous game. Through Banjo Tooie, his look maintained very similar to the previous game with practically no alterations to the character's physical appearance. However, later games in the Banjo series made Banjo appear differently. Due to the fact that the third and fourth games in the series were for the Gameboy Advance, the appearance of the characters had to change because of the graphic abilities the GBA held. Banjo and Kazooie kept their original outfits though. In 2008, Rareware decided to modify Banjo's look more dramatically. Banjo's hands, feet, nose, head and legs all became more rectangular. Banjo's overall appearance tends to look older than in previous games.
Kazooie[]
A red crested breegull who stays in Banjo's Backpack. She gives Banjo most of his attacks and skills. When Banjo talks to most of his friends, Kazooie tends to butt in and insult them. She doesn't have very good social skills, and rarely addresses people nicely, and almost every character in the game (minus banjo), was given an insulting nickname by her. She also has the ability to shoot and fart eggs, this being her main weapon. In Banjo-Tooie, she also gained the lasting power to transform into a green fire breathing dragon with unlimited fire eggs, thanks to Humba Wumba.
Kazooie is a red crested breegull who has appeared in all of the Banjo-Kazooie games up to date. Breegulls are fictional animals that resemble bird-like characters. Kazooie resides with Banjo most of the time. She lives with Banjo inside his blue backpack yet has no deeper relationship with him. In Banjo Tooie though, Kazooie was finally able to split apart from Banjo and be played as an individual character like Mumbo Jumbo under some circumstances.
The name, Kazooie, like Banjo, refers to a type of instrument. In Kazooie's case, the Kazoo. The Kazoo, like Banjo, is an older and less modern instrument. Kazoos are often plastic or metal and can make a buzzing noise when blown through correctly by buzzing into the instrument. They can often be purchased inexpensively due to the materials they can be made of. Kazooie, unlike Banjo, does not play the instrument she was named after. In the introduction theme in the first game, Banjo-Kazooie, Kazooie instead shows to be quite talented at playing the bugel, which is a variant of a modern-day trumpet.
Kazooie tends to talk in a pessimistic way which is completely opposite of Banjo and many of his friends. Because of this, Kazooie does not make many friends and quickly ends up in her insulting many of Banjo's acquaintances. Often, many other characters in the game, including Bottles and relatives of him will make comments towards Kazooie's general attitude and appearance causing Kazooie's short temper to fuse. Because of Kazooie's sharp reaction to what others say about her, she will often create offensive nicknames as revenge.
Kazooie's appearance has maintained the same throughout the first four games in the series (Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo Tooie, Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge, Banjo Pilot) with only minor alterations due to graphic capability. In the fifth game, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Kazooie went over a visual modification. This modification made Kazooie look more realistic by defining her feather coat and adding more color to her body. Not only that, Kazooie now wears makeup and has visible eyelashes for the first time. Her overall appearances make Kazooie look older than in previous games.
Trivia[]
- Both Banjo and Kazooie were chosen as a couple of Ikran's Video Game Characters she can Relate to. They obviously can't be separated most of the time as their personalities favor one another and sort of cancel each other out. For instance, Ikran can relate to Banjo being humble, slow, has good interpersonal skills, loyal, willing to help, and jumps at the defensive. With Kazooie, Ikran can also be sassy, wisecracking, eager, hates boredom, and a tad ardent aside from being supportive and less beaky to her friends. And one of the best quirks was that Ikran and Kazooie are tomboys.
- When she was 10, she fantasized 3 squads assisting the ThunderCats; in this case Banjo and Kazooie worked with Snarfer in the Diddy Kong Racing Squad. Originally, they worked with the Wilykittens.
Gallery[]
Banjo gallery[]
Kazooie gallery[]
Banjo and Kaxooie gallery[]
