Why is Banjo Kazooie considered better than the Spyro games?

[Mago]

I love both, but Nintendo bias is crazy work.

I personally give Spyro more credit considering the hardware they were working with. Banjo has the common N64 issue of reaching for the stars and then proceeding to never reach 20 FPS. At least in regards to Tooie. The first game is an awesome singular time that’s well worth celebrating! I just wish the series had ended there, in hindsight, because they never hit that balance ever again. That said, Spyro’s no better in that sense lmao. There’s fun to be had in Hero’s Tail and the Legend games are fun for what they are, but the series never gets back to its original peak, while also never having an inspiring enough direction to garner a large fanbase for a particular title.

But yeah. Banjo was on the system people bought to play collectathons on. I know a fair few Nintendo fans who would, in their words “love to play Spyro, but the PS1 games just aren’t on Nintendo, so I’ve never played them”.

I will never understand console bias lol.

Other than nintendo bias, Banjo also has really memorable characters so nostalgia hits harder. Both series had great entries though.

I thought Riptos Rage and Year of the dragon introduced plenty of memorable characters personally.

i like both but to me Banjo Kazooie is a better game, more complete and various;
note that i also prefer Spyro than Donkey Kong 64 instead

so this is my personal fave order
1 - Banjo Kazooie
2 - Spyro (yet from The Dragon on PS1)
3 - Donkey Kong 64

I'm not sure what you mean by complete and various.

with that being said i'm all in for Klonoa

Klonoa is amazing but I consider that 2.5D rather than full on 3D.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Klonoa isn’t even a collectathon either. How did he even end up here?

 

[kelthuzadinho]

Klonoa is amazing but I consider that 2.5D rather than full on 3D.

the game is awesome. yeah, it is 2.5D, just pointed out because Crash was cited, which is not 3D as well

 

[Mago]

basically this. normally people (myself included) consider as top criteria to determine what game is "best" than others for it's historical influence, impact and relevance to the gaming world in general. trying to argue either Spyro or Banjo are better based on game design does not make much sense, since they are not only completely different in a design perspective, but completely different as historical products of their time. Mario 64 and Banjo walked so others could (try to) run

I mean Banjo doesn't predate the first Spyro by very much, theyre less than three months apart while Mario 64 came out like two years before Banjo. Also people keep bringing up Mario 64 as a comparison to Banjo but Spyro is far closer to the same collectathon structure Banjo has. In Mario 64 you get kicked out of the level when you get a star and elements of the level can change depending on the star mission you pick. Banjo and the first Spyro are designed so you can grab all the different collectables in one go.

Post automatically merged: Jul 2, 2025

because it has Kazooie and you shit eggs, Spyro can't compete

Honestly best reasoning I've heard yet!

 

[dropsmegamega]

the game is awesome. yeah, it is 2.5D, just pointed out because Crash was cited, which is not 3D as well

Crash is definitely full 3D, it has linear level design, but its movement is full 3D. Games like Klonoa, Kirby64 and Pandemonium! that coined the 2.5D actually lock your movement into two directions despite happening in 3D environments.

Post automatically merged: Jul 2, 2025

I thought Riptos Rage and Year of the dragon introduced plenty of memorable characters personally.

True, I also find very charming the random older dragons you save, but I personally find banjo's dialogues a bit more funny and witty. The characters were basically the only reason I made it through Tooie despite hating a lot of its levels.

 

[ThatOneLum ThatOneLum]

I think its pretty subjective. Amongst the gamers I knew growing up there were plenty of spyro fans and about 2 who had even touched an N64 before.

Personally I love and regularly play all 3 spyro games but I've tried and failed to get through even 1 banjo game.

On the other hand my roommate ar Uni who used to speed run banjo 1 every single year because he loved it so much.

 

[Kremiso]

I'm not sure what you mean by complete and various.

mainly more things to do in BK than Spyro

 

[Mago]

mainly more things to do in BK than Spyro

I kinda feel that's only true if you compare BK with the first Spyro. Riptos Rage added a lot of minigames with different styles of play. Year of the Dragon took it even farther (In some ways too far imo).

