Banjo-Kazooie
Rare's developers have a history of doing great things with odd concepts. Banjo-Kazooie is a perfect example of this; not only did it manage to meet the high bar just recently raised by Super Mario 64, but the concept and story are at times so off-the-wall you may have to pause until the laughter dies down.
In typical 3D platformer style, Banjo-Kazooie has you jumping, swimming, punching, and doing other stunts that you'll learn throughout the game in order to achieve your final goal. B-K is a near-perfect blend of established mechanics and innovative ideas, which in some instances helped pave the way for games to come.
The game is named after its two main characters, Banjo the bear and Kazooie the bird. However, it's probably easier to think of them as one character - Kazooie is perpetually housed inside Banjo's backpack, and the two operate essentially as a single entity, cooperating to achieve things that separately they could not do. The game begins with Banjo's sister, Tooty, being abducted by the evil witch Gruntilda, who means to use a magical machine to steal Tooty's youthful beauty and make herself less ugly - but ruining Tooty's innocent look in the process. Banjo and Kazooie must save Tooty by storming the witch's lair, solving puzzles, defeating enemies, and making their way slowly to the witch herself. The story doesn't have any twists or turns, but the frequently comedic dialogue is very well-written, and almost every character is amusing in some way or another.
Similar to Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie is played through a central portal world (the witch's lair is similar in concept, though not in design, to SM64's castle) which connects to a number of action worlds. There are nine total worlds in Banjo-Kazooie, obeying most of the staples of level design: a desert, a beach, a swamp, a haunted mansion, a snowy mountain, and more. Each of these worlds contains ten 'jiggies' (jigsaw puzzle pieces), 100 musical notes, and two honeycomb pieces for you to collect. Jiggies are required for getting to new worlds in the game - every world's door is locked by a wall portrait puzzle, and the puzzle must be completed in order to open the door (different portraits are missing different numbers of pieces, but any jiggie can be used in any puzzle - they aren't world-specific). Jiggies are obtained by completing certain objectives in a world, similar to SM64's stars. Several doors within the witch's lair are locked by magical spells that can only be broken by possessing at least a certain number of musical notes collected that are scattered arount each world. Honeycomb pieces increase your life meter (six pieces will increase your health by one segment). Yes, Banjo-Kazooie is somewhat centered around collecting things, but most of them are a challenge and/or joy to get. There's a heavy emphasis on teamwork, despite Banjo and Kazooie's mildly clashing personalities: in order to succeed in the game, they must learn new moves from Bottles the mole, who is found in several of the worlds waiting to teach the duo a number of new moves, like running on Kazooie's legs, flying, temporary invincibility, and a number of other bizarre tricks. Another character found in several of the worlds is Mumbo the shaman, who will change Banjo and Kazooie into an odd creature (like a termite or a seal) in order to get to otherwise inaccessible areas.
B-K's graphics were very good for their time, and while age shows, they're still respectable. Draw distance is somewhat limited, and there are several noticeable instances of slowdown - but the models used in the game are fairly well-detailed. Sound effects fit the game to a T, perfectly suited to all their uses, be it a fan blade clinking off an invincible bird wing or a toilet flushing a pumpkin down the drain. The music is very well done, not only crafted well for each world, but also blended and changed within the worlds to dynamically reflect the different areas within them.
Being a highly collection-oriented game, there's a fair bit of replay involved in Banjo-Kazooie. Getting things you missed - notes, jiggies, etc. - that aren't necessarily required for completing the game can be a fun thing to do after beating it. But outside of that, there's little reason to play it again; and even the first time through, it can be short by today's standards. One particularly dissatisfying note about the game is that boss battles, including the final one with Gruntilda, cannot be replayed without starting a new game and doing the whole thing over again.
However, despite its lack of length, Banjo-Kazooie is a very well done game carried out excellently from concept to execution. It's a classic 3D platformer seasoned with rich British wit the likes of which few people but Rare are able to do. Give it a play.
Progress: Complete