Life has not been easy for Rare properties. Once hammering out some of the best games for Nintendo during the SNES and N64 eras, the company has since been purchased by Microsoft and most of the people that made up the are that turned in those old hits have long since left the company. Most would agree that the best thing Microsoft has done with Rare was the Rare Replay compilation that came out a few years ago, which consisted of tons of the developer's best games, with a big stand out being the N64 favorite, Banjo-Kazooie.
I didn't grow up playing Banjo-Kazooie but I did get the game as a gift for Christmas 1998 and I loved that colorful platformer even if Rusty Bucket Bay was ridiculously unfair. The bear and bird duo have long been desired to be added to the ever growing roster of characters for the Super Smash Bros. series. But since Rare was owned by Microsoft, it was thought that their inclusion could lever be. Over the past several months, however, things have changed. Microsoft and Nintendo have been getting pretty buddy-buddy. Like, to the point of letting Cuphead come to the Switch. While Hell is freezing over, we also got Banjo-Kazooie coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate this fall. As the kids say, we are living in the best timeline.
The reveal trailer for BK was wonderfully awesome. Tons of homage to the King K. Rool reveal (still one of the best things ever) but this time, we got K. Rool snoozing in the Kong house. Duck Hunt is the troll, only to get squashed by everyone's favorite bear and bird. One of my favorite parts of the whole thing? The excitement shown form DK, Diddy and K. Rool. They are, afterall, all part of the Rare family.
BK look like crazy fun to use in Smash. No matter where they fall on the tier list (seriously, screw tier lists) I'll still pick them up from time to time. I know this bear and bird pair represents a major bright spot in a lot of people's childhood so I'm very pleased to see them occupying a slot in the Smash roster.
Now you can't talk about Banjo-Kazooie without talking about the music. Grant Kirkhope, the musical wizard that he is, was responsible for the music in the Banjo games and I was thinking how awesome it would be if he could arrange some tracks for the Smash debut. I guess Masahiro Sakurai and Nintendo were thinking the same thing because Grant was responsible for the Spiral Mountain remix used in the reveal trailer. I'm hoping that wasn't the only arrangement he did but even if it is, I'm still stoked for BK arrangements. I want a Treasure Trove Cove remix so bad you don't even know! Rusty Bucket Bay? Yes, please! I cannot wait to hear the other arrangements for the Spiral Mountain stage.
Banjo-Kazooie are finally in Super Smash Bros. Thank you Sakurai. Thank you Microsoft. Now how about that Banjo-Kazooie 3?
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