Crash is definitely full 3D, it has linear level design, but its movement is full 3D. Games like Klonoa, Kirby64 and Pandemonium! that coined the 2.5D actually lock your movement into two directions despite happening in 3D environments.

Post automatically merged: Jul 2, 2025

True, I also find very charming the random older dragons you save, but I personally find banjo's dialogues a bit more funny and witty. The characters were basically the only reason I made it through Tooie despite hating a lot of its levels.

Yeah the wittiness was definitely my favorite thing about Banjo Kazooie.

 

[MemeAlert]

because it has Kazooie and you shit eggs, Spyro can't compete

CUS SPYRO IS A MALE, HE CAN'T SHIT EGGS!

 

[TrashChamp]

I whole-heartedly enjoy BK, BT, and Yooka-laylee (as well as Nuts & Bolts but thats a subject for a different time) and I'm planning on checking out the Spyro series soon.

For me BK and BT feel like a real "adventure". Many of the Jiggies are more similar in structure to a "quest" than a simple search for a collectible, with funny characters you meet along the way as well as new locations and ways that both will affect the gameplay. As a result I feel like I have an interestering goal I'm trying to achieve and story attached to it, instead of just trying to find enough jiggies to move on.

 

[Mago]

I whole-heartedly enjoy BK, BT, and Yooka-laylee (as well as Nuts & Bolts but thats a subject for a different time) and I'm planning on checking out the Spyro series soon.

For me BK and BT feel like a real "adventure". Many of the Jiggies are more similar in structure to a "quest" than a simple search for a collectible, with funny characters you meet along the way as well as new locations and ways that both will affect the gameplay. As a result I feel like I have an interestering goal I'm trying to achieve and story attached to it, instead of just trying to find enough jiggies to move on.

Hopefully you'll enjoy Spyro when you get to it. The first one one is more pure sandbox/collectathon but the 2nd and third have the more quest like structure you mentioned.

 

[FrootyLoopsSamurai]

I haven't really heard too many takes comparing Spyro to Banjo. I think they're both good. If you like Banjo, there's a decent chance you would like Spyro. They're both different flavors of collectathon platformer. I'm not really sure there's much of a point in discussing which one is "better." That seems more like a console wars point of view. This would make sense to me, as both games came out during the height of this mentality in the 90's.

Banjo is more focused on variety. There are more moves, and the ways you collect jiggies are varied. Personally I find Banjo to be more memorable. I can remember most Banjo levels, but struggle to remember details about most of Spyro's levels.

I have more fun with the mechanics of Spyro. Spyro's movement is faster, and feels better to me. If anything, I would say Spyro is more impressive just by virtue of being a 3D platformer that feels alright to control with a D-pad. Spyro also has larger numbers than Banjo. For some reason, seeing the number of gems go up to 500/500 or whatever on a level just feels good.

 

[Pjira]

I don't find the controls to be bad. The only Spyro game I've played is Ripto's Rage and it was good but I'd pick Banjo over it easily.

Also if this hasn't been mentioned, in the 360 and Rare Replay versions of Banjo it saves your note progress.

 

[Don Patch]

You can hug a bear.

You can't hug dragons.
Most countries had laws against it then.


Yeah, that's the correct answer ...


I like em' both.
Spryo 2 in particular .

 

[tonyhoro]

First of all, there's no consensus on the topic. I particularly never heard about this debate anywhere.

Maybe Banjo is just more popular because of the Nintendo effect. Also, N64 players had less games, so there was some kind of zeitgeist around the more popular games.


Playstation in another hand, had so much variety in its game library that you could meet 30 people in school who had a PS1 and they all had different games.

 

[Wariat]

How were the Xbox banjo games?

 

[ciro64]

I find Banjo Kazooie to be a very rich and dense experience. In fact, I find it to be the best game ever in that regard. But it's definitely not a movement-focused platformer, so I can see why you're not into it.

