While finishing up DK64, I started on the handheld follow-up/sequel/midquel/side-story to the Banjo series. It’s set between Kazooie and Tooie, but quickly travels decades into the past. A few aspects make this premise a bit screwy, but that’s the way with any prequel or time-travelly shenanigans.

It was very exciting to play this strange little game, because there’s a lot of new and fresh stuff in here which was a change after playing through both N64 games again. But they also reuse enough to keep it familiar. For example, the structure and moves are basically the same, the characters are just an extension of Tooie, complete with new mole tutor.

The funny thing about this though is that it’s not a 3D platformer, the GBA just couldn’t handle it. But it’s probably the closest thing, an isometric platformer. The gameplay is still 3D, but there’s a fixed camera so all the backgrounds and stuff are just premade and everything is sprites, obviously. This introduces some perspective-related issues, of course, as there’s no distinction between further south and higher up, for example. This can get to be a problem in the later levels that have a lot more hazards.

But it’s impressive that they basically reproduced the Banjo formula on a limited system, and did it pretty well (they even improved a couple of mechanics). Of course, I’ve always said that the Rare handheld team makes less polished products than the console teams, and that’s still true here. The minigames are pretty bad, the art is a bit crude in places (blame the GBA too if you like), and you can see the seams, if you get what I mean. And the Comic Sans! Apparently that team is in love with the world’s most hated font, although this was made at a time when it was pretty much ubiquitous. I think the hate came later.

The game’s really short too. Apparently it suffered some cuts in development, but what they have it a fairly neat package. I did finish it in 4 hours, though, and that’s with 100%. But the worlds they have (5 in total, plus the hub) are fun concepts. They’re also quite small, but I guess if you accept the compactness as a feature they play very well. There’s enough NPCs with dumb names to make the worlds feel alive, and a nice flow of new moves. The Mumbo transformations can also be used in any world now, which I think was cool.

Speaking of the worlds though, most of the archetypes seem to be combinations of previously used ideas. Spiller’s Harbor=Rusty Bucket Bay+Jolly Roger’s Lagoon. Breegull Beach=Treasure Trove Cove, essentially. Freezing Furnace=Hailfire Peaks+Grunty Industries. Bad Magic Bayou=Bubblegloop Swamp+Mad Monster Mansion. Cliff Farm is the only really new one, and it’s similar in some ways to Spiral Mountain anyway. Of course, they do new things with all of these, and it’s not such a bad thing when you think how it can inform you on how the Isle of Hags fits together. So that’s a fun exercise, especially with the time travel involved.

I’m running out of things to say somewhat. I guess because the game is so small. In a way, it didn’t outstay its welcome, because it did get quite hard towards the end, everything seemed to do so much damage to you. There was no real penalty for dying, thank goodness—unlike Banjo-Kazooie. It would have been a slog to do another world with even tougher enemies.

I just love how it revisited all the great Banjo elements, such as Grunty’s taunts, the collectibles, lovable weirdo NPCs, there was even quiz segments between phases of the final battle. A final note before we end, though: with the help of a mobile phone emulator, I tried the mobile port of this game (yes it was ported to cell phones, people… I give you the early 2000s). It’s pretty awful. Everything’s scaled back: short music then silence; boring, bare versions of levels; awkward movements and controls. It’s hilarious that it exists, but it’s badly done. It makes the GBA version look much better by comparison, in fact. So I’ll rate the GBA version 600 notes. Nah, that’s too much like a number. On a scale of blue to yellow Jinjos, this one is a pink.