Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
November 12, 2008
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The vehicle-building gameplay of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts has been claimed by many Banjo-Kazooie fans, often with an underlying anti-Microsoft or pro-Nintendo console war motive, to have been a corporate mandate from Microsoft to Rare, who supposedly wanted to make another 3D platformer like the previous games in the series. However, this is a complete lie as the only known influence on Nuts & Bolts from Microsoft was that they wanted Rare to make games aimed toward a younger demographic. Otherwise, the creative decisions made with Nuts & Bolts were entirely on Rare's development team, which was burned out by 3D platformers and genuinely believed that vehicle-building was a natural evolution of the genre.
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month March 14, 2024
Reddit posts collecting all of the below sources and specific quotes from them:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BanjoKazooie/comments/grmk7k/comprehensive_list_as_to_reasons_why_nuts_bolts/
https://www.reddit.com/r/BanjoKazooie/comments/gro2kc/child_post_list_of_comprehensive_quotes_from_rare/

GamesRadar 2008 interview revealing Nuts & Bolts has nothing to do with Microsoft's buyout:
https://www.gamesradar.com/banjo-kazooie-nuts-bolts-interview/

IGN 2012 interview revealing demographics mandate:
https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/08/22/ex-rare-member-shares-info-on-cancelled-game

Gregg Mayles 2018 interview revealing Rare wanted a different approach to platformers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h9Y55vpHZo

VideoGamer 2008 interview revealing that they thought a platform-centric game would be boring to work on, and was not inspired by user-generated games like LittleBigPlanet:
https://www.videogamer.com/previews/banjo-kazooie-nuts-and-bolts-interview/

Wired 2008 interview revealing Rare thought platforming games stopped being innovative after the Nintendo 64, and the team expanded from 13 to 71 people so they could not make projects like they used to:
https://www.wired.com/2008/05/qa-banjo-kazooi/

Xbox Achievements 2008 interview revealing Rare thought the old movement system was stale, that they wanted players to come up with different solutions to problems, and assumed fans would be mad if they remade a game instead of a making a sequel:
https://www.xboxachievements.com/news/news-1567-x360a-Meets--Rare-and-Talks-Banjo-Kazooie--Nuts---Bolts.html

Gamereactor 2008 interview revealing Rare thought the blockier character designs felt more BK than the smooth versions of N64 models:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn9Il7IKgEI

The Rare Witch Project 2008 interview revealing Rare believed vehicle-building was the next evolution of platforming games, and that Nuts & Bolts was the third attempt at a third Banjo-Kazooie game:
https://web.archive.org/web/20081223105418/http://www.rarewitchproject.com/?id=1655

Kikizo 2008 interview revealing Rare wanted to test the power of the new Xbox 360 hardware:
http://archive.videogamesdaily.com/features/banjo-kazooie-nuts-and-bolts-rare-interview-p1.asp

Edge Magazine 2010 interview revealing Conker Live & Reloaded's negative fan reception caused Rare to rethink a remake:
https://web.archive.org/web/20101015012359/http://www.next-gen.biz/features/rare-vintage-part-two

Rare 2018 interview revealing Gregg Mayles was bored with the formula and did not know where to take it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2QVnSJDAl4?t=3556

Steve Mayles 2020 interview stating Banjo-Threeie is Nuts & Bolts, putting work into reimagined worlds from Banjo-Kazooie is the same amount of work as new worlds, at one point Rare's management moved all but two people from the Banjo-Kazooie project, Xbox Market was different than the Nintendo market so they weren't sure it'd sell, and Rare was burnt out from making 3D platformers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp8n7QKJZHs
subdirectory_arrow_right It's Mr. Pants (Game)
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In the level, "LOGBOX 720" from Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, the player can find a giant It's Mr.Pants Xbox disc, however, the game was only released on the Game Boy Advance. Many websites assumed this was a hint that an Xbox Live Port was planned, but Rareware responded by saying, "Our website mascot that somehow managed to get his own game. It's highly doubtful he'll get another."
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In the skip outside Banjo's house, removing all of the junk from it reveals some unusual objects referencing other Rare games. These include a skeleton's skull from Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Fudgehog from Viva Piñata and a portrait of a bearded old man, possibly Sabreman, one of Rare's earliest characters. There's also a sign with the Rare logo on it, Banjo's banjo, a pink toy dog and what appears to be the Ice Key from the infamous Stop 'N' Swop feature. It should be noted that these objects are part of a texture on the bottom of the skip and cannot be picked up.
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Attachment A Nintendo 64 can be seen next to Kazooie's Xbox 360 in the opening cutscene.
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Sometimes the loading screens will play a slightly slower remix of the pause theme from Battletoads.
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During the games opening, the radio behind Banjo and Kazooie plays 'Windy', the over world theme of Conker's Bad Fur Day.
sell
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After getting 6000 music notes, you can ask Bottles the truth of Stop N Swop. When you ask him, he says "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you, and we couldn't do that in a game of this rating. Put it out of your mind and think happy thoughts! Thanks for the notes!"
subdirectory_arrow_right Banjo X (Game), Banjo-Threeie (Game)
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Attachment According to developer Gregg Mayles, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts was actually the third attempt at creating 'Banjo-Threeie', the third installment in the main line of the franchise. The first attempt was supposedly Banjo X, an unfinished build for the original Xbox which featured some new assets and items. The second attempt, was a re-make of Banjo-Kazooie with some twists, and would have possibly featured Gruntilda following the duo around different worlds and trying to outdo them.
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One of the forms L.O.G. was to take was an old Ultimate! Play the Game cartridge. Ultimate! Play the Game was Rare's old name before it was changed.
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One of the running jokes in the game is that "Grabbed by the Ghoulies" did not do well commercially. The best way to see this is in Banjoland. In the trashcan from the Cloud Cuckooland part of the park, there are many unsold copies of "Grabbed by the Ghoulies."

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