Banjo-Kazooie: Ranking Every Level From Worst To Best

Mumbo's Mountain can easily be considered one of gaming's best "first worlds". This rather simple stage, which is accompanied by one of the game's most iconic tunes, serves almost like a second tutorial to the game. Teaching the player three imperative abilities and introducing the concept of transformation, each Jiggy mission is straightforwardly constructed around each respective concept.

On the whole, however, this level is small and almost banal when compared with the others.

While I wouldn't call this level "insultingly easy," the whole thing can be 100% completed in about 10-15 minutes. This is far too short for this game and definitely gives the player an inaccurate idea of how much time they can expect to spend in each world. I know that first levels aren't supposed to be all too complex, but they did not have to give us this much slack.

Not only that, but it bears (no pun intended) a striking resemblance to Spiral Mountain, where you began your journey. This isn't all too terrible of a gaming sin, but having two back-to-back "mountain" themed worlds feels a bit lazy.

The moral of the story is: nostalgia is a powerful thing. Mumbo's Mountain is enjoyable, sure...but it's not as good as we remember it.