Why is Banjo Kazooie considered better than the Spyro games?

[ThatOneLum]

Lets be real, a big part of banjo being so beloved is because N64 games are more universal.

Nintendo had tight control over the library and lost a chunk of 3rd party devs cus of the cartridges, therefore they had way fewer games, and so most n64 kids had more games in common.

The ps1 had a stonking library and even when talking to other ps1 kids they can talk about games you've never heard of cus the library was massive. Spyro was great, but amongst a sea of other options it was never gonna stand out like Banjo did.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I haven't played much of B&K nor Spyro but I always felt like the PSX shined not with platformer but more "adult" game genre.


While family friendly games were simply better to be played on the N64.


I kinda felt like Crash and Spyro were a bit out of place on the PSX and were more like "yeah, we also have kid games on our console so parents would still buy one".

 

[ThatOneLum]

I haven't played much of B&K nor Spyro but I always felt like the PSX shined not with platformer but more "adult" game genre.


While family friendly games were simply better to be played on the N64.


I kinda felt like Crash and Spyro were a bit out of place on the PSX and were more like "yeah, we also have kid games on our console so parents would still buy one".

I think the inclusion of crash, spyro and other cartoon games on psx was because the teen audience who were playing most of the games helped to draw in the kids and then they needed something to keep the kids around.

Even then, a modern kids game would never have been as hard as Crash 1 or featured Tawna with that character design. You can almost feel the change from 1 to 2 being a "that's cool guys but maybe make one the kids can finish this time?"

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I think the inclusion of crash, spyro and other cartoon games on psx was because the teen audience who were playing most of the games helped to draw in the kids and then they needed something to keep the kids around.

Even then, a modern kids game would never have been as hard as Crash 1 or featured Tawna with that character design. You can almost feel the change from 1 to 2 being a "that's cool guys but maybe make one the kids can finish this time?"

I prefer Tawna's redesign in 4.

But I'd also argue that Super Mario 64 destroys any 3D platformers on the PSX.

 

[MemeAlert]

That's where I think this mainly stems from. Banjo Kazooie doesn't have this crazy mid era where they kept changing everything, it had the two awesome N64 games, a GBA game no one really remembers, and a shitty racing game that went from a proper sequel to a racing pile of dookie halfway through development.

Nuts & Bolts isn't a bad game. Theres a difference between something being bad because it is bad vs because someone doesn't like it/don't want it.

 

[Mago]

I haven't played much of B&K nor Spyro but I always felt like the PSX shined not with platformer but more "adult" game genre.


While family friendly games were simply better to be played on the N64.


I kinda felt like Crash and Spyro were a bit out of place on the PSX and were more like "yeah, we also have kid games on our console so parents would still buy one".

I'm not sure I agree, I mean I do think the playstation presented itself as more adult, but the ps1 also had the Croc games, Ape Escape, and the Jumping Flash games. While it was hard af Rayman definitely appealed to kids. Not to mention one of the main titles on the N64 was Goldeneye and also there was Turok series, Doom 64, and Perfect Dark so it definitely had adult appeal as well tbf.

And tbc I'm not saying the ps1 wasn't seen as the more adult console I just don't see those games as feeling as out of place, even though yes Spyro was made with the intent of drawing in a younger audience.

 

[ColonelKurtz]

I have had a lot of fun revisiting Banjo Kazooie/Tooie as adult but Spyro feels more like a "kids game" to me.

I'm not exactly sure what makes me feel that way tbh. It might be the humor or something to do with the art style.

Something about those N64 Rare games feel so timeless - even the ones I didn't play as a kid. I never played BK1 as a child for instance.

 

[Darklink]

I played Banjo-Kazooie for the first time recently, and I find that it's a perfectly fine game. I can see why people that grew up with it really liked it, but myself I found the game just okay.

The game looks quite nice, especially for a N64 game. The cartoon-y art style always ages better than a more realistic one. The locales all look nicely varied and most are interesting.

The audio is fine. The variety of sounds for collecting things is pretty satisfying, and some worlds have some good themes. Though others do get quite annoying.

Gameplay for me is kind of a mixed bag. It is satisfying to collect things. The level design in the first 2/3 of the game is pretty good and nice to just explore. But the other side is that by the end of the game, the devs started being assholes about it with a lot of awkward backtracking. As an example, Click Clock Wood would probably be close to my favorite level if it wasn't basically the same level four times. With enemies intended to knock you off the giant tree with the enemy itself doing two Combs of damage and the landing adding more, depending on how high up you are.

I'd say this game has aged pretty well, though it has definitely aged. Really I think my main complaint is that it's not really enough of a 3D Platformer for my tastes. Almost all of its focus went into the Collectathon aspects of the game. Banjo himself feels like walking through molasses, while running as Kazooie feels fine, you're super limited in what you can do in that state.

Really, while it's probably not fair to the game, I wish it was more acrobatic like a 3D Mario lol.

And while my first ever playthrough of Spyro 1 was more like five years ago, I do remember enjoying that game more than I did Banjo this year.

 

[MemeAlert]

I'd say this game has aged pretty well, though it has definitely aged. Really I think my main complaint is that it's not really enough of a 3D Platformer for my tastes. Almost all of its focus went into the Collectathon aspects of the game. Banjo himself feels like walking through molasses, while running as Kazooie feels fine, you're super limited in what you can do in that state.

Whats that, Banjo Kazooie is a collectathon?