20 Essential N64 Games You Must Play Before You Die

11. Banjo-Kazooie

It would be all too easy to describe Banjo-Kazooie as a clone of Nintendo's own Super Mario 64.

Released two years after the latter, Rare's own adventure/platformer undoubtedly drew inspiration from what many consider to be one of the best games ever made, but that doesn't mean it didn't manage to carve out its own identity with colourful characters and a spectacular world in which to put them.

Banjo-Kazooie certainly had a better sense of discovery than its inspiration, it just fell short on the technical side, suffering from a terrible in-game camera that no doubt accounted for 90% of player deaths.

I would even argue that many of the stages in which the bear and bird duo do their Jiggie hunts actually surpass several of Mario 64's less memorable paintings but hey, it's all subjective, right?

Contributor
Contributor

Joe is a freelance games journalist who, while not spending every waking minute selling himself to websites around the world, spends his free time writing. Most of it makes no sense, but when it does, he treats each article as if it were his Magnum Opus - with varying results.