7 Awesome Video Games You Weren't Ready For

4. Banjo-Kazooie

Banjo-Kazooie is the gentleman's N64 platformer. Yes, Mario 64 helped showcase how to even DO interactions in three dimensions, but it was Banjo that explored an expanded genre template the majority would use going forward.

Namely, more intricate vertical levels, scores of collectibles, more moves to unlock and better camera controls. For the latter we're splitting hairs, but the point across the board is that Rare have always been the "Western Nintendo" when it comes to nailing various genres with a perfection seldom seen in the industry.

To this day, they routinely overlooked as the true great they genuinely are.

Appreciation for Banjo wouldn't come until many years later - mostly when people started looking back at the studio's catalogue after they got forced to make avatars and minigame collections for Xbox. With Kazooie also releasing two years after Mario 64 in a 1998 filled with the likes of Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil 2, and Tomb Raider 3, this barely stood a chance.