Even over Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie was my favorite platformer of the day, and it was actually one of my favorite games. After thinking for a while about what games on the Nintendo 64 were the most enjoyable in terms of the amount of time I played them, I decided upon Starfox 64, Banjo Kazooie, and Goldneye. While Banjo Kazooie and its sequel Banjo Tooie were thought of as Mario 64 clones, I thought them as an improvement over Mario 64. Rareware had a hay day on the N64, what with Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, the Banjo games, and Conker’s Bad Fur Day, but now that they’ve been sold to Rare, the next Banjo games will be on Xbox. Thankfully, Rare finally decided to finish the Banjo Kazooi game for Gameboy Advance, and it surprisingly isn’t that bad when you consider the GBA hardware limitations.

Plot/Story

Grunty’s Revenge really isn’t a full blown sequel to Banjo Tooie, Banjo Kazooie 3 it isn’t. Grunty's Revenge is what happens before Gruntilda's sisters come to save her, but the actual game takes place before Banjo Kazooie. Grunty’s found another way to escape her rocky tomb as she comes to be at the conclusion of Banjo Kazooie. For clarification, Grunty is actually short for Gruntilda. Grunty is easier to say, and so people started to use it.

Anyway, Grunty’s scientist henchman, Klungo, builds a robot form of Gruntilda, and has Grunty use magic to transfer her soul to the robot. Now we have Mecha-Grunty, and she’s ticked. To take revenge on the bear and bird, Grunty comes up with a plan. She kidnaps Kazooie, and she goes back in time to prevent Banjo and Kazooie from meeting, thus erasing any memory of their future adventures, and their defeat of Gruntilda. Mumbo Jumbo sends Banjo back through time with some Shaman magic, and so the next adventure begins. I guess you could call this Banjo Kazooie and a 1/2.

The story’s pretty much watered down in order to fit the game on the GBA, so there’s not much room to flesh out. It’s not that bad though because the story takes a back seat anyway.

Gameplay

I’m telling it to you straight, Grunty’s Revenge is a 6 level romp in about 3 hours. That’s it, even if you make your way through as dawdling as you can. There are only 6 levels including Spiral Mountain which serves as the central hub for each of the 5 other levels, plus your fight with Gruntilda (oh come on, don’t tell me you didn’t see that one coming). Because of the GBA’s limited hardware, the levels weren’t able to be more broad, and so if you’re looking for the level design from the first two games, go play them instead. Granted, you can’t make the levels all that big due to hardware limitations, but it would have been nice if there were some better level designs. The ones in Grunty’s Revenge just seem so generic. So the levels are small an very straight forward for the most part, but they’re damn fun.

The gameplay hasn’t changed at all, and the top-angled down isometric perspective allows the game to keep its 3-D feel. You’re still collecting items like musical notes, jigsaw pieces, feathers, jinjos and eggs. Each level has 100 notes and 10 jiggy pieces, with 600 notes and 60 jiggy’s total. Not as many as the first two games, but it’s not that bad.

Bozzeye the mole teaches the moves as long as you have a certain amount of notes. Some of the “moves” are ridiculous, like learning to climb. What the hell, I know Grunty’s Revenge was watered down for the GBA, but having to learn how to climb is weird. Most of the moves return from the first two games, including the Chicken Walk (Fox Trot or whatever), because I like to call Kazooie a chicken, and the Flip Flap backflip. The chemistry between Kazooie and Bozzeye in Grunty’s Revenge isn’t quite as comical as the first two games, but the insults and puns are there. At least GR retained the comedy aspect. Mumbo Jumbo, or should I say Mimbo Jimbo, will provide the different transformations like in the last games. I was a little disappointed with the transformations this time around because they’re just not fun. Fun can be had with the tank, however.

While I was worried about Grunty’s Revenge being really bad, it’s pretty good. Everything is watered down in order to accommodate the GBA hardware, but that doesn’t prevent the game from being any fun. It’s Banjo Kazooie on the go, how much more depth do you want to a 3-D platformer on the GBA. The only problem I really had was judging whether or not I was jumping up onto a platform, so other than that, the game played great.

Graphics

The Gameboy Advance doesn’t have the same power as the N64, obviously, but Grunty’s Revenge still keeps Banjo and Kazooie’s trademark, lots of color. While small, all of the levels look great. I couldn’t help but notice that all of the levels are identical to those in the first game, like Breegull Beach, Bad Magic Bayou, and the Harbor level. They’re not exactly the same, but they’re VERY similar. You can tell how much detail and such that has been taken out of Grunty’s Revenge in order to get everything in, but not enough so that the game doesn’t look good.

Sound

Those wacky sounds are back, including the mumbling voices. There aren’t as many syllables with the mumbling in GR because of the sound limitations, but they still sound almost exactly the same as the voices in the first two games. I’m not sure if the music was done by the guy from Banjo Kazooie and Banjo Tooie, but Grunty’s Revenge has all the catchy tunes that people are used to, like the Spiral Mountain theme which is stuck in my head. Then there are some new background themes for the new levels, but they aren’t nearly as impressive as the first two soundtracks.

Overall

Banjo Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge may not be the best Banjo Kazooie, nor is it very long, but it’s sure to be enjoyable by BK fans and any person who is looking for a fun little game to play on their GBA’s. If you didn’t like the first two games, then chances are you won’t like Grunty’s Revenge. It’s fun while it lasts, even while being very watered down. There isn’t much replay value once you beat the game, unless you want to start a new game and see how fast you can beat the game (kind of like in Resident Evil), but I have yet to have a second chance to run back through the game a second time to work on speed and such. If you can rent GBA games at your local renting store, give Grunty’s Revenge a rent, but if you’re like me who loved the first two, you’ll probably want to just out right buy the game, if not for collection purposes.

happy gaming

Recommended: Yes