I enjoyed Spyro a lot as a kid. Unfortunately playing the third game unknowing I had a pirated copy made me never come back to the franchise again. But I should do it someday.

 

[legsrjust4show]

I'm throwing a flashbang into this conversation with this, but I think Banjo-Kazooie is closer to what a 3D Zelda game offers than a 3D Mario. Spyro is way more of a platformer and has more like Mario 64 than Banjo is.

Mostly because it's less about the actual platforming and it's more about solving environmental puzzles with equipment/powers you gain in those levels.

I'M THROWING ANOTHER FLASHBANG: BANJO-TOOIE IS A METROIDVANIA

 

[MemeAlert]

I'M THROWING ANOTHER FLASHBANG: BANJO-TOOIE IS A METROIDVANIA

Not really a flashbang, anyone who played Banjo Tooie knows that.

 

[Dyne]

You can hug a bear.

You can't hug dragons.
Most countries had laws against it then.


Yeah, that's the correct answer ...


I like em' both.
Spryo 2 in particular .

Don Patch is Bear Hugger, confirmed.

 

[trickybus]

CUS SPYRO IS A MALE, HE CAN'T SHIT EGGS!

Excuses. Yoshi got the egg-laying down to a science.

I've finished the Spyro Trilogy and I really liked it, especially the first game. This thread is inspiring me to pause my current game and try out Banjo-Kazooie. I faintly recall playing Banjo at a friend's house as a kid but the only thing I can remember is that using Kazooie to run was neat—she'd hop out of the backpack and switch places with Banjo. Given how much I love using Spyro's charge move to run around, I can see why that's the part that stuck with me.

 

[MemeAlert]

Excuses. Yoshi got the egg-laying down to a science.
I've finished the Spyro Trilogy and I really liked it, especially the first game. This thread is inspiring me to pause my current game and try out Banjo-Kazooie. I faintly recall playing Banjo at a friend's house as a kid but the only thing I can remember is that using Kazooie to run was neat—she'd hop out of the backpack and switch places with Banjo. Given how much I love using Spyro's charge move to run around, I can see why that's the part that stuck with me.

I stand by Spyro not shitting eggs, Banjo Kazooie is worth the play.

 

[Mago]

I find Banjo Kazooie to be a very rich and dense experience. In fact, I find it to be the best game ever in that regard. But it's definitely not a movement-focused platformer, so I can see why you're not into it.

I enjoyed Spyro a lot as a kid. Unfortunately playing the third game unknowing I had a pirated copy made me never come back to the franchise again. But I should do it someday.

Tbc the movement wouldn't bother me as much if it wasn't a collectathon with sandbox style levels where you run around collecting a bunch of stuff and engaging in simple tasks. I liked Ape escape for comparison which I don't recall having the fluid movement of Spyro and Mario 64 but it benefitted from the more linear less sandbox style level design and the fact that trying to catch the monkeys was generally more engaging than collecting Jiggies imo. Also if I recall you just collect apes you don't have to check every nook and cranny for a numerous collectible.

 

[Ferik]

I feel like Banjo being built around an analog stick and Spyro being built around a d-pad with optional analog input really changes how the two games feel to play at a basic level. Banjo's movement is leisurely paced and intricate, Spyro is comparatively fast and imprecise. They both have their appeal.

I'm a bigger fan of Kazooie than the Spyro trilogy, but I don't care for Tooie nearly as much.

 

[Mago]

Still trying to play through Banjo and i've started to notice I think one of the things that bothers me the most is how often your objectives just feel like busy work. Theres a lotta stuff I feel Banjo gets away with making you do that people would complain about in other platformers. Like Spyro has shit occasionally that just feels like that or just kinda wastes your time but it feels like thats such a big chunk of Banjo. Like shitting eggs in a basket 5 times isnt particularly engaging or fun to me lol. And theres a lot of missions that are like that and its just kinda nothing.